The sun, the moon, the evening and morning star,
and the rainbow, seem to be more or less sacred ob-
jects in many of the pueblos ; and in several the vi-
bora or rattlesnake is held in veneration which is
akin to worship.
Four days seem to constitute the important period
at both the beginning and the close of life, for there
is a general belief that the soul after passing from
the body remains around its old abode for four days
before taking its final departure to the spirit world.
For this reason the door of the house of death is not
closed during that period, a blanket being hung ovef
the entrance, so as not to interfere with the return
of the lost one to seek the shelter of its old home;
and within are placed bread and meat, water and to-
bacco, that the spirit may eat, drink, and smoke.
The original settlement of the ancestors of the
Santo Domingo Indian was in a place called Guy-
puy, the ruins of which are still to be seen about two
miles east of Domingo station on the banks of the
Galisteo River. Tradition states that the town was
destroyed by an extraordinary flood in the Galisteo,
and the people then moved to the present location on
the Rio Grande. This was long ago, as Onate, when
traveling up the valley of the Rio Grande in 1598,



156 SPANISH MISSION CHUBCHES

found liie pueblo located as at present, except as
since washed out by the river floods.
