Eighth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology: to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1886-1887, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1891
History
Eighth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology: to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1886-1887, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1891
Navajo Indians -- Rites and ceremonies; Pueblo Indians -- Antiquities; Pueblo architecture
The scene was a brilliant one. Long before the time for the dance a line
of four immense fires burned on each side of the avenue where the dance
was to take place, and Navajo men and women clad in their bright colored
blankets and all their rare beads and silver encircled each fire. Logs
were piled 5 or 6 feet high. In addition to these eight fires there were
many others near and far, around which groups of gamblers gathered, all
gay and happy. Until this night no women but those who carried food to
the lodge had been present at any of the ceremonies except at the
initiation of the children. To say that there were 1,200 Navajo would be
a moderate calculation. This indeed was a picture never to be forgotten.
Many had been the objections to our sketching and writing, but
throughout the nine days the song-priest stood steadfastly by us. One
chief in particular denounced the theurgist for allowing the medicine to
be put on paper and carried to Washington. But his words availed
nothing. We were treated with every consideration. We were allowed to
handle the masks and examine them closely, and at times the artists
working at the sand painting really inconvenienced themselves and
allowed us to crowd them that we might observe closely the many minute
details which otherwise could not have been perceived, as many of their
color lines in the skirt and sash decorations were like threads. The
accompanying sketches show every detail.
The green or dressing room was a circular inclosure of pine boughs at
the end of the avenue. It was about 10 feet high by 20 feet in diameter
made of piñon branches with their butts planted in the ground, their
tops forming a brush or hedge. Within this inclosure the masks were
arranged in a row on the west side. A large fire burned in the center
affording both heat and light. The different sets, when a change of
dress from one set of men to another was to be made, repaired to this
green room for that purpose. This inclosure was also the resort during
the night for many Indians who assisted the dancers in their toilets.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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