El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-08-22

0ODOODOOOOOOOO
Among all the villages OF the Puet
| 10 Indians in New Mexico ana Arizona
and also among the Navajoes and othe
tribes in the southwest, medicine me
| or shsmans perform featS OF magl
fully equal to those of the coDjurer
of India or the legerdemain OF probes
sional maRicians, but, unlike the lat
ter, the Indian priests claim superna
tursl powers. They pretend to De gen
uine wizards or magicisns like thOs
who compe ted with Moses and Aaron
before the throne of Pharaoh, ant
some of their fests are equal and SINH
lar to that great wonder of the Egypt
ians, the buding of Aaron's rod. They
claim to receive their power from the
Great Spirit aud to be authorized me
diums of com manication between the
living and the dead. Everything i:
based upon superstition, but how fal
hypnotism is involved cannot be easily
determined, writes William E. Curtis
in the Chicago Record.
AS among the Israelites, the priest
hood of the Pueblo tribes is a separate
clan which is never extinct, for it il
recruited annually by the adoption Of
the brightest boys, who are educated
to become custodians of the traditions
and history of the tribe (for they have
no written language,) the expounders
of their theology, the .healers OF
disease, the interpreters of natural
phenomena and the protection of the
entire tribe against the Vaccinations
of their enemies and evil spirits.
All this Is q part of their religion,
and the feats of magic are performed
spirits of the dead. Hence 1t is diff
cult for stranger to obtain admission
to the estufas in which the rites are
celebrated and no amount of money
would tempt Pueblo priest to reform
them upon q platform for the gratifica-
tion of q curious audience. They have
no accessories, no machinery, no mir
rors, no properties of any kind. Their
tricks are performed in the center of a
circle of sincere and credulOus wOr-
shippers, from whom nothing is con-
cealed. and are accompanied by incan-
tations and weird refrains chanted by
every one present.
The shamans dance upon live Goals,
eat fire, swallow swords and arrows,
like the jugglers of India, and perform
ell sorts of muscular feats that are
One of the most familiar and
at the same time one of the most won
derful of these ia to make feathers
dance upon the floor. This has fire.
quently been seen by outsiders army
officers, traders, missionaries and visit
ing scientists-but nobody has ever
been able to explain how it is done.
Some people says 1t is an optical illu-
sion and the result of hypnotism. but
that is hardly possible.
The members of the tribe gather in
; circle around fire in the center of
The floor of the estufa, or underground
,emple, and after preliminary incants-
ions, accompanied by strange chants
which recite the glories of the tribe
Ind the abilities OF the priests, when
he emotions of the audience have
been worked up to sufficient degree,
he high priest, or cacique, takes from
ais bosom q bunch of eagles feathers
Ind sticks the Quill ends into the clay
loor, so that they stand upright.
Then, with their eyes fastened upon
hem and with many gyrations, the
priests dance, sing and clap their
lands until all at once the feathers be-
gin to move and dance about upon the
loOr for five or ten minutes, or even
onger, moved by Invisible power,
changing places, circling around one
mother and acting the puppets: but
here is no connection between the
lands of the priests and the feathers:
It least NO one has ever been able to
Another and q somewhat easier trick
s known as ''seed giving" It Is cele-
,rated at the planting season, and the
esult is Interpreted as q prediction of
he success or failure of the harvest.
+ the trick fails, as it sometimes does,
he whole community goes into mourn
ng and takes measures to intercede
With the gods for a restoration of
avor, in order that the tribe may not
tarve. When the worshipers are
adhered in the estufs one of the
'riests shells an ear of white corn into
blanket. It must be perfect ear.
ults. Then, after two or three hours |
hanting, dancing and lamentations, at |
signal from the chief priests all |
resent arise and direct their gaze up |
n the blanket, which all the time has |
cen lying folded in the center of the !
roup. No hand has touched it. 1t |
as not been interfered with in any
ray, but when it is ooened, it is found
D contain a bushel or more of different
inds of seeds-corn, wheat, beans,
cas-, watermelon and other
eeds used by the Indians in their gar
enc. The quantity indicates the COM
lay be an abundance of corn and very
wv beans, OF wheat may be plenty and
0rn scarce. Sometimes the blanket
ill contain two or three bushels of
eeds, which by some mysterious pro-
ass have been evolved from the hand
IL of white corn that was originally
)ncealed in the folds of the blanket
The disclosure is always greeted
it'll EXPLANATIONS of Joy and disap-
ointment, as the case may be. If
Dor crop is indicated there is great
If there are signs of an
guidance. every person in the village
inns in shouts of qualification.