The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 25, 1898, Page 23

HE SAN FRANCISCO. CALL, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 25, 1898. 23 - SINGULAR CELEBRATIONS AMONG PUEBLO INDIANS They Havent Anu Fat Santa Claus and Don't Eat Turkeu, but They Have Other Things That Make the Event a Great Dau HE Indians in the pueblos of the Southwest have taken naturally to the teachings of the long list of Cathol onaries who have been ng them for nearl o centuries. The ceremonies o d several of the more import Y s have a peculiar charm f inal mind, and al entht fastically cel whole ated, but alendar can compare s with which observed in the quaint and very old village of Laguna A town or permanent abode of In- dians is known among them by the Spanish name, pueblo. The pueblo La- guna is on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, in Western New Mexico, seventy-five miles southwest from Albuquerque. The blase globe trotter, who sai seas. and travels abroad to I amid unique phases of lite, or to study the extraordinary so- conditions, will find more than st him out among these homes of cliff dwell- cial enough to int sunbaked mesas, ers—ancestors of the Pueblo Indians— and towering mour the ns of granite of ritories Laguna Southwestern Ter % s a history dating back at least a itury before Cortez. Isleta and La- guna were old towns when Coronado sde his march to conquest in the Southwest in 1640. Several stone houses the pueblo ha n occupied by .ndants o ame Family Car ly even o cone DO f Laguna know noth- ing of the fat Santa Claus and his pack f reindeers, and the red-skinned boys d girls will never have their hollday saint laid low by iconoclastic intelli- gence, as their civilized and white cou- sins have had. No resident of Laguna ever tasted of succulent turkey and cranberry sauce, or smacked his lips at juicy mince pie and savory plum pud- ding. But just the same, the grand thought of Christmas time—peace and good will—is as potent in the any pueblo as Christian - com- in munity up-to-date s and months the red peo- 1dy by degrees for the ple Christmas week. There is foresight that the store of grain and vegetables ‘is that the boys know where the t antelope range, that wild. pig- eons and ducks may be counted on children are frequently shampooe: and the little stone houses are swept and made re; for a whole week - of sthing but fun. The fat sheep - are t 1 the range and kept ready asting, while jerked beef I U\ \ NS 0000000 of little cracked bells that answer for. a chime is jangled several times a day, and the women and some of the men go to worship every time the weather- beaten, cracked old doors of the church are opened. When Christmas eve comes at last the bells are jangled harder than ever, and every human being who can possibly get there goes promptly. A stranger assemblage and more pic- turesque ene could hardly be looked upon. Except about the altar the queer old adobe building is packed with peo- ple. A few curious Americans have come in from the cattle ranches miles away; a sprinkling of cowboys are THE CHRISTMAS DANCE dries on the line day by day in the warm sunshine. As the great day ap- proaches the red women and girls get out and unwrap their ancestral shawls and serapes of gaudy colors, polish their wealth. of agate and turquoise necklaces and their silver bracelets. Then they mend thelr moccasins and make sure that all the ancestral finery shall play its particular part in the festivity of the holiday week. At last Christmas eve has arrived. The aborigines at Laguna call it la Buena Noche, and they go about the stone village with the musical greet- ings on their tongues as the pale faces do on Christmas morning. A pueblo custom centuries old has it that the first celebration of the gladsome time shall be a dance in the quaint old mission church from early evening un- til midnight, and that then the mass, prescribed by the church authorities, appropriate to the birth of the Lord, shall follow. For untold generations the Governor, or chief of the pueblo, has each vear appointed two score of men and women—the most vivacious, athletic and handsome of the young In- dians—to perform the dance. It is a distinguished honor to be chosen for the la Noche Buena, and the Indians exercise many a bit of graceful diplo- macy for recognition, not unworthy a pale face in society, while the chief is making his selection. A dozen or more semi-weekly rehearsals take place, while the whole pueblo ardently awaits the gayest time of all. During the week prior to Christmas day there are daily masses. . The string C0000000000000000 OOOOOOOOOOOOO0000000000000010000000 STRANGE CHRISTIAS CUSTOMS 0C00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 their calves and beaded moccasins, gen- erally the heirlooms of the family for generations, are on their