Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-07-06
CURIOUS IDEAS OF
INDIANS ARE TOLD
John Peabody Harrington Writes oil
Concepts OF Secretive Red Men
OF the Rio Grande.
BELIEF IN A WORLD BELOW
Sun Walks Through Sky During the
Day Clothed in White Deerskin
0rnamented With Beads.

makes a special study of the American
Indians, has just issued a report in
! Guiding an interesting paper on the
| geographical knowledge of the Tewa
Indians of the upper Rio Grande, New
Mexico. These Indians belong to the
Tanoan linguistic family, and at pres
| ent about 1900 of them occupy five
villages on the Rio Grande, San Juan,
! Santa Clara, San Ildefonso, Nambe and
/ Tesuque, and one among the Hopi
! Pueblos of northeastern Arizona,
| known as Hano.
| AS described by the author, John
Peabody Harrington, the Tewa possess
| some curios ideas in connection with
/ the cosmos, the symbolism of natural
| phenomena and their periods of time.
as well as geographical and mineral
| ogical nomenclature.
The material for the book was col
! lected through the cooperation of the
| bureau of American ethnOlOgy and the
| school of American archaeology at
| Santa Fee, n NJ Mr. Harrington has
| spent much of his time during the last
! few years in the study of the Tewa
| Indians. especially those of the pueb
| los of San Ildefonso and Santa Clara.
| His task has proved difficult one. The
/ Tewa Indians are most conservative
/ even secretive in all matters regarding
| their religious and social organization,
making it extremely hard for the in
vestigator to gather information on
these phases of their life, without the
exercise of great discretion and tact.
| Nevertheless, the author has succeed
ed in throwing considerable light on
| the concepts of the Tewa people.
Indian COsmOgraphy.
After dealing briefly with the phone
| tics OF the Tewa language, the author
! takes up the subject of cosmOgraphy
as the Indians themselves understood
it. They distinguished six cardinal
directions or regions: north, west,
| south, east, above and below, attached
! to each of which there were series of
! symbols such as cOlors, persons, ami
mails, plants, and inanimate objects.
! For example, the north has the allied
| color of blue or green, the mountain
! lion as a cardinal animal, the eagle as
! the bird and Bear mountain as an in
animate object assigned to it. To these
! people the sky, which was personiied
and literally called Sky Old Man"
was supposed to be the husband of the
| earth which was called Earth Old Wo
man" The Tewa had names for the
sun and moon also, as well as for
many stars and consultations.
/
/ tain among the Tewa, include a rather
remarkable conception of the daily
course of the sun. The sun is said to
walk through the sky during the day
| clothed in white deerskin ornamented
with many fine beads. In winter he Is
| said to be yellow and in summer
green; he has a beautiful face which is
| hidden by a mask. Together with the
moon he passes from east to west over
! trail above the great waters of the
| sky, and when either of them sets he
is supposed to pass downward through
lake to the underworld, through
which he travels all night toward the
east, where he arises in the morning
/ to start out again.
This world below, or underworld,
| through which the sun and moon are
| believed to be passing when they are
| not above in the sky, is held by the
Tewa to be the place from which the
! human race and the lower animals
originally came; it is the base of the
universe to them. 1t is the dark and
dank, the sun shining there only at
night and then pale, like the moon.
This is also what white people call
| the happy hunting ground" of these
people, where they go as spirits after
death; there seems to be no division
in afterIife of the good from the bad
all passing to this happy hunting
ground
Year Begins Dec. 81.
The Tewa are not aware. seemingly
of the existence of the equinOXes. as
they have no designation for them, bat
go by the solstices; when the winter
sun appears to stand still, Dec. 81
their year begins. Their calendar is
determined by noticing the point at
which the sun rises, though who does
the determining and just how ii is aC-
complished are not known to the auth
or. Two seasons only are distinguish
ed summer beginning with spring AMI
lasting until fall and extending TO
spring Like the Zuni year, the Tewa
contains II months, each supposed to
commence at the time Of the new
moon.
Every month has a name which dit
fers considerably according 10 the
speaker and his language. Some OF
them are interesting: January is
known in several pueblos as ice
month" February. wind month
March, month when the leaves break
forth" or when the snow lies
not in the pathways August, wheat
cutting month October, month OF
falling leaves" and December, Christ
mas nOHJH, lltStdi o9HS7 III - H-7
nificant of the dying year, 1t is sup
posed.
The geographical names Of The Tewa
primarily local, are abundant and most
precise, as was probably very neces-
sary, for their restricted limits CON
sisted of an arid and little settled reg
ion where accurate descriptions Of
places seldom visited were necessary
for identification The list of place
names forms the most complete col
lection of nomenclature in the book,
and establishes the very early resi-
dence of the Tewa in their present 10
calities. remarkably large number
of tribes and peoples were and are
known TO these Indians. Tewa itself
is a native name of the tribe, and is
not derived from the American Span
ish Tegua, or "moccasin,' as was once