Part 2

The ghost dance of the Pomo has been attributed by Powers[7] to a secret society. In speaking of the subject of chastity among the Pomo, he describes a "devil-raising" ceremony conducted by what he terms a "secret society" which had several branches in the various Pomo villages. His description of this ceremony is given from information obtained by him from an old resident closely connected with the Indians of the region in early days, and, while his assumptions and deductions are in many respects incorrect, it is plainly a description of the ghost dance.

After speaking of the "secret society ... whose simple purpose is to conjure up infernal terrors and render each other assistance in keeping their women in subjection," Powers says:[8]

Their meetings are held in an assembly-house erected especially for the purpose, constructed of peeled pine-poles. It is painted red, black, and white (wood color) on the inside in spiral stripes reaching from the apex to the ground. Outside it is thatched and covered with earth. When they are assembled in it there is a doorkeeper at the entrance who suffers no one to enter unless he is a regular member, pledged to secrecy. Even Mr. Potter, though a man held in high honor by them, was not allowed to enter, though they offered to initiate him, if he desired. They do not scruple to avow to Americans who are well acquainted with them, and in whose discretion they have confidence, that their object is simply to "raise the devil," as they express it, with whom they pretend to hold communication; and to carry on other demoniacal doings, accompanied by frightful whooping and yelling, in order to work on the imaginations of the erring squaws, no whit more guilty than themselves.

Once in seven years these secret woman-tamers hold a grand devil-dance (cha-du-el-keh), which is looked forward to by the women of the tribe with fear and trembling as the scourging visit of the dreadful Yu-ku-ku-la (the devil). As this society has its ramifications among the many Pomo tribes, this great dance is held one septennium in one valley, another in another, and so on through the circuit of the branch societies.

Every seven years, therefore, witnesses the construction of an immense assembly-house which is used for this special occasion only. I have seen the ruins of one which was reared in Potter Valley somewhere about the year 1860. The pit, or cellar, which made a part of it was circular, sixty-three feet in diameter and about six feet deep, and all the enormous mass of earth excavated from it was gouged up with small, fire-hardened sticks and carried away in baskets by both men and women, chiefly men. It was about eighteen feet high in the center, and the roof was supported on five posts, one a center pole and four others standing around it, equidistant from it and the perimeter of the pit. Timbers from six to nine inches in diameter were laid from the edge of the pit to the middle posts, and from these to the center pole. Over these were placed grass and brush, and the whole was heavily covered with earth. Allowing four square feet of space to each person, such a structure would contain upward of seven hundred people. In their palmy days hundreds and even thousands of Indians attended one of these grand dances.

When the dance is held, twenty or thirty men array themselves in harlequin rig and barbaric paint and put vessels of pitch on their heads; then they secretly go out into the surrounding mountains. These are to personify the devils. A herald goes up to the top of the assembly-house and makes a speech to the multitude. At a signal agreed upon in the evening the masqueraders come in from the mountains, with the vessels of pitch flaming on their heads, and with all the frightful accessories of noise, motion, and costume which the savage mind can devise in representation of demons. The terrified women and children flee for life, the men huddle them into a circle, and, on the principle of fighting the devil with fire, they swing blazing firebrands in the air, yell, whoop, and make frantic dashes at the marauding and bloodthirsty devils, so creating a terrific spectacle, and striking great fear into the hearts of the assembled hundreds of women, who are screaming and fainting and clinging to their valorous protectors. Finally the devils succeed in getting into the assembly-house, and the bravest of the men enter and hold a parley with them. As a conclusion of the whole farce, the men summon courage, the devils are expelled from the assembly-house, and with a prodigious row and racket of sham fighting are chased away into the mountains.

After all these terrible doings have exercised their due effect upon the wanton feminine mind, another stage of the proceedings is entered upon. A rattlesnake was captured some days beforehand, its fangs were plucked out, and it was handled, stroked, fed, and tamed, so that it could be displayed with safety. The venerable, white-haired peace-chief now takes his station before the multitude, within the great assembly-house, with the rattlesnake before him as the visible incarnation of the dreadful Yukukula. Slowly and sonorously he begins, speaking to them of morality and feminine obedience. Then warming with his subject, and brandishing the horrid reptile in his hand full in the faces and over the heads of his shuddering auditors, with solemn and awful voice he warns them to beware, and threatens them with the dire wrath of Yukukula if they do not live lives of chastity, industry, and obedience, until some of the terrified squaws shriek aloud and fall swooning upon the ground.

Referring again to the "devil dance," as practiced among the Gualala, Powers says:[9]

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.

The ash-devils, or fire-eaters, dressed more simply. According to some informants, they were entirely nude except for a coat of blue paint. According to others, their attire was somewhat more elaborate. The face was painted red, black, or white, two colors never being used together. The legs were painted white, then scratched with the fingernails so as to remove some of the paint and produce longitudinal stripes. The hair was bound up with the usual head-net into which a single black feather was inserted,[12] or a feather tuft was attached to it. As a screen or mask before the face, the dancer also wore a fringe of green twigs further to disguise his identity. Otherwise he was completely naked.

