The pictures were made primarily to illustrate symbols and symbolic paraphernalia used in the personation of the gods, but incidentally they show the ability of the Hopis in painting, a form of artistic expression which is very ancient among them. The painting of figures on ancient pottery from Tusayan, illustrated in a collection from Sikyatki, leaves no question of the ability of the ancient Hopi women in this form of expression.[1] As specimens of pictorial art the pictures here presented compare very well with some of the Mexican and Mayan codices. They represent men personating the gods, as they appear in religious festivals, and duplicate the symbols on certain images, called dolls, which represent the same beings. A consideration of some of the more characteristic dolls in semblance of gods is given elsewhere.[2]
When a Hopi draws a picture or cuts an image of a god, either adoll or an idol, he gives the greatest care to the representation of the head. The symbols on the head are characteristic, and its size is generally out of proportion to that of the other parts. When these same gods are personated by men the symbols are ordinarily painted on masks or helmets; consequently the heads of the figures may be said to represent masks or helmets of personators.
The personations which are here figured generally appear in winter festivals or ceremonies, a more detailed account of which will be given elsewhere, but it has seemed well to preface this description of the pictures with brief summaries of great festivals in which the figures represented are specially prominent, and to make such reference to others as may be necessary. The great festivals, called Pamürti,[3] Powamû, and Palülükoñti or Añkwañti, are celebrated in January, February, and March.
The personations are called katcinas; the nature of these merits a brief consideration.
Primitive man regards everything as possessed of magic power allied to what we call life, capable of action for good or evil. This vital power, he believes, is directed by will; it was probably first identified with motion. To the savage whatever moves has a beneficent or malevolent power, sometimes called medicine, the action of which is always mysterious. Various symbols have been adopted by primitive man to represent this power, and many terms are used to define it. Among these symbols words for breath in various languages are perhaps the most widely spread among different races. The power of motion directed by will to do harm or good thus comes in English to be known as spirit or soul. The doctrine of medicine power or of spirits is commonly called animism.