feet. Behind each kilt dangles the skin of a wildcat or a fox. Some of these decorations > been used in these dances for fully a century—a few for longer periods. Each male dancer holds a sacred gourd filled ‘with pebbles, like a rattle, in one hand and a bunch of long eagle feath- ers in the other. The dressing of the women dancers s more gaudy and generous. Each wears a bright red or blue overgown (the manta) reaching from her shoulders to her knees. It is the product, of weeks of labor and plannings with all its variegated ~ embroidery. From the knees to the ankles skin affairs like beotlegs, and on the feet are red moccasins embroidered with serpents’ heads. A bunch of feath- ers dyed in red.and blue are in one hand and a showy silk handkerchief is in the other. Heavy earrings, a score of bracelets and a row of turquoise and shell necklaces complete the toilet. The male dancers face the females. a thump on the drum and the dancing begins. The chorus by the choir starts in a‘low slow guttural. The feet of all are white buck- IN LAGUNA. there in chaparrejos and great, heavy boots, from which monster spurs clank, and, besides, a few Navajo Indians, with gaudy serapes of wool across their big, square shoulders. Not a word is spoken -while the assemblage gathers, and the faces of all but the children are impressively stolid: An old man with white hair a foot long rises and in the native tongue or- ders a space made down the center of the church for the ceremonies. While several young men force the spectators back and out of the building to make room the orchestra and singers start up. There is a hoarse drum, made of dry sheepskin stretched over a half barrel. A squaw beats on that. Four young men have stringed affairs made of mesquite wood, similar to very crude violins. These are scraped back and forth in the sole effort to make a noise in time with the drum beats. When a space ten feet wide has been forced by the officious and gesticulating men at a signal the dancers come trooping from out of doors into the open space. That is always a grave moment.. No bridal party was ever more stared at and envied than those twenty young men and women, all gorgeously decked for this occasion. 3 The men are bare to the waist. Thelr chests and backs are painted in a half- dozen startling colors; huge bracelets of silver and brass encircle their upper arms; their heavy shocks of hair hang to the shoulders and their faces are a ghastly white. At the waist they wear embroidered kilts of red, yellowish leg- ging (colzonclllos) are fastened about the dancers move slowly in unison with the music. Arms and hands bearing the feathers wave aloft to- the move- ment of the feet. Gradually the chorus rises, the feet move faster and the hands, full of feathers, wave more swift- ly; the spectators, n w animated by the weird music and the scene. start strange ululations that wax sharper and shriller each moment. - The chorus becomes a wild ' allegro. The male dancers are gyrating so fast that one can scarcely distinguish their features, while their black hair stands out tan- gent to their heads. ' The women's feet are moving so fast that one wonders if they will ever stop. The onlookers’ cries grow louder and more rapid and the music is drowned. Thus the gayety proceeds. It reaches the culmination on New Year's day. Then' there is a grand feast in every domlcile, for which ample preparation has been made. The next day comes the reaction. The holidays are over and Laguna takes on its customary air of quiet and rest, to be broken only by the advent of Easter and its at- tendant ceremonies. The men of the pueblo each day seek the sunniest spots outside of their little homes, and bask- ing In the genial dry sunshine, slowly roll their corn-hus' cigarettes and dream the days away. The good house- wives put away their finery and go about performing all their household duties, and a whole lot more, and the pueblo sleepily awaits the coming of siring, when there is work for all in planning the year's harvest. HENRY G. TINSLEY. © © (4 © Special to the Sunday Call. NE of the queerest of Christmas observances is that .in vogue among the natives of Andros Island in the Bahama group,” says George Reno, who served throughout the Cuban war as a special messenger between the island and the United States. *“To an American the celebration and all-its surroundings are as unlike his home Christmas as anything could well be. It was my for- tune to spend the Christmas of 1897 with the wreckers and-conch divers of An- dros and to witness their strange Christmas ceremony. “In company with General Joaquin Costillo I had set out from Cuba with the intention of spending Christmas in New York city, but fate, in the shape of wind and weather, and incidentally Spanish gunboats, prevented our de- parture from the Cuban coast at the time