Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1912-12-11

he FueDlO INDIANS are WITHOUT
doubt the most interesting peo-
pie in America and perhaps in
the world. They preserve
practically unchanged the man
Is and customs that existed among
m when America was discovered
1 which are described as early as
F1 in the histories of the expedition
Coronado. The popularity in their
IA iidings, the use of underground
ambers, known to the Spaniards as
<staufas, for ceremonial purposes;
7 neir industry and good government
Ind the contrasts which, in many re-
s2ects, they present to the surround
PRg qomadic tribes, have long caused
XthemN0 be objects of special interest
They hive no written language and
hence tfir history, ceremonials and
whatever fiction or drama they pos
sess haveto be handed down by oral
tradition; nd to preserve these intact
they have Asystem of instruction and
a strength u memory really marvel
GUS to us Jhose powers of recollec-
ton are blunted by disuse or abuse
and by the hass of unimportant mat
ters which ome to our knowledge
without receiN2g attention and liter
ally go in at on$ ear and come out at
the other.
At the time of VIE Tertio- Millennia
celebration in SanSa Fe in 1SS3-the
most interesting apd comprehensive
historic anniversary tsXer held in this
country most remarkable speech
was made by the governor of the
Pueblo of Zuni, who was present with
40 of 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
mower to make marks on paper, so as
10 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
10 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. 1t 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 persisted.
These ceremonies find especial express
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 coca
sion of extensive visiting from ether
In Apo hoc
and Utes and from all the white set
Elements in the vicinity. The best
known of their public festivals are
those occurring on the saints days
of the different Pueblos, There are
10 Pueblo Indian villages in New
Mexico and each of these at the time
of the Spanish occupation was dedi-
Gated by the Franciscans to some
saint who became its patron In most
cases the old name of the Pueblo was
retained, prefxing that of the saint,
as San Geronimo de Taos, San Diego
de Tesudue, and in others the Pueblo
has no name but that of the saint as
San Juan, Santa Clara, San PHILIPPE,
etc But in all the saint is the patron
his or her image is in the village
church and the saints day is the occa
sion of the greatest public festival
The mixture of Christianity with the
old religion, or rather the way the
old religion is CLOSED over with Chris
tianity, is one of the peculiarities of
the Pueblo condition
Their annual festivals as at present
c!eAducted are well worth trip across