_From Copyright Photograph 1906 by E.S. Curtis_
Four always, but generally five, deities are impersonated in this
dance--Gaunchine{~COMBINING BREVE~} of the east, Gauncho of the south, Gaun of the west,
Gaunchi of the north, and Gauneski{~COMBINING BREVE~}de the fun-maker. These are arrayed in
short kilts, moccasins, and high stick hats supported upon tightly fitting
deerskin masks that cover the entire head. Each carries two flat sticks
about two feet in length, painted with zigzag lines representing
lightning.
For the dance a circular plot of ground, fifty or sixty feet in diameter,
is cleared of stones and brush, and four small cedar trees are planted
about its edge, one at each of the cardinal points. All in attendance
assemble in a circle outside the trees, leaving an opening at the eastern
side. Unheralded the five masked personators march in from the east and
take position in front of the cedar trees, the fifth man standing behind
the fourth at the northern side. Four drummers with small drums and an
indefinite number of drummers around a large one, at a signal from the
medicine-man in charge, who sings, begin drumming. The personated gods
dance all about the circle, making motions with their sticks as if picking
up and throwing something away, followed by blowing with the breath for
the purpose of expelling evil spirits from their midst. While this is
going on the fifth masker, Gauneskide, performs antics designed to amuse
the audience. When the songs are finished the dancers depart in an
eastwardly direction, whence they came, and all rest.
The drummers begin the next period in the dance by beating their tomtoms.
As soon as they commence the _gaun_ again appear, coming from the east as
before, and stop in single file in front of the cedar tree on the eastern
side. There the spectators throw _hadintin_ upon them and offer prayers,
after which the five _gaun_ take the same positions as before in front of
the small trees. Upon the trees little wheels of cedar twigs have been
hung; these the dancers now take, and each dances toward the fire in the
centre of the circle and back four times. As the gods dance back and forth
the people assembled in the encircling line shift their positions, so that
all the women are on the north side and all the men on the south; then the
entire body dances, with brief intervals of rest, while twelve songs are
sung. The maskers next form in single file on the east, march around the
fire, through the flames of which each passes the ends of his two sacred
wands to destroy any lurking evil, then back around the eastern cedar
tree, again around the fire, then to the southern tree, and so on to each
of the four trees, when they take their leave.
This much constitutes that part of the ceremony in which the _gaun_ are
the chief participants and which usually occupies half the night. The
remainder of the night is consumed by the performance of some ceremony
forming the principal objective--often the puberty rite above described.
[Illustration: Apache Maiden]