Ceremonies of the Pomo IndiansBarrett, S. A. (Samuel Alfred)
Religion
Ceremonies of the Pomo Indians
Barrett, S. A. (Samuel Alfred)
Pomo Indians -- Social life and customs; Pomo dance
xā´xalik | pūtsa´l | gīwa´lē
chiefs | healthy | run to
da´xalik | pūtsa´l | gīwa´lē
chieftainesses | healthy | run to
kawi´k | pūtsa´l | gīwa´lē
children | healthy | run to
Then, according to one informant, all the people who were assembled in
the dance-house shouted, while the drummer beat rapidly for a minute or
two. The head singers took their cocoon rattles and intoned a song as
they marched outside to meet the dancers. After singing outside for a
short time, they re-entered the dance-house.
The dancers then came running in, making a loud noise produced by a
voiced expulsion of breath through the relaxed but closed lips, "bū
..." and ran to a point about one hundred yards directly in front of
the dance-house door (see fig. 1). While the dancers were running into
the village, the singers sang the following song:
yōhīya´, yōhīya´, yōhīya´,
yōhīya´, yōhīya´, yōhīya´,
yōhīkōlī kōlē, yōhīkōlī kōlē.
(Repeat indefinitely.)
[Illustration: Fig. 1 Fig. 2
Fig. 1--Paths of the ghost-dancers as they enter the village, and their
ceremonial course before the dance-house.
Fig. 2--Positions taken and course traveled by ghost-dancers in
approaching dance-house.]
Meantime the crier and the dancers continued their respective cries.
The head ghost-dancer always dressed at a place north (i.e., in the
rear) of the dance-house, so that in entering the village he ran past
the dance-house to take up his position. Here he bowed very low, and
quickly dropped his arms with the bunches of grass above mentioned,
at the same time crying "wē...." He then trotted perhaps twenty
feet in one direction, where he repeated this motion and cry, and
then to a point an equal distance in the opposite direction from his
central position, repeating the same motion and cry there. This he
did four times, finally stopping in the middle of the forty-foot line
thus blocked out, and directly in front of the dance-house door. The
next dancer to enter the village might come from any direction. He
ran toward the head dancer and crossed, if possible, in front of him,
though if necessary he passed behind him. In this case the head dancer
turned around so as to face the runner. The newcomer began to pass
back and forth along the line, making the motions and cries as above
described. He then took up his position at one side or the other of
the chief dancer. These dancers were at liberty to laugh, talk, and
play at will. Frequently they performed various comical antics, such as
pretending to be stung by wasps, and doctoring one another.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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