Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-05-19
Imper.onatins the Gods.

ImpersOnatinE the Gods.
Pictures of two hundred and eighty of
these gods the ethnologist exhibited to
the writer. They were painted for him
by white Bear a priest of the Order of
the New Fire. Painted in the gaudieSu
color combinations possible, upon white pa
per furnished by the doctor, they might be
mistaken for aboriginal comic valentines.
Ic preparing his paints the artist chewed up
a generous mouthful of squash seed and
thus pressed out the thick oil contained
therein. With this he mixed his basic col
ors, made mostly of mineral substances.
These pictures show every detail of cos
haps the most deviIish of all is the god
Of DEATH To mask himself he slips his
head into great hollow gourd with hid
eous eye holes and painted features terri
BILE to see. Before appearing in the public
plaza. the arena of Tusayan. he sacrifices
a sheep paints his naked body with its
warm blood and beSpangles himself with
huge chunks of its CORY flesh. The snake
god wears a brown mask with a huge
rattlesnake, made of painted buckskin.
hung in the mouth. and carries a crooked
cane and bag of meal. The squash god
slips his head into hollow striped squash
with eye holes cut in front and continues
the stripes down over his naked body, COW
cred with prime coat of yellow. In one
ceremony DIR. Fewkes observed thirty men
dressed to represent the various BIRDS de-
nodded and feathered We're worn upon their
heads while rows of feathers were arranged
along their arms in representation of wings.
Throughout the ceremony each participant
initiated not only the hopping step. but
the characteristic call Of the bird which
he represented. The white hawk god
came into the plaza with raw cotton pasted
all over his naked body. while the hen
goddess was properly adorned with blood
red comb and wattles. The turkey COB
bier god" proudly strutted about with real
turkey feathers in his fan-like tail and was
adorned with the trunk-like appendage
characteristic of his species SINH. arly,
the Cow goddess appeared with a horned
mask, and the ''sun god with a huge cir
cular disk with spreading rays worn over
his face. And so each god in his turn played
his little part.
Welcoming Their Return.
Inasmuch as all of the Tusayan gods are
believed to take a vacation in the noun
tains every July and there remain until the
following midwinter they We're not repre-
scented In any of the ceremonies of the lat
ter half of the year. In January DR.. Fewkes
witnessed the ceremonial welcome of their
return. The priests of the various orders
collected their masks and other parapher-
MALTA and assembled at a spring at the foot
of the mesa. Here they bedecked and
painted themselves as described, formed in
procession and marched back to the plaza.
supposedly from the mountains. Then fol-
lowed a series of dances and pow-wows,
which did not let up for many hours
February was an all-round busy month.
1t began with the annual bean ceremony"
In the nine sacred subterranean chambers,
occupied by the Tusayan priests. little boxes
of beans had been planted several weeks
before and the fire in each Of these dark
dungeons had since been renewed with that
ceaseleSs care which guarded the sacred
flame in the ancient Temple of Vesta. Thus
warmed for such a time. the seeds had
sprouted to considerable size when pulled
up. made into bundles and given to priest
impersonating the "sun god" who distrib-
uted them among the various houses.
FIOgging the Children.
A few days later all Of the children of