Note 192 — Chapter XIV · KERESAN MYTHS

Bourke says that in November, 1881, when he was at Zuñi, an old chief who talked Spanish told him that “in the day of long ago all the Pueblos, Moqui, Zuñi, Ácoma, Laguna, Jémez and others had the religion of human sacrifice, at the time of the Feast of Fire when the days were shortest. The victim had his throat cut and blood was allowed to flow freely but he generally recovered. Although the Mexicans undertook to prevent this ceremony, a modified form persisted for a long time thereafter.” Snake Dance of the Moquis, p. 164. Hodge, on the contrary, rejects emphatically the idea that human sacrifice ever existed among the Pueblos. He says, “It is just the kind of thing the Indian loves to pour into the eager ears of too gullible whites when they had the effrontery to pry too familiarly into their beliefs; but what fun they had the next moment among themselves. Give a Pueblo Indian a hint of the kind of answer you are seeking and he will accommodate you to the fullest extent.”