Show THAN ta A G I 1 I 1 NG tag an old indian Cu custom stoIn W J 10 4 at 40 ni indian da dance cc at t taps during by EDITHA L WATON WATSON on the edge of ills his lit tie cornfield the ilori famer looks at hie his crop and smiles ilia III lips move moe and gentle words con come from them words which carry eo so much of heart that we w might guess their meaning fron from the warmth with which they an are uttered and know because they ire are spoken softly as well as a earnestly that they were addressed to thos those above whom we call the awl kwa awl Is what the ilott 1 bays says thanks thanks and in these words he ex presses one of the most characteristic of in dian dlan customs that of giving thanks on every occasion and no matter how bow slight the pretext we may smile at the thought of u uttering thank thanks for the presence of a visitor that hia his health is good if it a child who has fallen and hurt itself lightly slightly begin to smile acain if rain min comes for any or all of the matters which fill all every day yet we who pride ourselves on our manners manders and who ara prompt to acknowledge the lightest favor hom a fellow human cannot help but admire the etiquette which calls for acknowledgment to god also and when we realize that all these seemingly slight events are beyond the unaided power of man to bring about we e feel that we have bae been ungrateful to take so much for granted without bothering to acknowledge the source not content with unending thankfulness the indians also said grace both before and after meals to the bordi of the little prayer were added an offering of food was vias cast into the fire as the grace spoken receive oh source of my ancestry and eat eald said the zuni as he performed the rite spirit partake I 1 I 1 murmured the dakota woman and her husband echoed the whimpered prayer and off i ring of gratitude in the pueblo land no cooking cooling was nits under tak en vilt without hout an offering A pinch of meal preceded the bread into the oven a bit of each eort sort of food uns ft as placed in the fire with a thought of thanksgiving for past and future before meals the smallest emal leet children had their hands guided in this little ceremony for the spirit of gratitude to those above for ever thing and for food above all was strong in every indian heart clothing they could skimp if necessary shelter they could do without but life itself depended on food end and they were grateful for it it Is strange how nearly the grace before meals of white men and red coincide both ex press thanks the white man by words the indian by bis his offering of food as well and both ask bles blessings slugs to come A zuni grace runs as follows makers of the trails of our lives and ye spirits of our estors of this add ye unto your hearts after the manner of your own knowledge and bless us with fruitful seasons needed water and age of life it must have been a very lovely world in which the ancient red men lived there were all tie the beauties of untouched nature to behold thero were tasks to keep the hands busy and prayers to occupy the heart and mind the navaho draw alakel nil fill that IR 1 mo hake make beautiful all that Is behind me it Is done in beauty was answered dally daily to all the tribes and out of this serene beauty of their earth mother there grew a very strong religion the essence of which was thanksgiving there Is a beautiful tewa ceremony which occur occurs about harvest harves time tUme that of giving the perfect seeds in charge and allowing the earth mother to rest for a while the finest seeds of all sorts sort are tire searched out by the kossa a sum mer mor priesthood and a few of each kind are sanctified guarded and planted about ten cays days before the rest of the crop Is put in in he fall the perfect ses seeds of these selected plants are gathered and at the conclusion of a feast of the kossa nossa give them to the Qu arrano a winter priesthood to guard until the next planting time at this time out of gratitude to the earth mother strong medicine is made that she may sleep after all her toll all spring and summer she has given of her flesh in all forms of na ture to her children surely she Is tired and needs to rest the feasting Is done the next year s seeds laid by and now corner comes a period in which the grateful indian people keep koep quiet making makin no noise that that beloved mother may sleep no loud talking is allowed in tewa tow and every noise Is hushed bushed until she has las bad her rest hare Is true thanksgiving primitive naturally but sincere and expressed in term of human humankind kind ahe dances and ceremonies which preceded various feasts were something uke like an enlargement ment of the grace before meal meals harvest time meant bant happiness and it also brought with it the obligation of giving thank thanks so by combining the celebration celebrations with rites the indian enjoyed both I 1 imam pip the governor t 0 pueblo koft Z ua r inside 0 A A group of santa clara pueblo indians and did not neglect either there Is a a little cht kee tale which illustrates the custom of celebrating before feasting seven wolves olves went out and caught a fat groundhog their prey considering that with presence of mind there might be a chance for absence of body reminded them that peo pie always danced for gratitude when they had something good to eat giving the green corn dance as an example he urged the wolves to do Ill likewise eMse and offered to teach them steps and to sing for them the wolves although they were ere very hungry eagerly agreed to hold this dance of thanksgiving and during luring their celebia tion the groundhog escaped