_From Copyright Photograph 1904 by E.S. Curtis_
On the last night the top of a small spruce tree, tipped with eagle down,
is planted near the door of the _kozhan_, and a new element in the dancing
is introduced. About midnight, before any dancing has been engaged in, the
ceremonial dancers enter from two dressing _kozhan_ some two hundred yards
east of the corral. These consist of two parties. The first, eight in
number, enter in single file, preceded and followed by a man in everyday
costume. These dancers, called _Tsa__n__nati{~COMBINING BREVE~}_, are nude, save for the
breech-cloth, with body and face painted in white and black, and the hair
hanging loose. Immediately following them are the _Cha__n__zhini{~COMBINING BREVE~}_, six in
number, accompanied by four keepers, two in front and two behind. The six
are nude, the bodies painted solid white with six black stripes encircling
them. The hair is painted white and is done up into two long, stiff
braids, which project from the sides of the head like a pair of horns. The
faces are hideously made up to represent clowns, as indeed their name
signifies. In dancing, the Chanzhini{~COMBINING BREVE~} and Tsannati{~COMBINING BREVE~} do not take steps, but
shuffle sidewise, locomotion being effected by means of a sort of
exaggerated shivering of the legs. This movement is common to Plains
tribes in many of their dances. The whole line of dancers proceed with
their peculiar motion into the _kozhan_ and around the fire, passing
before the patient, the Chanzhini{~COMBINING BREVE~} all the while uttering hoarse,
animal-like cries. Their utterances are always coarse and obscene, causing
much merriment, which is supposed to aid the patient in casting off his
illness. After passing through the _kozhan_ the Tsannati{~COMBINING BREVE~} form in line
outside and with their feet keep time to the singing and drumming, while
the others break ranks and in a promiscuous throng pass before the
spectators, first on the men's side, then on the women's. Just before
their departure from the corral any woman who feels an indisposition may
crouch in their path near the gate, facing the west, and the Chanzhini{~COMBINING BREVE~}
one by one leap over her, first from the east, then from the other three
directions, ever continuing their hoarse cries.
These characters make their appearance four times during the course of the
night, the spectators dancing during the intervals. After their last exit
dancing continues until shortly before sunrise; then the medicine-man and
the singers arise, and, forming a circle about the fire in the centre of
the _kozhan_, sing a number of songs. A maiden is summoned from the
gathering to carry a basket of sacred meal, and the medicine-man, taking
up the top of the spruce tree, passes out of the enclosure toward the
rising sun, followed by the maiden, the patient, the singers, and any who
may be afflicted with a bodily ailment. At a distance of about a hundred
yards the medicine-man stops and plants the little spruce tip, to which
the disease is now supposed to have been transferred, under a tree,
sprinkling over it quantities of the sacred meal. Then each of the others,
the patient leading, steps forward, throws a pinch of the meal on the
tree, and passes on, always facing the east. When the last one has thus
passed, the procession stops, everybody holds his blanket ready, and on
signal from the medicine-man, just as the sun appears, gives it a shake
and runs at full speed to the _kozhan_ and around the fire. Thus is
disease shaken out and the pursuit of the evil spirits of sickness eluded.
[Illustration: Jeditoh - Navaho]