fewkes] THE AL6SAKA CULT OF THE HOP! INDIANS $2$
These duties are those of warriors, but Aldsaka was not armed, nor is the mountain sheep which he represents a probable personation of a warrior.
It is interesting to note that there is no Aldsaka escort of the Flute priests in their public dances at the Middle Mesa, and, judging from photographs, it would seem that there is a like absence at Oraibi, which may be due to the absence of certain clans. Thus, one of the chiefs of the AaltA or Aldsaka society at Walpi belongs to the Asa clan of Tanoan extraction limited to the East Mesa. The first colonists of this clan were essentially warriors, and their performance of escort duty may be a survival of former times.
As there are two chiefs of equal standing in the Aaltil priest- hood, one of the Asa and the other of the Bear clan (one of the oldest in Walpi), it would seem that there are two phases of the cult, and that the function of Aldsaka as an escort is distinct from an older one common to other Hopi villages.
Germinative Element in the Al6saka Cult
The germinative element of the Aldsaka cult, which we may regard as an ancient phase, was introduced into Awatobi and the other Hopi pueblos by a group of clans from the far south. These clans, called the Patun, or Squash, founded the pueblo of Micofiinovi,' where the Aldsaka cult is now vigorous, and were prominent in Awatobi where it was important. There is one episode of the elaborated New-fire ceremony which is traced to these southern clans; this concerns a figurine, called Talatumsi r kept in a shrine under the cliffs of Walpi and especially reverenced by the Aaltil or Aldsaka priests.
In the elaborated New-fire rites, called the Nadcnaiya, just after the fire has been kindled by frictionai methods in the Mon- kiva before a man personating the Fire-god, one of the Aaltil
1 They also founded the pueblo of Tcukubi, the ruins of which are still to be seen on the Middle Mesa.
�� �
