The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1904-10-29
INDIANS FOND OF DANCING.
Woman Generally Takes Lead-Mueh
Amusement in Sign Language.

Amusement In Sign Language.
To white persons the dance Of the
Indian signifies a grim ceremonial pro-
liminary to bloody slaughter, or n
tendant on the torture of prisoners.
OF course, those occasions call for
dances, according to the Indian Gus
tom, but apart from serious occasions.
the aborigines, men and women. love
to dance for pleasure.
1t will probably be surprise to the
present generation and many Of the
older ones. for that matter, to learn
that the modern society german" OF
"cotillion" of the whites Is stolen ab-
solutely from the red men of the
plains.
There is hardly night in an Indian
encampment that there is not dancing
among the bucks and squaws. Little
preparation is necessary for these af.
fairs. and formal invitations are not
considered essential, the call Of the
"tom-tom' being the only notice Civ.
en- those who may desire to attend.
There is no difference in social
grade among the Indians. no social
ostracism, no -four hundred" All
meet at the dance on an absolute
equality. The dances are usually held
in tepees, two OF them being pitched
facing each other. In one OF them
half dozen Indian bucks are squat
ted around a drum. each furnished
with q stick for the purpose OF max
ing music" and this is the entire
orchestra. Each man has particular
place on the drum TO beat.
Very soon after the first tap on the
drum those who desire to participate
in the dance begin to appear. Even II
the grandest dances there Is no Ger
emony, and although there appears to
be no particular sentiment against II,
it is very rarely the case that . mas
accompanies his wife to or from thu
festivities, yet a married woman who
would accept such attention from an
other man would commit . grave
breach of propriety.
The men find their way to the tepee
where the drum is beating and ne
women squat around the tepee that
has been arranged for dancing. When
the crowd of would-be dancers y
thought sufficiently large. the women
intimate what they would like to
dance and the drummers begin thefi
monotonous beating.
1t is curious. but it Is also . fe0s
that at all of these Indian dances thu
leader is always a woman. The WON
en- all squat around the tepee until
sufficiently inspired to take the cen
ter of the floor; the woman that d0es
this first is the leader for that ngure.
She will dance around all alone for .
moment or two and then up to some
! buck whom she chooses for . partner;
then they dance around for . while
and each takes a partner OF the op
posite sex. This continues until thers
is room for no more couples.
This is continued for perhaps ~
minutes, when the music ceases. the
partners separate and each returns to
his or her former place. There are
any number Of very pretty figures
danced in this way. One that l re-
call is the Sign dance" After dane
ing around Tor few minutes woman
will take a man, lead him into circle
placing him opposite her, both In thu
meantime dancing hard. Then she
will talk to him in the sign Language
Of the red men something after this
manner:
what do you think OF me, my
buck; l am ready for you to make
love to me-"
His answer is in the sign Language
and he is at liberty to respond - ne
desires without giving the least OF
tense. Frequently these sign CONVEX
sations during the dance are out
bursts of wit and sarcasm. which an
received by the onlookers with great
ahouts Of laughter and applause % tn
little thrusis ere SEPT AQme.-{AQ
anspclls sen1snel.