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Show r HOPI INDIANS WILL HOLD SUN DANCE g dt a TO OBSERVE PICTURESQUE CEREMONY i " " HOW ABORIGINES MAINTAIN ANCIENT CUSTOM IN NORTHERN NEW MEXICO. - - . - ..... I L ' - 1 311 - Celebration Takes Place in Pueblo on Last Day of September Each Year. AT the ancient pueblo of Taos, in northern New Mexico, the Hopi Indians will carry out next Saturday Sat-urday a quaint and picturesque ceremony, the like of winch Americans hav formed the habit of journeying across the .seas to witness. On September 30 of each year the Hopis of Taos observe the feast of their patron saint, San Geronimo. It is not a secrc; ceremony, nor has it been, but It was given no place in the guidebooks of American touripts until after l lie mighty conflict in Europe had made unsafe un-safe travel to the countries of the ol J world. Once each year, the last day of Fep-. t ember, the Hopis of the desert southwest south-west gather at I lie pueblo of Taos, in northern New Mexico, lo celebrate this feasi. The feast of San Geronimo is observed ob-served particularly by the Hopisof the pueblo of Taos, but delegations are sent to represent the Navajos, .facarilla Apaches and Vies for hundreds of mites around. The celebration is a curious mixture mix-ture of games, da nces, rites a nd ceremonies cere-monies ay bonded down by their fore-; fore-; fathers and supplemented by soinf the teachings of the Franciscan friars. ! Begnis in Evening. The festival hpgius wlih candle offer-i offer-i ings at vespers on the evening before the saint's day. As the evening sun sinks behind the shrub-covered western hills the Indian acolyte climbs to the flat roof of the adobe chapel and. with a stone in each hand, heals ihe call to services. After the services two bands of Indians, In-dians, crowned with leafy ehaplets and carrying green houghs, file into the little adobe-walled court, in front of the chapel. The' face -each other In two long lines laud to the music of their .own weird chant begin to dance, moving slo iy out of the yard and across the village. This Is in honor of the setting sun. - ud Is called the "sun dance. ' When the lat t i!a.i'e is over the progr.uiiiu? of the first 'Jc y is concluded. But the celebration is continued almost with the dawn of the following day. i Thtrly-two braves, sixteen on a side, run a 20-mile relay race over a 400-yard course of rough and uneven road. Wrinkled Wrin-kled old men and half-naked children, crowned with leafy wreaths and carrying tender green sprays, clear the course. As the runners speed along, old men clad like the heralds of ihe lime of Homer. brush them on the shouVlcrs -with eagle t feather;; and shout "Omali pt:h!" try j j him. This race is popularly supposed to Idc-'ide who will hold the offices cf the i j pueblo for the ensuing year, but it reallv is in honor of the patron saint and has no political signilicance. Takes Form of Circus. In the afternoon the celebration takes the form of a sort of an aboriginal circus performance, with most of the ' amuse-iment amuse-iment furnished by the sacred clowns, known as chiffoncttes. Of these delight-makers, delight-makers, the following legend Is told : Long ago. when the hero brothers. 1 led 'he people on their long pilgrimage, pilgrim-age, their hearts became weary and faint, because of the hardness of the way. The sun-father pjlicd them and pent to gladden their hearts the delight de-light -maker the Hosharo (Vhiffon-ette) (Vhiffon-ette) a man with corn leaves upon his head, who danced and sang before be-fore the people and made tii.ni frr-get frr-get their weariness and sorrow. He made the c m eror-: and t ho fruit ripen, and since then the Ivoeharo or his representatives have remained at I he pueblo. A pole fifty feet high is erected near the pueblo and from Us summit hang "a sheep., a roll of cloth, clusters of fruit and a j basket of bread. symbolical of the fruits I of the earth. Formerly a living sheep was I hung on the pole and after suffering all day long it waff thiown to the ground and torn to pieces. But the spirit of humanity has brought about a change and the present-day custom Is to kill the animal before the celebration. Around the pole cluster the sacred clowns. They are nude, striped with black and white and wear garlands of corn husks and grain on their heads and hodies. Their wit lakes the form of micmicry of the occupations of the pueblo life.. Climax of Afternoon. The climax of the afternoon programme fs the chase of the rheep by the clowns. Feigned hunger brings about a search for food and the imaginary discovery of the tracks of the sheep and a tortuous chase before the delight-makers discover the body of the animal at the top of the pole., Pseudo attempts to climb the pole for half an hour or more keep the throng in an uproar. Then one of the chiTfonettes climbs the pole with celerity, passes down the trophies und disappears. The tender luminousness of the evening light seems to rest upon the fields In benediction. The villagers have given thanks, the harvest has been blessed and San Geronimo watches over his people. , Tile pubto of Taos lies just south of the Colorado-New Mexico line, in the shadow of the mighty Sangre de Chrlslo range, and occupies both sides of a clear, ra pid stree m. Discovered by the Spaniards Span-iards more than 350 years ago. the pueblo pyramid nouses stand today occupied bv the same type of Indians with the same habits, customs and sports as those found there by Captain Francisco de Bar-rionuevo Bar-rionuevo sixty-nine years before there was an English-speaking resident In the New World. More than 400 people now occupy the two five-story adobe structures. They, cultivate small farms, but ding tenaciously tenacious-ly to their primitive customs. The Spanish Span-ish priests taught them their religion and their liltle adobe house of worship 'dazzles 'daz-zles with white was! i each year for the feast of San Geronimo. Quaint Mexican Town. Two and one-half mllps from the pueblo of Taos is Fernandes de Taos, a Mexican Mexi-can town of quaint a rchitectuve, built around a la rue plaza. .Many an illustrious, pioneer has called Fernandes de Taos hls,H home, for there at oup time ended the1 Santa Ke trail. That heroic figure of nil boyhood, (.'olonel Kit t'arson. made bis home there for many years and is buiir-.' : there, and his old home is one of the 1 historic spots of th vidnge. Govornur f'harles Pent was assassinated t here in 1S-I7 during the pueblo insurreetion. ("olonel Cerra Pi. Yrain, .ludgR Beaubein and many others who filled paues in early history have called Fernandes dp Taos home at one time or anoiher. And not the least insignlfieant item in the his- lory of Tans is ihe fa'-t that the first ; newspaper published npt of the Missouri ! river whs issued In Taos in 1S."7. I This historic and interesting section has j Inst not ope hit of its oldnevg. 1 1 is h j verl'able lodes-one ffv sculptors, painters. writers and phot orraphei-p from varous , sec; ions of A mer; ni . A mom: the artists . of iiHiional and hit erir-i ; iona I reputation I j who were .'l T.ios .luring 'he pat sum-. mer were .UwrMi Henry Sharp. Pert G. I Phi'dips a :v1 Ralph Meyei who v,i r ' a Inpted Taos for a permanent home; ;. I Irvine tV.use and V. Herhf-t Uunton of ! New York, who have ere led studios and ' hve theie a nart of each v-.ir; Hobert I lenri and K. T. PlumensrhWn of N-w 1 York. G. I-:. Re.-rnmjhaus of S . I.nuis j W3::er I'fer of fh-.'-.-ito. Julius polseow-n I of Florence, !;a'v: Mis. ,J. H. Wjir,.-, (f j i Seattle. Sheldon Persons and Victor llig- pins of 'hiia--:o. I'n is Rot-n' ;-;) i nf j ; I o Alleles and Mis:- Helen Icmlnp of I , Whl;t:c:. Cal. j |