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قراءة كتاب Zuñi Fetiches Second Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1880-1881, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1883, pages 3-45

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Zuñi Fetiches
Second Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1880-1881, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1883, pages 3-45

Zuñi Fetiches Second Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1880-1881, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1883, pages 3-45

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دار النشر: Project Gutenberg
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native wherein lies the power of his fetiches. It is supposed that the hearts of the great animals of prey are infused with a spirit or medicine of magic influence over the hearts of the animals they prey upon, or the game animals (K'ia-pin-á-hâ-i); that their breaths (the "Breath of Life"—Hâ-i-an-pi-nan-ne—and soul are synonymous in Zuñi Mythology), derived from their hearts, and breathed upon their prey, whether near or far, never fail to overcome them, piercing their hearts and causing their limbs to stiffen, and the animals themselves to lose their strength. Moreover, the roar or cry of a beast of prey is accounted its Sá-wa-ni-k'ia, or magic medicine of destruction, which, heard by the game animals, is fatal to them, because it charms their senses, as does the breath their hearts. Since the mountain lion, for example, lives by the blood ("life fluid") and flesh of the game animals, and by these alone, he is endowed not only with the above powers, but with peculiar powers in the senses of sight and smell. Moreover, these powers, as derived from his heart, are preserved in his fetich, since his heart still lives, even though his person be changed to stone.


PREY GODS OF THE SIX REGIONS.

THEIR ORIGIN.

Therefore it happens that the use of these fetiches is chiefly connected with the chase. To this, however, there are some exceptions. One of these may be partly explained by the following myth concerning Pó-shai-aŋ-k'ia, the God (Father) of the Medicine societies or sacred esoteric orders, of which there are twelve in Zuñi, and others among the different pueblo tribes. He is supposed to have appeared in human form, poorly clad, and therefore reviled by men; to have taught the ancestors of the Zuñi, Taos, Oraibi, and Coçonino Indians their agricultural and other arts, their systems of worship by means of plumed and painted prayer-sticks; to have organized their medicine societies; and then to have disappeared toward his home in Shí-pä-pu-li-ma (from shi-pí-a=mist, vapor; u-lin=surrounding; and i-mo-na=sitting place of—"The mist-enveloped city"), and to have vanished beneath the world, whence he is said to have departed for the home of the Sun. He is still the conscious auditor of the prayers of his children, the invisible ruler of the spiritual Shí-pä-pu-li-ma, and of the lesser gods of the medicine orders, the principal "Finisher of the Paths of our Lives." He is, so far as any identity can be established, the "Montezuma" of popular and usually erroneous Mexican tradition.

PÓ-SHAI-AŊ-K'IA.

In ancient times, while yet all beings belonged to one family, Pó-shai-aŋ-k'ia, the father of our sacred bands, lived with his children (disciples) in the City of the Mists, the middle place (center) of the Medicine societies of the world. There he was guarded on all sides by his six warriors, Á-pi-thlan shí-wa-ni (pí-thlan=bow, shí-wa-ni=priests), the prey gods; toward the North by the Mountain Lion (Long Tail); toward the West by the Bear (Clumsy Foot); toward the South by the Badger (Black Mark Face); toward the East by the Wolf (Hang Tail); above by the Eagle (White Cap); and below by the Mole. When he was about to go forth into the world, he divided the universe into six regions, namely, the North (Pï′sh-lan-kwïn táh-na=Direction of the Swept or Barren place); the West (K'iä′-li-shi-ïn-kwïn táh-na=Direction of the Home of the Waters); the South (Á-la-ho-ïn-kwïn táh-na=Direction of the Place of the Beautiful Bed); the East (Té-lu-a-ïn-kwïn táh-na=Direction of the Home of Day); the Upper Regions (Í-ya-ma-ïn-kwïn táh-na=Direction of the Home of the High); and the Lower Regions (Ma-ne-lam-ïn-kwïn táh-na=Direction of the Home of the Low)."

PREY GOD FETICHES OF THE SIX REGIONS.

PREY GOD FETICHES OF THE SIX REGIONS.

All, save the first of these terms, are archaic. The modern names for the West, South, East, Upper and Lower Regions signifying respectively—"The Place of Evening," "The Place of the Salt Lake" (Las Salinas), "The Place whence comes the Day," "The Above," and "The Below."

In the center of the great sea of each of these regions stood a very ancient sacred place (Té-thlä-shi-na-kwïn), a great mountain peak. In the North was the Mountain Yellow, in the West the Mountain Blue, in the South the Mountain Red, in the East the Mountain White, above the Mountain All-color, and below the Mountain Black.

We do not fail to see in this clear reference to the natural colors of the regions referred to—to the barren north and its auroral hues, the west with its blue Pacific, the rosy south, the white daylight of the east, the many hues of the clouded sky, and the black darkness of the "caves and holes of earth." Indeed, these colors are used in the pictographs and in all the mythic symbolism of the Zuñis, to indicate the directions or regions respectively referred to as connected with them.

Then said Pó-shai-aŋ-k'ia to the Mountain Lion (Plate II, Fig. 1), "Long Tail, thou art stout of heart and strong of will. Therefore give I unto thee and unto thy children forever the mastership of the gods of prey, and the guardianship of the great Northern World (for thy coat is of yellow), that thou guard from that quarter the coming of evil upon my children of men, that thou receive in that quarter their messages to me, that thou become the father in the North of the sacred medicine orders all, that thou become a Maker of the Paths (of men's lives)."

Thither went the Mountain Lion. Then said Pó-shai-aŋ-k'ia to the Bear (Plate II, Fig. 2), "Black Bear, thou art stout of heart and strong of will. Therefore make I thee the younger brother of the Mountain Lion, the guardian and master of the West, for thy coat is of the color of the land of night," etc.

To the Badger (Plate II, Fig. 3), "Thou art stout of heart but not strong of will. Therefore make I thee the younger brother of the Bear, the guardian and master of the South, for thy coat is ruddy and marked with black and white equally, the colors of the land of summer, which is red, and stands between the day and the night, and thy homes are on the sunny sides of the hills," etc.

To the White Wolf (Plate II, Fig. 4), "Thou art stout of heart and strong of will. Therefore make I thee the younger brother of the Badger, the guardian and master of the East, for thy coat is white and gray, the color of the day and dawn," etc.

And to the Eagle (Plate II, Fig. 5), he said: "White Cap (Bald Eagle), thou art passing stout of heart and strong of will. Therefore make I thee the younger brother of the Wolf, the guardian and master of the Upper regions, for thou fliest through the skies without tiring, and thy coat is speckled like the clouds," etc.

"Prey Mole (Plate II, Fig. 6), thou art stout of heart and strong of will. Therefore make I thee the younger brother of the Eagle, the guardian and master of the Lower regions, for thou burrowest through the earth without tiring, and thy coat is of black, the color of the holes and caves of earth," etc.

THEIR POWER AS MEDIATORS.

Thus it may be seen that all these animals are supposed to possess not only the guardianship of the six regions, but also the mastership, not merely geographic, but of the medicine powers, etc., which are supposed to emanate from them; that they are the mediators between men and Pó-shai-aŋ-ki'a, and conversely, between the latter and men.

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