When everything was in readiness in the village, the head captain sent out a messenger to notify the dancers. When the latter were ready to enter the village, a small fire was built in the hills to give notice of the fact. They made their first entry just about daybreak on the first day. A crier, who was always one of the captains or a fire-tender detailed to this duty, took his position on the roof of the dance-house just below the smoke-hole, where he gave the ghost call "yē ..." four times. At once answering calls were heard from the ghost-dancers in their several locations, for they had scattered to a number of different places, each man by himself, or in groups of not more than two or three individuals. The ghost response was a loud "waū wa´i," repeated four times. If the ghost-dancers were sufficiently close together, this was given by their leader only. The crier continued his calling until one or more of the dancers appeared on the outskirts of the village. They came running in,[13] each carrying in his hands two bunches of grass or twigs a foot or so in length,[14] behind which he at times pretended to hide. Each suddenly stopped as he came in sight of the dance-house and stood for a moment with outstretched arms. Thereupon the crier shouted, "ō, ō, ō, ō," after which he delivered an invocation to the ghost-dancers, asking them to come running into the village bringing health and happiness to the people. This invocation was as follows:

napō´ | pūtsa´l | gīwa´lē village | healthy | run to

ma´yawala | kale pūtsa´l | gīwa´lē girls | healthy | run to

xā´xalik | pūtsa´l | gīwa´lē chiefs | healthy | run to

da´xalik | pūtsa´l | gīwa´lē chieftainesses | healthy | run to

kawi´k | pūtsa´l | gīwa´lē children | healthy | run to

Then, according to one informant, all the people who were assembled in the dance-house shouted, while the drummer beat rapidly for a minute or two. The head singers took their cocoon rattles and intoned a song as they marched outside to meet the dancers. After singing outside for a short time, they re-entered the dance-house.

The dancers then came running in, making a loud noise produced by a voiced expulsion of breath through the relaxed but closed lips, "bū ..." and ran to a point about one hundred yards directly in front of the dance-house door (see fig. 1). While the dancers were running into the village, the singers sang the following song:

yōhīya´, yōhīya´, yōhīya´, yōhīya´, yōhīya´, yōhīya´, yōhīkōlī kōlē, yōhīkōlī kōlē. (Repeat indefinitely.)

Meantime the crier and the dancers continued their respective cries. The head ghost-dancer always dressed at a place north (i.e., in the rear) of the dance-house, so that in entering the village he ran past the dance-house to take up his position. Here he bowed very low, and quickly dropped his arms with the bunches of grass above mentioned, at the same time crying "wē...." He then trotted perhaps twenty feet in one direction, where he repeated this motion and cry, and then to a point an equal distance in the opposite direction from his central position, repeating the same motion and cry there. This he did four times, finally stopping in the middle of the forty-foot line thus blocked out, and directly in front of the dance-house door. The next dancer to enter the village might come from any direction. He ran toward the head dancer and crossed, if possible, in front of him, though if necessary he passed behind him. In this case the head dancer turned around so as to face the runner. The newcomer began to pass back and forth along the line, making the motions and cries as above described. He then took up his position at one side or the other of the chief dancer. These dancers were at liberty to laugh, talk, and play at will. Frequently they performed various comical antics, such as pretending to be stung by wasps, and doctoring one another.

The crier continued his calls until finally the leader of the dancers walked along a zigzag path to a position about one-quarter of the distance between the line of dancers and the dance-house (see fig. 2). Here he halted and cried "wuī´ ..." after which the crier at the dance-house called all the initiated men of the village to assemble.

There was a fixed restriction against the presence of the uninitiated in this assembly. One informant maintained that the ceremony, as held in his locality (the coast of the Central Pomo area), required that four posts be set up, each at a distance of several yards from the dance-house, as is shown in figures 1 and 2, the imaginary lines from post to post forming an inclosure for the dance-house and its immediate vicinity, within which none but the initiated dared venture.

The singers and others officially concerned with the dance came from within the dance-house and formed two lines, one on each side of the outer door of the tunnel, as indicated by the small crosses in figure 2. As the crier gave his call, the initiates answered with a cry of "ye ..." after which they formed these two lines between which the ghost-dancers must pass to enter the dance-house.

At the outer ends of these lines were two masters of ceremonies who directed the ceremony from this point on to its close. They first chased each of the dancers[15] as he came to enter the house, returning each time to the heads of the two lines, there to await the arrival of the next dancer. These masters of ceremonies were called xahlū´īgak käldaiyaū (E) or masa´n käldaiyaū (E), and were entirely nude except for a head-net and a feather tuft on their heads.

