Music of Acoma, Isleta, Cochiti, and Zuñi Pueblos - Flutopedia.com

28 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 165
Several consecutive renditions were recorded and show no differences other than
the occasional use of an eighth rest as a breathing space and the use of C instead
of A in next to the last measure. The drumbeat in quarter notes was heard in the
5-8 and 7-8 measures, the adjustment being by a delay of the beat at the end of
these measures. The drum and voice are synchronous at the beginning of the
next measures.
A treatment of the eye was described by Mrs. Henry Hunt, who
said that she had often been benefited by it and knew of others who
had been helped. The treatment was given by a medicine woman
in this manner. She cleansed her mouth, chewed a certain medicine,
and then put her tongue into the eye of the patient. She sometimes
removed foreign bodies from the eyes of her patients.
Certain
persons made a specialty of this treatment of the eye.
A peculiar importance is given by the Acoma to men who have been
struck by lightning. Such men are affiliated, but it does not appear
that they constitute one of the medicine men's societies. It is they,
and no others, who treat dislocations and fractures.
It was said that when lightning strikes a man he is supposed to be
killed but that he will be "put together by the lightning" if another
member of the tribe does not see him before tlie thunder sounds.
For this reason the Acoma tell each other not to look at a companion
if he is believed to be struck by lightning. They say to each other,
"Cover your eyes and turn aside until after you hear the thunder."
A man who has been struck by lightning is considered "initiated."
He is taken in charge by a man who has been previously struck by
lightning, who guards him for 4 days. During this time the man
stays alone and piu-ifies himself with medicine. The members of this
group take turns in massaging his whole body, especially his abdomen,
and one man of the group adopts him as his son. He is allowed no
food during the treatment. On the fourth day he is allowed to eat
and go outdoors, and, after performing certain acts, he can treat
dislocations, fractures, and similar forms of distress. As a sign of
authority he must be able to show the scar made by the lightning on
his body.
The man who has taken him as a son goes with him to the place of
the accident to search for the flint tip of the lightning bolt. It is the
Acoma belief that every bolt of lightning has a flint tip and this, when