306 ISLETA, NEW MEXICO [eth. ann. 47 



by three boys and three girls; chierapor by two boys with a girl be- 

 tween them. 



kings' dance (NAREIPOA), JANUARY 5-10 



Some Lagima man " will go to the newly installed Isletan governor 

 for permission to hold reininad, permission which he gets unless the 

 governor and officers happen to be meanly incHned toward the 

 Laguna people. Permission received, the Laguna town chief visits 

 the houses of the Isletan town chief and of the Isletan moiety chiefs. 

 Each win say to him, "All right, you are my son. Whenever you 

 need anything, come to me." When the people see him going around 

 making these visits, they are glad, for they know they will be having 

 kings' dance for five days. The Laguna dancers will practice in the 

 ceremonial houses of the moieties. To practice with them the new 

 Isletan war captain will choose six Black Eyes and sLx shure', because 

 to represent Isleta these have to start the dance. But the night of 

 January 5, in the church, the Laguna dancers perfonn. The following 

 day, in the churchyard, the Isleta Black Eyes dance first, then the 

 Isleta shure'. After that, the Laguna dancers, six in each moiety 

 set, dance outside the houses of the governor w^ho has been notified 

 by the Lagima town chief, and of the war captain, lieutenant governor, 

 and second war captain. Presents are thrown to the dancers by the 

 officers — food, a quartered sheep, a hog, chickens, rabbits, tobacco, 

 cloth. Once a man threw a cat arrayed with silver earring, a necklace, 

 and ribbons. This was taken, of course, as a huge joke. On the 

 second day there will be 8 dancers in each alternating set; the third 

 day, 10; the fourth day, 12; the fifth day, 15.'* On the second and 

 subsequent days the dancers meet in the house of the Isletan towTi 

 chief to dance first in the churchyard, then in the street south of the 

 town chief's house. A few Isleta women or men may have been 

 invited by the Laguna dancers to dance with them; but only a few, 

 because this is a ceremonial dance which the Isletans do not know. 

 My Isletan informant held this opinion about the dance being cere- 

 monial because of the head feathers worn by the women which are 

 the same as those worn in ceremonial by the Isletan medicine men, a 

 bunch of varied colored feathers called in Isletan nafiechure, root 

 yellow, and because of the oblong tablets of sim and moon worn on 

 the back'^ by the men. The men dance without shirts and cany 

 spruce. 



" This from Juan Abeita (see p. 355), presumably it is the governor of the Laguna colony. 

 18 According to another informant the dance is for four days. 



i^ To Lucinda it was this position of the tablet or plaque which distinguished the dance from the fiesta 

 dance at San Domingo on October 4, in which the tablet is carried on the head. 



