,516 MEDICINE-MEN OF THE APACHE. 



feast of Iloli or Hulica, in which this statement occurs: &quot;Troops of men 

 and women, wreathed with flowers and drunk with hang;, crowd the, 

 streets, carrying sacks full of bright-red vegetable powder. With this 

 they assail the passers by, covering them with clouds of dust, which 

 soon dyes their clothes a startling color.&quot; 



&quot;Red powder (gulal) is a sign of a bad design of an adulterous char 

 acter. During the Iloli holidays, the Maharaj throws guliil on the 

 breasts of female and male devotees.&quot; 1 



&quot; In India, the devotees throw red powder on one another at the fes- 

 i tival of the lltili, or vernal equinox. This red powder, the Hindoos 

 say, is the imitation of the pollen of plants, the principle of fructifica 

 tion, the flower of the plant.&quot; 2 



The women of the East Indies (Brahmins), on the 18th of .January, 

 celebrate a feast in honor of the goddess Parvati : &quot; Leur but est d ob- 

 tenir une longne vie pour leurs maris, & quVlles ue deviennent jamais 

 veuves. Klles font une Image de Parvati avec de la farine de riz & du 

 grain rouge qu elles y melent; dies 1 ornent d habits & de fleurs & apres 

 1 avoir ainsi servie pendant neuf jours, elles la portent le dixieme dans 

 iin I alenquin hors de la Ville. Une foule de femmes mariees la suivent, 

 on la jette ensuite dans un des etangs sacrez, oil on la laisse, & chacnne 

 s eu retourne chez elle.&quot; 3 



Speaking of the methods in use among the Lamas for curing disease, 

 Rev. James Gilmour says : &quot;Throwing about small pinches of millet seed 

 is a usual part of such a service.&quot; 4 



Dr. W. W. Rockhill described to me a Tibetan festival, which in 

 cludes a procession of the God of Mercy, in which procession there are 

 7 masked priests, holding blacksnake whips in their hands, and carrying 

 bags of flour which they throw upon the people. 



The use of these sacred powders during so many different religions 

 festivals and ceremonies would seem to resemble closely that made by 

 the Apache of hoddentin and the employment of kunque by the Znfii 

 and others; and from Asia it would seem that practices very similar 

 in character found their way into Europe. Of the Spanish witches it 

 is related : 



When they entered people s honsgs they threw a powder on the faces of the inmates, 

 who were thrown thereby into so deep a slumber that nothing could wake them, until 



the witches were gone .Sometimes they threw these powders on the 



fruits of the field and produced hail which destroyed them. On these occasions the 

 demon accompanied them in the form of a husbandman, and when they threw the 



powders they said : 



&quot;Polvos, polvos. 



Pierda se tado, 

 Queden los nnestros, 

 V abraseuse otros.&quot;&quot; 



1 History of the Sect of the Maharajahs, quoted by Inman, Ancient Faiths, etc.. vol. 1, p. 393. 



2 Higgiim, Anacalypsis, vol. 1, p. 261. 



3 Pieart. Ceremonies et Continues, etc., vol. 6, part 2, p. 119. 



Among f be Mongols, London, 1883, p. 179. 



* Wright, Sorcery anil Magic, London, 1851, vol. 1, p. 348. 



