Part 14 (1/2)
In order to make clearer the relative positions of the various features of kiva construction that have been described several typical examples are here ill.u.s.trated. The three ground plans given are drawn to scale and represent kivas of average dimensions. Mr. Stephen has made a series of typical kiva measurements, which is appended to this section, and comparison of these with the plans will show the relation of the examples selected to the usual dimensions of these rooms. Fig. 22 is the ground plan of the mungkiva, or chief kiva, of Shupaulovi. It will be observed that the second level of the kiva floor, forming the dais before referred to, is about 15 inches narrower on each side than the main floor. The narrowing of this portion of the kiva floor is not universal and does not seem to be regulated by any rule. Sometimes the narrowing is carried out on one side only, as in the mungkiva of Mashongnavi (Fig. 27), sometimes on both, as in the present example, and in other cases it is absent. In the second kiva of Shupaulovi, ill.u.s.trated in Fig. 25, there is only one small jog that has been built midway along the wall of the upper level and it bears no relation to the point at which the change of floor level occurs. The ledge, or dais, is free for the use of spectators, the Indians say, just as the women stand on the house terraces to witness a dance, and do not step into the court. The ledge in this case is about a foot above the main floor.
Benches of masonry are built along each side, though, as the plan shows, they are not of the same length. The bench on the eastern side is about 4 feet shorter than the other, which is cut off by a continuation of the high bench that contains the katc.h.i.n.kihu beyond the corner of the room.
These side benches are for the use of partic.i.p.ants in the ceremonies.
When young men are initiated into the various societies during the feasts in the fall of the year they occupy the floor of the sacred division of the kiva, while the old members of the order occupy the benches along the wall. The higher bench at the end of the room is used as a shelf for paraphernalia. The hole, or recess, in this bench, whose position is indicated by the dotted lines on the plan, is the sacred orifice from which the katchina is said to come, and is called the katc.h.i.n.kihu. In the floor of the kiva, near the katc.h.i.n.kihu, is the sipapuh, the cottonwood plug set into a cottonwood slab over a cavity in the floor. The plan shows how this plank, about 18 inches wide and 6 feet long, has been incorporated into the paving of the main floor. The paving is composed of some quite large slabs of sandstone whose irregular edges have been skillfully fitted to form a smooth and well finished pavement. The position of the niches that form pipe receptacles is shown on the plan opposite the fireplace in each side wall. The position of the foot of the ladder is indicated, the side poles resting upon the paved surface of the second level about 15 inches from the edge of the step. Fig. 23 gives a ceiling plan of the same kiva, ill.u.s.trating the arrangement of such of the roof beams and sticks as are visible from inside. The plan shows the position of the four Spanish beams before referred to, the northernmost being the one that has the line and dot decoration. The next two beams, laid in contact, are also square and of Spanish make. The fourth Spanish beam is on the northern edge of the hatchway dome and supports its wall. The adjoining beam is round and of native workmans.h.i.+p. The position and dimensions of the large hatchway projection are here indicated in plan, but the general appearance of this curious feature of the Tusayan kiva can be better seen from the interior view (Fig. 24). Various uses are attributed to this domelike structure, aside from the explanation that it is built at a greater height in order to lessen the danger of ignition of the roof beams. The old men say that formerly they smoked and preserved meat in it. Others say it was used for drying bundles of wood by suspension over the fire preparatory to use in the fireplace. It is also said to const.i.tute an upper chamber to facilitate the egress of smoke, and doubtless it aids in the performance of this good office.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 23. Ceiling plan of the chief kiva of Shupaulovi.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 24. Interior view of a Tusayan kiva.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate LVIII. Fragments of Halona wall.]
The mud plaster that has been applied directly to the stone work of the interior of this kiva is very much blackened by smoke. From about half of the wall s.p.a.ce the plaster has fallen or scaled off, and the exposed stonework is much blackened as though the kiva had long been used with the wall in this uncovered condition.
The fireplace is simply a shallow pit about 18 inches square that is placed directly under the opening of the combined hatchway and smoke hole. It is usually situated from 2 to 3 feet from the edge of the second level of the kiva floor. The paving stones are usually finished quite neatly and smoothly where their edges enframe the firepit.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 25. Ground plan of a Shupaulovi kiva.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 26. Ceiling plan of a Shupaulovi kiva.]
Figs. 25 and 26 ill.u.s.trate the ground and ceiling plans of the second kiva of the same village. In all essential principles of arrangement it is identical with the preceding example, but minor modifications will be noticed in several of the features. The bench at the katchina, or altar end of the kiva, has not the height that was seen in the mungkiva, but is on the same level as the benches of the sides. Here the sipapuh is at much greater distance than usual from the katchina recess.
It is also quite exceptional in that the plug is let into an orifice in one of the paving stones, as shown on the plan, instead of into a cottonwood plank. Some of the paving stones forming the floor of this kiva are quite regular in shape and of unusual dimensions, one of them being nearly 5 feet long and 2 feet wide. The gray polish of long continued use imparts to these stones an appearance of great hardness.
The ceiling plan of this kiva (Fig. 26) shows a single specimen of Spanish beam at the extreme north end of the roof. It also shows a forked viga or ceiling beam, which is quite unusual.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 27. Ground plan of the chief kiva of Mashongnavi.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate LIX. The mesa of Taaiyalana, from Zui.]