appointed, so that Christmas found us at one of the least-known and most out of the way spots in the world, Little Golden Cay, a densely wooded coral rock, standing in the entrance of Middle Bight, Andros Island. “The great festival of the year was at hand, but we were on foreign shores. We set to work to make the best of ‘it, and each lent a hand in preparing the Christmas dinner. For many weeks we had had nothmg to eat but the tough boiled beef and green plantains of the insurgent army, and our limited amount of cash was invested at John Bodie’s store on Andros in the materi- als for a luxurious feast. We had chicken, sweet potatoes, cocoanuts, sugar cane, rice, platinas ind coffee. “After dinner, while the party sat about under the clear tropical sky and listened to the soft sound of the waves lapping the beach, there came from Andros Island, three miles across the water, the sound of many voices chant- ing. Sam, the old Bahama pilot, a relic of the ten years’ war, at once imparted the information that this was the mu- sic of ‘the faliers,” who would have a great Christmas night jollification. “In lieu of Santa Claus and the tradi- tlonal Christmas tree the fallers seemed to offer some entértainment, and the party was ro.ed over to the scene of the semi-barbaric and altogether gro- tesque Christia 1 celebration. “Long processions of men and wo- men, singing: and chanting welirdly. were already winding their way along the beach to the meeting house where the ‘fallin’’ was tc take place. The parson stood on a raised platform at the end of a room about forty feet long. In front of the platform was a table supporting a contribution box. Each gaily bedecked buck selected hiy partner from the gorgeously gotten up women, and then the ‘rushin’’ com. menced. “Arm in arm the perspiring, sway- ing, singing crowd swung around the room, leaving the center ciear. As each couple passed the contribution box a small coin was dropped in, the ‘rushers’ loudly chanting in weird tones and with rhythmic cadence to the mu- sic indicated here: Oh, my Lawd, an’ you, Mister Pa" See dat silver fallln’ I fle box—> O™ Itll save dem souls what nead salvation An’ keep us niggahs from fallin’ on de rooks, Here we come to de arms of Jesus, i Jus’ make way fo' de chosen ob de land— See'm,\' gal wid a bran new ribbon, She’'ll make an angel. Grab her by de hand— Listen to our wings de way dey's shakin Dats d:pwgl)' we Blt de power— < v up, black man, stop ¢ ' De debbil done git you inpdgflfiqa:“m' “Onward, circling around the room (A - S AN \\\\f i B 2 WEIRD JOLLIFICATION AMONG THE BAHAMA “FALLERS” Semi-Barbaric Refigious Ceremony Where the Spongers and Conch-Divers Keep " Rushin' " Till the Dancers Fall Exfausted, from right to left, the crowd kent swirling, every moment . growing warmer:, noigier and ‘closer -to de Lawd,” as one old 300-pound exhorter expressed it. Before many minutes’ had passed the bottom of the wicker contribution basket was covered and tuppence by tuppence a pyramid of sil- ver and copper pieces commenced to grow in front of the parson. If some doubtful darky, with ;more courage than coin, was caught in the act of dropping in a wire nail or other sub- stitute, or ‘rushin’’ too many times without the grace to ane up, he was promptly stopped and called to ac- count. “‘You tricky niggah, vou tink dat you can fool dis church wid you’ trash! I'se got on my long distance specks an’ if yo’ could fool me yo’ can‘t fool de Lawd. He knows a tenpenny nail from a tuppence jus’ as well as_any store- keeper on Andros Island. What's mo’ ’e won't stan’ no humbuggin’. Yo' go down in yo’ pocket fo’ de right kind of cash or surrender yo' partner to a proper gentleman what respects de re- quirements of de Almighty. Now, my good breddrin and sistern, go on wid dat rushin’ an’ let de spirit ob de Lawd an’ de pure silver ob salvation po’ fo'th.’ “The rushin’ was resumed. On swept the dizzy throng of black and brown bucks and belles again, their vojces raised a note higher and the skirts of the women uplifted as they shouted and shufled around the church. Little by little the excitement grew more inten: Some, the older and stronger ones, whirled. swayed and sang in the middle of the room. The' parson himself soon came ‘under de infiuence,” but he kept a sharp eye on the pyramid of coin, as it rapidly umed promising proportions. Here s a new start from Nassau in sight already. . ‘Sing, oh, sinners, an’ let yo’ souls hab free communion wid de Holy Ghost,” and they sang. “Suddenly a g, bouncing wench threw "her arms aloft, gave a theolog- ical shriek and flopped flat on the floor. ' ‘De Hol- Ghost hab.entered de do” of de meetin'.house, praise Gawd!’ sol- emnly announced the parson. “I looked toward the door. but saw no one save Sam, the six-foot wpilot. Then my eyes in wonder wandered to the fainting female. Kind friends