The North American Indian Part 7

"I am a messenger sent by Kuterastan to talk to you. The Sun is my father; I have just left him to come to you. You are to inform all your people that a change is about to be made in their lives and in the nature of the whole world. In place of this life of strife and toil with little to eat, all, the white man as well as the Indian, will be taken to a place where all things grow without labor, and where there will be no rough, barren mountains, but instead broad valleys filled with gra.s.s, trees, corn, fruits, nuts, and all kinds of game in abundance. There, too, you will meet all your fathers and mothers and brothers and sisters and children who have gone before you from their homes, for they are now there. There no sickness or death will visit anyone. The old and feeble will become strong, the crooked straight, and the blind shall see. But to be taken, all must have faith, believing as one, and observe these instructions I am to leave with you. You are commissioned to instruct the people. Those who believe must adopt the _daiita ilhnaha_, the cross and crescent, as a symbol of faith, for it represents the shape the new world will have and the road all must travel to reach it, and any who start on the journey without using this sign will be lost on the way. When the time comes to depart, I will return to lead you. A great cloud, open in the centre, will come down from above and surround us all, so that none shall see whither he goes. Until then those who would go must do as you bid them. All males, boys or men, must have caps of deerskin with the _daiita ilhnaha_ marked on them in beads on four sides, and two eagle feathers attached to the top, ready to wear on the journey. They must also have new s.h.i.+rts, leggings, and moccasins upon which this figure has been made in black and white.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Apache Village]

Apache Village

_From Copyright Photograph 1906 by E.S. Curtis_

"The girls and the women must likewise have new clothing, bearing the sacred symbol, ever in readiness. All their water bottles, burden baskets, and saddlebags must also bear the sign, and should any desire to ride horses, only the best, fleet and strong, branded upon the left b.u.t.tock with the _daiita ilhnaha_, may be taken. The permanent homes of all people living in bands under a chief must no longer be scattered, but must be built close together in long rows, that no time may be lost in a.s.sembling when our Great Father wills that you depart from this life to go to that where all is peace and plenty. Until that time, which is not far off, you must conduct yourselves as I have directed, discarding also all old medicine symbols for the new."

The plain Greek cross and the crescent have been used by the Apache as decorative and religious symbols from early times, but this recent adaptation of the combined form came as a sudden wave.

With an unusually strong personality, Das Lan had long been held in fear by those who knew him best, and with his story of the new messiah he soon became of great prominence in the tribe. Das Lan first made confidants of the leading spirits in the various bands, who in turn converted others to the new faith before public announcement was made. Having won the strongest men in the tribe through personal appeal to their vanity, the crafty Das Lan could now remain at home, enjoying the prosperous practice that grew out of his new cult.

Throughout the reservation those most deeply affected by the messiah belief have been appointed spies over the others. If any persist in the use of old medicine paraphernalia, they are reported at once and hara.s.sed by threats of plague, sickness, ill-luck, disaster, and even death, which Das Lan claims to be able to cause or to dispel at pleasure. Once the threat is made, nothing unwelcome can happen to one under the ban that is not immediately attributed, by all the medicine-man's disciples, to the disfavor of the G.o.ds; and nothing more potent is necessary to convert the unbeliever, for there is no Indian reared in the wilds who is not steeped in the belief that his G.o.ds are all-powerful in both causing and eradicating every ill.

About two years ago, on the Cibicu, a woman murdered her husband. She did not deny the act, but pleaded justification, alleging that her husband was guilty of unfatherly conduct toward his daughter. The local authorities were very sceptical of her defence, since the murdered man had always borne an excellent reputation among both Indians and whites; but no contradictory evidence could be adduced upon which to base an open trial, so the matter became quieted. After time had cancelled the crime in the mind of the guilty, it became known that the murder had been committed at the instigation of the scheming Das Lan, who found the deceased an obstacle to his prophetic a.s.sumptions, and under the guise of an order from Kuterastan had him despatched. Naturally fierce, strong, and bold, Das Lan has become more emboldened by his success as a prophet, and indirect threats of further crafty murders are sometimes uttered by the more fanatical members in each band when anyone presumes to defy his creed and will.

