Show str pa MIMS w 1 bov S 1 I 1 IN EW ye lear MR r 5 aa L r F mannle 11 F W MS pi 33 zi d A N 1 I A ft A LA A 4 q 31 WR I 1 2 lite W kaw e C 1 Z Z ai 1 t EW YEARS DAY or at least the coming ot of the 0 new year Is greeted by all the world in this very much civilized twentieth century most ot of us celebrate the new year by tile the almanac we have forgotten or do n not t take time to re meaer the original significance of 0 the day but ahen uie the world was younger and its people were closer to nature it was a day of 0 significance well worth celebrating among primitive peoples the year Is marked oft off in seasons usually the planting the growing the harvesting ond the season of rest or it even may le be by moons and suns but bat let the division be ahat it will it Is based on those marked physical changes which appeal to the senses as light and darkness heat and cold the lengthening ind shortening of 0 the day think how deeply must the shortening of the daae as fall comes on apace affect the ibe imagination of the primitive the sun their all powerful deity who rives gives them thein warmth and growth and life wanes and grows sluggish and ellk until daylight be comes so short that the terror stricken primitive hearts pray and plead and invoke the malign and baneful gods to remove their pernicious influence from their dearly beloved sun god how great Is the joy and feasting on the first day the new year when lie he starts slowly back tu to them thein to gain day by day a greater vigor and beauty un til in june lie reaches the culmination of his ironer so it Is seen that the shortest day in the year december 21 in our calendar Is quite properly the last day in the sear bear and it Is equally lilting fitting that the succeeding day when nhen the lie sun commences hla his return march should be hailed bv by glad and happy hearts the mogul indian the communal cum pueblo people of tile llie american southwest watch the shortening days will dread and celebrate with elaborate ceremony the turning point in llie life suns course the new years tears celebration called so yal aal u na Is largely ft a presentation of a singular and elaborate mythic drama divided into ato two parts in III w aich olTer offer lugs are made to effigies effi gies or of the great plume headed serpent the enemy of tile the sun followed by a sun dance in which the conflict between tile the sun and the inferior hostile gods Is admirably portrayed by MOQUI men personifying file various deities it Is hoped that the suns worst enemy the snake demon will be limply placated so rich will be the tribute that for or one entire year the sun be free from tits his persecution and the clouds which the snake wickedly swallows shall gattler gather and their moil moisture t freely descend unon UK ow parched an relied and blighted land until it Is once more clothed in verdure in a dimly lighted andl underground room there Is erected tit nt its west end a screen profusely profuse decorated with corn husks cut cleverly in initiation imitation of gowers flo near the middle of the screen there Is tin an opening and behind it stands a man who ho manipulates the effigy inake by tits side stands A compa companion who has bits a large shell 1 in front of the screen sit three or foar iff nole elemil nia priests priest and tile audience consisting of members of all the claus clans and tbt lr families and behind th theca em isa row of men who act its chorus when the rites rite begin the chorus commences to ing fing at it first filst it a low weird chant then gradually Kra dually rises to piercing intensity then the man behind the screen scree rita takes kes up the effigy of the great snake and thrusts it rapidly through the opening a flu number of df 3 14 I 1 VR 4 a aft j A 01 01 NA 1 Z lie ode 1 or times accompanied by the unearthly und discordant walling of the conch shell the priest directly in front of 0 the screen takes a little sacred meal in tits his it to his mouth uttering a deeply significant invocation to lo the serpent and then casts the meal on the head of the effigy one by one all the members present make their prayers to tile hostile serpent god so ends the first halt bait ot of the drama and on the morrow or the new year begins the great sun dance on opposite sides of tile the chamber there stand rows of men bearing shields with elaborate symbolic designs at the end of the room all alone and unsupported stands the sun bearer awaiting tile the onslaught of his horde borde of enemies A signal and the song begins and tile the lines of warriors on eath each side of the he surge against tile the hun bearer lo in attack eventually lie scatters and vanquishes his fits nanny many toes new years day birds ties with feasting and jollification 0 0 0 0 0 0 the aztecs azteca of mexico and central america had bud a bloody and complicated ritual for their celebration of the return of their masterful war god the sun 11 n we find beatt ered through the tl tangled jungles of yucatan many huge ruins 0 of f the wonderful pyramid cure ci re m onial edifices upon which horrible sacrificial atrocities were practiced la in heralding the new year the aztec lias has vanished from the tace face of the earth the file jungle tins has swallowed up the sun gods altars the ceremonies occupied a period of several days the initiatory rites began before cayll daylight fit of the first morning in g when the chief high nod ilda 1118 sub jub dignitaries wended bended their way AY lo in solemn procession to the top of their pyramidal sanctuary here the high arle priest 8 t retired R lone alone to a small temple whose doorway opened toward the east and as the rising sun crimsoned crim crini the sky he knatt and sprinkled thickly upon the marble floor the sacred altered roel meal As the first rays of the iun hun strike across the floor of the tiny ie the bended priest beholds a ilita miracle acle ja antly at first then stronger and stronger grows grows an imprint in a tile the merit of tile the naked flaked foot ot of their war god upon this miraculous maul it fe station the high priest announces to tile the assembled couriers that their god bud bad returned to them arid and that the grand festive occasion 1 to inaugurated the first feast rites viere A ere of a grew some ome 4 and not horrible nature Dil ture const consisting sting mainly of you youths th to the gods it Is said that they were feast ed fur for days previous to the ceremony that they might be in a pleasing condition upon their last and the war gods first great day in other oilier ceremonies human beings were killed and flaye a aj the p in the bate enveloped themselves in the bloody skins shins of the victims while they took part I 1 in na a frenzied led dance 0 across the pacific ocean the alnus or japan are celebrating an exceedingly curious new ew years custom for a thousand known years t the be adaus have stood still in their civilization following all their primitive customs find and cenemo ceremonies nies geDe generation Tation after generation and century after century practically without change new year tear with them Is tile the day of their greatest feasting ands and merrymaking merry making consisting largely of an extravagant use of saki or rice beer the principal ceremony Is the great bear feast called in which a buge bue bear Is slain and sacrificed as a i offering to the god hamul otio Is the guardian and protector of their homes b omes throughout the year it Is necessary to conciliate this god by the special donation of bears meat that their lives may be tree free from the persecution of the unseen intangible spirit demons who seek to do them harm barm it Is said that the bear tor for this feast Is malsed from a cub suckled by an ainu woman noman As the end of the year draws nigh they fatten the feast bear for the coming celebration with carefully prepared foods the killing of the bear Is done in a carlou way two fair sized logs are lashed one above another to a standing tree and extend horizontally resting upon the ground the entire clan takes lakes part in the killing which Is accomplished by putting the head of the animal between the logs end and squeezing out its life i |