The chief ghost-dancer entered the house backwards and started towards the drum, passing, however, on the west or wrong side of the fire. Before he had gone very far, he stopped and groped around with one foot, as if to find his way, and finally inquired which way he should go. Ghost-dancers used the same words in speaking that ordinary people did, except that they inverted their statements and reversed the meanings of words. In this case the spectators replied, "You must go on the west side,"[16] meaning, of course, that the dancer was expected actually to go down the east side of the dance-house. He then reversed his direction, as is shown in figure 3, and circled four times about the fire, finally passing to a position in front of the center pole. The spectators meanwhile constantly called out to each dancer to pass down the "east" side of the house.

When the dancer entered through the tunnel, the spectators all cried, "ye´-ye." He at first advanced very slowly backwards until he reached the point at which he inquired his way. As soon as he received this direction he sprang up and ran the prescribed four times around the fire and finally reached the foot of the center pole, making meanwhile the same "bū ..." noise which he had made upon entering the village. He here awaited the arrival of the other dancers, who went through the same succession of movements.

The chief ghost-dancer, upon arriving in front of the center pole, said, "mamūle´" (E), to which the spectators replied, "hehē´...." Then he made a short speech in a more or less archaic language. Its purport was: "I do not come to do any one harm, but rather to take all sickness away and to make everybody strong."

habadūtkīya gahnū kūdī´ pūtsa´lwal gakba - - good - -

ga´kalik gaba da´kalik gaba, ka´lnīne chiefs - chieftainesses rich people

gaba bēkal sīma bexba gahnū cama īhīwala - - - - - - -

He next marked off, according to one informant, two or three places on the east side of the floor, saying that he and his followers would dance there. This was contrary to the usual procedure in dances, for the regular dancing area in front of the center pole was always used. As a matter of fact, the ghost dance itself was actually performed in the usual area also, but this indicating of another area, and this announcement, are only other evidences that the spirits must always do things differently from mortals. In fact, the whole dress and conduct of these dancers, their reversal of terms of direction, their groping their way, etc., typify the conduct of the spirits of the departed, who find everything strange when they return to the realm of mortals.

Throughout the entire ceremony, and especially during the time that the ghost-dancers were entering, the spectators were obliged to use great care not to obstruct their passage in any way, or otherwise to interfere with them, else they were likely to be very roughly handled by the dancers.

As the last ghost-dancer entered the tunnel leading into the dance-house, the men in the two lines outside cried "yūhē´" four times, after which they entered and took up their positions.

The above described entry of the dancers was according to the regular procedure. However, these dancers, especially the ash-devils, were privileged to perform many comical antics, and it not infrequently happened that one or more of them would run up on to the roof of the dance-house and dive through the smoke-hole. In fact, this was one of the usual modes of deception practiced in this ceremony. A special net, cko´l tabiū käle hai (N), was stretched about two feet below the smoke-hole to catch the dancer. A special post was set in the ground beside this net for the dancer to slide down. He would then go through the usual series of movements, running four times around the fire. After this he usually took up a position at one of the posts near the door, there to levy tribute upon the spectators. This tribute might be in the form of firewood, tobacco, or other commodities.

The music for this ceremony was provided by a drummer, two chief singers, and a number of burden-singers. The ghost-dancers sometimes sang a kind of burden of their own while dancing. This was simply "hī, hī, hī, hī," etc., in a very high key. The chief singers were provided with cocoon rattles. These and the drum were the only instruments used. The dancers carried no whistles, although these were ordinarily used by performers in other dances. The burden-singers also used no split-stick rattles, but clapped their hands instead in time to their singing.

After the performers had in this way entered the dance-house, the chief ghost-dancer called to the singers to start. The drummer then jumped upon the drum, crying "hūtsaiya´hīī" (E).[17] With the first cry of the drummer, the chief singers sounded their rattles. After an interval of perhaps a minute, the drummer repeated his jump and call. The song started and the dance began.

The song as given by one of the informants is as follows:

yōhīya´ yōhīya´, yōhīya´ yōhīya´, kūlī kūlē kūlē .... kūlī kūlē kūlē .... hūtsaiya´ hūtsaiya´ hīī .... (Repeat indefinitely.)

The two masters of ceremonies took up their respective positions at A and C (fig. 3) and danced back and forth along the lines AB and CD. In starting the movement, they stood with hands outstretched and bent their bodies sidewise toward the drum as they shouted "hūtsaiya´hīī." They then ran rapidly sidewise to the opposite ends of their respective courses, where they repeated the same bending, this time in the opposite direction. When they had gone back and forth over these courses and had returned to their original positions for the fourth time, they again shouted as at first. This particular set of the dance was repeated four times, thus completing this part. After any such part had ended, it occasionally happened that one dancer would continue his steps just as though the music were in full swing. Ultimately one of his fellow-dancers would strike him lightly to call his attention to the fact that the dance was over, and he also would stop.