The Northern Pacific farmer., 1883-09-13
The Wooing Of Montezuma.
Santa Fe IN. N.Y. Correspondence of Kansa
Atv Time, ;-..'

Santa Fe IN. N.Y. Correspondence of Kansa.
| City Times. : ;-,.'
The indian dance is not merely q
pleasant pastime for the ight-hearted
and frivolous to engage in. It is q reli-
xious rite-a prose poem. It perpetu-
stes the history as we'll as religion of the
Indian. It is a drama, lyrical repre-
sentation Of important events in the his.
tory of rude and uncultivated people
that have no better means of perpetua.
ting their deeds than through tradition
ary recitals and common folk lore.
Zuni Cushing tells me the cochita
dance has 125 different representations,
fhe movement is grand, and it requires
days of preparation. Not 50-perh APPS
not a dozen-white men have ever seen
it danced. The Indians will not repeat
it except at stated Intervals, for the rea-
son that it is apart and the most com.
memorative part, of important
religious ceremonies. Cushing HIM
self, though he is a war chief,
duu EcCeI1Ilv uuiuitISu W Vic ID.
cred order of the Bow, could not induce
the Zunis to repeat this dance in pubic
at the Tertio-M Millennial anniversary.
he offered the Indians 100 silver dollars
if they would dance the cochita, but
they persistently refused. There are
many dances common to all the tribes,
but most tribas have dances peculiar to
themselves, and some are more valuable
in the perpetuation Of the history, the
religion, the ceremonies, the daily life
of the people than all other agencies
combined. So much for the Indian dance
in general.
Here I have witnessed new revela-
ton in the history of this strange people.
I have seen dances different from any
that I have seen during the last 25 years.
The one that impresses me quite rs
much as any other is the Wooing of
Montezuma. The characters are Quel-
lacot!e, Monarka, Montezuma, his love-
ly bride, Malinche. Enormously and far
less POLITICALLY printed on the bills
Koegna) the court jester, Tongno; Tau
rus, (the bull,) courtiers, attendants and
officers. Montezu ma, as every intelli-
gent reader knows. is the savior, the
Socrates, the Confucius Of the Mexicans.
His birth runs back into the
mystic records of myth and tradition
the great Montezuma, mean. But
Montezuma, like all good men and great
gods, loved = gre fortunately than many
others-he ,l6Sed both wisely and we'll.
He wooed and won, and experiences
quite as many difficulties in the job as
"coy and hard to please" So found
the monarch lover in his persistent and
delicate wooing of the reluctant but love-
ly Malinche. The drama dance COM
memorates and represents the valor,
patience and sublime heroism of the
great lover; the attempts of the ugly
and Glow nish Taurus to captivate the
fair maiden; the struggles of the court
iers; each for himself, with wooing and
winsome manners to captivate the charm-
ing and beautiful Indian girl. In trial
of most experts and most skillful dane
ing Montezuma vanQuishes all his court
iers. The blushing and beautiful NAL
inche yields, and Montezuma is proud
er, happier than when he had conquered
all surrounding tribes and founded the
great city of Mexico, with its mag
niGcent gardens, its wonderful.
plazas, its great mar
ket place, its royal buildings, its foun-
tains and aoueducts, its splendid roads,
and all these lonely years before the ar
rival of the blood-thirsty and gold
crazed Spaniard, and before the hen had
laid the egg that Columbus made. to stand
in the presence of the princes. It'is, of
course. a national dance, and dates in
history back into the misty traditions of
mythical history. The Aztec gods, it is
said, revealed it to the Pueblo Indians.
r. 30 l., nj 1>o1 Ivv>
watch to render the dance poem: It
rendered. The dancers were both Mex
leans and Pueblo Indians. The number
performing was IL, not including the fair
Lupeta Archuletta, representing the
.ovely bride, and the manly Francisco
Gomez, personating the monarch lover,
the great Montezuma. The mother of
the bride is Pueblo and the father a
Mexican. Our waiting and anxious
beaax not infrequently think their fair
dulcineas are q long time preparing
their toilets for extra occasions, but
Cushing tells me the Zuni are fully eight
days preparing for the cochiti dance.
You see their time is not much more
valuable than that of our average fash
ionahle young lady. Then too, they are
very elaborately dressed, paradoxically
as it may seem, when not dressed at all.
One can be much dressed with very
light dress, as the Zuni and the fashion,
able lady at the ball each illustrate. The
Zuni may be naked to the waist and not
even wear Cinderella slippers, and yet
days may be spent in ornamenting, dec
Grating and painting the body and face.
The wooing of Montezuma is danced by
IL chiefs. On the occasion retired to
they emphatically mingled and blended
the ancient and modern civilization in
the general features of the dance. Some
enterprising clothing merchant had pre-
sented them with cheap pair Of panta-
looms and vest each. With these still
retaining the salesman's card-mark for
ornament, calico shirt, Navajo or Zu-
and brand new cowhide shoes richly or
namented and highly decorated, the
dancers were arrayed. They had their
to arrange their endless
amour of ribbons in bright colors, pen
dant from the head and shoulders.
Their faces were highly painted, though
masked.
The monarch lover, Montezuma, was.
OF course, more gorgeously arrayed. His
crown was particularly noticeable and
gaudy. Each dancer carried red silk
more conspicuous than
Senator Thurman's in each hand. the
one in the right hand having a few
stones tied up in it, which, with con-
slant, regular and monotonous move
ment, kept rattling time with the music.
They started from the annex. literally
dancing time to the music that followed.
consisting of the violin and guitar played
ny Mexicans, out to the arena. Here
the dance was given. Hundreds of peo-
pie crowded around the low fence that
enclosed the arena. Other hundreds
On from the roofs of the state-house and
buildings. The arena was
spacious and gave full advantage to the
lancers to do their best. The witches
and ghosts in the old churchyard
danced with no more zeal and fury for
lam O'Shanter than did the Zuni for
their large audience: Dancing around
the may: pole concludes the ceremony.
long ribbons attached to the pole and
ribbons are thoroughly twisted. Then
the dancing is reversed and the ribbons
When this was done they
asked the crowd, through the interpre-
ter, if the pole was we'll twisted and the
work was we'll done and we all clapped
our hands and the Zuni's cup of glory
was full aud running over. I forgot to
mention that the lovely bride of Monte
yuma, Lupeta Archuletia, the fair Mali
wehe, was dressed in beautiful white
dress, latest style and very expensive.
Her head was highly ornamented. She
wore pair Of new shoes of reas onably
good material. With so much civiliza-
ton fixings old Montezuma would hard
lu have rei ounized his hrida She car.