Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1920-05-03
BEAUTIFUL CORN
DANCE HELD At
INDIAN PUEBLO
Many Visitors Attend San
Felipe Celebration, Pro-
nounCed by Artists a
Wonderful Exhibition.

An event of unusual interest ana
great beauty was the annual corn
dance" held at the San Felipe In
dian pueblo May !. which was wit
messed this year by large number
of visitors both from the other In
dian pueblos and from Santa Fe
and Albuquerque, some twenty cars
or more having motored out from
here to San Felipe during the day.
Those who have not seen San
Felipe should picture to themselves
the little pueblo which was the
setting for the dance. its typical
terraced houses, of pleasing irreg-
ular outline. clustered around a
wide plaza, as is customary. The
pueblo nestles under a massive
black lava cliff, which rises back
of 10 protectingly while the RIO
Grande forms barrier on the
other side. Beyond the river rise
the Sandals to the southeast and
the Santa Fe mountains due east.
Dance a Religious Ceremony.
The whole pueblo arises and ar
rays itself in its best the morning
of the dance, while the dancers ana
the elan leaders go through their
ceremonies in the kivas. The dance
begins about 9 O'Clock in the morn
ing and continues until about . IN
the afternoon, the dancers stopping
at intervals to rest and those VINO
are tired dropping out while new
dancers take their places.
The dance IS a religious cere-
monv which celebrates the sprout-
ing of the corn, the chief food or
the Indian. The costumes of the
dancers are almost the same as
those worn by the Santo Domingo
Indians at thier corn dance. me
women are barefoot,N their mar
hanging; they wear garment
draped over one shoulder with the
arms bare, and carry evergreen
branches in either hand. on thelr
heads they wear a wooden ori'a-
mont about six or eight nches
high which is carved and painted
q bright turquoise blue. AS they
stand in line this color scheme Is
most effective. The men are
nainted and wear skirts of ever
green branches, with SKINS hahs-
inc down their backs. either foN OF
COYOTE, They wear the most won
derful head-dresses of feathers ana
evergreen. Blue and green, noth-
ing hut blue and green is the color
used, displaying a superb sense OIL
the effective. o.o
The figures of the dance are
uonotonous. The dancers. some
times facing each other IN lohs
lines, the men on one SIDE, women
on the other, sometimes aiternat-
ing a man and a woman. me tiile
is perfect and some of the $40"
stens quite intricate, while the reg
Mar heat of the large, brilliantly
nainted drums. finally steals INTO
Nc senses of even the most unac-
customed listener with the tascl-
nation of its primitive rhythm.
- Figures of Watchers.
All about stand the brilliantly
clad figures Of the watchers, the
bripht reds. yellows and puppies
If their dress affording starting
contrast to the blue and green
which is confined to the dancers IN
the nIaza. Here will be an old man
With his blanket wound round ana
ronnd his middle, red pano
.ronnd his head and red deersKln
,,,occasins on his feet. a young
dandy wore deerskin trousers anu
moccasins of wonderful laWi1
color with a wine colored Nelvet
iacket, made like a Russiah
blouse. and trimmed with beautilul
silver buttons.
The women and children OF san
Felipe all seem very tat anu
healthy, Their glossy black halr
"a ont in bangs, and sometimes
bobbna sometimes wound in
tigbt queue behind. They are
henny looking people, and tney
have the reputation of clinglng
,nnst tenaciously to their customs.
prohably because they live IN SO
isolated place.
Delight Makers Appear.
toward the end of the dance the
Koshare, or Delight Makers, OF
whom Bandelier has written SO
fully in the book of that name. APP
near almost nude. but painted
nearl gray and with feathers
around their ankles, around thelr
neck and wrists. and sometimes IN
weird designs on their chests.
These feathers are glued on. Inc
Koshare wear ludicrous mead
dresses of corn stalks. They march
about the plaza chanting. and usu-
ally play many pranks. with tricks
of an obvious and primitive humor,
They are the clowns, 1.-The slapstick
artists. The Koshare of saturdays
dance did not play the customary
pranks, however, of which vol