INDIAN DANCES OF THE SOUTHWEST 
which they beat in unison, while others 
kneel and mark time by scraping notched 
sticks that rest on a log for ¢ 
board. 
sounding 
Around them in a circle, or half- 
circle, are dancing girls. These are not 
in their everyday Pueblo attire of woven 
blanket dress with colored belt and 
whitened deerskin boots but in. the 
fringed deerskin dress of their Plains- 
107 
larger circle of men in blankets, each 
resting his right arm across the shoulder 
of the man in front and all moving in 
a direction opposite to that taken by 
the girl dancers. These men represent 
Pueblo Indian visitors at the camp of the 
Plains Indians. The girl dancers and 
the inner chorus of men are the hosts 
who provide the entertainment. We see 
The costumes of the Tablet Dance at San Ildefonso are simple but pleasing. 
aprons embroidered with designs representing clouds and rain. 
Sprigs of aspen are stuck in the arm bands. 
skin. 
and are barefooted 
bred sisters, with moccasins and leggings. 
Searcely lifting their feet from the 
ground, as they keep time to the song 
and the throbbing rhythm of the drum 
and the notched stick instruments, the 
girls move slowly round the circle using 
their two hands in a graceful warding-off 
motion. Outside the circle of girls is a 
Photo by H. J. Spinden 
The men wear dance 
From the back of the belt hangs a fox 
The women wear the old-fashioned Pueblo dress 
in this the dramatic instinct which in 
many Pueblo ceremonies is developed to 
a high degree. The famous Snake Dance 
of the Hopi is a partial dramatization of 
an important myth. 
While the steps in many Indian dances 
are simple in the extreme, there is a 
delicate pulsing rhythm that affects the 
