What the White Race May Learn from the IndianJames, George Wharton
Religion
What the White Race May Learn from the Indian
James, George Wharton
Indians of North America
When I first visited the Havasupai Indians, all the men were nude, part
of the time, save for the breech-clout. In their dances, in some of
which I participated, it was a delight to see the movements of their
perfect muscles, their bronze flesh glistening in the sun, or in the
glow of the camp fires. And men, women, and children all bathed at the
same time, in the clear waters of Havasu Creek, all the adults, of
course, wearing either a short skirt or a breech clout, but the major
part of the body fully exposed. There was no immodesty and no thought
of anything of the kind. Nudity or semi-nudity was taken as a matter of
course, and neither by word or deed did anyone seem conscious of it.
After vigorous swimming, the young men wrestled, the youngsters ran
races, the men indulged in various games, their bodies still exposed
to the sun and the air, and no one could fail to observe the health,
vigor, and robustness that came from this habit of life.
The Hopis train their boys and young men to their morning runs over the
desert in a state of almost complete nudity, and in their snake dance
races, nothing but the gee-string is worn, and people of both sexes
gaze upon them with no thought of immodesty. Modesty is a condition of
soul, and has nothing to do with the exposure or covering of the body.
One may be a Godiva and be far more modest than another who veils not
only her whole body but even her face. And for myself, I wish to record
my conviction that it would be far better for the morals of civilized
man if he would bring up his children of both sexes to recognize and
know the sanctity of nudity, rather than to cover the body as he does
and to affirm by his words and suggest by his demeanor that he regards
an exposed body as indecent. A small trunk can always be worn and this
suffices for every purpose of true modesty.
[Illustration: A NUDE HOPI SPINNING WOOL FOR THE MAKING OF A DRESS FOR
HIS WIFE.]
In many of the leading sanitariums of the world the patients are
required to expose their bodies to the sun and air for a certain length
of time daily. Here is a struggling to get back to a natural condition,
an almost essential condition to the attainment and retention of
perfect health. Of the outdoor gymnasiums for men and women at the
Boulder Sanitarium, Colorado, Dr. Howard F. Rand thus writes:
“Here the men patients, clothed with simple trunks, bask in the
sunshine on the sand which covers the ground, follow the trainer
through the different lines of gymnastic work, finally plunging into
the pool and coming out ready to be dried and thoroughly rubbed.
Donning their simple apparel, they can, if they choose, proceed up the
mountain, and gather beautiful wild flowers and rest the eye on the
surrounding scenery.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account