The North American Indian, Vol. 1Curtis, Edward S.
History
The North American Indian, Vol. 1
Curtis, Edward S.
Indians of North America
The Jicarillas, or, as they are commonly called, "Jicarilla Apaches,"
occupy a reservation of nearly four hundred and fifty square miles of
mountainous country in northern New Mexico. Linguistically the Jicarillas
are of the same stock as the Apache of Arizona; but here the relationship
ceases, for the two peoples have virtually no knowledge one of the other;
each, according to their respective genesis myths, had their origin in the
general region in which they live to-day, while the dialect, mythology,
legends, and medicine rites of the Jicarillas more closely resemble those
of the Navaho than any of the Apache groups. The designation "Jicarilla
Apaches" is an inheritance from the early Spaniards, who were wont to
designate as Apache any warlike tribe which had not been brought under
subjection. Such were the Apaches de Nabajú (Navaho), the Apaches del
Perrillo, the Apaches Gileños, Apaches Tejuas, Apaches Vaqueros, Apaches
Faraones, Apaches Llaneros, Apaches Lipanes, and a host of others, of whom
the Spanish missionaries and colonists had little or no knowledge except
that derived, alas, from predatory raids on the peaceable Indians among
whom they were established. The name "Apache," therefore, was applied in
the Rio Grande country of New Mexico in much the same way as the term
"Yavapai" was given in the Rio Colorado region of Arizona, and, naturally
enough, it still survives.
[Illustration: A Jicarilla]
A Jicarilla
_From Copyright Photograph 1904 by E.S. Curtis_
Owing to their composite nature the Jicarillas are a peculiarly
interesting group. Too small in numbers to resist the cultural influence
of other tribes, and having been long in contact with the buffalo hunters
of the great plains as well as in close touch with the pueblo of Taos with
its great wealth of ceremony and ritual, it is not surprising that the
Jicarillas, in life and ceremony, have been deeply influenced by adjacent
tribes. As previously stated, the Jicarilla medicine rites are much like
those of the Navaho, but are far simpler in character. In dress the
Jicarillas resemble the Indians of the plains, even to the feather
headdress, which is never worn by the tribes to their south and west.
Features of an annual fiesta have been borrowed directly from the Pueblos.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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