From it we learn that the
ceremony forms part of the elaborate ritual which these Indians
observe at the midsummer solstice for the purpose of ensuring an
abundant supply of rain for the crops. Envoys are despatched to
bring "their otherselves, the tortoises," from the sacred lake
Kothluwalawa, to which the souls of the dead are believed to repair.
When the creatures have thus been solemnly brought to Zuni, they are
placed in a bowl of water and dances are performed beside them by
men in costume, who personate gods and goddesses. "After the
ceremonial the tortoises are taken home by those who caught them and
are hung by their necks to the rafters till morning, when they are
thrown into pots of boiling water. The eggs are considered a great
delicacy. The meat is seldom touched except as a medicine, which is
curative for cutaneous diseases. Part of the meat is deposited in
the river with _k?hakwa_ (white shell beads) and turquoise beads as
offerings to Council of the Gods." This account at all events
confirms the inference that the tortoises are supposed to be
reincarnations of the human dead, for they are called the
"otherselves" of the Zuni; indeed, what else should they be than the
souls of the dead in the bodies of tortoises seeing that they come
from the haunted lake? As the principal object of the prayers
uttered and of the dances performed at these midsummer ceremonies
appears to be to procure rain for the crops, it may be that the
intention of bringing the tortoises to Zuni and dancing before them
is to intercede with the ancestral spirit, incarnate in the animals,
that they may be pleased to exert their power over the waters of
heaven for the benefit of their living descendants.
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