The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1899-01-14
NOEL CEREMONIES QUITE UNFA.
MILIAR HERE.
of the Indians of an
Ancient TOwn-PicturesqueD Dance
Which the People of Isleta, n. NJ,
Have Performed for GeneratiOns-
Defeat of n Reforming Priest-
A Week of Feasting-Fun for the
Young of Hilarious Kind and in
Abundance.


Young of Hilarious Kind and in
Abundance.
The joys of the Christmas season in the
United States are by no means confined
to the communities Of palefaces. The red
people down in the ancient pueblos of
New Mexico and Arizona are having a
pretty large share in the good things of
the holidays. This pueblo of Isleta was
here a century at least before Francisco
Vasquez de Coronado's troops marched on
their search for the famed seven cities
or Clbola In 1910. 1t is picturesque IN its
mud and stone windowless houses, built
In terraces and OH top of one another.
In the crooked passageways that answer
for streets are scores of squat houses,
like mud dry goods boxes, that have been
occupied for 800 years. According to the
New York Suns Isleta On. M corre-
spondence, the mud church at the head
OF street of adobe houses was built bv
the Spanish priests more than 200 wears
ago, and the school, where a Yankee
girl teaches the pueblo children under the
authority Of the Indian bureau, was the
palace OF the great chief Wantahllo a
dozen generations ago.,
Of course there is a wide difference
between the Christmas Of the white peo.
pie and that Of the pueblo. The pueblo
1ndlans nave never so much as heard OF
Kris Kringle and his span of RENDERS.
there IS no shopping to be done by the
squaWs for their Christmas, no Christmas
trees, and not chimney in the whole
pueblo for any one to descend. In Isleta
the duties of the sexes ere sharply de-
fined, for there are no new women in
the pueblo and customs centuries old gov.
ern the conduct of labor of every inhabi.
tant. But every one in these pueblos has
a season of comparative leisure when
Christmas comes in sight AS for the
black-eyed, solemn faced youths, thew are
overwhelmed with case In these DAVIS
the young man may hunt all the time.
and the fat antelope or mountain sheen
or catamount with which he comes trudg.
ing back to the pueblo attests his prov.
ess as sportsman. At night the boys
may have It high old time by gathering
on the inesas and joining in tuneful
choruses in the bright moonlight for
hours at time. Some critical palefaces
may say there is nothing but a succession
OF cultural yelps and rasping grunts in
these juvenile concerts. but the accustom-
% Ell knows them to be musical s tories,
some dating further back than the DAYS
OF Montezuma, of a boy chief who slew
beasts as big as hills and legendary &C.
counts of ancient heroes who could make
the moon shake with their voices.
The Pueblo Indians anticipate the gas
tronomy of Christmas week with most
zeal. Usually they are Indifferent to what
tot nd 1ri,, 1,,t
time it is another thing. For weeks and
months the red people get ready for the
Christmas week. There is care that the
store of grain and vegetables is ample;
that the boys know where the juciest an
telope range and how many wild pigeons
and ducks may be counted on. The chill
dren are frequently shampooed and. the
little stone houses are swept and made
ready for week of fun. The fat sheep
are driven from the range and kept ready
for the roasting, while jerked beef dries
on the line day by day in the warm SUM-
shine AS the great day approaches the
red women and girls get out their ances-
trail shawls and serapes of gaudy colors
and polish their wealth Of agate and shell
necklaces and their clumsy metal brace
let's and anklets.
On Christmas eve tiny bonfires of mes
quite brush and dry grasses and hemlock
from the mountains are lighted by the
dozen up and down the crooked streets.
Everybody is out of doors and people go
about town singly and in groups, greeting
one another. The great event is dance
in the ancient church. For several CEN
turtles the dance has begun at the dying
out of the bonfires and has continued until
exactly midnight. Then the dancing sud-
denly ceases and the jewellers bow their
heads while the mass is celebrated. Each
year the governor or chief appoints two
score men and women, the handsomest,
most vivacious and athletic of the young
Indians to perform the dance. 1t is dis
tingushed honor to be chosen. A few
years ago the Spanish priest, whose good
deeds here are without number, issued an
order that the church should no more be
desecrated by the romping and revelry OF
dancers. 1t would be hard for readers
who have never been In one of these
pueblos to realize what storm this we'll
meaning priest raised. For days the In
dams treated the order with outward con-
tempt but at the same time kept up a
deal of hard thinking and chattering
among themselves. At last they burst
forth and a delegation of the old men of
the tribe marched over to the parochial
home. &. :. - - V -
1--WE want. to know: who owns the
church." said the leader. a wrinkled man
close to a century old, whose big black
eyes blazed. "Our fathers dwelt here for
ages and ages and we have kept their GUS
toms always. You came here only yester-
day. We have worshipped as the fathers
did. The dance was their custom and it
is our way, and on Christmas eve we shall
have more dancing
In vain the priest argued and threat
ened to say no mass on Christmas morn
Ing. .
''Ah, WELL" retorted the aged Indian in
his broken Spanish, and shaking with
anger, "we'll go without mass. 1t is not
always necessary. But give up the dance,
no, no. That's too old in Isleta.'
Remember purgatory if you DO so,"'
answered the good priest.
Eyes, purgatory all right; but we'll
dance on Christmas eve. 1t was the faith
ers' way replied the old man.
That was the end to the objection to the
custom. It should be said that the dan
cling in the church is not social func-
ton nor an empty frolic. The Indians
look upc: 1t as a pious duty. They dance
to their pagan deities on half-dozen &C.
casions in the year, and when they con-
form to the religion of the missionaries
they do not see why the deity of the mis-
sionaries should not be as pleased with
their ceremonies as the moon gods, the
sun father and the rain spirit So they
gather in the old church.
An old man with long white hair rises,
and in the native tongue orders space
made in the center of the church for the
ceremonies. The orchestra and singers
start up. There is a hoarse drum, made
of dry sheepskin stretched over a half
barrel. A squaw beats on that Four
young men have stringed instruments
made of mesquite wood, similar to violins.
When space ten feet wide has been
cleared, at signal the dancers come
trooping in. The men are bare to the
rsist- Their chests ard backs are TAINTED