The Fiesta Book

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Page 43 - The basket contains the seed that is planted in the ground, and which must be fructified in due time. It contains the fruit or grain which the earth yields in response to the efforts of the people through the planting and growing season. It bears the meal that is produced when the harvest of corn is ground, and finally, it bears the loaves of bread ready for the sustenance of the tribe. The invocations to fertility that occur in the Basket Dance embrace not only the food plant life, but the human...
Page 46 - ... the ancient Pueblo lands. The procession is led by a man costumed as a hunter. The dancers are usually in two lines, and between the two is seen a woman called the Buffalo Mother. She is the symbolic mother of the larger animal life of the region. A buffalo hunt to the great plains was a regularly organized ceremony. No individual could hunt independently, and severe penalties were inflicted for any violation of the rules of the community hunt. Animals were never killed needlessly, and practically...
Page 42 - THE SUN DANCE This ceremony, formerly engaged in by practically the entire village, has come to be a dance in which the whole population is represented by two men and two women personating the two halves of the village. It is a spring dance, celebrating the return of the growing season with a dramatization of the planting, cultivating and growth of the corn as a result of the return of the sun. This ceremony had entirely disappeared from the pueblos and was recently revived by the Indians of Santa...
Page 45 - Buffalo Dance' not because that is the only food animal celebrated in the ceremony, but on account of its having been the principal source of animal food supply. The dancers are masked as buffalo, elk, antelope, in some cases mountain sheep, these being the principal game animals of the region surrounding the ancient Pueblo lands. The procession is led by a man costumed as a hunter. The dancers are usually in two lines, and between the two is seen a woman called the Buffalo Mother.
Page 42 - Dance 41 of any kind has a far greater significance than is implied by the name it bears. In this connection, it is noticed that the sun reaches its farthest point north on both eastern and western horizons at a certain time, and then begins its return journey to the south, leaving the north to the cold and dreariness of winter, a time which nevertheless is rich in meaning to the Indian. In the course of his movements, the sun has proceeded from south to north and now returns from the north back...
Page 48 - Warriors of the East." In the dance as now performed, the idea of frightfulness in connection with the Comanches has been intensified by the enormous head dress as well as by the action of the performance. In the typical war dance performed in preparation for battle, the body was painted black. Nothing in Indian costuming is more significant than this painting of the body. When the Indian painted himsef black from head to foot, it meant war, combat to the death, battle without quarter or mercy.
Page 40 - In due time the return of the sun dispelled the cold of winter and brought warmth and life back to the earth. The beginning of the New Year to the Indian was the first day of spring, when the new life from Mother Earth commenced to manifest itself. Then was the time for the planting of seed for the food crops, always accompanied by the dramatization of planting, germination, rain and growth.
Page 45 - Corn Dances of the Pueblos are unrivalled in beauty and symbolic meaning. THE BUFFALO DANCE This is the most important of the winter ceremonies of the Pueblos, and is still performed in almost every one of the villages. It is a dramatization of the supposed relation between the people and the larger animal life about them, especially the animals which furnished the winter food for the people. It takes the name "Buffalo Dance...
Page 47 - Some of the formations of the dances are extremely beautiful, particularly those 46 in which the dancers arrange themselves in the form of the great bow and arrow. Various forms of this ceremony are to be seen. In some cases it is known as the Arrow Dance. In others, some of the elements of the ceremony are merged into those that appear under other names, such as the Antelope Hunting Dance, the Buffalo Hunting Dance, the Antlers Dance, etc.
Page 50 - ... from one tribe to another. These visits were most likely to occur in the fall, embassies of peace proceeding from one village to another bearing gifts of the most substantial kind, and performing ceremonies designed to express the desire for the continuation of peace among the people. The ceremony of 50 Braiding the Peace Belt symbolized the binding of the people in strong bonds of friendship.