In 1903, throughout the White Mountain reservation, the Government farmers found it difficult to persuade the Apache to plant the usual corn. The following winter found them with a scant food supply, and Government aid was neccessary to relieve suffering. The cause of the failure to plant, none of the officials then knew; but to his tribesmen Das Lan had prophesied the probable advent of the messiah at that time-so why plant corn?

Another effect of Das Lan's prophecy is noted in the fact that although a few years ago the Apache houses were scattered far and wide, now there are many villages consisting of long straight rows of gra.s.s-thatched huts, bearing testimony to that deep-seated superst.i.tion which in the Apache apparently will never be eradicated.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Sand Mosaic - Apache]

Sand Mosaic - Apache

_From Copyright Photograph 1907 by E.S. Curtis_

This pictures an Apache dry-painting employed in an attempt to cure a paralytic about the year 1882. The several figures are crude representations of masked deities-_gaun_. The wavy lines are lightning symbols. The patient entered upon the central figure, when the colored earths were gathered from about him and rubbed upon his body by masked men personating the _gaun_.

p.u.b.eRTY RITE

The ceremonial celebration of the arrival of the period of p.u.b.erty in girls is more rigidly adhered to than any ancient religious rite or social custom in vogue among the Apache. By this ceremony the social position of the girl is established, and she is given a.s.surance, on the eve of her womanhood, of a long, happy, active life. At this critical period, if the favor of the G.o.ds were not thus invoked in behalf of the girl, it might augur ill for her in after life.

This Nalin Bagudzitash, or Girl Dance, is held always at dawn and is brought to a close when the sun s.h.i.+nes full upon the partic.i.p.ants. The ceremony is conducted by a woman selected from among the friends of the girl's parents for her comeliness, activity, and good character. So far as the performance of the successive parts of the ceremony is concerned, no special knowledge on the part of the leader is required, as a medicine-man is engaged to give the necessary directions and to sing the songs. The girl lies on a blanket upon the ground, and her sponsor, so to speak, straightens her arms and legs, rubs her joints, and otherwise simulates remoulding and beautifying her body. The girl then sits up, and those a.s.sembled dance and sing in a circle about her. An eagle feather and a white-sh.e.l.l bead are tied in her hair, and sacred pollen is rubbed on her face, in deference respectively to the bird of war and the G.o.d and G.o.ddess of health and fructification-Hadintin Skhin and Hadintin Nalin.

When the dancing is finished the sponsor takes a basket of corn prepared for ceremonial use and deposits it fifty yards or more to the east of the circle. The girl arises and runs around the basket, then back to the blanket on the ground, followed by little boys and girls. The G.o.dmother then moves the basket farther away, and the girl runs around it again, followed by children as before. This performance is repeated four times at the east of the circle, after which the basket is carried around to the south and the girl runs around it four times again, then to the west, and lastly to the north. When she returns from her fourth run at the north the girl stops on the blanket as usual, where the basket of corn is emptied on her head. A lively scramble for the corn follows on the part of all present, for it is deemed good fortune to bear away a handful of the consecrated kernels, which, if planted, are certain to be very prolific.

The act of running out and back, followed by children, symbolically attests that the young woman will be strong and active throughout life, beloved by her offspring, who will always follow and obey her. That of pouring corn upon her head is an invocation to the G.o.ds that she may be blessed with fruitfulness.

The girl wears her ceremonial raiment of whitened deerskin or new white muslin, with a white feather, a stone bead, and a piece of sh.e.l.l in her hair, for four days after the performance, abstaining during that time from flesh and from food containing salt, being careful, too, not to scratch herself with her fingers. At the end of this period she bathes, dons her usual clothing, and partakes of the customary food.

DANCE OF THE G.o.dS

The Gaun Bagudzitash, or Dance of the G.o.ds, is the one ceremony of the Apache that bears any material resemblance to the many Yeb.i.+.c.hai dances or "chants" of the Navaho, and even then the only feature common to the two is that the men, typifying G.o.ds, wear elaborate masks. The Apache are not unfamiliar with the making and employment of dry-paintings for the treatment of the sick, as has been seen. Originally the dry-paintings and the _gaun_, or G.o.ds, always appeared together, but in recent years the Gaun dance has been conducted preliminary to and as a part of medicine, p.u.b.erty, and war ceremonies. Captain Bourke, in his "Medicine-men of the Apache" (Ninth Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 1892), speaks of this as the Spirit or Ghost dance. Though performed infrequently now, as compared with other dances, on account of the expense and of disapproval by the agents, the Gaun Bagudzitash is unquestionably the most popular ceremony conducted by the Apache.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Apache _Gaun_]

