INDIAN_DANCES OF THE SOUTHWEST 
peer across the ash cloud and one says, 
“Yes, here they come now. They are 
walking on the cloud. Now they stop 
at Cottonwood Leaf Lake.” Then the 
other clown blows ashes and the ques- 
Thus the Cloud 
People are drawn nearer and nearer 
until they enter the village. 
tions are repeated. 
The clowns 
become more and more excited and 
finally cry: “Here they are now!” 
and the masked dancers stamp on the 
roof and throw game, fruit, and cakes 
down the hatchway. When the masked 
dancers enter, the children are covered 
but the older people drink in the divine 
presence with the palm of their hands 
as one scoops up and drinks water. 
These masked dancers may not talk al- 
though they make peculiar sounds. 
Their wishes are told in pantomime. 
The songs used in these ultra-sacred 
ceremonies have words and sometimes a 
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sentiment that is beautiful. More com- 
monplace dances may be accompanied 
by songs without real words and only a 
Here 
is a song from the Turtle Dance — one 
jumble of meaningless syllables. 
of the winter dances of sacred type. 
It refers to the coming of spring. 
Povi ts’e anyu 
Povi ts& nyu anyu 
Khu" p’i nyu anyu 
Khu* tsa nyu anyu 
Gi na™ ak’o 
Gi na™ ak’o 
Nde wa pa he ra™* 
Na we ndi powa 
Yellow Flower Girl! 
Blue Flower Girl! 
Mottled Corn Girl! 
Blue Corn Girl! 
Thus on the plain, 
Thus on the plain, 
Everything they revive 
And hither return! 
Photo by H. J. Spinden 
The circuit of the Antelope Priests in the great Snake Dance ceremony at Walpi (in the Hopi 
country, Arizona). 
dramatization of an ancient Indian myth. 
This dance is a collaboration of the Antelope and Snake societies and is a partial 
Many of the Southwest dances are carried out with great 
solemnity, often at night in underground lodges, the masked dancers impersonating gods. 
[The March, 
1913, JourNat reproduced a long series of photographs of the Snake Dance by the artist, Mr. Howard 
McCormick] 
