I. The Pueblo People : * "Dancing Gods", by Erna Fergusson, [1931], p. 3 I: THE PUEBLO PEOPLE Sun-drenched and quiet stand the pueblos of New Mexico and Arizona, queerly withdrawn from the modern life about them. Usually built of the soil on which they stand, they appear to have grown out of it, and their color is...
Viii. The Apaches : * "Dancing Gods", by Erna Fergusson, [1931], p. 249 VIII: THE APACHES Apaches are defeated. Pueblos move smoothly between an outward conciliatory conformity to American ways and an inner adherence to their own customs; Navajos yield nothing of their own integrity as they slowly adopt cert...
Ix. Apache Dances : * "Dancing Gods", by Erna Fergusson, [1931], p. 257 IX: APACHE DANCES THE MESCALERO APACHE FOURTH OF JULY We reached the Apache camp-ground about ten o'clock at night. Driving out from the nearest town, we had passed many cars, most of them loaded with white people. In a few we saw Indians...
Iii. Dances Of Zuni Pueblo : * "Dancing Gods", by Erna Fergusson, [1931], p. 67 III: DANCES OF ZUI PUEBLO The finest dances may be seen in Zui, for there even the masked dances are open to all visitors, except Mexicans, who are apparently the sole heirs of the ancient resentment against the Spanish conquerors. There is a firm...
Vi. The Navajos : * "Dancing Gods", by Erna Fergusson, [1931], p. 179 VI: THE NAVAJOS "DINNE," THE PEOPLE A nurse, new to the Navajo reservation, was traveling to her station, almost two hundred miles from the railroad. Sitting beside the mail-man in his Ford, she watched the broken country unfold. First they...
Title Page : * "Dancing Gods", by Erna Fergusson, [1931], DANCING GODS INDIAN CEREMONIALS OF NEW MEXICO AND ARIZONA BY ERNA FERGUSSON [b. 1888, D. 1964] Alfred A. Knopf; New York [1931] Scanned, Proofed And Formatted , October 2003, By J. B. Hare. This Text Is In The Public Domain Because It Was Not Renewed...
Vii. Navajo Dances : * "Dancing Gods", by Erna Fergusson, [1931], p. 203 VII: NAVAJO DANCES MEDICINE-MEN Ceremonial life is intricate and elaborate, and the medicine-man is its center and moving spirit. He is doctor as well as priest, and usually he is a dignified, honorable, and truly spiritual person. Here...
Iv. The Hopis : * "Dancing Gods", by Erna Fergusson, [1931], p. 115 IV: THE HOPIS One sunny summer morning we strolled the length of the First Mesa in Hopiland. The few people we met responded to greetings with quick flashing smiles and friendly words, usually in the musical minor notes of their native Tusay...
V. Hopi Dances : * "Dancing Gods", by Erna Fergusson, [1931], p. 125 V: HOPI DANCES THE BEAN-PLANTING CEREMONY The real return of the Katchinas is celebrated in Powamu, the Bean-Planting Ceremony: an elaborate ceremony, lasting eight days. On the first day, masks are brought to the kiva and renovated. Flat col...
Ii. Dances Of The Rio Grande Pueblos : * "Dancing Gods", by Erna Fergusson, [1931], p. 29 II: DANCES OF THE RIO GRANDE PUEBLOS The Rio Grande pueblos are the Indian villages of New Mexico from Acoma eastward to the Rio Grande and north to Taos. Zui and the Hopi villages are of the same type, but they are so different and so distinctive...
Introduction : * "Dancing Gods", by Erna Fergusson, [1931], p. xv INTRODUCTION One day as I walked across the pueblo of Zui I fell in with a young Indian who had been away to school. His hair was cut short, he wore American clothes, and his English was as good as mine. Yet we spoke of the Rain-dance I had come...