The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-10-04


bow personifled by a. goddess, decorat-
ed with the square mask by which the
Indians differentiate their. female from
their male deities
Curious, however, as is this bit of
American symbolism, the method bv
which the Indians paint" their Sand
picture is even more interesting. The
picture is only one of several used in a
nine days ceremony which took place
IN Chaco Canon New Mexico, not far
from Pueblo Bonito. The Harvard sci.
enlist who witnessed the ceremony was
not invited to view it as a scientist, but
rather as temporarily adopted mem
Der of small Indian village with
whose members he had ingratiated him.
self not only by tactfully concealine
any TOO civilized" interest in their pros
ceedings, but also by adopting the In
dian dress and Indian manners. The
ceremony was held primarily to cure
two Navajo Indians, one of whom had
lost his voice in boyhood through break
ing the tribal law by making a mask
OF one Of the gods and dancing in it,
and the other a woman afflicted with
general bodily weakness. Neither was
cured-a fact, however that could cas-
lily be accounted for on the ground that
the gods were unwilling, and need not
cine of their sand hkenesses.
The sand picture, which exists from
year to year only in the memory of the
medicine man, or shaman, who directs
its making, was drawn" on the floor OF
a sacred hut especially constructed for
the purpose, it's doorway carefully fac
ing the east, from which direction, the
Indian belief is, no evil spirit need be
expected. The medicine man, whose pro-
fessional fee amounted to several sheep
and horses, had as his advisers and
memory assistants several old men of
the tribe who had participated in the
painting" of many a former sand pic
ture. These men sat together at ons
side of the hut and directed the actual
painters" four young men of the tribe
who first laid out a smooth foundation
middle of this smooth surface, moved
outward in either direction as the CEN
ter of the picture was finished. Each
painter took a pinch of sand of the nee
essary color-the red white and yellow
being simply powdered rock, the black
a combination of red and ground char
coal, and the blue a mixture of white
sand with little black, giving soft
grayish tint-blew on his fingers to re-
move all stray particles and dropped
what remained upon the required part
of the picture by rubbing 1t slowly be-
tween thumb and forefnger. In this
way, line by line and color by color, the
the picture came slowly into existence
until at the end of six hours finished
painting" about nine by thirteen feet
In size, had been executed to the salts
faction of the chief medicine man and
his experienced advisers. Nothing or
the design or coloring except some or
the minor adornments of the gods
clothing had been left to the originality
Of the artists; the rest followed estabs
lished precedent.
Behind the scenes of the ceremony
before the two patients were admitted
there was another bit of interesting
business" If it might be so called;
namely, the preparation of yet an
other divinity. This was a. young man
whose body was first painted with
white earth and then adorned with
stockings, moccasins, necklaces,
black velvet loin cloth. and the mask
that transformed him into a god for
the purpose of the forthcoming cere-
mony. When he was dressed for his
part and had wrapped himself in his
blanket and retired. the medicine man
took a basket of corn and, standing at
the eastern side of the picture. s2rin-
killed. each of the figures, taking great
care not to drop any of the corn into
the eyes of the recumbent divinities.
The sprinkling, like the making of the
picture, was no haphazard affair. but
a. matter of established precedent. and
the medicine man finished this part OF
the ceremony by making little piles
of corn in certain long-prescribed
places of the drawings.
The patients were then admitted,
each bearing a basket filed with
ground corn. They took their places
- 90 he rkfo xrrni0t
certain other ceremonies had protect
ed from evil influence. and were fol-
lowed by several mothers with chill
dren who had paid one or two sheep
for the privilege of being present and
getting such general good as they
might out of the ceremony. Gourds of
medicine" chiefly of ground cedar
and of corn pollen mixed with water.
were placed in different parts of TIE
figure. The two patients scattered
their corn as the medicine man had
done before them, after neriod of
singing by the medicine man and his
assistants.
The pseudo-god then entered the hut
backward. sprinkled each god with
cedar from one of the medicine gourds
and thus sanctified the little piles of
corn that the chief medicine man had
placed on various parts of the gods
bodies. The two patients seated them
selves respectively on the blue god of
the south and the yellow god of the
west. and in this position received the
n hdicine Rourd from khe assistant
medicine man, who permitted them to
drink and then placed the gourd on
the ground between them, so that
they could proceed to rub the con-
tents upon their bodies. What was
left in the bowl was given to the
mothers who carefully used it to wash
the bodies of their babies.
UP to this point the picture, save
where the patients were sitting on it,
was practically uninjured. Now the
assistant medicine man began rub
bling portions of the gods, and then
transferring the soil to corresponding
parts of the patients bodies, each time
uttering a. piercing yell in the ear of
the patient Finally, he yelled twice
in succession and left the hut back
ward, as he had entered it. The pa
tients inhaled the smoke arising from
powdered feathers bur.lt over two
hot Goals that the medicine man placed
before them, and the ceremony was
over. The sand picture, which had
taken six hours to make, was prac-
ideally obliterated in less than an
hour. and it's ruin was completed by
the efforts of the rest of the audience
to avail themselves of the beneficent
properties of such sand as remained.
How much these sand pictures may
have changed from year to year is,
IL course, a question. Twenty years
ago, however, a sand painting was
uerefully reproduced by a. scientist
who was present as similar cere-
mony, and this drawing is practically
Identical with the reproduction zee