The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-05-29
The Strange People Who
HmH1abit FLUID Pyramids.
The Story of Primitive Race of Men Liv-
ing i'm Valley of the New rlexico Rockies.

er seventy-two. The inhabitants num-
Der about 400
The walls of these community
houses are made of mud bricks dried
in the sun. The front wall of the
second story was built back from the
'front.' of the first story, making a
broad terrace. The succeeding
stories were constructed in similar
manner, and as all four sides of the
building were terraced the structure
became a pyramid. The roofs were
formed by laying sapplings across the
walls and covering them with mud.
Until recently there were neither
doors nor windows in any of the walls,
and even now there are very few. The
people climb up to the outside on rude
ladders, which may be pulled up af-
ter them If danager threatens, and
they enter their homes through
holes in the roofs. Many of the dark
rooms near the center of the pyra-
mids are in decay, and others are
used for storing grain. Some of the
| living-rooms are whitewashed Fire
| places are made by constructing n
mud hood across a corner with mud
| flue running to the roof, and pinyon
and ceder brought from the mountains
are burned standing on end in the cor
ner. The broad terraces are the play
ground of the children and the loung
ing place of the "old folks"
When discovered by the Spanish
| conquistadores these people were not
| only peaceful farmers, but they wore
cotton clothing brought from their
cousins in the warmer lowlands far
| ther south, as well as the skins of wild
animals. Today the men wear in sum-
mer cotton leggings held up by a
| string about the lions and a print
shirt falling loosely outside the leg
gings. In cold weather they add moe
casins and blankets. The women wear
! a skirt of colored cotton, and the
waist is a piece OF cloth wound around
| under the left arm. For gala attire
they have gayly flowered clothing with
a silk shawl for the head and white
| buckskin moccasions with leggings
wrapped about the legfs until they
are nearly as big as stove pipes.
TWO RELIGIONS.
| The good paders who came into the
| wonderland of the southwest with
| the Spanish explorers and conquerors
! grated the Christian faith on the pa
gan religion, and the world is pre-
sented with the strange spectacle of
| a people with two religions, both
carefully observed and held in rever-
ence There is a little Catholic church
| in which faithful priests have taught
Christian doctrines for many genera
tions and brought the simple natives
to such an understanding that they
resent any interference with their
Christian rites. At the same time they
continue their pagan ceremonies in Sc
cret-except their annual sun dance.
They have several covered holes in
the ground, each perhaps twenty-five
feet in diameter and fifteen feet deep
They are known as estufas. Here
the pagan priests perform the mystic
rites of their sun worship, and nc
white man is permitted to witness
them. These people also have organ.
izations corresponding to the secret
societies of civilized communities
whose members meet and lounge in
the estufas, and women are seldom OF
| never allowed to enter them. THE
entrance to these places is by d ladder
through the roof. A hollow in the
middle of the floor serves for a fire
|
ter small shafts, which permit colt
air to come in from the outside. Tht
heated air from the fire flies out at thu
opening above, and thus this primi
tive people solved the problem of ven
tilation centuries before civilized maj
CROPPED his way out of the darkness
of antary error. The feather is I
symbol of prayer with the pyrami,
dwellers. They tie the downy feathe
of an eagle to a twig, stick it in tn
ground in an out of the way plac
where it is not likely to be disturbed
and so long as it remains there it i
prayer constantly going up to tn
Trues above.
The event Of the year in the pagan
religion is the thanksgiving day of tn
sun worshippers The Christian
priests have inaugurated the da.
= with a service at the church and the
have stamped the fiesta with the nam
of the Catholic saint selected by thei
forerunners as the patron saint of tn
I community. The fiesta is therefor
known as San Geronimo (Saint Jer
l ome) Day, and the images from tn
/ pagan performances from a bower
2 All but the church service is a su
! vival of the pagan era.
Offerings of sheep, grain and fruit
are hung up on a pole in thanksgivin
to the sun for warm weather an
good crops, and the sun father
pretty sure to be smiling on his wol
shippers. There is a queer sun dane
{ in which the naked men, with be
S dies painted and decked with feather
r chant praises to the sun. Then 70
e lows a race between the young mel
n lasting perhaps two hours, in whic
e the contestants run back and forth
r relays. After dinner the chifoneti
d priests of the sun, with bodies stripe
S in black and white, like zebras, anus
n the people with such buffoonery
a may be suggested by the occasion
# much the same as the clown of a ci,
g Gus, making faces. cracking jokes ar
n making elaborate attempts at Varlol
d feats, only to fail. This is the OF
n occasion Of the year when Apache
e Utes and Navajoes are permitted
N pitch camp on the reservation, al
n some of these wild tribes are sure
a be present to get share of the goC
IS things given away. The antipathy
Ie the Mexicans is forgotten, and Amer
e cans are priced as guests of honor.
STRANGE CUSTOMS.
l. The subject races early learned Il
'e Spanish language from their Coz
Il querors, and for 200 years or more
l. has been the common tongue of u
10 southwestern peoples speaking varioi