The Masked Dancers of the Apache 



By P. E. Goddard 



HE masked dancers are one of the outstanding features of 

 the ceremonial and religious life of the Southwest. They 

 are a logical and almost necessary adjunct to any serious 

 attempt at dramatization by a people who are accustomed 

 to think and to represent feelings and concepts by means 

 of symbols. That the dramas in which these figures appear represent 

 past history or tradition is not the only view to be taken of them, nor 

 the one indeed most consistent with Indian thought and with ascer- 

 tained general ethnological facts. Among the Hopi and Navaho the 

 masked figures represent the contemporaneous existing gods and other 

 supernatural beings who come to mingle with men to share in their 

 joys and in the labor of producing health and prosperity. To the 

 uninitiated children, and in some cases to the women also, these 

 masked men are the actual gods. That to the initiated they vicariously 

 represent the gods is certain, and that they are for the time being 

 endowed with the supernatural nature and power of the beings so 

 represented is probable. 



The Apache of Arizona and the Mescalero of New Mexico call 

 these masked dancers Gan, in Mescalero Gg.hi, and the beings they 

 represent by the same name. Certain individuals in each locality are 

 in charge of the cult. These men must know perfectly a great many 

 songs, at least fifty, and also remember the order in which they 

 should occur. They must also know how to prepare the masks and 

 have the skill to make them, and they must be able to so superintend 

 the ceremony that an impressive and interesting spectacle results. It 

 is perfectly evident that such detailed knowledge can be attained only 

 by long and patient study under the guidance of some learned teacher. 

 That this is the course followed is easily ascertained. A son or other 

 relative of a younger generation assists the elder, and gradually ac- 

 quires the necessary knowledge. While this is the actual practice, in 

 theory each novice must receive his qualifications directly from the 

 supernatural beings in one or more visitations. Thereafter these men 

 are en rapport with the Gans, who assist them in many ways but 

 whose power is greatly feared in case of any transgressions of estab- 

 lished practices. 



Among the Mescalero it was with the greatest difficulty that any 



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