The Green Forest tribune., 1912-12-13

M doubt the most interesting peC-
 H pie in America and perhaps in
 E the world. They preserve
 practically unchanged the man. ners and customs that existed among them when America was discovered and which are described as early as 1541 in the histories of the expedition of Coronado. The peculiarity in their buildings, the use of underground chambers, known to the Spaniards as Estaufas, for ceremonial purposes; their industry and good government and the contrasts which, in many re- spects, they present to the surround ing nomadic tribes, have long caused them to be objects of special interest. They have no written language and hence their history, ceremonials and whatever fiction or drama they pos sess have to be handed down by oral tradition; and to preserve these intact they have a system of instruction and a strength of memory really marvel ous to us, whose powers of recollec- ton are blunted by disuse or abuse and by the mass of unimportant mat ters which come to our knowledge without receiving attention and liter ally go in at one ear and come out at the other.
 At the time of the Tertio-Millennia celebration in Santa Fe in 1SS3-the most interesting and comprehensive historic anniversary ever held in this country-a most remarkable speech was made by the governor of the
 of Zuni, who was present with .0 or his people. A dramatic repre- sentation of the conquest of Cibola by Coronado had just been presented and two or three historic addresses were made in connection with it. Then the Zuni governor was called upon and a newspaper man familiar with the language interpreted his remarks "The great father" said the governor, has given to all his children good gifts, but they vary in character. To his white children he has given the power to make marks on paper, so as to perpetuate the history of the events that are past. On his red children he has not bestowed that gift, but he has endowed them with great memories, so that they retain them in their minds and pass them on from one generation to another" He then pro ceeded to give the traditions which existed among his people with regard to the coming of the first Spaniards which agreed almost exactly with the written story as we know it
 Their Religious System.
 The Pueblo Indians have the most elaborate religious system of which we have any knowledge. It enters into every phase and action of life from morning to night, from the first to the last of the year. Everything has some ceremony connected with it and all the ceremonials are founded on their religious ideals. Perhaps it would be more correct to say that their religion is a most intricate sys- tenn of ceremonies, for the latter sur vive, while the fundamental ideas that gave them birth may have perished These ceremonies find especial expres- sion in their festivals. Some of these are secret, confined either to members of the Pueblo, or to single societies, or to persons of priestly rank within 1t; others are public and are the occa- sion of extensive visiting from other Pueblos, from the Navajos, Apaches and Utes and from all the white set. dement's in the vicinity. The best kpOwp of their Dublic festivals arc those occurring on the saints days of the different Pueblos. There are 19 Pueblo Indian villages in New Mexico and each of these at the time of the Spanish occupation was dedi- cated by the Franciscans to some saint who became it's patron In most cases the old name of the Pueblo was