Pueblo sacred clowns (Koshare, Koyemshi, Newekwe)

1890

A recurring ritual role in Pueblo religion, in which jester-tricksters perform at ceremonies, offering humorous interpretation of popular culture, reinforcing taboos and defusing community tension; they were 'somewhat feared by the Hopi as the source of public criticism and censure'. The earliest ethnographic source cited is Adolf Bandelier's The Delight Makers (1890), followed by Parsons and Beals (1934) and Parsons's Pueblo Indian Religion (1939).