Our Astronomical Column

Abstract

SUN WORSHIP BY TUSAYAN INDIANS.—In the fifteenth annual report of the U.S. Bureau of Ethnology, and in recent numbers of the American Anthropologist, Dr. J. Walter Fewkes gives a detailed account of a group of the ceremonials which form the ritual practised by the Tusayan Indians. It has been known for some years that the aborigines of the semi-deserts in the south-western portion of the United States possess a remarkably elaborate system of belief and ceremonial, and Dr. Fewkes has devoted a considerable amount of attention to them in order to determine the significance of the various parts of the ritual followed. In the course of his investigations he has made a number of interesting observations on the astronomical means used for determining the time for ceremonials. He has found that among the Hopi Indians there are priests skilled in the lore of the sun, who determine, by observation of the points on the horizon where the sun rises or sets, the time of the year proper for their religious observances. An important ceremony is performed at the winter solstice, and in December 1897 Dr. Fewkes made a special journey to Arizona to study the ritual on the spot. This is not the place to refer to the ethnological aspects of the ceremonials witnessed by him, but the following extract from the Report of the U.S. Bureau of Ethnology will interest students of primitive astronomy.