Clarksville evening chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn) 1886-1890, 1888-10-08
A PUEBLO sun DANCE.
CELEBRATING THE FEAST OF 4
SAINT m NEW MExlcc.

al AhSSH1oSnS GN0ns ~ the AW0~A" %
San Buena Ventura de Cochitt-A Gu
rious Dance Of Mystic nTeaning-TI,e
Movements. al ii
Two hundred mounted Pueblos, aligned as
perfectly ms a crack cavalry regiment on
| parade, formed. three sides of hollow
| square The fourth side was the high wall
| of the old church yard, now buried under a
| drift of expectant humanity. Pueblos from
Santo Domingo, San Felipe Isleta, San
Juan, Nambe, Tesuque, Pojoaque, and even
distant Acon,a; Navaioes from the western
end of the te Titory, four Americans" and
forty or fftyy neighboring Mexicans were
among the crowd Close by the cross over
the gate was the long, faded robe and the
beautiful, classic face of tho priest from
Pena Blanca, whose delicately chiseled
Gallo features looked anachronistic enough
among those swarthy proselytes. He had
held mass in the old church that morning,
and now the first dance Of the day was to be
ell faile del padre, in his honor.
| We had not long to wait. Directly the
puml punl punt of huge yellow torntom,
big as a mature beer barrel, came around the
corner Of the church, presently followed by
| che tomtom itself and its athletic prosecutor.
| Around the drummer clustered the chorus
| \ dozen men in snowy shirts and with snowy
drawers descending into the embrace Of
! beautiful brown buckskin calzones, which
| also covered the tops of their moccasins
| They were chanting loudly a weird refrain
in the Juerez tongue, keeping perfect time
with feet and arms. They were closely
followed by the dancers-a strange and
grotesque half hundred, truly. AT their
head marched the bearer of the holy Flag OF
the Sun He was stalwart aboriginal gen
tleman clothed upon with all the pomp and
circumstance Of ST. Louis drum major, but
without the ramrod which is popularity sup
posed to stiffen the spine of that awful Dig
| nitary. The banner was q priceless bit Of
work in beaded buckskin; bearing, with its
pole, the general shape of gigantic feather,
and fringed and tufted at sides and top with
eagle feathers. The dancers were equally
divided as to sex, and an attractive set in
face and form The women wore their usual
modest dress to the knees, but had omitted
their everyday buckskin boots and mecca
sins, and their sbapely shins and arms were
bare. Their beautiful black hair, carefully
combed, hung down their backs, unrestrained
by ribbon or ornament Around their necks
| they wore dazzling profusion Of necklaces,
costly corals, silver beads alternating with
Tilver crosses and long strings of priceless
turquois-their proximity to the only tur-
| quois mine in the Western hemisphere stands
| them in good stead-were q dozen strands
deep on those pretty brown necks. Their
heavy jet bangs-the Aztecs were banging
their hair before Cortez sailed from Spain
waved as they came hopping along on alter
nate feet. Each had q bright vermillon
patch on either check bone, and each held in
either hand sprig of sacred cedar. But
the most remarkable feature of the female
half of the ballet was the headdress, Over
tho middle of her crown, each woman wore
q board, fitted to her head, and rising eigh-
teen inches above it, The board was bright
with an ornamental top and capital sawed
out Of the middle The projections at the
| top Of the board were prettily tufted.
| The men wero more picturesquely arrayed.
Each was naked to the waist, and painted
| over the trunk and arms with dull blue.
Around the waist and falling nearly to the
knees was an elaborate dancing skirt woven
of mouse colored stuff. handsomely decked
with bead work, and with fine macreme
sash pendent on the right side. To this skirt,
behind. was attached beautiful fox skin.
with its long brush dangling nearly to tho
| ground. The moccasins and leggins COM
pleted the dress, but there were further ac-
cessorics. Each man had fastened to the top
of his head little bunch of feathers or q
sprig of cedar; each had around his biceps
four-inch armlet of buckskin painted green
and white, and several skeins Of bright yarn
and strings of sleigh bells wore tied around
tho calzoncs just below the kneo. None of
them were facially painted, none had tho
customary beadkerchef or queue, nor the
every day white cotton drawers. Each held
in his left hand branch of evergreen, and
in his right rattle, made of dry gourd,
with q wooden handle. Over their bare
chests ratified beads only less prodigal than
those worn by the women The men were
all young or youngish and, as a rule, very
good looking fellows. At the rear the pro-
cession tapered down to half n dozen boys
and girls, the smallest not over years old,
but dressed just like their elders, and equally
expert in tho intr1cacies Of the curious
dance.
When the fifty dancers were oil inside the
square, in a long row by pairs-nrst two
women and then two mcn-they ceased their
advance, which had been made at a malding
pace of half q mile per hour, but continued
to mark time," as an army man would say,
to tho unfalterlng bump Of the yellow drum
and tho long winded sing song Of the chorus.
Tho step, whether advancing, rctreating or
standing still, is the samoa simple variation
Of the universal hop jump remembered by
every ono who has ever seen an aboriginal
dance anywhere. Starting on tiptoc the
dancer raised his right foot quickly to
height of from three to six inches above tho
ground, at the same time-or perhaps an
instant later-giving q tiny hop, which lifted
the loft foot high enough to put toothpick
between it and the ground. This hitch is
almost imperceptible III itself, but it is never
omitted, and makes notable impression
upon the character Of tho step as whole.
Then the right foot went down in a similar
hyphenated fashion, and the left foot wcntup
and so on The soft pat of tho moccasined
feet Of the men and the bare sole3 of tho
women was audible only in the aggregate
| After little marching and countcrlnarch-
ing around the space reserved for them, the
dancers again came down to the footlights-
so to speall-and, by quick turn, formed In
! four parallel rows, facing outward. In the
center were the two rows of women, and on
each side row Of men. In this position they