108 
whole body and makes the dance almost 
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 
Pueblo 
if we 
omit the religious orders of clowns whose 
antics are often none too delicate. Both 
men and women seem to be imbued with 
our own dances of pleasure. 
dances are conducted decorously 
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 
coneerned with rain, fruitful harvests, 
and abundant supplies of game. Much 
of the prescribed regalia represents 
clouds, falling water and 
are mostly 
blossoming 
THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 
plants. The symbolism is worked out 
in feather headdresses, embroidered 
aprons, painted wands, etc., and is magi- 
eal or 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. 
coercive in 
All 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 
Photo by E. W. Deming 
The Tablet Dance twenty-two years ago at Santo Domingo 
