Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-08-12
THE PUEBLO INDIANS
Interesting Facts About Their
Laws and Customs.
VIRTUES OF THE MOKIS
INTENSELY DEVOTED TO THE
PRACTICES OF THEIR RELIGION.
Famous Dispute Between Laguna and
Acoma Over the Possession of the
Portrait OF ST. Joseph.
VIRTUES OF THE MOKIS
BY WILLIAM f. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence of The Star and the Chicago
Record Herald.

Special Correspondence of The Star and the Chicago
Record Herald.
HoLBROOK, Ariz, August 3. 1905
If you want to go TO Zuni, which is the
| most interesting of all the Indian puebos
| you should leave the train at Gallup sta
| ton, where you will find teams and guides
who will take you over and furnish all the
| necessarias for the excursion
| IL you want to go to the Moki group OF
Pueblos, you can find accommodations at
Holbrook, Gallup Winslow and Canyon
Diablo. The Mok snake dance. which oc-
| ours annually. and is an appeal to the gods
| for rain, will be held this year between
| August % and % About 2ooO Indians will
| participate. The government frowns upon
| these snake dances debasng heathen-
| ish performances, but they are the delight
| of scientific men, and drawing quite an
attendance of spectators annually To the
| Indians they have a solemn significance;
| they are purely rel!gious-much more i'm
portant to them than Christmas Good Fri
day or Thanksgiving day to us: because
| their faith is more profound and their de-
votion more loyal than ours. 1t would be a
| terrible blow to them If the government pro-
| hibited the celebration. as it has several
times threatened to do.
Loyal to Their Gods.
| While they use live rattlesnakes which
| have not been Invested of their fangs no
Indian has been injured for several wears
The performance is not nearly so cruel or
so dangerous as 4 foot ball game There
are no more devotional people in the world
than the MokiS; no people more loyal to
their gods or more scrupulouS in their oh
serVance of the rites and obligations of
their religion. Their gods may be imagin-
airy, but to them they are real: the ohliya-
tons may be cruel, but to them they are
necessary for the publication of the soul.
Mok is about seventytive miles from
Holbrook, across a sandy mesa or plateau.
Since the tourists and scientific men began
TO come out here in such numbers several
people at Holbrook have organized for the
purpose of taking of them, and now
provide full camping outfits, with cooks and
other attendants. that the journey can
be made with minimum of discomfort
Those who enjoy roughing it will get Just
enough hardship to satisfy their souls The
| cost of the trip. including everything-trans-
portation, tents, food and bedding for
1--WE days trip is $50, in addition to the
regular railway fares. Persons who desire
to make the journey can communicate with
the Santa Fe agents at any of the stations
l have named.
A Debatable Question.
1t is serious question whether we have
done the Pueblo any good or not 1t is
doubtful whether his present condition is
was living when the Spaniards found him
He had a system of government which was
admirably ada pied to his needs; his morals
We're of a higher standard than those of
the white invaders; he was Industrious,
sober, kind to his family devoted to his
village home. honest, faithful and almost
free from vice. We have given him the
Gospel; have told him the story of
salvation; we have taught his children the
alphabet and have given him modern agri-
cultural implements; but at the same time
he has acquired vices and disea ses of which
he was entirely innocent and ignorant be-
fore the Spanish came. And although he
is much more exempt from both than the
northern tribes of Indians, it is the almost
unanimous opinion of people who have
studied his conditions that he has degener-
ated rather than advanced under the infiu-
ence of white civilization.
Although he processes the Catholic re-
ligion he still preserves and practices his
pagan rites and the secrets of his native
religion have never been revealed FIe
guards them with the greatest vigilance.
Adolf Bandlier, Frank Gushing. Charles F.
Lummis. Mrs. James Stevenson and others
who have lived months and years among
the PuebloS for the purpose of learning
these secrets have been unsuccessful, and
the longer these ethnologists stayed with
them and the more closely they studied
their character the more Of an enigma
they became.
Notwithstanding their tenacious adher
ence to their ancient religion and their
devotion to their pagan gods, their attach
ment to the Catholic faith is very strong.
and their faith in the Holy Virgin and the
saints is sublime. This characteristic may
be illustrated by bit of history.
Loan of Picture.
The pueblo of Laguna, which you can see
from the windows of the trains on the
Santa Fe road, and which stands only a
few hundred yards from the station of the
same name, is the least venerable and the
most progressive of all the nineteen viii
lagos. Its population is made up of de-
serters. or emigrants, from Acoma and
other villages, and ii was not founded until
1G!D, after the Pueblo rebellion. Some eth
nologists say that it was originally refuge
or resort of the natives who were loyal to
the Spanish authorities during that upris
ing, and in confederation they point to the
fact that ii lies Immediately on the trail
between Santa Fe and the city of Mexico.
This, however, is disputed The only point
upon which everybody agrees is that
Laguna is a modern pueblo in comparison
with the others, and that many of its In
habitants came from Acoma.
In the old church a Acoma, now half in
ruins and partially roofiess, protected by a
sheet of canvas, is "a cheap, rude painting
of st. Joseph, which, according to tradf-
ton, was presented to the people of Acoma
by the King of Spain in 1929. The faith of
the people In the miraculous powers of that
picture is unlimited, and they ascribe to it
the almost continuous prosperity which
Acoma has enjoyed.
For many years after peace was restored,
in the earlier part of the eishteeenth CEN
fury, the pueblo of L-aguna suffered series
of misfcrtunes. The crops failed. the cattle
and sheep died, epidemics swept away
!. large portion of the popula lion. and III their
grief and trouble the people of Lasuna sent
a delegation 10 Acoma, to beg the loan
of the miraculous picture of The Father of
Christ" 1t was a very serious proposition
and the headmen of the village of Acoma
reflected and consulted for many days be-
fore they dared make up their minds on a
matter of such import. Finally their gem
erous hearts yielded. They carried the
picture with great ceremony, down the
valley along the trail We followed the other
day and placed it over the altar in the lit
tie church in Laguna, where they agreed TO
allow it to remain for six mouths.
A change of fortune came Immediately.
The people of Laguna began to prosper az !
they had never prospered before; sheir
flocks and herds grew as they had never
grown before: their fields yielded as they
had never yielded before: and all this pros
perity was attributed to the beneficent in
fiuence of the portrait of The Father of the
Christ.
The Picture Retained.