l to their
lips, they cast the meal toward the dawn, breathing a prayer for a long
and prosperous life, and return to the house, husband and wife.

"The ceremony over, the mother of the bride (Note: All other authorities
say groom, H.G.L.) builds a fire under the baking stone, while the
daughter prepares the batter and begins to bake a large quantity of
paper bread.... The wedding breakfast follows closely on the heels of
the wedding ceremony and the father of the young man must run through
the pueblo with a bag of cotton, handsful of which he gives to the
relatives and friends, who pick out the seeds and return the cotton to
him. This cotton is for the wedding blankets and sash which are to be
the trousseau of the bride....

"A few days later the crier announces the time for the spinning of the
cotton for the bride's blanket. This takes place in the kivas, where
usually all the weaving is done by the men, and with jollity and many a
story the task is soon finished. The spun cotton is handed over to the
bridegroom as a contribution from the village, to be paid for like
everything else Hopi, by a sumptuous feast, which has been prepared by
the women for the spinners. Perhaps ten sage-brush-fed sheep and goats,
tough beyond reason, are being softened in a stew, consisting mainly of
corn; stacks of paper bread have been baked, various other dishes have
been concocted, and all is ready when the crier calls in the hungry
multitude....

"With the spun cotton, serious work begins for the bridegroom and his
male relatives, lasting several weeks. A large white blanket ... and a
smaller one must be woven and a reed mat in which the blankets are to be
rolled. A white sash with long fringe and a pair of mocassins, each
having half a deerskin for leggings, like those worn by the women of the
Rio Grande pueblos, complete the costume. The blankets must have
elaborate tassels at the four corners. (Note: Representing rain falling
from the white cloud blanket. H.G.L.)

"Shortly before sunrise, the bride, arrayed in her finery, performs the
last act in the drama, called 'going home.' Up to this time the bride
has remained in the house of her husband's people. Wearing the large
white blanket, picturesquely disposed over her head, and carrying the
small blanket wrapped in the reed mat in her hands, she walks to her
mother's house ... and the long ceremony is over ... for in this land of
women's rights the husband must live with his wife