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
When the dancer entered through the tunnel, the spectators all cried,
"ye´-ye." He at first advanced very slowly backwards until he reached
the point at which he inquired his way. As soon as he received this
direction he sprang up and ran the prescribed four times around the
fire and finally reached the foot of the center pole, making meanwhile
the same "bū ..." noise which he had made upon entering the village.
He here awaited the arrival of the other dancers, who went through the
same succession of movements.
The chief ghost-dancer, upon arriving in front of the center pole,
said, "mamūle´" (E), to which the spectators replied, "hehē´...."
Then he made a short speech in a more or less archaic language. Its
purport was: "I do not come to do any one harm, but rather to take all
sickness away and to make everybody strong."
habadūtkīya gahnū kūdī´ pūtsa´lwal gakba
- - good - -
ga´kalik gaba da´kalik gaba, ka´lnīne
chiefs - chieftainesses rich people
gaba bēkal sīma bexba gahnū cama īhīwala
- - - - - - -
He next marked off, according to one informant, two or three places
on the east side of the floor, saying that he and his followers would
dance there. This was contrary to the usual procedure in dances, for
the regular dancing area in front of the center pole was always used.
As a matter of fact, the ghost dance itself was actually performed in
the usual area also, but this indicating of another area, and this
announcement, are only other evidences that the spirits must always do
things differently from mortals. In fact, the whole dress and conduct
of these dancers, their reversal of terms of direction, their groping
their way, etc., typify the conduct of the spirits of the departed, who
find everything strange when they return to the realm of mortals.
Throughout the entire ceremony, and especially during the time that
the ghost-dancers were entering, the spectators were obliged to use
great care not to obstruct their passage in any way, or otherwise to
interfere with them, else they were likely to be very roughly handled
by the dancers.
As the last ghost-dancer entered the tunnel leading into the
dance-house, the men in the two lines outside cried "yūhē´" four
times, after which they entered and took up their positions.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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