Ceremonies of the Pomo Indians

by S. A. Barrett

In the midst of the ordinary dances there comes rushing upon the scene an ugly apparition in the shape of a man, wearing a feather mantle on his back reaching from the armpits down to the mid-thighs, zebra-painted on his breast and legs with black stripes, bearskin shako on his head, and his arms stretched out at full length along a staff passing behind his neck. Accoutered in this harlequin rig, he dashes at the squaws, capering, dancing, whooping; and they and the children flee for life, keeping several hundred yards between him and themselves. If they are so unfortunate as to touch even his stick, all their children will perish out of hand.

THE GHOST CEREMONY PROPER

The dancers were of two classes, the ordinary ghost-dancers, or "devils," called xahluigak (E), and the "ash-devils," or fire-eaters, called nō xahlūigak (E). The former danced almost exclusively during the day, and the latter at night, though these regulations were not quite absolute. The ash-devils were always present at the ghost ceremony and during the ghost dance proper they served, in a way, as sergeants-at-arms and as clowns.

According to some informants, a new dance-house was especially built for each ghost ceremony. Other informants did not particularly mention this fact and it seems probable that in more recent times, after the ceremonial procedure of the Pomo had become somewhat lax, this rule was not observed, and the same dance-house may have been used for more than one ghost ceremony, and for other ceremonies as well.

In this ceremony the dancers impersonated the spirits of the dead, as is indicated by the speech of the chief devil-dancer made just before disrobing.[10] The dance is said to have had its origin in mythical times when the birds and mammals had human attributes. The Pomo account is as follows:

Hawk, the captain of a village, was killed by Vulture. After being absent from the village for some time Hawk suddenly returned, came into the dance-house, and sat down in front of the center pole, at its foot. A ceremony was about to begin, and the people noticed nothing out of the ordinary about Hawk and were perfectly willing to allow him to participate in the dancing. Meadowlark, however, noticed an odor about Hawk which showed that he had just returned from the realm of the dead. With his characteristic garrulity, he commenced to chatter about the improprieties of mortals dancing with dead people. Hawk was a chief and one of an important family and felt especially offended at these reflections upon him and left at once, never again returning to the village. According to one version of the myth, Meadowlark had, in those days, a long tail like most other birds. His action upon this occasion, however, so enraged the other members of the village that some one struck at him with a fire poker which happened to be near at hand. Meadowlark was able to dodge the blow, but the poker clipped off a large part of his tail. He has, therefore, had only a stub of a tail since that day. The people then fell to discussing what could be done to atone in some way for this insult to Hawk. A number of men immediately went out into the woods and dressed themselves as the devil-dancers now do, returning to the village to personate the spirits of the departed. From this mythical source has descended the present-day ghost or devil ceremony.

The ceremony was directly under the supervision of the chief "gū´ksū doctor," and it was he who safeguarded the ghost-dance paraphernalia during the long interval between ceremonies. The ghost-dancers and the ash-devils were actually assisted in dressing by the gū´ksū doctors.

The dress of the ghost-dancer proper was quite elaborate. Each ghost-dancer repaired to some secluded place in the woods or brush, preferably back in the hills about the village, where he dressed. This going into seclusion to dress is called tsūma´kabek in the Eastern Pomo dialect. He first rubbed his body with chewed angelica root, at the same time making a prayer for long life, good health, and prosperity for himself, his fellow dancers, and the people of the village. He also made a prayer to a certain supernatural being [11] to lend him a striped skin. He next painted his body with white, red, and black paints. A man might paint his body entirely one color. The upper half of the body might be of one color, while the lower half was of another. The same difference in color might obtain between the right and the left sides, and bands and stripes might also be freely used.

Before finally finishing the painting of the face and arms, however, the remainder of the attire was put on. This included, for the head, (1) a head-net with which to confine the hair; (2) a down-filled head-net; (3) a feather tuft on top of the head; (4) a yellow-hammer quill forehead-band fastened at the top of the forehead, passing back through the parted feather-tuft and hanging down the back; and (5) a fillet of pepperwood leaves. The remainder of the costume consisted of a short girdle of pepperwood branches worn about the waist and, if desired, a similar adornment about the neck.