Indians of the Mesa Verde

by Don Watson

In the early winter one important ceremony is held when the priests “turn back the sun.” Every day since early summer the sun has moved farther and farther south along the western horizon. At last, in late December, he has reached the point beyond which he must not be allowed to go. The priests know the spot well: it is on the horizon directly over a certain mark on the opposite canyon wall. When the sun reaches this spot each year the priests perform the ceremony that causes him to cease his southern journey and start back to the north again. If the priests fail to please the Sun Father, or if he is angry with the people, he will continue his journey to the south and perpetual cold and darkness will envelope the earth. Never yet have the priests failed; always the sun has been pleased and after reaching that certain spot he has reversed and started back to the north to bring the long days and the warmth of summer.

When the Sun Watcher finds that the setting sun has reached the proper spot, the Crier Chief makes the announcement and the priests begin their ceremony. Day after day it continues until they see that the sun has started back to the north. There is great rejoicing in Cliff Palace: the sun has heeded the prayers and is coming back. The happy people marvel at the power of their priests who have never failed in this important duty.

As winter progresses and the cold increases, witches become more and more active and there is much sickness in the town. Throughout the winter the medicine men and the medicine societies are busy in their efforts to counteract the evil powers of the witches who cause all serious diseases. Minor ailments, which the people can understand, are not considered to result from witchcraft. If a person gets a grain of sand in his eye, if a child gets a bone caught in its throat, or if a child has a sudden stomach-ache from overeating, it is considered to be the natural result of something the people can see and understand. But the serious illnesses, which strike so mysteriously, are not natural and are considered to result from the evil practices of witches. Only the medicine men, with their supernatural powers, can combat the witch-caused diseases and the medicine men and the medicine societies are busy with their healing ceremonies. During the winter witches always seem to be more active and as a result there is more sickness and death than at other times. The people are often uneasy and there is not the happiness which was so prevalent during the other seasons. It is not simply because there is sickness and suffering—it is more because of the fear which is in the hearts of the people. Any person may be a witch and usually it is impossible to tell who is causing the trouble.

Children suffer a great deal and all through the winter they sniffle and cough with colds. Sometimes the colds settle in the sinuses, in the ears or even in the lungs, bringing complications against which the priests are powerless. Often the end is slow in coming. When a cold settles in the middle ear and an abscessed mastoid results, the terrible agony may last for weeks before the inevitable result brings an end to the suffering. Sometimes the end comes quickly and a mother hardly realizes that her baby is sick before it is gone.

Many of the older people are suffering from the agony of decayed and abscessed teeth. All their lives they have been eating the gritty corn bread that has come from the soft grinding stones. As a result, their teeth are badly ground away; sometimes they are ground down to the gums. With the loss of the tooth enamel, decay has come and now aching and abscessed teeth are the result. Here is an old fellow with a great cavity in each molar; half of them are throbbing with pain as the cold air hits the exposed nerves. Here is an old man suffering the agony of three abscessed upper teeth; at night he walks the floor moaning with pain. This old fellow’s lower right canine tooth developed a cystoid abscess; it has eaten through his cheek causing an ugly running sore on his face. In one house is an old woman who long ago lost all her teeth; years of chewing on her gums have caused them to recede until now her nose and chin almost touch. Yonder is an old man who for months has had an aching molar. In order to ease the pain he has been chewing on the other side and now those teeth are so badly ground away that they too are aching. So it is throughout the city. Decayed, abscessed and impacted teeth, pyorrhea and other dental ailments are common.

The medicine men have little success in their efforts to combat the agony of an aching or abscessed tooth. Finally, if the patient can no longer bear the pain, the tooth is extracted and in this the suffering person has two choices. One method is to knock the tooth out. One end of a piece of bone or hard wood is placed against the base of the tooth and an obliging neighbor taps the other end sharply with a stone axe. Instantly the tooth is gone! The other method of extraction is equally simple. A long, strong piece of sinew is obtained and one end is tied securely around the aching tooth. The other end of the sinew is tied to a large rock. Then the rock is thrown away. And with it goes the tooth!

If the patient is unable to face the drastic extraction, the tooth is simply allowed to abscess and slough away. Sometimes an aged person loses every tooth in this manner. One after another they abscess and slough out until at last the helpless victim is able to relax in the blessed state of painless toothlessness.

Many of the people, especially the older ones, are suffering from rheumatism and arthritis. There are many specific causes but often it is merely the breakdown that comes from a life of exposure and hard work. The people age early and although there are a few very old men and women in the town the average life expectancy is low. Before middle age is reached many are unable to bear their share of the work. Limbs are swollen and stiffened with arthritis and rheumatism, and spines are stiffened or even partially or completely solidified with arthritis. When these conditions come, the bent and crippled oldsters seldom venture far from the cave. They are cared for and honored by their children and their clan relatives.

In addition to the many diseases that afflict the people, there are often injuries. During the winter, snow and ice gather in the toe-holds on the cliffs and climbers, becoming momentarily careless, sometimes crash on the rocks below. Fractured skulls, arms and legs result and their treatment gives the priests some of their most serious problems. Compound fractures result in fatal infections and the medicine men can do little in the case of a serious fracture of the skull. Simple fractures of the lower arm or leg are often treated successfully. Thin splints of wood are bound to the limb to hold the bones in position and after the break has healed, full use of the member is often regained. A fracture of the upper arm or leg is seldom treated with success for the powerful muscles pull the bones out of the position and, if the victim survives, a crippled limb results. Over in the north end of the town lives a young lady of nineteen who suffered an accident of this type. Returning from the spring one day with a heavy jar of water on her head, she missed her step and fell over a low cliff. Her left femur was broken just below the hip. Instead of knitting properly, the broken ends of the bone slipped past each other and grew together side by side, with a two inch overlap. The young lady is able to hobble about with the aid of a crutch but her left leg is two inches shorter than the right.

The medicine men wage a constant battle against the diseases and injuries which afflict the people. Against some of the diseases they have little success: it simply means that the witches who are to blame are too strong. In other cases the medicine man wins and the patient recovers. Ailments which originate in the mind are common and are easily cured. Since the people live in constant fear of witches, they often feel they have been bewitched by some evil person. This causes them to imagine strange ailments and the medicine men are called upon to counteract the evil spell. Such ailments are easily treated for the patient’s faith in the medicine man and the constant promise of a cure soon drive away the imagined troubles.