El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-04-20

, ing quality that the young braves gen
orally recovered within three or four
+ weeks If during this torture there
was any outcry Of pain on the part of
ithe sufferer he was released and sent
away in disgrace, thenceforth TO be
J known as woman man. and made to
/ do work of women. Such a man was
never allowed to marry or hold prop
erty.
Sioux's Famous PirOuetting.
The medicine dance among the Sioux
! indians was known as the sun dance
! In all of the indian dances there is
practically no variety in the movement
I of the legs. The feet are kept close to-
/ gether and the whole weight rests upon
! the ball of the foot, the heels being
| free from the ground There is a ris-
! ing and falling of the shoulders 10 the
| beating of the tCm-toms This form OF
! exercise is particularly trying the
muscles of the calves of the legs and
while an indian can keep up the move
ment all. night and seem perfectly fresh
| in the morning a white man is utterly
exhausted at the end of half an hour Of
/ this sort of exertion.
SeminOles's Noted Dances.
! From the time when David danced
! before the Lord dancing has been an
/ important part in religious Observances
1 of every race, and student Of customs
! prayer on the part of Christians as an
embryonic, or perhaps more properly a
decadent, form OF dancing. At any
rate, the indians had many forms of re-
| ligiOus dances, one of the most interest
| ing being the green corn dance of the
| Florida Seminoles In many respects
! this dance seems to link the red man
with the Greeks and Romans of 1900
years ago when harvest time was cele-
brated with the dance to Cerelia fol-
| lowed by the orgies devoted to Venus.
Danced Before War
One of the most gre1 some of all in
| dian ceremonies is the scalp dance now
practically unknown Warriors return
ing with their bloody trophies retired
TO place near the village and stretched
the skins from the heads of their VIC
tins around the edge of hoops. Willow
poles 10 or u feet long were then
stripped and the hoops tied to the ends
of these after which the warriors march
ed into the village, set their poles up
right in a circle and began their weirS
hopping dance about the CORY trophies,
keeping time to the tom-toms. As the
dance proceeded the warriors would
grow wild with the thought Of the bat
tie and each man in turn would mar
rate the story of his combat, all the
time going through the most extrava-
CANT antics.
HOSTS O1ten bankrupfed.
Among the most curious customs of
the indians were the begging dances"
These were really civilizations old
fashioned surprise parties. and the par
Elephants were two tribes recently
at war with each other but at peace when
| the dance took place. The surprising
tribe would swoop down upon the
! friendly village with every evidence of
hostility, and the surprised tribe often
the visitors until they assembled in the
center of the village and began their
dance Then the unwilling hosts assem-
bled around the performers who from
time to time darted out and embraced
the onlookers- Each host so embraced
was in duty bound TO bestow upon the
dancing visitor some present These beg
ging dances practically bankrupted the
host tribe, for il was a point OF honor
that the beggars should be royalty re-
warded
During the dry season on the plains,
which frequently extends over a period
of eight months, social dances are much
in vogue among the tribes, there some
times being as many as five a week
These dances have been compared to
our own favor germans The entertain
ments are never formal A youth will
begin to pound upon a tOn-tOm at dusk
and the guests begin 10 assemble at his
1amlIy Jeepe. Inc men Qr11r IN together
by ones and twos and take their seats
at one end of the teepe and the women
assemble in the same manner.
After all are assembled the drum is
struck by one OF the young bucks, and
all the other dancing men, grouped
around the drum. begin to beat time
With drumSticks about two feet long
Grand Right and Left.
Then one of the girls will rise and go
over to the group Of men taking
one by the hand. They will go
to the center of the teepe and begin TO
dance with their arms about each other,
much as the white man does in his
round dance Finally they separate and
the girl chooses another man and the
man another girl, both OF the new
dancers joining each other in the center
OF the teepe and continuing.
Kissing Germs Not Feared.
In the kissing dance the fun is in
creased because each girl has TO kiss
her partner White men who attend
these dances are often selected to take
part in the kissing feature and the
only way in which they can avoid pay
ing the forfeit is to give the chooser
something, usually nickel. AS soon
as il is discovered, however, that the
victim is willing TO pay for his release
he is chosen each time and a pocketfulI
OF small coins is barely sufficient for
the osculatory favors showered upon
him.
Tomorrow-Making Garden.