The Dickenson County herald. [volume] (Clintwood, Va.) 1927-1930, 1927-06-09

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campfres upon the mountain sides
lends weirdness to the scene that
| Is somewhat awesome. Besides the
straight-away race, there are races
which are handicapped in certain
ways. One favorite handicap is for the
as he runs, and the women keep the
ball moving by striking it with sticks.
Live on Wild Game.
Notwithstanding the proved phys
do little in the way of real work.
Some farming-just enough to raise
corn and beans for their own use-is
carried on, but most of their living
comes from the wild game that they
kill. These Indians are one of the
few native tribes that have not been
Mexicanized. Not many of them
| speak Spanish and most of them re-
sent the intrusion of aliens. am glad
| to say was made a notable exception
to that rule.
'"They are honest, good-natured, fun
loving folk. The men do not wear
boards, because they believe the devil
| has a beard. To keep their faces
beardless, the men pluck out the hairs
when they first begin to appear and
they keep this up all through life.
81 witnessed an incident at Guaza-
pares not long ago which convinced
me that the bobbed-hair style will
never be adopted by the Tarahumare
/ young women. 1t was while on a
trade pilgrimage to Chihuahua that
young girl of the tribe saw that
bobbed hair was the fashion. She in
duced friend to clip her hair.
Bobbed-Haired Girl in Disgrace.
| "When she got back home and her
parents saw her shorn locks, they de-
clared she was in disgrace. The head
men of the tribe held conference and
were about to sentence her to life of
Punishment in the mountains which
meant that she would have to take
shelter with some poor Mexican fam
lily or die of starvation.
at happened, however, that one of
| the Indians insisted that | be made a
party to the conference, so | was sent
| for. / heard the case and then | sug-
gested that they should not carry out
the severe sentence which they had
proposed, but that they permit the girl
to remain In her parents home until
her tresses had grown to normal
| length, when she would have atoned
for the disgrace she had brought upon
herself and the tribe. This was done.
| zone of the remarkable beliefs Of
| the Tarahumares is that stones and
all other inanimate objects really pos
sess life and that they suffer joy and
pain just the same as human beings.
By reason of this belief they have
great reverence for stones, plants and
trees They worship species of cac-
tus which lives several months after it
has been pulled from the ground. The
root Of this cactus contains juice
which the Indians drink and which
has a powerful narcotic effect.
Never Look In Mirror.
"No Tarahumare maiden or male
member of the tribe has ever looked
voluntarily into a mirror or any other
reflector that might show to them their
features. 1t is one of the solid super
stitions of these Indians that to catch
even a fieeting glimpse of their re-
| flected features, even in pool of wa
ter, is bad luck. Notwithstanding the
existence of this taboo, the Tarahu-
mare young women are possessed or
more than ordinary maidenly vanity.
They primp and dress to attract the
attention of the young men, and yet
they never have any idea of what their
| personal appearance is like.
1.-THE women do the counting, and
| it is one of the most amusing proc
esses toward marriage that perhaps
| exists anywhere in the world. Both
young men and women are extremely
bashful When a girl sets her heart
| on certain youth for her husband
she has terrible hard time mastering
| up courage to pop the question
Sometimes it takes months of patient
and amusing tactics before she gets
| the young man to understand that she
| is in love with him. When the event
| full question is finally asked and she
is accepted, that is all there is to it.
There is no marriage ceremony.
Medicine Man Important.
"The Tarahumares live in the heart
| of the greatest country of wild game
| to be found anywhere outside of Afri-
ca, truly believe. Deer, bears, ante
| lopes, wild turkeys and various other
kinds of game abound. The needs of
the Indians are few. They wear little
| if any clothing and their homes are
usually made of reeds and limbs of
| trees.
"In each village Is medicine man,
| who plays no small part in the daily
| affairs Of his people, especially In
| times of sickness or trouble. The
medicine man is supposed to possess
an overabundant supply of what we
would call ideas; at any rate, he
usually keeps a cloth tightly wound
around his head to keep his mind
from escaping