Page:The Pima Indians.pdf/210

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RUSSELL]
INTERTRIBAL RELATIONS
205

on the west side of a cat's claw tree and a new stick was made of greasewood, arrow bush, or any other convenient shrub. He then bathed in the river, no matter how cold the temperature. The feast of victory which his friends were observing in the meantime at the villages lasted eight days. At the end of that time, or when his period of retirement was half completed, the warrior might go to his home to get a fetish made from the hair of the Apache whom he had killed. The hair was wrapped in eagle down and tied with a cotton string and kept in a long medicine basket. He drank no water for the first two days and fasted for the first four. After that time he was supplied with pinole by his attendant, who also instructed him as to his future conduct, telling him that he must henceforth stand back until all others were served when partaking of food and drink. If he was a married man his wife was not allowed to eat salt during his retirement, else she would suffer from the owl disease which causes stiff limbs. The explanation offered for the observance of this law of lustration is that if it is not obeyed the warrior's limbs will become stiffened or paralyzed.

Dance in Celebration of Victory

Upon the return of a victorious war party the emotions of those who had remained at home in anxious waiting and those who had returned rejoicing were given vent in vigorous shouting and dancing. It is interesting to observe that the abandonment of these occasions was not wholly approved by the leaders, as is shown by the invariable formula that closed every war speech that was delivered while the party was on the campaign: "You may think this over, my relatives. The taking of life brings serious thoughts of the waste; the celebration of victory may become unpleasantly riotous." Throughout the ceremonies the women of the tribe play a prominent part, particularly in mourning for relatives if any have fallen victims to the attacks of the Apaches.

The dance was held on the low rounded hill near the Double buttes (see pl. XLI, a), or on a hill near the railway siding called Sacaton, or upon some alkali flat which the deposits of the rainy season leave as level and the sun bakes nearly as hard as a flour. Sometimes the dance was held on any open ground about the villages. Four basket drums were beaten in the center, while either four or ten singers formed a close circle around them. Within a larger circle numerous appointed dancers stamped and swayed their bodies, moving ever in a sinistral circuit. Sometimes the crowd danced within the circle of selected dancers, in which case they danced as individuals without holding hands; but usually they remained outside the circle. Outside the circle of spectators twenty men and two or more young women,