KIVA, the sacred ceremonial chamber of the Pueblo Indians. The name is Hopi and the institution is to be found in every Hopi and other village throughout the Pueblo country. The kiva, which was generally known to the first Spanish visitors and explorers in the Pueblo territory, as Mufti (stove or furnace) is so old an institution that its origin is lost in tradition. At one time its use was much more extensive than at present, or even within historical times, as is evidenced by the remains of kivas in the ruins of prehistoric villages in Arizona, Colorado, Utah and New Mexico. It was probably also in use at one time in parts of Mexico. Some kivas were quite large; and some of those in use in prehistoric times seem to have been larger than those existing at the present time, if we are to judge from existing remains. Castafieda, writing in 1540, tells of one which had ((twelve pillars, four of which, in the centre, were each as large as two men could reach around." He is also the authority for the statement that some of the kivas that he had seen ((were large enough for a game of ball.' The early Spanish missionaries and other visitors to the land of the Pueblos gave the name estufa to the kiva because they mis took k for a sweat house, losing complete sight of its sacred character and the part it had long played in the past (and still plays) in the religious life of the Pueblos. Four hundred years ago the kivas of the Rio Grande country were much the same as they are now. were large underground, or semi-underground, square or round structures, the roofs of which were supported by handsome pillars. About the time of the discovery of America, and for some time afterward, the young unmarried men of marriageable age lived in the kiva, and with them also lived widowers or men who had re pudiated their wives. Women were forbidden, under dire penalties, to sleep in the kivas, which they could visit only to bring to their relatives food and other prime necessities. This restriction upon the visit of women is still in force in all the Pueblo villages. Women, how ever, are permitted to visit the kivas on the occasion of certain public festivals or other ceremonies of a religious or other tribal nature. There are also, in the Pueblo villages, though much more rarely, kivas for women. These latter may not be visited by men except under certain prescribed conditions similar to those already indicated. These kivas of the women are also the dub houses of secret religious ceremonies of a peculiarly sacred nature. The
kivas were and still are the common property of the village and never belonged to one individual or set of individuals notwithstanding the fact that they are the home of secret societies. In some villages the kivas are rectangular, in others square, and in still others, circular. They were originally built in the courtyard of the village; but they are to-day usually hidden among the houses; and they are still partially or altogether under ground. One Pueblo may have from one to a dozen kivas, according to its population, wealth and interests. Even those kivas that have the walls partly above the ground have few or no openings at all in the walls, and where the openings exist, they are invariably very small, the entrance to the build ings themselves being invariably from the flat roof, which is reached by means of a ladder that can be drawn up. A second ladder con nects the inside of the kiva with the roof, through a trap-door. The roof, which is very strong and thick, is generally made of well tramped earth or adobe bricks overlying beams or rushes, which are supported by the pillars already mentioned. The trap-door which is placed in the centre of the roof, also serves as a hole to permit the escape of the smoke from the fireplace of the kiva which almost invariably occupies the centre of the edifice, and consists of a shallow fire pit. The kiva floor is usually covered with smooth sandstone slabs; and around three sides of the walls run stone benches supported by adobe brick-work Against the fourth wall is a low ceremonial platform and a ceremonial altar. Many of the kivas have the walls, or parts thereof cov ered with hieroglyphic paintings, symbolic in nature, and serving to remind the master of ceremonies of the main incidents in the cere monies to be performed on certain stated occasions.
Bibliography.— Bandelier, A. F., 'Report of Investigations Among the Indians of the Southwestern United States) (1880-92); 'The Delight Hewett, E. I., 'Antiquities of the Jemez Plateau) (1908) ; Hodge, book of American Indians) (Washington 1907) ; Nordenskiold, 'Cliff Dwellers of the Mesa Verde) (1893) ; Stevenson. M. C., The Sia' (11th Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, 1896) ; 'The Zuni Indians) (23d Report of the Bpreau of American Ethnology, Washington 1904) ; Tewkes, J. W., 'Two Sum mers' Work in Pueblo Ruins' (Washington 1904) ; Winship, G. P., 'Coronado Expedition' (Washington 1896).