The dance paraphernalia of the women was the same as that of the men, though, as a rule, the men dressed much more elaborately than the women. The latter had, however, one special type of forehead-band which they alone used. This was a fur band or roll provided with a number of beaded, yellow-hammer quill bangles.
An important part of the attire for any dance was the painting, which varied greatly and was usually carefully prescribed for each dance. The body, or a large part of it, might be covered with one solid color, and longitudinal or horizontal stripes of various widths and also dots of various sizes might be used.
Black paint, masi´k (E) (literally, coals or charcoal), was most easily obtainable and most freely used. It consisted of ordinary charcoal from the fire. If a large surface was to be painted, the charcoal was pulverized in the palms of the hands and rubbed on. If lines were desired, this powder might be applied with the finger, or a piece of charcoal might be used as a pencil. Also stripes were sometimes produced by scraping off part of the paint with the fingernails, leaving the skin exposed along these lines. In case a sticky surface was required, as, for instance, when down was to be later applied, the paint was mixed with saliva.
White paint, wala´lac (E), made from a whitish or very light blue earth, was also considerably used. It was applied as was the black paint.
Red paint, ōhma´r (E), was made by pulverizing cinnabar, which was a rather rare mineral in the Pomo region and was much prized and used very sparingly.
For purposes of presentation it is simplest to divide the dances into three classes: (1) those danced by men and women together; (2) those danced by men; (3) those danced by women. Fairly full information was obtained about some of these dances, while in other cases barely the names were remembered. The following dances come under the first heading:
- gī´lak
- ho´ho
- cō´kin
- dūtū´ka
- ya´ya
- yō
- matcō´
- lēhūye
- kalī´matōtō
- īwī´
- he´lehela
- gūnū´la
- da´ma
- dja´ne
- kara´iya
- sawe´t
DANCES IN WHICH MEN AND WOMEN PARTICIPATED
Gī´lak.—The Gī´lak dance differed from most other Pomo dances in that it consisted of two performances: one used for opening and closing proceedings; the other, or main dance, coming in between.
The men painted with a single color (black, white, or red) all of the face below the eyebrows, after which they scattered eagle-down upon it. This gave the face a white, fluffy appearance. They painted the chest and shoulders black. The legs were painted either all black or all white. Then longitudinal stripes were scratched through the paint with the fingernails. The arms were painted with three bands, each four fingers in width; one about the middle of the upper arm, one about the elbow, and one about the middle of the forearm.