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India E dur:
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By EDITHA L. WATSON
TANDING on the edge of his lit-
tle cornfield, the Hop! farmer
looks at his crop and smiles. His
lips move, and gentle words come
from them—words which carry
so much of heartfeltness that we
might guess their meaning from
the warmth with which they are
uttered, and know, because they
are spoken softly as well as
sarnestly, that they were addressed to Those
Above, whom we call The Almighty,
“Kwa kwi, kwa kwi,” is what the Hopl says:
thanks, thanks!" And in these words he ex-
Presses one of the most characteristic of In-
dian customs, that of giving thanks on every
®ccasion and no matter how slight the pretext,
We may smile at the thought of uttering
thanks for the presence of a visitor; that his
health Is good; if a child who has fallen and
hurt itself slightly, begin to smile again; if
rain comes—for any or all of the small matters
which fill every day. Yet we, who pride our
selves on our manners, and who are prompt to
acknowledge the slightest favor from a fellow.
human, cannot help but admire the etiguette
which calls for acknowledgment to Gol tun
and when we realize that all these seemingly
slight events are beyond the unaided power of
man to bring about, we feel that we have been
ungrateful to take so much for granted without
bothering to acknowledge the source.
Not content with unending thankfulness, the
Indians aiso sald grace, sometimes both before
and after meals. To the words of the little
prayer were added an offering of food, which
was cast into the fire as the grace was spoken.
“Receive, oh source of my ancestry, and eat!”
#ald the Zunl as he performed the rite. “Spirit,
partake!” murmured the Dakota woman, and
ber husband echoed the whispered prayer and
offering of gratitude,
In the Pueblo land, no cooking was undertak-
en without an offering. A pinch of meal pre-
ceded the bread into the oven: a bit of each
sort of food was placed in the fire, with a
thought of thanksgiving for past and future,
before meals. The smallest children had their
bands guided In this little ceremony, for the
spirit of gratitude to Those Above for every.
thing, and for food above all, was strong in ev-
ery Indian heart. Clothing they could skimp,
if necessary; shelter they could do without, but
life itself depended on food, and they were
grateful for It.
It is strange how nearly the grace before
meals of white men and red coincide. Both ex-
press thanks, the white man by words, the In-
dian by his offering of food as well, and both
ask blessings to come. A Zunl grace runs as
follows:
“Makers of the trails of our lives and ye
spirits of our ancestors, of this add ye unto
Jour hearts after the manner of your own
knowledge, and bless us with fruitful seasons,
needed water, and age of life.”
It must have been a very lovely world in
which the ancient red men lived. There were
all the beauties of untouched nature to behold;
there were tasks to keep the hands busy, and
prayers to occupy the heart and mind. The
Navaho prayer:
a.
“*
“Make beautiful all that is before me
Make beautiful all that is behind me
It is done In beauty.”
was answered daily to all the tribes, and out of
this serene beauty of their Earth Mother, there
grew a very strong religion, the essence of
which was thanksgiving, .
There is a beautiful Tewa ceremony which
pccurs about harvest-time—that of giving the
perfect seeds In charge and allowing the Earth
Méther to rest for a while. The finest seeds of
all sorts are searched out by the Kossa, a sum.
mer priesthood, and a few of each kind are
sanctified, guarded, and planted about ten days
before the rest of the crop is put in, In the
fall, the perfect seeds of these selected plants
are gathered, and at the conclusion of a feast
of thanksgiving, the Kosse give them to the
Quarrano, a winter priesthood, to guard until
the next planting-time,
At this time, out of gratitude to the Earth
Mother, strong medicine Is made that she may
sleep after all her toil. All spring and summer
she has given of her flesh in all forms of na-
ture to her children. Suvely she is tired and
needs to rest. The feasting Is done, the next
year's seeds laid by, and now comes a period
in which the grateful Indian people keep quiet,
making no noise that that beloved Mother may
sleep. No loud talking is allowed In Tewa
towns, and every noise is hushed, until she has
had her rest. Here Is true thanksgiving—primi.
