Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1920-09-18
commonwealth of New Mexico.
Has Made a Good Start.


Whichever view is accepted, 1T
must be admitted that Santa Fe has
made striking start going it
alone" The arquebuses and cross
bows were built this year and will
be ready for all future use. Equip
ment has been provided for one
hundred men, the uniforms being
made. after designs prepared by
Colonel Twitchell, who spent two
days in the Newberry library in
Chicago studying Spanish costumes
of the period of conquest. Then
there are countless bits of prop
erty" and stage machinery which
have been ACQUIRED and also lum-
Der for grandstand which seats
one thousand.
"Our success has been due to the
fact that we are able to lay out
our work several months in adj
vance" declared Col. Twitchell.
'"The machinery can all be carefully
planned. our local school of
artists Immediately starts on the
making of designs. They cheer
fully do whatever we ask. There
are other men like Major Norman
l.. King and William Rose, who
give a great part of their time to
the Undertaking.
Expense for Indians.
I'm spite of the donations, there
are many items of expense. We
had 1875 Indians for five days. We
paid 50 a day to the dancers in adj
dition to feeding them and caring
for their horses. Our grandstand
meant a heavy expense; so did our
uniforms and properties. | was
criticised for extravaganza, but |
had determined to make the town
or break it, The fiesta is q duty
which Santa Fe owes to the state
along educational rather than en-
tertainment lines"
The three-day program fully
bore out the directors contention
that the major purpose was educa-
ton. In the archives and records
at Santa Fe, there is sufficient ma
terial to run similar fiestas every
year for a century without repeat
ing a single line. The Indian dances
could be conducted for a large
share of that time without re-
peating a movement previously
shown. There are also ambitious
plans for making a continuous
drama of early history, like the
Pageant of St. Louis produced sew
eral years ago, which would give in
three days a visualized course III
the history of the southwest.
Dances Worth While Feature.
The Indian dances of the fiesta
were an extremely worth while
feature. The basket dance was
colorful and rhythmic. The men
were CARRIED in red, green and yell
low, while the women wore blue
and black. When the women
knelt and raised aloft their baskets
as the men bent over them to wave !
their symbols, cameras clicked all
over the grandstand and the NOV |
ing picture man devoted an extra |
footage to the scene. The eagle |
dance with its significance to the /
growing crops was well danced and l.
impressively staged. The eagle Is
to the Indian the prayer-bearer be-
tween the diety of the earth and !
the 'diety of the sky. The diety OF ,
the earth has to do with growth;
that VI llle SKY Win lNi liiiHiti'ii
The eagle takes the prayer from
earth to the sky and, returning, !,
hovers over the corn and grain to
insure its proper growth and de-
velopment The fidelity to nature
with which the Indian dancers por-
trayes the actions of the eagle was
Rut as l saw group of boys
from a school in spurs, boots and
swagger costumes which would |
have made any cowman blush for
shame, saw girls in riding habits
which they had apparently out
grown, saw a youth with pink hose
and a rosy red shirt contrasted
with a brown suit, saw the rather
costumes worn by
the foot-racers from Tesuque and
saw the Indians seated
along the stage stare up at the air.
plane until their wide-open mouths
looked for all the world like the
rows of empty barrels where three
rorrectly-tossed baseballs would |
win a box of cigars, / wondered
whether the real show had been
listed in the programs.