File:The American Museum journal (c1900-(1918)) (18133773146).jpg

Title: The American Museum journal
Identifier: americanmuseumjo15amer (find matches)
Year: c1900-(1918) (c190s)
Authors: American Museum of Natural History
Subjects: Natural history
Publisher: New York : American Museum of Natural History
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
108 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL whole body and makes the dance ahiiost impossible of imitation for one of an- other race. Dances in which both men and women appear are perhaps more common among Pueblo Indians than elsewhere in North America. There is rarely the slightest body contact be- tween dancers of different sexes and never an embrace such as characterizes our own dances of pleasure. Pueblo dances are conducted decorously -— if we omit the religious orders of clowns whose antics are often none too delicate. Both men and women seem to be imbued with a sense of religious solemnity and seldom smile but there is no doubt that the sway of the dance is no less a source of sensu- ous delight to them than it is to our- selves. Pueblo dances proper are mostly concerned with rain, fruitful harvests, and abundant supplies of game. Much of the prescribed regalia represents clouds, falling water and blossoming plants. The symbolism is worked out in feather headdresses, embroidered aprons, painted wands, etc., and is magi- cal or coerci^'e in character. Wild animals are supposed to be pleased by dances in which they are mimicked and to allow themselves to be killed in re- turn. xVll the persons chosen for impor- tant dances have to undergo four days of preparation and purification during which they are isolated from their towns- folk. The religious heads of the vil- lage, called "caciques," are masters of ceremonies and the War Captain and his men are watchers, warders and providers. The public dances in the plaza are more or less processional but the ad- vance is very slow and the trail of foot- prints in the dust shows how the dancers have inched their way. There are definite spots for stationary dancing and here countermarching is used to make new quadrille-like formations. A good example of this sort of dance
Text Appearing After Image:
Photo by E. W. Demint The Tablet Dance twenty-two years ago at Santo Domingo

Note About Images