The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1907-08-17
STRANGE INDIAN DANCES
Always Chief Feature of Red Mans
Celebration.
(kansas Citv Starl

the problem Of serving two masters.
They nave performed the impossible in
reconciling the two hostile and diver
gent religious systems of paganism and
Christianity. They worship the num-
berless gods of their forefathers with
unfailing fidelity, pay due Difference
to the hereditary aboriginal priesthood,
decorate every butte and point of rocks
with feather-tufted prayer sticks, and
estufas from generation to generation,
keep the sacred fires burning III their
even as their ancestors did for a thou
sand years and more before the white
man ever set foot upon this hemis
phere. At the same time they are loyal
and devout Catholics They attend
mass and confession with exemplary
punctiiiousness learn their CateChism.
say their prayers and fail not in rever
ence 10 the priests of the church. They
are baptized. married and buried in &C
cordance with the rites of Catholicism.
but each ceremony is followed by an
other. conducted by the native pagan
priests. in which the immemorial Gus
toms of the abOrigines are sacredly fol-
lowed. In thus paying reverence to
the Jealous God of the white men.
tui to the numberlesS deities of their
ancestors, they appear to be conscious
of nothing incOngruous or inconsistent.
From their point of view, if one religion
is good thing, two must be all the
better. There is always room for an
other god or two in the Pueblo pan
theon: and the more deities they can
worship the stronger is their assur-
ance that they are on the right path.
Thus they are sincere Catholics and
faithful pagans at one and the same
time
This doubling UP of religious duties
and obligations necessarily makes Sc
rious inrOads upon the time of our cop
per-colored fellow citizens of the south
west tfor the Pueblos are not wards
of the government" but citizens of the
United States under the terms of the
treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo). Their
native feast days and fast DAYS are
numerous enough, in all conscience.
But to these have been added all the
saints days and holy days in the Cath
Ole calendar, as well as the holidays
customarily observed by all patriotic
Americans. All special occasions.
whether feast days, fast DAYS. days of
mourning or days of jubilation. are eel
ebrated by tribal dances. Hence it
happens that among the Pueblo In
dams the dance is one of the main af-
fairs of life. In the dance the loves,
hates joys, sorrows. hopes. fears.
prayers and aspirations of the people
ind their fullest and freest expression.
Most of the Pueblos' time. therefore.
is spent getting ready for the dance,
dancing or recovering from the effects
of the dance
Each Pueblo town has its own par
which is not duplicated or initiated by
any of the others. Most famous Of
these are the ACeQui dance of Isleta.
the Snake dance of Walpai and Oraibe.
the Deer and Bear dance of Tesque, the
harvest dances of AcOma and Laguna
the feast of San Geronimo at Taos and
the Corn dance Of Santo Domingo. The
Corn dance of Santo Domingo is really
the first of the seasons harvest dances.
of which each community has one. 1t
always occurs on August 4 (Which this
year falls on Sunday. Every few days
thereafter a harvest festival and dance
are held at some other community I'M
til each one of the thirty has shown it's
devotion in this way to the ancestral
Pueblo gods Of the harvest. In some
communities the dance and festival
are in the nature of a prayer for g
bOuntiful harvest. In others, il is a
Manufacturing for the crops that have
been gathered. In Santo Domingo the
annual Corn dance partakes Of both
features. The corn crop is then re-
garded as measurably safe, and thanks
are offered to the tribal gods for prom
Using conditions but at the same time
supplicatiOns are offered uD that no
untoward event may destroy the ma
turing grain.
Santo Domingo is really nothing but
q handful of squalid adobe dwellings,
huddled on the eastern bank of the
Rio Grande, a few miles below Lamy
Junction. The tribe land grant com
priseS 74,743 acres of land, which is ex-
ceeded only by the holdings of Acona.
Isleta, Laguna and Zuni among the
Pueblo towns. 1t boasts of a fairly
we'll preserved mission and two estu-
fas. so that it may be counted some
what above the level of the average
Pueblo, although ranking far below Is
leta, Acoma, Laguna and Zuni The
estufa, or kiva. it may be we'll to ex-
plain, is the most characteristic fea-
ture of the Pueblo community 1t is
an underground ceremonial chamber
which no white man and no stranger
of other tribes is ever permitted to
enter. II is the PueblOs holy of the
hOlieS. consecrated to religious and
uses. In it the sacred fires
are kept burning from generations to
generation throughout the ages. I'M
times past it has been necessary for
many OF the communities 20 migrate
from one place to another. either 10
secure better pasturage or 10 escape
the pressure of hostile nomadic tribes.
In such cases the sacred fire is taken
along. and is kept burning until in
stalled in a kiva in a new home of the
people. Should the sacred fire become
extinguished it is believed 10 Dresage
some dire calamity, such as the &c
struction of the whole community.
From the estufas emerge the Delight
clowns that furnish
to the crowd on the occa-
sion of the corn dance. For three DAYS
prior to the festival the native pagan
priests remain secluded in the estu-
fas, performing the secret rites of the
Oldtime faith. In what these rites cor
sist no man but the members of the
native priesthood knows.
When the morning of the 4th of Au-
gust arrives every trail and road that
leads to Santo Domingo is dotted with
horsemen and wagons. and now and |
then a pedestrian, bound for the vii !
lage. They come from all the Puablos |
within travelling distance-Sau Felioi. |
Santa Ana, Iemez, ZemeZ. Zia, Isleta |
and Tesuque. A few white tourists
are also in evidence All jostie to- |
gether in the narrow streets until the |
Village is crowded 70 suffocatio win, /