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Show I BIG "FESTIVAL AT TAOS, MEXICO Many Visitors and Gaily Clothed Indians Attend Annual An-nual Celebration of Most Ancient Indian Holiday. Taos, N. M Sept. 30. Tho rising sun today saw tho beginning of the celebration cele-bration of the annual Harvest Festival, Fes-tival, or feast of San Geronimo, by tho residents of tho ancient communal dwelling of Taos, Inhabited by Pueblo Indians. Late in the afternoon with the setting of the sun, tho feast was to end with the dancing of tho famous fam-ous sun-danco in honor of the sun-god and In thanksgiving for the bountiful harvests of the year. Interspersed with the gaily clothed Indians wero visitors from near and far who came to witness the, annual celebration which is one of the most ancient Indian holidays In tho southwest, south-west, A modern and ancient civilization civiliza-tion thus meet cheek by joul, for the Indians have changed their mode of life little since the communal dwelling first was built, according to the best available scources of information. Part of tho celebration was' composed com-posed of a fair, a line of booths, decorated gaily in the Indian fashion, having been built In the pueblo plaza. Purchasing the wares there displayed formed a large part of the pleasures of the day. Here were sold Apache woven baskets, Hopi blankets and Pueblo wicker and earthenware, all nnlnfpH nr tcnvpn in tho envest colors I and in a fashion peculiar to these Indians for centuries. A- The harvest feast really began long hefore the rising if tho sun for the Indians were early astir preparing for the greatest day of the year. Tho rising of tho sun, however, was the signal for the real .beginning of the celebration, Including the raising of the offering-pole in the center of the pueblo plaza on which nimble Taonans hang the harvest offerings, melons, oread and of slain sheep. The raising of the offering-pole was followed on tho program by the early mass to which all the Indians go, dressed in their gayest clothes, in the little chapel where a Spanish padre ministers to their spiritual welfare, H" the chapel 'being also gaily decorated. Later in tho afternoon another mass Hfc wa sto be held, this being just before Hj. e beginning of the sun dance in Hp which the trained dancers of the tribe f take part. B- One of the interscting features of the celebration, especially to the visl-D visl-D tors, is the symbolic painting. These HHf consist of rather crude paintings in K the sand, of which there are many HS different colors no other implement K or .brush being used than a small flat K stick. The paintings themselves are K done in a sort of sign writing and are I. supposed to tell the history of the tribe and the great deeds of famous ' Taonans. Tonight are to be held the real U mysteries of the festival. In the f kiva, or ceremonial caverns under- ground are held those rites which none except the lnltioted ever attend. Only one white man is believed ever to have witnessed these ceremonies , which are believed to be as ancient as the tribe itself and to have been handed down from generation to generation gen-eration long before the coming of the Spaniard three centuries ago. mi j , i - xue uu uauce hi me low rays oi the setting sun and early twilight to' an end. |