The scene was a brilliant one. Long before the time for the dance a line
of four immense fires burned on each side of the avenue where the dance
was to take place, and Navajo men and women clad in their bright colored
blankets and all their rare beads and silver encircled each fire. Logs
were piled 5 or 6 feet high. In addition to these eight fires there were
many others near and far, around which groups of gamblers gathered, all
gay and happy. Until this night no women but those who carried food to the
lodge had been present at any of the ceremonies except at the initiation
of the children. To say that there were 1,200 Navajo would be a moderate
calculation. This indeed was a picture never to be forgotten. Many had
been the objections to our sketching and writing, but throughout the nine
days the song-priest stood steadfastly by us. One chief in particular
denounced the theurgist for allowing the medicine to be put on paper and
carried to Washington. But his words availed nothing. We were treated with
every consideration. We were allowed to handle the masks and examine them
closely, and at times the artists working at the sand painting really
inconvenienced themselves and allowed us to crowd them that we might
observe closely the many minute details which otherwise could not have
been perceived, as many of their color lines in the skirt and sash
decorations were like threads. The accompanying sketches show every
detail.
The green or dressing room was a circular inclosure of pine boughs at the
end of the avenue. It was about 10 feet high by 20 feet in diameter made
of piñon branches with their butts planted in the ground, their tops
forming a brush or hedge. Within this inclosure the masks were arranged in
a row on the west side. A large fire burned in the center affording both
heat and light. The different sets, when a change of dress from one set of
men to another was to be made, repaired to this green room for that
purpose. This inclosure was also the resort during the night for many
Indians who assisted the dancers in their toilets.
At 10 o'clock the ceremonies opened by the entrance upon the avenue of the
song-priest who came from the green room. He wore a rich red blanket and
over this a mountain lion skin; immediately after him followed Hasjelti,
leading the four Etsethle (the first ones). These represented first, natan
(corn); second, natin (rain); third, nanase (vegetation); fourth, jadetin
(corn pollen). Their masks were blue ornamented with feathers and were
similar to the masks worn by the dancers; their bodies were painted white
with many rare beads around their necks, and they wore loin skirts with
silver belts; a gray fox skin was attached pendant to the back of the
belt, and blue stockings, tied with red garters, and moccasins completed
their dress. They carried in their right hands gourd rattles painted
white. The handles of these may be of any kind of wood, but it must be
selected from some tree near which lightning has struck, but not of the
wood of the tree struck by lightning. Corn pollen was in the palms of
their left hands and in the same hand they carried also a piñon bough.
Hasjelti wore a suit of velvet ornamented with silver buttons; he never
speaks except by signs. They advanced single file with a slow regular step
and when within 20 feet of the lodge the priest turned and faced Hasjelti
and repeated a short prayer, when the Etsethle sang.