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Show y gogert a towie V5P" 61 ,1 J J ThCAMCRlCACinUJCUH JOURNAL Mffm P aUFfALOJ)AttC3Ymf1lWf JtDAffJ fffcif ill i HE word "dance," as applied Tby the Indians, has a meaning mean-ing very different from that which it carries in our own Ljbmm, language. When we hear ot dancing, we think, first ' of all, of music and steps. 7 These features are, of :ourse, not lacking in aboriginal dauc-:ng, dauc-:ng, but .they are completely over-ihadowed over-ihadowed by .other aspects of culture (vith which .they are associated. To jut it briefly, our dancing appears in :he same context with restaurants, lotels, debutantes, attempts at a social approchement of the sexes. In Indian iociety, dancing is largely connected tfith war and agriculture and the :hase, with processions, magical per-lormances per-lormances and religious observances, in short, with the serious affairs of Jfe. Indian dances, as far as the steps are :oncerned,are often of remarkable simplicity. sim-plicity. . A widespread "squaw dance," 'ound among the Shoshone, Crow and ; )ther northwestern tribes, consists simply sim-ply in the circle of dancers shuffling :he feet alternately to the left, each nan in the circle standing between :wo women, with his right arm around lis partner's shoulder or waist, or in some cases with arms encircling a partner on each side. With short intermissions in-termissions and an occasional intro-luction intro-luction of the war dance, for variety's sake, a squaw dance of this type is sometimes kept up all night, to the supreme gratification of the perform-srs. perform-srs. The tobacco dance of the Crow Indians, In-dians, is, if possible, of even simpler character. The participants stand up several in a row, holding sacred objects ob-jects in their hands, and alternately bend each knee and raise or lower sacn nana wunoui ai ! ujuviub hwlu their position. The Highly popular grass dance of the Plains Indians is at a more strenuous character. Only men take part, and they move about briskly, sometimes in pairs, sometimes separately, vigorously stamping the ground with their feet, and frequently mimicking martial exploits. The orchestral equipment of the Indians In-dians is not very comprehensive. The flute (or flageolet) is restricted to use in courting. For dancing, the drum and the rattle are by far the most Important instruments, although other types were used over a relatively large area; this applies, for example, to notched sticks raaped with other sticks and bird-bone whistles, usually worn suspended from the neck. The drum varies considerably in form. On the northwest coast the natives merely mere-ly beat a plank or box. The Plains Indians commonly use a skin stretched over a hoop, held by strings crossing underneath, but a large double-headed drum suspended from four sticks also occurs. Rattles are likewise of widely varying kind, such as gourds containing small pebbles and ring-shaped or globular rawhide bags for which in the dance of today baking powder cans make favorite substitutes. Sometimes a certain Instrument In-strument is considered distinctive of a navicular dance, and various forms of costume are also considered badges Thus dress comes to occupy In the Indian dance a place of significance signif-icance to which there is no corre- Cpond6nce in the dances of civilized races Sometimes, to be sure, the ap-pTref ap-pTref merely is designed tc , g,ve an aonearance of picturesqueness, while Tother instances 'af-f clothing is sometimes compensated for by face and body paint or by a profusion of regalia held in the hand. The Crow "grass dance might be cnosen as an example of the soda tvne of Indian dance, the Pawnee rska and the Mandan buffa.c .worn- ASSmJBQWSWWAjySMA SOCIU. AfC- while the Mandan okipa illustrates well the great tribal festival type of dance. The Crow grass dance, or, as the native call it, the "hot dance," is regarded re-garded as the joint property of four clubs, to some one of which nearly every man of the tribe belongs. In a sense these are mutual benefit organizations, organi-zations, for whenever a member is confronted with a difficulty his comrades com-rades are expected to help him in every way. In each of the districts of the Crow reservation, these four societies so-cieties share with one another a sub-, stantial dancehouse. When the time for dancing comes, a committee of men proceeds from lodge to lodge, planting a stick in front ot each. This means that each household is to contribute con-tribute to a feast to be held by the clubs after their dance. A crier rides through camp heralding the performance perform-ance and calling on all .members to present themselves at the dancehouse. I have known four marshals to be appointed to punish the laggards; those who had disobeyed dis-obeyed