tive, naturally, but sincere, and expressed in
terms of human-kind,
The dances and ceremonies which preceded
various feasts were something like an enlarge
ment of the grace before meals. Harvest-lime
meant happiness, and It also brought with it the
obligation of giving thanks, so by combining the
celebrations with rites, the Indian enjoyed both
A Group of S
and did not neglect either. There is a little
Cherokee tale which illustrates the custom of
celebrating before feasting:
Beven wolves went out hunting and caught
a fat groundhog. Their prey, considering that
with presence of mind there might be a chance
for absence of body, reminded them that peo.
ple always danced for gratitude when they had
something good to eat, giving the Green Corn
dance as an example. He urged the wolves to
do likewise, and offered to teach them steps and
to sing for them. The wolves, although they
were very hungry, eagerly agreed to hold this
dance of thanksgiving, and during their celebra.
tion the groundhog escaped,
The Green Corn dance, to which the animal
alluded, is one of the favorites among Indian
ceremonies of thanksgiving, although it is held
at the time of green corn—late summer. Among
the Creeks this festival was the occasion of for
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ten. The ceremonies lasted from four to eight
days and were marked by rejoicing over the
first fruits of the year.
The Pueblos also hold a green corn festival,
beautiful and symbolical, a sort of grace be
fore the harvest. Then later in the year, about
the time of our own Thanksgiving day, there
are harvest festivals, when the prayers of gratl.
tude rise endlessly to Those Above, as the hap-
PY people celebrate with ceremony and feasting
the gifts which the Earth Mother has bestowed,
In one ancient Pueblo dance, great trays full
of the finest vegetables, bread, and meats, were
thrown about and trampled Into the earth, form-
ing a great offering to express the thanks of
the people,
Although shelter and clothing are as Im-
portant to us as food, we have not left off the
age-old association of food with celebration,
Indeed, Thanksgiving day centers around the
dinner table, At first a fastday, the esrly
American colonists gradually assimilated the
old Indian customs, and today the annual feast
of gratitude is a real Ametican Institution,
Hence it seems all the more fitting that most of
the dishes which are traditional to the day
should be those which the Indians themselves
enjoyed and celebrated In the eating.
First bf all, there is that grand American
bird, the turkey, Nothing like him was ever
seen before, and the newcomers thought that he
must be some relation to the peacock, as he
strutted in his iridescent finery. Perhaps there
is nothing more delicious than young wild turkey
fed on pinon-nuts, which the Indians of the
Southwest knew, With this noble bird always
go potatoes, an American product which the pa-
tives enjoyed long before the coming of Colum.
bus. In fact, In those prediscovery days,
America furnished some of the cholcest and
most palatable foods which we know of. Some
of them grew, also, In the eastern hemisphere,
but many were distinetly and distinctively
American,
The Indians had real cause for thanksgiving
In the variety and tastiness of the food. True,
there was no beef, but buffalo humps were a
delicacy which has been celebrated In prac.
tically every history of early Americans, and
riba, Juicy and tender, roasted over coals, would
rival the famous cookery of the Old world, yet
requiring no other sauce than hunger,
os
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overnor
of Shungopevi Pueblo
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a
Indians
But do not think that hunger was the peces
sary ingredient of an Indian meal. Cooking
was not the haphazard operation we might be-
lieve it to have been. There were fifty-three
ways of preparing corn, and we should offer
thanks on our own accounts for this Indian
food, as we eat succotash, hominy, and other
corn dishes prepared, long before our time, by
the “savages” of America.
There were deer and mountain sheep for a
change from buffalo, and fish from the many
streams, and ducks and other birds were numer.
ous and varied, so that no one need live on
turkey. The great “kitchen middens” found
along the coast prove that oysters were a
greatly enjoyed Indian food, and turtles also
bheiped In the menu,
While wé are hunting for Indian dishes to
place on the Thanksgiving dinner table, we may
give thought to the appropriate beverage for this
truly American meal. Of course, the average
man will demand coffee, which is not a native
drink, but mate, which has a high caffeine con.
tent, would be the nearest drink of the sort
Teas made from dried flowers or flavorous twigs
and roots would be truly Indian decoctions, but
scarcely enjoyable to our trained palates. Tis
win, the Apache beer made of sprouted corn,
would be appropriate, but it is alcoholic *o a eon-
siderable degree. The only real Indian beverage
which appeals to modern tastes is chocolate,
favorite drink of the Aztec kings.
