The herald., 1897-04-25
INDIAN FIRE DANCERS
TA-TA-WEELA AND PATADA I'M
THE AFTERNOON
The Effect of the Fire Dance Spoiled
by Poor Lighting and an
Unruly Crowd

The opening attraction of the festivi-
ties of the week occurred in the Indian
dances at the tribunes yesterday after
noon. The women wore wreaths made
of green willow on their heads, gay COL
ored sashes across the left shoulder and
their faces were elaborately ornamented
with red paint, though 1t was not ap-
piled in just the right spots to be consid-
cred la mode.
The men were naked to the waist but
were so thickly covered with red, white
and blue paint in stripes, rings and fan
tastic shapes very little Of the brown
skin was visible. Their trousers were
white cotton and the Fiesta colors were
prominent in breech cloths and sashes.
Chief Sylvester was exceptionally re-
splendent in pair of bloomers made Of
large squares of cloth in red, orange and
green. The crowning glory of the suit
was the elaborate headdress made of
eagle feathers and so arranged that they
blew about in the wind gracefully, with,
out disarranging the structure
Shortly after 2 o'clock they formed In
line and marched solemnly into the en-
closure, and after circling around sew
eral times formed in position for the
ta-ta-weela dance. This was essential
ly the same as the one given the night
of their arrival except that it was mora
ceremonious and given in greater de-
tail. Preceding Chief Sylvester. who
came running into the circle, was her.
aid. announcing the approach of the
dancer in the queer gutteral sounds of
the Indian. Before the dance began the
chief made supplication, asking the
blessing of the Great Spirit on the per-
formance of the afternoon, while the
others stood reverently attentive. After
Sylvester's dance was finished Jose
Burro put on the eagle feather dress and
performed some curious bodily contor-
tions on his knees, and extra evolutions,
presumably to show his superior skill
as a dancer. The chant that accompa-
MED the dance sounded like repetition
of the syllables honea-ne-pa, with little
variation of tone.
The second dance, the patada, was
somewhat less elaborate than the first.
and evidently less serious. The women
seated themselves on the ground and
| the men marched around in single file
with a double quickstep with halt be-
tween, to the singing OF the women. Tha
tone was more shrill than the first chant
| the syllables sounding like repetitioni
of ni-hi-hi. They marched and hopped
| in a STOPPING posture and after going
| through several evolutions which were
most of the time accompanied by gut
| teral sounds, stopped, good humoredly
| at signal from the leader
| This concluded the performance of the
| afternoon, after which they were taken
| to their camp in a special street car by
| Mr.. Patton.
| THE EVENING PERFORMANCE
There was an audience of probably
seven or eight hundred people present
at the evening dances, which had been
advertised to far exceed in interest those
of the afternoon. The Indians faith
fully carried out their part of the pro-
gram but the affair was so badly man
| aged that it turned out to be almost a
| failure and the crowd went home dis
gusted At the gate people holding tick
| cts were allowed to enter, and were then
told that they must push through the
| crowd to the box Office outside to secure
| reserved seats.
The tribunes were SO poorly light
ed that it required unusually good
| eyesight to determine at times
| whether the performers were moving or
| standing still. A large fire was burning
in the rear of the dancers. preparatory
| to the fire dance. When the Indians oc-
| casionally fitted in front of the light
| those who had seen the afternoon per-
| formance could discern that the pre-
| liminary preparations for that cere-
mony very nearly resembled the ta-ta-
weela and patada, previously given.
AS the wood burned down and the light
grew brighter the Indians circled
around it, the women chanting in mono
tone and the men keeping time with
their gutteral groans or grunts. In uni
son.
BY this time the unruly small
| boy and the people who can never keep
their seats when they should began to
gather around the dancers and shut
| off the view of those in the seats. The
crowd shouted "down in 'front.'" stand
| back" etc singly and in unison, but all
| to no purpose. The police made few
| Intellectual attempts to force the intrud-
ers back, and then weakly gave it up.
and the balance of the performance was
| lost to those who had kept their seats.
When the crowd pressed too closely
l on the cGTGUiOIllcS dIOuuu lAc llIS OIlc
| of the squaws, eXasperated, took the
matter in her own hands, and did more
effectual work in gaining space in three
minutes than the police had done all
evening.
A rare opportunity Of witnessing cere-
| monies of great interest to Intelligent
people, and of deep religious significance
to the simple-minded children of the
desert was entirely destroyed. and the
large audience dispersed early, dissatis-
fed with the whole affair.
Unless the light in the tribunes II
greatly increased the effect of the beau
tiful parade Of Thursday evening will
be lost.
Tuesday the following telegram was
received at Fiesta headquarters:
"ST. LOUIS, April TO- 1897.