The Medicine-Men of the Apache. (1892 N 09 / 1887-1888 (pages 443-604))Bourke, John Gregory
Religion
The Medicine-Men of the Apache. (1892 N 09 / 1887-1888 (pages 443-604))
Bourke, John Gregory
Apache Indians -- Medicine; Apache Indians -- Religion; Apache Indians -- Rites and ceremonies; Shamans -- New Mexico
I am under the impression that the ruins of this village are those
near the ranch of Mr. Thomas V. Keam, at Keam's Canyon, Arizona,
called by the Navajo "Talla-hogandi," meaning "singing house," in
reference to the Spanish mission which formerly existed there. This
village is, as I have hitherto shown, the ruin of the early pueblo of
Awátubi.
In his poem descriptive of the conquest of New Mexico, entitled "Nueva
Mejico," Alcala de Henares, 1610, Villagrá uses the following
language:[276]
Passando à Mohoçe, Zibola, y Zuni,
Por cuias nobles tierras descubrimos,
Una gran tropa de Indios que venia,
Con cantidad harina que esparcian,
Sobre la gente toda muy apriessa,
Y entrando assi en los pueblos las mugeres
Dieron en arrojarnos tantá della,
Que dimos en tomarles los costales,
De donde resultò tener con ellas,
Unas carnestolendas bien reñidas.
It is gratifying to observe that the Spanish writer in the remote
wilds of America struck upon an important fact in ethnology: that the
throwing of "harina" or flour by the people of Tusayan (Mohoçe or
Moqui), Cibola, and Zuñi (observe the odd separation of "Zibola" from
either Moqui or Zuñi) was identical with the "carnestolendas" of
Spain, in which, on Shrove Tuesday, the women and girls cover all the
men they meet with flour. The men are not at all backward in returning
the compliment, and the streets are at times filled with the
farinaceous dust.
"Harina de maiz azul" is used by Mexicans in their religious
ceremonies, especially those connected with the water deities.[277]
The Peruvians, when they bathed and sacrificed to cure themselves of
sickness, "untandose primero con Harina de Maiz, i con otras cosas,
con muchas, i diversas ceremonias, i lo mismo hacen en los
Baños."[278] The kunque of the Peruvians very closely resembled that
of the Zuñi. We read that it was a compound of different-colored maize
ground up with sea shells.[279] The Peruvians had a Priapic idol
called Hua-can-qui, of which we read: "On offre à cette idole une
corbeille ornée de plumes de diverses couleurs et remplie d'herbes
odoriférantes; on y met aussi de _la farine de maïs_ que l'on
renouvelle tous les mois, et les femmes se lavent la figure avec
celle que l'on ôte, en accompagnant cette ablution de plusieurs
cérémonies superstitieuses."[280]
The tribes seen on the Rio Colorado in 1540 by Alarcon "carry also
certaine little long bagges about an hand broade tyed to their left
arme, which serve them also instead of brasers for their bowes, full
of the powder of a certaine herbe, whereof they make a certaine
beverage."[281] We are at a loss to know what this powder was, unless
hoddentin. The Indians came down to receive the son of the sun, as
Alarcon led them to believe him to be, in full gala attire, and no
doubt neglected nothing that would add to their safety.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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