The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1904-09-28
INDIANS FOND OF DANCING.
Woman Generally Takes Lead-Much
Amusement in Sign Language.


To white persons the dance of the
Indian signifies grim ceremonial pre-
liminary TO a bloody slaughter, or at
tendant on the torture of prisoners.
or 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 a surprise to the
present generation and many of the
older ones, for that matter, to learn
that the modern society german" or
"cotilllon" of the whites Is stolen alb.
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 stick for the purpose of max
ing music" and this is the entire
orchestra. Each man has a 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 at
the grandest dances there Is no GER
emony, and although there appears to
be no particular sentiment against it,
1t Is very rarely the case that a man
accompanies his wife to or from the
| festivities, yet n 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 the
women squat around the tepee that
has been arranged for dancing. When
the crowd of would-be dancers is
thought sufficiently large, the women
intimate what they would like to
dance and the drummers begin their
monotonous beating.
1t is curious. but II Is also fact
that at all of these Indian dances the
leader is always a woman. The wom'
en- all squat around the tepee until
sufficiently inspired to take the cen
ter of the floor; the woman that does
this first is the leader for that figure.
She will dance around all alone for a
moment or two and then up to some
buck whom she chooses for partner;
then they dance around for a while
and each takes a partner of the op-
posite sex. This continues until there
is room for no more couples.
This is continued for perhaps 20
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 | re-
call is the "sign dance" After dane
ing around for few minutes a woman
will take man. lead MIN INTO a circle
placing him opposite her, both in the
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; am ready for you to make
love to me-"
His answer is in the sign language
and he Is at liberty to respond as he
desires without giving the least of
tense. Frequently these sign conver
sations d,ving the dance are out
bursts of wit and sarcasm, which are
received by the onlookers with great
shouts of laughter and applause as the
little thrusts are sent home.-Indi
annapolis Sentinel.