the summons either had to pay a fine or submit to the indignity of being thrown into the creek. In the meantime, the people assemble until the dancehouse is charged to Its utmost capacity. Then the musicians, seated in the center around a big drum, strike up a tune, later re-enforced by the voices of some of the women, and the members of some one of the four societies rise to perform the vigorous turns and bendings characteristic char-acteristic of the dance. They give . i t.ntlnn nrtcc In rflnirt Hlirv veni lu jeucuouub cession, they brandish weapons at an imaginary foe, and thus proceed around the lodge until the ceasing of music makes them come to a sudden stop. A very different phase of dancing is presented by the Pawnee iruska. The members of the society practicing this dance were supposed to be masters of fire, and their attitude toward it was to be like a Pawnee's attitude In facing fac-ing the enemy. Spectators were invited in-vited to their gatherings, their songs were chanted and the members began to dance. After the third set of songs had been sung, the attendants built a big fire and hung a kettle of water and dog meat (or buffalo) over it: The leader advanced to the kettle when it was full of boiling soup, plunged his onH tnnlr nut a niece of arm iiilu meat. All the other members fojlowed suit and unscathed pulled out meal, for they had secured medicine power that enabled them to overcome the force of the fire. An evidently related ceremony occurs among other tribes. In the hot dance of the Mandan and Hidatsa, the performers not only executed exe-cuted the trick practiced by the Pawnees, Paw-nees, but also danced with bare feet on glowing embers until they had stamped out the fire. This was like wise a usage of the crazy dancers of the Arapahoes, who Indulged In other queer antics, such as doing everything in reverse fashion and expressing the opposite of their intended meaning, thus lending to an otherwise solemn performance an aspect of buffoonery. While the activities just described sees to have had no object beyond the exhibition of the performer's supernatural su-pernatural power, the dance of the Mandan Buffalo Women's society was intimately connected with tribal welfare. wel-fare. Whenever the supply of buffalo had failed and the village was threatened threat-ened with famine, the members of this organization were called upon to execute exe-cute their dance in order to attract the herds. According to an early observer, ob-server, they never failed, for they simply never ceased dancing till buffalo buf-falo had been sighted. Prince Maximilian Maxi-milian of Wied-Neuwied gives. a good first-hand account of a performance witnessed by him in the early thirties of the last century. There were two men acting as musicians, with rattles and drums, one of them holding a gun. The leader was an elderly woman wrapped in the skin of an albino buf falo cow. The Mandan okipa represents again a wholly different type of dance. It was the great several days' annual festival that corresponded to the sun dance' of neighboring people. Ostensibly Osten-sibly it was a commemoration of the subsidence of the deluge recorded in native mythology, and some of the important im-portant characters of the myth were impersonated by performers. On the other hand, there was a great deal besides. be-sides. A marked dramatic feature was supplied by numerous mummers representing animals and closely mimicking their peculiarities. Prom inent among these were buffalo mas queraders who Imitated the wallowing of the animals represented and whose actions were expected to entice the game to the village. Many tribesmen voluntarily submitted to torture. The wide scope of activities em braced by the dances of our native American population makes perhapi the main point of interest over and above all special features. For what must strike every observer of primi tive cultures most forcibly is thai things which we consider quite dis tinct, men of a ruder civilization join Thus the stars are to us a subject ol purely scientific, study, but even oui ancestors invested them with all sorts of mystical properties, and the North American Indian personifies them and identities them with the heroes of bis folk-tales. Thus. too. we navj orna mental designs and often do not givf. them any symbolic interpretation Primitive man is indeed less given to symbolism than perhaps has been sup posed; nevertheless his tendency tc invest a geometrical pattern with meaning remains greater than our own So dancing, which to us is merely a form of amusement and exercise exer-cise becomes I ft primitive communl ties' an important social function, an opportunity for slelght-ol-hand per formances, for religious ritualism, and may become charged with an atmosphere atmos-phere of supreme holiness. |