After dinner, In that hour when It 1s too
early for the football game and every one is
too contentedly filled to care about exertion any-
way, the air begins to grow hazy with tobacco
smoke, Here, too, Is an old Indian custom
closely associated with the giving of thanks
Few tribes used tobacco to smoke as we do:
rather it carried messages to the gods In its
clouds of smoke. The pipe was presented, or
the smoke blown, to the four world-quarters,
above and below, to symbolize the offering of
prayer in all divections. It was puffed during
ceremonies, and at councils,
The Chippewa and many other tribes use
tobacco as a thank offering. When they cut a
Birch tree for its bark, they bury a little
tobacco at the roots, giving thanks as they do
#0. The Pueblos tie small parcels of tobacco to
their prayersticks, and the tribes which have
dog-killing ceremonies fasten bundles of tobacco
to the legs and neck of the sacrificed animals,
bidding them to carry these to the spirit land
with them, there to present them with prayers
for health and plenty for the tribe,
Little of that anclent gratitude is left: and
we, In our hard modern shells, celebrate the day
of thanksgiving by feasting without ceremony.
Yet in our hearts we have studied the question,
“what are we thankful for?" and find many
things which made us glad to be allve—among
them, perhaps, the fact that we are not In.
dians!
We owe ackpowledgment to Providence, that
much is cectain, And because we, after all, are
a thoughtful and a courteous people, some time
during Thanksgiving day we will echo In our
hearts the words said by our predecessors, cen.
turies ago:
“Thanks, that It is so!"
(® by Western Newspaper Unlon)
tablets,
a sore throat!”
and even rheumatism.
neuritis, lumbago,
Ostrich Bulldogged by
Bedouin Riding in Auto!
It to i
is {
i
triches from the running board of an |
possible “bulldog™ os- |
automobile. Prof. A. Aharon! of the
Hebrew university at Jerusalem, led |
ion Into the Syrl
an desert to collect specimens of its
The expe.
capture alive two
the tr
stood the running
and bending
a zoological expedit
rare birds and animals
dition wanted to
Oogtriches, One ibesmen
board of the
grasped
one of
on
Car aver,
almost by
useless wings as they rode past at
terrific speed. The big bird was so
powerful that he would have dragged
the unfortunate Bedouin off his!
slight hold on the running board
had not one of his brother Arabs
held him from the inside of the ear!
in a hold. They tied the |
bird and took It Into the already |
overcrowded machine and continued
the chase, Another ostrich was al
ready fatigued that it could
scarcely stand a half hour's pursuit. |
This one was easlly eaptured. i
an
ack ostrich its
vigse-llke
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This Little Girl |
Got Well Quick
“Just after her
third birthday, my
little daughter, Con-
nile, had a serious
attack of Intestinal |
flu,” says Mrs. H W.
Turnage, 217 Cad-
walder St, San An-!
ww tonlo, Texas, “It jeft
her very weak and pale. Her bow-
els wouldn't act right, she had no
appetite and nothing agreed with her.
“Ofir physician told us to give her |
some California Fig Syrup. It made |
her pick up right away, and now she |
is as robust and happy as any child |
in our neighborhood. I give Califor- |
nia Fig Syrup full credit for her |
wonderful condition. It is a great
thing for children.” i
Children like the rich, fruity taste |
of California Fig Syrup, and you can |
give it to them as often as they need |
it, because it is purely vegetable, |
For over 50 years leading physicians |
have recommended it, and Its over |
whelming sales record of over four |
million bottles a year shows it gives |
satisfaction. Nothing compares with :
it as a gentle but certain laxative, |
and it goes further than this. It
regulates the stomach and bowels
and gives tone and strength to these |
organs so they continue to act nor
mally, of their own accord
There are many imitations of Call.
fornia Fig Syrup, so look for the
name “California” on the carton to
be. sure you get the genuine
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