the green corn dance to which the animal alluded Is one of the among indian of thanksgiving although it la Is held at the time of green corn late summer among the creeks this festival was as the occasion of for gi given veness when nhen injury and hatred were forgot ten the ceremonies lasted iron from four to eight days and were marked by rejoicing over the first fruits of the year the pueblos also mid a green corn festival beautiful and symbolical a sort of grace before the harvest then later in the year about the time of our own thanksgiving day there arc are harvest festivals when ahe prayers of agrati tude rise endlessly to those trove as the hap py people celebrate with ceremony ce remon and feasting the gitis gifts which the earth mother has bestowed in one ancient pueblo dance great trays full vi VL the irb artau 1 lud stati were theorn about and trampled into the arth form ing a great offering to express tae we thanks cf the people although shelter and clotting are as tin to us as food we have han not left off the age old association of food with celebration indeed thanksgiving day centers around the dinner table at first a fast day the early american colonists gradually assimilated the old indian customs and today the anguil feast of gratitude grat tude Is a real amerial institution hence it seems all the more fitting that most of the dishes which are traditional to the day should be those which the indians themselves enjoyed and celebrated in the eating first of all there Is th it grand american bird the turkey nothing like mm bini was wits ever seen before and the newcomers thought that he aust must be ome relation to the peacock an as he strutted in his iridescent finery perhaps there Is nothing more mora delicious than young wild turkey fed on pinon nuts aich ich the indiana In dlan of the southwest knew know with this noble bird always go potatoes an Amerl AmerI caff call product which the na lives tives enjoyed long before the coming of colum bus in fact in those pre discovery days america furnished some of the choicest and most palatable foods which we wt know of some of them grew also in the eastern hemisphere but many were ere distinctly and distinctively american the tle indians had real cause for or thanksgiving in tl tie e variety and tastiness ft ef the food true them aas TV as no beef but bufalo boalo humps were a delicacy which bas has been celebrated in practically every history of early americans and ribs juicy and tender roasted over coals would rival the famous cookery of the old world yet requiring no other sauce than hunger w rw but do not think that hunger was the feces sary Ingred ingredient tent ot of an indian meal cooking aas ft as not the haphazard operation we might believe it to have been there were fifty three nays of preparing corn and we should offer thanks on our own accounts for this indian food as we eat succotash hominy and other corn dishes prepared long before our time by the savages of america there were deer and mountain sheep for a change from buffalo and fish from the many streams and ducks and other birds were numer ous and varied so that no one need live on turkey the great kitchen biddens mid dens found along the coast prove that oysters were a greatly enjoyed indian food and turtles also helped in the menu meni while we are hunting for indian dishes to place on the thanksgiving dinner table we may give thought to the appropriate beverage for this truly american meal of course the average man will demand coffee which Is not a native drink but mat matt which las has a high caffeine con tent would bo be the nearest drink of the sort teas made from dried flowers or flavorous twigs and roots would be truly indian decoctions decoct ions but enjoyable to our trained palates win the apachi beer nada made of sprouted corn would be appropriate but it Is alcoholic to a con sid sli erable lerable degree the only real indian beverage velch spi ceils to modern tastes is chocolate favo bavota ditc itc drink of the aztec kings after in that hour whan it in ana f early for the fot football ball game same and every one li to to too 0 contentedly filled to care about emert exertion lon anyway the air begins to pow frow p ow hazy with tobacco smoke here too Is in old indian custom closely associated with the giving ft ef thanks few rew tribes used tobacco to 0 as we do rather it carried messages to tha gods in it clouds of smoke the pipe was presented the smoke blown to the four world qu arters above and below to symbolize the offering prayer in all directions it wa puffed ceremonies and ans at councils the chippewa and many rany other tribes tobacco as a thant offering when they cut a birch tree for its bark they bary bury a tobacco at the roots giving thanks as they so the pueblos tie small parcels of tobacco their prayer sticks and the tribes which dog killing ceremonies fasten bundles of 0 to the legs and neck of the sacrificed animals adding them to carry these to the spirit with them there to present them with for health and plenty for the tribe little 0 of that ancient gratitude Is left 0 we in our liard modern shells celebrate the of thanksgiving by feasting without ceremony yet in our hearts we have kindled the question wh what at are we thankful for and fled flod in 2 things which made us glad to be alive them perhaps the fact that we WO are ate not in dianci I 1 we owe acknowledgment to providence much Is certain and because a we after all a thoughtful and a courteous people some during thanksgiving day aft A will echo in hearts the words said by our centuries ago 7 thanks hanks that it ie Is so sol I 1 Q by western union 1 atia A W aeki 16 W MT |