The Washington times. (Washington [D.C.]) 1901-1902, 1902-02-16

year he insists that the service be
held
The peun. TOO. believes that the prayers
said over the animals and the holy water
sprinklcI upon them practically insures
them against sickness or serious acct
dent during the year. So. besides improV-
ing their moral wclfa-e. the service is
sort Of insurance which is OF practical
benefit Until this belief Of the peon is
overcome by education there is little
. chance that the complaints of the priests
against the service will be listened to and
their wish to abolish it granted.
But this insuring of the cattle is far
from being the only Objectionable service
which the Indian has managed to fierce
The priest to perform. The Indian and
the peon are good Catholics in a way.
They have adopted the teachings of the
church and they do pretty much as the
priests want them to.
McreI, a Surface Religion.
But their Catholicism is more or less
surface religion. TheiY ancestors adopted
it because they had TO and the present
day descendants cling 10 it because their
ancestors adopted it But both of them.
ancestors and present day Indian wear
their religion Is a cloak in which they
have wrapped their old beliefs They
embraced Christianity. bur they didn't
give mp their old religion when they did
so. and as a consequence the cid worship
is continually cropping up in many ways
II is this which bothers the priests Tor
the lndians insist on worshipng Christ
and the Virgin Mary with riany of the
old ceremonies which they had for their
heather divinitics. The priests have tried
TO eradicate all remembrances of these
old savage rituals but they have been
unsuccessful. The Indian figures out that
II the new religion is good 1t is no proof
mat the old one was bad. So he combines
the two in a way that is picturesque. even
If no excuse for il can be found in the
rules of the church
One oil his favorite methods of Worship
and one to which the priests. for some
reason. are especially opposed, is the
dance But though the priests may pro-
test, the Indian is stubborn Once
year, at least. and oftener if they can
manage ii, the Indians are bound to have
Their way. Then the whole village turns
out and the dance is given
The Dance nt the Church,
There is little of the dance about 1t.
Led by the elders of the village the men
and then the women and children form
IN long line. First the old men and
then the younger ones strike mp crude
chant in the Aztec tongue. The women
gradually take up the refrain, bending
ana sWaying their bodies in time to the
music. Then the old men, crouching down
and stamping heavily on the ground as
they move, begin to crawl forward in a
circle. Half a dozen times or SO they
turn about Then they retire and give
place to the younger men who repeat the
performance. They, in turn, are followed
by the women and children. During all
TINS performance, which is held close in
front of the church, the monotonous chant
is continued
AT last the outdoor part of the exer-
cises is completed. but the chant still
goes on. Forming into line as they had
been at first, the old men lead the way
into the church, still singing their Aztec
song, bent nearly double and shutting
along in a peculiar gait which is imi-
tated by all. Just inside the door they
circle about again few times and then
approach the altar. There they stop their
singing long enough to cross themselves
and kneel and say prayer. But after this
the chant Is renewed and with the same
crouching and half wriggling walk they
leave the church. Once outside they dance
again and the service is ended.
survival of IdoIatry.
Sometimes they insist on having music
with this service. Then It is of the
crudest kind. It is far different from
anything they ordinarily have; and seems
to be a survival of their old heather wor-
ship. None of the Indians attaches any
special meaning to the dance. To them
it is simply form by which they for
merly worshiped and one to which they
cling. But why they do it none of them
seems able to tell