The weekly messenger. [volume] (St. Martinsville [i.e. St. Martinville] La.) 1886-1948, 1890-09-06
THE TABLET DANCE.
AN ANIMAL FESTIVAL OF THE
PUEBEO PLAINS.
Parrot Feathers Necessary for the
Ceremonial-A Picturesque Process
sion-Indian Clowns-Cruel Sport


ious towns of the Pueblo Indians of Mex
leo, that at Santo Domingo on the 4th of
August is one OF the most important.
Among the PueblOs, Santo Dominica
about thirty miles southwest of Sante Fe
on the bank of the Rio Grandc, is one of
the largest. The river in time of freshet
menaCcs the town, and many wears AGO
during flood, it changed its channel
engulfing about half the town. The in
habitants thus dispossesScd built their
residences on higher ground to the east
of the old village, So that SantO Domingo
is really double village, with two dis
tnct kinds of aboriginal architecture
the old. in which the houses are two
stories high, terrace-shaped and entered
from the roof; and the new, in which
the one story houses have doors and win
dows.
Each division of the village has its own
estufa, or circular underground council
chamber. For several days preceding the
festival, Indians from the other Pueblos
of New Mexico and the Navajo country
gather in the town. Feathers are an i'm
portant feature of the ceremonial, and
several parrots kept in the village are
mercilessly plucked of their plumage to
decorate the dancers. For the greater
part of the night before the festival the
town is awake, the men performing their
ancient dances in the estufas, and the
women whitewashing the fronts of the
houses. while from time to time caval-
cades of horscmcn from the surrounding
country arrive in town.
At earliest dawn the people are at work
sweeping the streets and plazas. During
the morning many visitors arrive-In-
dams, MeXicans, and Americans
carriages and wagons, on horses and bur-
ros and on foot, until the house-tops are
covered Mexican ladies in brilliant
lowered silks and swarthy Indians in
superb Navajo blankets help to adorn the
crowded level roofs with bouquet-like
effect of rich color. Immediately after
mass the dancers begin to array them
selves; and precisely at noon, from the
summit of the estufa in the old town.
they appear in procession, men and
women, to the number of more than a
hundred. With them are men who play
on tomtoms, and one of them thumps a
drum made of a hollow cotton wood log
covered with II skin. A chorus of men
sing verses with L refrain, which accom-
pany the dance, and by degrees work
themselves into frenzy of excitement.
At the head of the procession man bears
standard fifteen feet high, surmounted
by long orange-coloied feathers and an
aboriginal banner of embroidered buck
skin trimmed with feathers. The men,
who are painted brown and. white, wear
Awhile tunic with an embroidered stripe
on each side. A fox or coyote skin hangs
behind, tail downward, and bunch of
green cedar sprigs is tied on the left arm.
Their uncovered loose flying hair is
adorned in front with parrot feathers.
Cedar sprigs encircle their bodies from
shoulder to waist. and rattles of tortoise
shell and sleeps toes. hang at the rear of
the right knee. They carry in the right
hand small painted gourds filled with
corn, which they rattle.
The women are dressed in a dark blue
single garment, consisting of double
blanket reaching to the knee. The cor
oers are caught over one shoulder, the
garment passing beneath the other arm.
leaving the left arm and shoulder and most
OF the right arm exposed; it is fastened
witha wide red embroidered sash around
the waist. Their long, black hair, carefully
prepared by washing with amolc-soap-
root-hangs straight down behind, shin
Ing like jet. Their cheeks are painted
vermilion, and they carry a bunch of
green cedar in the left hand Upon
their heads is the wooden head dress or
tabla OF thin board, fifteen inches high, !
pea-grcen or sky-blue in color, with three !
figures cut out of each In the shape of
crescent, cross, square, and letter T.: its |
serrated top is painted red and yellow,
and Its corners are decorated with eagle |
down. The women are barefootcd, and |
each carries a bunch of cedar in her left |
hand. The procession moves, slowly IN
to the church plaza. The dance COM
prlses great number of beautiful figures,
displaying more variety than Indian dan
ces In general, and it is executed with
much precision and grace.
At the end of an hour procession emer-
ges from the estufa in the new town: it
similar in character to the first. except
that the men are painted blue. instead Of
urown, and the feathers on the women's
caoias are white. AS the newcomers
oegln their dance, the other procession
ietires for season to rest, and thereafter
the two parties alternate in performance
throughout the day The Indian clowns.
waving small wands of cotton wood
branches, rush about hither and thither,
naked, except for breech cloths. their
oodies, limbs, faces, striped black and
.nite, and tortoise-shells clanking at the
night knee. They wear circle of cedar
ssPrigs at their ankles and waists, and
,aeir hair is tied up with corn shucks.
as the procession makes the circuit of the