Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1916-1918, 1916-11-03

number of men who have studied It's
mysteries for many years. The sha-
man superintends but himself does
none of the actual painting. The ar
lists begin their work at the center OF
F, the sand circle, smoothing the surface
with the wooden battens that are used
+, in blanket weaving Each man picks
! up pinch of colored powder. first
blowing on his fingers to remove any
traces of other dust. He lets the
powder flow slowly as his hand moves
over the design. Much of it is colored
! simply in this way, without, prelimin-
airy tracing. When slip occurs 1t Is
blotted out by pouring the same sand
that makes the background over the
surface, and painting anew over this
"erasure"
The artists work from the center Of
' the circle towards the outer edges,
leaving their bright designs behind
them as they move. The convention
al figures in the sand are intended to
represent various gods, sunbeams and
lightning, animals, plants and people,
roads and trails. A curious feature in
! the drawing comes in the tracing of
the forms of the gods. These are first
drawn in naked, and then clothed with
colored garments. The designs and
the order of the working are all fixed
by tradition. Even the distance of one
figure from another is often exactly
specified, and measured of by hands
breadths. Straigh lines are drawn
with the aid Of string. An interest
ing point in connection with the eX-
actitude of the design is the fact that
such symbolic paintings are only made
at intervals of many months. The
sand paintings are only drawn at GER
tain seasons in the winter. There is
no possible way of preserving rec
ord Of the intricate pattern from one
painting to the next except my mem
DRY. Yet the headmen say that the
pattern has not varied by line in cen.
turtles.
Among the Navajos. a few hours
destroyed. Certain rites are per-
formed over it. songs are sung and
dances danced Then the sand is
gathered into blankets once more and
scattered back in the desert far away
from the medicine lodge. These In
dams never let sand painting endure
longer than single night.
The Navajos are not the only In
dams to make sand paintings. al
! though they are the most expert, as
they are in all the primitive arts and
crafts, such as weaving and silver
smithing. Many Of the Pueblo tribes
also paint in sand. The Hopi are prob
ably the most skilled of the Pueblos
in the art Some of the best Of their
, work is done in midsummer. by the
men OF the Antelope fraternity. The
Hopi methods differs from the Nava-
! 10 in that the artist begins at the out
side of the circle and works inward.
Zach of his four colors, red. white.
yellow and blue, represents one of the
points of the compass. and he applies
them accordingly. The background
for the picture is prepared with more
secrecy than among the Navajos. and
when the design is destroyed. pinches
Of the sacred sand are laid away on
various tribal shrines.
The same art flourishes in crude
way among more northern Indians
the Cheyennes and the Arapahoes
When the Cheyennes formerly held
their sun-dance ceremony. one OF the
rites included was the painting of a
sand design representing the morning
star. Stars of various colors surround
ed the principal planet. colored in
black, red and yellow and white The
white stars We're drawn first because
white stars are seen first in the morn
ing. The Arapaho designs represent
ed the Indian. the buffalo. and the sun
and the moon. These Indians worked
somewhat along the same lines as the
Navajo, but their art was much
simpler one
The sand painting of the Navajo is
la production entitled to respect. 1t
has form and color to degree that
compares favorably with the conven-
tionalized decorative arts of any peo-
pie, savage or civilized 1t it were a
more permanent form the Navajo
might be better known as an artist.
His work is none the less worth while
because 1t is begun at sunrise and de-
stroyed at nightfall