But in order that the wish and hope which this allegoric painting expresses on the part of man may become realized, invocation rises before the picture in the shape of the screen, denoting an altar on which the rainbow has again settled down as a messenger from above.  Both are green, since it is summer; and the summer sun, or summer home of the sun-father, is green also, like the earth, covered with luxuriant vegetation.

Invocation alone does not suffice to incline the hearts of Those Above kindly toward mankind; gratitude is required as an earnest of sincere worship.  But this gratitude can be expressed by words as well as by deeds, and prayers must precede, accompany, or follow the offering.  In front of the altar a row of bunches artistically composed of snow-white down are placed on the floor.  Each of these delicate fabrics has sacred meal scattered about its base, and each of them symbolizes the soul of one household.  They are what the Queres Indian calls the yaya, or mother, dedicated to the moon-mother, who specially protects every Indian home.  All these stand below the altar in token of the many prayers that each household sends up to the moon, painted above, that the mother of all, who dwells in the silvery orb, may thank her husband in the sun for all the good received, and implore him to further shed his blessings on their children.  Between these feather-bushes and the embers, a great number of other objects are placed,—­fetiches of stone, animal figures, prayer-plumes, sacrificial bowls painted with symbolic devices and surmounted by terraced prongs, and wooden images of household gods decorated with feathers.  Sacred meal is in or about all of them, and all stand for so many intercessors praying for the good of the people, giving thanks in the name of the people and offering their vows in token of gratitude.

Similar to this estufa of the Corn clan are to-day all the other estufas on the Tyuonyi.  They contain similar pictures, and similar objects are grouped on the floors in front of them.  Before the altars the swan-white mother-souls glisten and flutter.  The estufas are without human occupants, their entrances alone are watched by old men or women outside to prevent the work of invocation and gratitude performed inside by symbolic advocates from being desecrated by rude or thoughtless intruders.

While this work is going on thus silently and without direct intervention of man, man himself performs a similar duty in the open air through the ceremonies of the great dance.

In this dance the Koshare came first, for their request was one of immediate importance.  That the fruit may ripen is the object of their sacramental performances,—­“even the fruit in woman’s womb,” Topanashka had explained.  To this end man must contribute with delight and work with love.  Whoever mourns or harbours ill-will cannot expect his task to prosper.  In this manner even the obscene performances of the Koshare are symbolic, and their part in the great dance is above all an invocation.