The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 24, 1905, Page 1

~THEZ SUNDAY= , P A~ TITFRARY. = SECTION THE YE-BITCHAI DANCE OF THE NAVAJOS: FROM LIFE---BY MAYNARD DIXON. PGSO SO GRS RG TGS IRGR OGRS R RN RS0 RRRROON . [YO-NIGHT t os are dan- edicine lodge—for nine 'nights the a thank offering for the recovery of his massive silver. bracelet or concha flashes command respectful attention. We learn others are all black with crooked light- cing young men, the tireless dancers sand mother from' a'long illness., The sum of ‘in the firelight. Tall, stately figures of ‘that he is giving his people a temperance ning patterns in white or red upon th In a far y cormer of North- singers of the people, have his’'payments to ‘the medicine mén and ithe chief's. medicine men stalk through lecture, Shame be it to us that he need arms and legs: others are dressed all in easters between the fires, and the medi- 'singers,'whose' services -he has retained, ' the ‘flickéring light,” or’ stdnd-silent and ~ta-do so.-. A blatk velvét and*wear black masks; some cine men huve anointed the eyes of the ‘and . gifts(to guests will come to near <4mpressive in- statuesque poseés, while At jast, after long waiting, we hear Dave wreaths of evergreen about their always' from within the medicine 10d8¢ .+ weird whoop again, and the young Decks and waists, and nearly every one is crowned with two long eagle feathers, < tipped with down. Laughing Doctor, the greatest medicine pn. ‘proc PV iy whe Laughing man of the tribe, come out from the pooige aavances down the line, sprink- medicine lodge & little distanee and Sit .. oo goncer with the sacred meal, down upon ‘the ground. We Hear the royuping o hiy place. ~Then' the- leader faint jingle of sleigh bells, the dr¥ ryghes to the far end of the line, stop- ch-r-rorr- of rattles far beyond fthe ping gyddeniy and throwing out his'arms young boys with the sacred meal, $00 in Navajo goods. that they may not be stricken biind This ceremony may be held either as a cumes the welrd cadence of the chani. when they look upon th€ strong gods in thank offering or as propitiation of the At last, from the lower-end of the lane. whose forms the dancers move. powers of departed and deified ancestors comes a shrill “wkooh! whooh!"—like the d and The camp has grown day by day, Of the tribe, as the case may demand. cry Of some unknown bird—the crowd 1til now, upon the last night of the Sets of dancers, six to twelve in a set, opens a trifle, and a young man appears, e come from ceremony, there is a campfire near from different parts of the reservation Wwaving his arms as he advdnces. He is pon their almost every juniper within a quarter- compete for the honors' of their calling, clad all fn brown velvet—his moccasins ir wag- mile of the medicine lodge, and still dancing alternately in relays. are decorated with silver buttons, around ieir chil- over the low-rolling ridges come the Long before the dance begins the long his walist is a belt of enormous silver CIoWd. then the spreading plunmies of the ang giving his pecullar whoop, and back les rolled Navajos upon their ponies, a succes- space between and all around the twelve conchas, about his. neck an ungainly, leader appear and eight, terrible figures gguin doing the same before the Laugh- blankets, the sion of wild silhouttes passing swiftly great bonfires of juniper logs is filled with bushy wreath of evergreens—but Lis face follow him into the glare of the fires. yng Doctor. coyly from across the last dull green glow of the a dense and restless- throng, wild in'the is covered with a hideous mask of buck- ~ Thy halt in single file and while the The first dancer advances until he faces s boys, Western sky—and up from the trading many colors of their blankets. The med- “skin, painted an ashen gray ‘and sur- Laughing Dector and the young Man the host and begins with his rattle and ever miss post there comes the rumble of wagon icine.hogar is at the west end of the rounded with a wild wig of goat hair. It make a long, silént prayer of a basket stamping with one foot and hopping dogs and wheels and a drumming of swift lane and the darcers’ lodge—a high, cir- is decorated bebind with a tall, fan- of sacred meal we have time to notethelr slightly on the other, that, strangs on this hoofs in the darkness. = There are cular corral of green brush—at the east. shaped surcad of .eagle plumes, lightly attire. The leader being described there rhythmic step of Indian dancers whose call to shrill shouts and the crying of chil- All who can have backed their wagons Swaying-as he rolls his)béad from side to . comes an array of lithe cnd sinewy very monotony is a fascination. He be- of the dren and the flerce barking of wolf- in behind the fires forming two irregular side. bodies, dressed in moccasins and breech gins the chant. which fs taken un by giant _grand- MNke dogs rows, and these are filled -with men, He. retreats into the 'darkness again elouts, and cach with its head hidden in each dancer in turn, and the dance is This dance is being given by a young Women and cbildren, decply muffled in and a chief steps forward to address the: a terrible musk, painted to represent on. They go down the middle and back ; thmic buck who owns many sheep and ponies, their blankets, for the night is biting (rowd. He delivers a long - harangue some god of Navajo mytnology. Some and around and dance together in o cir- has not wampum and silver—for the Navajos are cold. in the strange clicking Navajo tongue, of the 'dancers are painted white all over, hogar or good silversmiths in the Indian style—as Here and there, amid the throng, a his strong. voice and gestures seeming to With curious emblems upon their breasts; Continued on' Page Seven.) man who gives the dance, and the