Apache _Gaun_

_From Copyright Photograph 1906 by E.S. Curtis_

Four always, but generally five, deities are impersonated in this dance-Gaunchine? of the east, Gauncho of the south, Gaun of the west, Gaunchi of the north, and Gauneski?de the fun-maker. These are arrayed in short kilts, moccasins, and high stick hats supported upon tightly fitting deerskin masks that cover the entire head. Each carries two flat sticks about two feet in length, painted with zigzag lines representing lightning.

For the dance a circular plot of ground, fifty or sixty feet in diameter, is cleared of stones and brush, and four small cedar trees are planted about its edge, one at each of the cardinal points. All in attendance a.s.semble in a circle outside the trees, leaving an opening at the eastern side. Unheralded the five masked personators march in from the east and take position in front of the cedar trees, the fifth man standing behind the fourth at the northern side. Four drummers with small drums and an indefinite number of drummers around a large one, at a signal from the medicine-man in charge, who sings, begin drumming. The personated G.o.ds dance all about the circle, making motions with their sticks as if picking up and throwing something away, followed by blowing with the breath for the purpose of expelling evil spirits from their midst. While this is going on the fifth masker, Gauneskide, performs antics designed to amuse the audience. When the songs are finished the dancers depart in an eastwardly direction, whence they came, and all rest.

The drummers begin the next period in the dance by beating their tomtoms.

As soon as they commence the _gaun_ again appear, coming from the east as before, and stop in single file in front of the cedar tree on the eastern side. There the spectators throw _hadintin_ upon them and offer prayers, after which the five _gaun_ take the same positions as before in front of the small trees. Upon the trees little wheels of cedar twigs have been hung; these the dancers now take, and each dances toward the fire in the centre of the circle and back four times. As the G.o.ds dance back and forth the people a.s.sembled in the encircling line s.h.i.+ft their positions, so that all the women are on the north side and all the men on the south; then the entire body dances, with brief intervals of rest, while twelve songs are sung. The maskers next form in single file on the east, march around the fire, through the flames of which each pa.s.ses the ends of his two sacred wands to destroy any lurking evil, then back around the eastern cedar tree, again around the fire, then to the southern tree, and so on to each of the four trees, when they take their leave.

This much const.i.tutes that part of the ceremony in which the _gaun_ are the chief partic.i.p.ants and which usually occupies half the night. The remainder of the night is consumed by the performance of some ceremony forming the princ.i.p.al objective-often the p.u.b.erty rite above described.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Apache Maiden]

Apache Maiden

_From Copyright Photograph 1906 by E.S. Curtis_

THE JICARILLAS

[Ill.u.s.tration: Lone Tree Lodge - Jicarilla]

Lone Tree Lodge - Jicarilla

_From Copyright Photograph 1904 by E.S. Curtis_

HOME AND GENERAL CUSTOMS

The Jicarillas, or, as they are commonly called, "Jicarilla Apaches,"

occupy a reservation of nearly four hundred and fifty square miles of mountainous country in northern New Mexico. Linguistically the Jicarillas are of the same stock as the Apache of Arizona; but here the relations.h.i.+p ceases, for the two peoples have virtually no knowledge one of the other; each, according to their respective genesis myths, had their origin in the general region in which they live to-day, while the dialect, mythology, legends, and medicine rites of the Jicarillas more closely resemble those of the Navaho than any of the Apache groups. The designation "Jicarilla Apaches" is an inheritance from the early Spaniards, who were wont to designate as Apache any warlike tribe which had not been brought under subjection. Such were the Apaches de Nabaju (Navaho), the Apaches del Perrillo, the Apaches Gilenos, Apaches Tejuas, Apaches Vaqueros, Apaches Faraones, Apaches Llaneros, Apaches Lipanes, and a host of others, of whom the Spanish missionaries and colonists had little or no knowledge except that derived, alas, from predatory raids on the peaceable Indians among whom they were established. The name "Apache," therefore, was applied in the Rio Grande country of New Mexico in much the same way as the term "Yavapai" was given in the Rio Colorado region of Arizona, and, naturally enough, it still survives.