West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1895-04-11
INDIAN MEDICINE DANCE.
Special correspondent of rnE ARsus.
MARTINEZ INDIAN SCHOOL.
lNDIo, CAL. March 25, 1895.

l will give you an occount of u
medicine dance which was held near
me not many nights since. The
medicine man does not use any
medicines, but does all his curing
by charms sn6 incantations.
The Indians believe there are two
classes of spirits lowering around
IN the air--'ho good aud the bad.
The latter they believe are always
trying to do them harm. When
any one is sick, or any misfortune
befalls any one, 1t is the work of
the evil one. The medicine man
can at all times see these spirits,
and 1t is his work to drive them off.
They also believe that the crow,
owl aud bat are evil spirits, and try
to avoid them. The medicine man
saw many evil spirits lowering
around this village, and therefore
undertook to drive them away by a
protracted service held every night
for three nights.
The service began on Friday
night. | was there. They came
from far and near, bringing their
whole families-that means dogs,
too. The meeting was held in u
thatched shed, with fire in the
center to light their cigarettes and
to make it more home.like by filing
their eyes with smoke. 1t was very
hot and sinking in tho shed, SO |
stood at the door until an Indlan
gave me stool to sit on.
There is boss OF the meeting,
who opened the perfor by u
deep groan or grunt, and all the
lndians-children, babies aud all
throw back their heads and blow
with all their force upward. This
is repeated a dozen or more times,
and as some did not wear shirts,
could see their loathery sides ex-
pand and contract like bellows.
This IS to. expel the spirits from
their bodies.
The medicine man wears fe thers
in halr, and holds bunch of charm
feathers in each hand. lie begins
by chant in very low. soft tone.
increasing rs he proceeds, when all
join In, squaws and children. Then
he jumps up and comes down
stamping one foot in the dust with
all his might, and the audience give
II loud ha ha ha /, with each stamp.
lie continues ia this kind Of a
dance until he gets tired, when he
Games down OH both feet thrusting
out bis hands with "hi-oo," ana
all respond with an ear-spittIng
war whoop. Then the chanting
commences again. Should there be
any pause, it is tiled up by blowing
as ia the beginning. Some times
the chants are very soft, then again
ut the top OF the voice. They have
no tune. and it is nearly all on one
key. The medicine man ever aud
anon swings his feathers, hands aud
shoos through the air to drive of
the spirits. The only variation to
this was, that he occasionally took
u red coal from The fire, threw it
into his mouth, and all yelled while
he swallowed it. Occasionally there
would be a dog fight, knocking
over the children and scattering 4
cloud Of dust.
The last night was on Sunday
night of the eclipse. When I ar
rived | found all the squaws sing
ing aud dancing TO the moon. They
continued this until the eclipse be.
gan to pass OFT. ! asked what il
was for, and was told that tho
medicine man told them that the
spirits had left and gone TO tn,
moon, and in their rage were eating
it up, and the squaws were driving
them of.
n mum Der OF my pupils gathered
around me. and / said 10 them
'Let us sing song, too" Tbey
replied, "AlI right" ! started on,
Of our school songs, in which al
joined-my pupils, | mean. TheI
we sang Wonderful Words o
Life" and NEARER Ny God n,
Thee" aud when wo stopped, tn,
whole village and visitors were in
circle around us. Only one squay
continued to sing aud dance.
] asked an Indian whatthey san,
about IN the dance, and he said
almost anything sometime
about bird, their bodies, etc.
They repeat q sentence or two owe
and over all the time In one song
The doxology to dismiss tn
: dance was the medicine man Jump
ing as high rs he could and below
ing as loud as bis lungs would per
nit, after which all instantly dis
perse.
] asked " the medicine man ha,
ever cured any one near here, an,
vas told e0 yea ho eockod