of both sexes drew her from the outer ‘rushin’’ circle path to the center of the room, which was comparatively clear, and there she lay flat on her back, apparently envied by the entire assembly, but peace and quiet were not in her soul. She shouted and groaned, sang and struggled. “With shoulders, elbows, heels and back she hunched: alomg the floor. Sometimes she tacked to starboard. sometimes to port, then with a ceta- cean flounder she would wriggle- away under a fair wind. T 7o enthused souls of the male sex’ followed and fanned her with their straw hats, while sev- eral women stood lose by singing praises to God for ‘annuder sinner saved. “The., woman’'s. name was Betsy Pritchard, and she was the first ‘fall- er' of the evening. It was not many minutes, however, before another glory shout sounded from near the platform. It came from the plentiful lips of a young candidate, and the parson him- self being near. caught her in time to break the fall, and his best go-to-meet- in’ spectacles at the same time. She, like her predecessor and all other ‘fall- ers,” was dragged to the center of the room and laid out for ‘de visitations ob de Holy Ghost.’ ‘“After the second ‘faller’ had suc- cumbed to ‘de power,’ the contagion spread rapidly. ‘Women, and occasion- o }4\3 A i \ | \ N o ally men, commenced to drop around promiscuously on benches or any old place that happened to be handy. Some fell on the steps, and some with more presence of mind ‘strolled out and dropped in the sand under the cocoa- nut trees. Several sensible females fell into the arms of their beaux, but I learned that the etiquette of the sect Wwas that the novitiate should be re- talned in those arms only until thej proper resting place ‘for one in the throes:of “a spiritual attack could be! found. . Just what caused this mental and physical collapse of equilibrium was puzzling. Dr. ‘Castillo pronounced it ‘a combination of warm air and re- ligious frenzy upon cerebrums not over well-balanced.’ “When tli_ first victim dropped, ouri mate, Bob, ran for a bucket of cold water, but her attendants would not: have it.." ‘You mustn’t try to humbug de power ob de Holy Ghost, man. Mis® Pritchard doan want no water; she jus’ ‘wants salvation.” ““The ‘rushin’’ continued. \Vlld: weird scene. ‘Without, a bright tropical moon was coming up out of the ‘tongue of the ocean,’ throwing the shadows of the little stone church and its whirling devotees into sharp relief. A gentle land breeze from the west Just stirred the graceful plumes of the palm It was a trees. “Long-legged goldens stood upon the smooth, sandy beach craning their necks in wonder at the sounds which came from .he meeting house. Within, the ebony-hued crowd was ‘still sing- Ing, swaying and swirling past the grandstand and its contribution box. ! The pyramid of silver and copper coin | had gradually grown to a foot or more | in height, and the parson looked upon ' it with approval. The starched and vari-colored decorations of the devo- tees had.sadly wilted in the heights of their fanatic zeal. The Toom was hot and the pace was hotter. None but the ebony-skinned Amazons of Andros and the hardened spongers and conch divers of the Bahamas could stand it. “The dim glow of two ship’s lanterns! vied with the moon in shedding an al-| most uncanny light over the strange scene. It was essentially foreign, Afri- can, wild, weird, savage, from the An- glo-Saxon point of view. Some old- timers were there, men who had been slaves and served masters in different parts of the Bahamas. There was a strange fascination in it a]l. The faces| of those who fell gradually becams| more or less fixed, and it was said that| this comatose condition ' freauently lasted for several days. Stranger stfll, Rev. Father Matthews of the Church of England is authority for the state- ment that during these periods of trance or catalepsy the subject fre-; quently tells of events which are tak- ing place on islands far removed and| separated by hundreds of miles of| ocean. Dates and happenings thus de-| scribed had been verified many days: afterward by vessels that brought what was supposed to be the first tid- ings. . ‘“‘Accidents, storms and wrecks in distant parts of the Bahamas have thus been, not foretgld, but apparently | pictured upon the retina of the eye| that could not possibly look on the; scene by any physical means. The truth or falsity of this phase of the phenomena it was impossible for us to verify, though the statements are vouched for by eminently respectable white residents of Andros Island.” —_———— Governor Wells of Utah is particularly fond of oysters, one of the few things| hard to get in that State. Consequently | there is a barrel shipped him every week from Baltimore. Suddenly a Big Bouncing Wench Threw Her Arms Hloft. Gave a Theological Shriek and | Flopped Flat on the Floor.