This kiva is better plastered than the mungkiva and shows in places evidences of many successive coats. The general rule of applying the interior plastering of the kiva on a base of masonry has been violated in this example. The north end and part of the adjoining sides have been brought to an even face by filling in the inequalities of the excavation with reeds which are applied in a vertical position and are held in place by long, slender, horizontal rods, forming a rude matting or wattling. The rods are fastened to the rocky wall at favorable points by means of small p.r.o.ngs of some hard wood, and the whole of the primitive lathing is then thickly plastered with adobe mud. Mr. Stephen found the Pon.o.bi kiva of Oraibi treated in the same manner. The walls are lined with a reed lathing over which mud is plastered. The reed used is the Bakabi (_Phragmites communis_) whose stalks vary from a quarter of an inch to three-quarters of an inch in diameter. In this instance the reeds are also laid vertically, but they are applied to the ordinary mud-laid kiva wall and not directly to the sides of the natural excavation. The vertical laths are bound in place by horizontal reeds laid upon them 1 or 2 feet apart. The horizontal reeds are held in place by pegs of greasewood driven into the wall at intervals of 1 or 2 feet and are tied to the pegs with split yucca. These specimens are very interesting examples of aboriginal lathing and plastering applied to stone work.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 28. Interior view of a kiva hatchway in Tusayan.]
The ground plan of the mungkiva of Mashongnavi is ill.u.s.trated in Fig.
27. In this example the narrowing of the room at the second level of the floor is on one side. The step by which the upper level is reached from the main floor is 8 inches high at the east end, rising to 10 inches at the west end. The south end of the kiva is provided with a small opening like a loop-hole, furnis.h.i.+ng an outlook to the south. The east side of the main portion of the kiva is not provided with the usual bench. The portion of the bench at the katchina end of the kiva is on a level with the west bench and continuous for a couple of feet beyond the northeast corner along the east wall. The small wall niches are on the west side and nearer the north end than usual. The arrangement of the katc.h.i.n.kihu is quite different from that described in the Shupaulovi kivas. The orifice occurs in the north wall at a height of 3 feet above the floor, and 2 feet 3 inches above the top of the bench that extends across this end of the room. The firepit is somewhat smaller than in the other examples ill.u.s.trated. Fig. 28 ill.u.s.trates the appearance of the kiva hatchway from within as seen from the north end of the kiva, but the ladder has been omitted from the drawing to avoid confusion. The ladder rests against the edge of the coping that caps the dwarf wall on the near side of the hatchway, its top leaning toward the spectator. The small smoke-blackened sticks that are used for the suspension of bundles of greasewood and other fuel in the hatchway are clearly shown. At the far end of the trapdoor, on the outside, is indicated the mat of reeds or rushes that is used for closing the openings when necessary. It is here shown rolled up at the foot of the slope of the hatchway top, its customary position when not in use. When this mat is used for closing the kiva opening it is usually held in place by several large stone slabs laid over it. Fig. 29 ill.u.s.trates a specimen of the Tusayan kiva mat.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 29. Mat used in closing the entrance of Tusayan kiva.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate LX. Taaiyalana, plan.]
The above kiva plans show that each of the ill.u.s.trated examples is provided with four long narrow planks, set in the kiva floor close to the wall and provided with orifices for the attachment of looms. This feature is a common accompaniment of kiva construction and pertains to the use of the ceremonial room as a workshop by the male blanket weavers of Tusayan. It will be more fully described in the discussion of the various uses of the kiva.
The essential structural features of the kivas above described are remarkably similar, though the ill.u.s.trations of types have been selected at random. Minor modifications are seen in the positions of many of the features, but a certain general relation between the various constructional requirements of the ceremonial room is found to prevail throughout all the villages.
_Work by women._--After all the above described details have been provided for, following the completion of the roofs and floors, the women belonging to the people who are to occupy the kiva continue the labor of its construction. They go over the interior surface of the walls, breaking off projections and filling up the interstices with small stones, and then they smoothly plaster the walls and the inside of the hatchway with mud, and sometimes whitewash them with a gypsiferous clay found in the neighborhood. Once every year, at the feast of Powuma (the fructifying moon), the women give the kiva this same attention.
_Consecration._--When all the work is finished the kiva chief prepares a baho and feeds the house, as it is termed; that is, he thrusts a little meal, with piki crumbs, over one of the roof timbers, and in the same place inserts the end of the baho. As he does this he expresses his hope that the roof may never fall and that sickness and other evils may never enter the kiva.
It is difficult to elicit intelligent explanation of the theory of the baho and the prayer ceremonies in either kiva or house construction. The baho is a prayer token; the pet.i.tioner is not satisfied by merely speaking or singing his prayer, he must have some tangible thing upon which to transmit it. He regards his prayer as a mysterious, impalpable portion of his own substance, and hence he seeks to embody it in some object, which thus becomes consecrated. The baho, which is inserted in the roof of the kiva, is a piece of willow twig about six inches long, stripped of its bark and painted. From it hang four small feathers suspended by short cotton strings tied at equal distances along the twig. In order to obtain recognition from the powers especially addressed, different colored feathers and distinct methods of attaching them to bits of wood and string are resorted to. In the present case these are addressed to the chiefs who control the paths taken by the people after coming up from the interior of the earth. They are thus designated:
To the west: Sikyak omauwu Yellow Cloud.
south: Sakwa omauwu Blue Cloud.