526 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [s. s.. I, 1899
brought into the pueblo, from the shrine in which it is kept, the image of Talatumsi wrapped in a white blanket with prayer-sticks in its girdle. This was set on the kiva hatches, one after another, where it remained several days ; rites were performed about it, during which it was sprinkled with meal in prayer, and later reverentially carried by the Aaltfi back to its shrine, where it was set in position to remain until the next quadrennial ceremony. This image is supposed to represent, not Aldsaka, but the bride of Aldsaka, the maternal parent of the Aaltfi society about whom cluster so many folktales. She is the cultus heroine of that soci- ety, — one of their ancestors, — and her effigy is brought into the pueblo in November, every four years, by one of their number, just as we may suppose the images of Aldsaka were brought into old Awatobi when the New-fire ceremony was celebrated in that ill-fated pueblo.
The Hopi have another shrine at which they worship in the New-fire ceremony, but instead of an image this contains a log of silicified wood called Tuwapontumsi, " Earth-altar-woman. " Exactly who this personage is, the author has not yet discovered, but it is instructive to know that among the Hopi totems which he obtained, one of the men gave as his signature a figure of a lizard, a circle representing the earth, and a horned human figure which was called Tuwapontumsi. As this figure recalls that of Aldsaka, and as the shrine of the being it represents is visited at the same time as that of Talatumsi by priests guided by Aldsaka, it is not impossible that Tuwapontumsi is connected with the Aldsaka cult.
A visit to this shrine was made by the two phallic societies, Tataukyamil and WiiwutcitntA, directly after the kindling of the new fire in the chief kiva at Walpi. They were led by a man personating A Idsaka, and after praying at the shrine they marched in single file to the site of Old Walpi, on the terrace below the present pueblo, and encircled the mounds of this old habitation four times, sprinkling prayer-meal as their leader, Aldsaka, di-
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