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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 4, 1908)
10 cm m ( THE casual visitor in the curious Pueblo country of New Mexico and Arizona 1 always likely to tounter. no matter what the season of Ihe year, a community celebration of one kind or another. Above all other Indiana the paeblo la devotedly at tached to feast and ceremonial; in the beginning incited thereto by hla de pendence. a an agriculturist in an ex acting region, upon the favor of the lltmmli; and later encouraged by the pleasure-loving Mexicans, hla neigh Dora. Conforming to the deft treatment by Ihe Roman Church, and therefore more jr leas adulterated from the original, :lie greatest annual celebration of the L'ochltl Publ occurs on July 14; of Ihe Santo Domingo on August 4: of the 51a. August 16: of the San Juan, June M: of Taos. September 30. and so forth tiiesc greatest celebrationa be ing preceded and followed by a hoat Df others, varying in Importance and ilgnlflcance. Tla good fortune to be present at the treat Taos festival, of September JO. termed Sari G ronlmo day. and held in Honor (nstensiuly) of the Pueblo's pa :ron saint. Jerome Just aa the festival t the San Juan Pueblo, southward. Iocs honor to that patron saint. John, tn this nomenclature, for instance, do are recognize the Influence of Catholi :lm. The featival of 8an lieronlmo la aa Tamed through the Southwest aa la any Cete day In Provence or Italy. The Pueblo la located In northeastern New M-xi'O. about 4') miles south of the Colorado line; It Is the most typical and the beat preserved of all the Pueb ios. and its ino people are- extremely ronservatlve. Thither, for thla Sao 3eronlmo day. come tourists from Boa ton. Chicago, St. luis, Denver: I'tes, Savajos. Aoarlies. Fan Juans and other now friendly aborigines; Mexicans from Ihe surrounding hamlets and ranchea. The festival Itself a queer combina tion of Christian ritual and pagan rite: .n reality It is the survival of the Pueblo's ancient harvest celebration. The Mexican visltora arrive the flrat: lustrous, evidently, of getting as much as they can from the opportunity. By the tragnn-load lhy enter the little town of Fernandea de Taos, three miles from the pueblo, and disperse among their numer ous kin and acquaintances. A Mexican house Is never filled. Booths are set up Ul the plaza and the crooked adobe-walled streets, the music and scuffling of the balle, or ball, are to be heard afternoon and night. 'and the alluring whistle of the popultr merry-go-round ahrllls Inces santly. " In the little town the stages deposit the tourists who. having Journeyed down from Denver or up from Santa . deem that hey have left civilisation afar. And tirough the little town pass, with tempo- i . AT:. ., .-c-. t1- .i-K ,1V., RAISING. rary halt, the San Juans in their wagons, selling pottery: the Apaches, buck and aquaw and pappoose a-horsehack. selling bows and arrows: the Navajo, likewise horse, selling sllverwaye. and blankets. All of a sudden the little town is over flowing. The pueblo people themselves appear to hare not at all in the excitement; but It is oniy necessary, when one meets them pursuing their daily routine, to accost with "Bueno. amtgos." "Bucno, bueno,'" they reply. "Mucha fiesta, en poco tiempo eh?" Spain's -Happy "Royal Babes THIS is the first time within living memory that a son of a Spanish King has beau born at La. Urania. Others, uch as the Infantes Don Carlos. Don t'rlipe Francisco and Infanta Maria Luis, mere born while their parents were still only heirs presumptive to the thror.e. J jeen Victoria's private desire may have: been for a girl, but publicly she expressed the wish to have an Infante "espanol," typically Spanish: that is to say. brown and dark baireri. But such a hopeswould only bs partially realised, since sha is very fair, and the Spanish Bourbons have ths green-hued eyes and white skin which run in the faroil. Infanta Maria Teresa uttnc tli ortly exception. Though the newly-horn Intante is of fair t-ompiexion. he is slightly darker than his brother, Frlnipe de Asturias. whose feature str.kirw'y resemble thos of his mother. It might be said that the Principe Asturias is a thorough Battenberg. while Infantito Don Jaime is more of a Bour bon. He is a strong, healthy infant, neighing etgnt pounds, and appears to be more quick tempered than his elder brother. He is now dressed in whita laced robes, with tiny pink colored ribbons, and wears hanging from Ins neck the tiny golden cross and mdiu of Our L1v of. Pilar, much venerated in Spain. When court ufficmla meet him they stop and bow. Just s to a srovnup person. Klr.g Alfonso wishes him to be brought tip a soldter. and. like the Principe de .Anurias, tha sew Infante a dresses ara .... ..... ... WwA I .. . ... II f . 71 KMSSUST . fold with uncovered heads, having VZ. "lt" THE COHERING POLE A mile flashes Into eacli countenance. "SI, si; mucha fiesta." At the pueblo dances are being re ltearsed: some of tho young men require Instruction, and some of the elders need a Umbering up. These rehearsals are held in private, according to laws as yet unmodified by the church. During the afternoon preceding the fea tival. preparations at the pueblo become plainly visible. A bower of quaking-aspen branches is huilt against the north casa grande, about fin elevated platform whence, at the head of tho track, the saint shall overlook the races. o be embroidered in red silk bearing the number 1. which is that of the infantry regiment entitled the "King's Own." gar risoned in Madrid, in which the Principe de Asturias was enrolled a month ago as simple soldier wearing a minute sword. The nwly bom infantito remains most of the day with his mother, and is re moved in the evening to an adjoining room under the care of a lady of the court ualil a nurse is appointed to take charira of him. Queen Victoria, who tends the infantito Don Jaime devotedly, has not been much troubled, aa her second son, though a little more rervous than the Princtp de Asturias, seems to be as gojd natured. Some three weeks ago the Principe de Asturias was a little troubled with his teething, but that period over he is now a thoroughly healthy. good natured. strong boy. The whiteness of his skin and his clear ulhe eyes are remarkable. He already seems to know his duties, and I Wednesday witnessed a quaint scene. The relief of the royal guard takes place every morning at 11 o'clock. A patrol of "Alabarderos" comes to the royal palace to change the sentries to the sound of fife and drum. Afterwards the infantry company of "Baroastro." which lJeepe guard on the. exterior. The formalities of the band playing and bugle blowing have been omitted these days to avoid trouble to Queen Victoria, but not the display of the national flag, which Is handed over to the fresh guard, during which all salute. The Principe de As turias. In his English nurse's arms, was witnessing the scene from a balcony aiitl JvPSH ' '31 l''?S?J Ss blues, plaids the pueblo, bearing of- s iw&j-. Vmmt t. ,Ji-VZ., 1 f TriTi fertory candles, obediently crowds the ,w, ' . fS7 ' f-- chapel interior. J" . , -""-akv y .'I (GS2' V" The maSB lasts a" hour: ,ts c"ciu- w " 1 s, J 'SSffi. ' sion signified by the discharge, be- . k " . XV,V 1 iMsy side the ch"c,l dor' of a rickety .. " t,- - . (Vv smooth-bore in the hands of an ap- IT? . "" -t lifeSsf pointed Indian. '''k'WMM- yCX JL1----,b SHOWING ilNE OF A g- K-x yi ,r7-- - - ;An- 1 Milted yi' lvViii w -fV-. Ail(ZWw! rmfm arrfed .ln.ctton fnd B!!k f ,r A hole is digged. In the hard clay be fore the casa grande.' where is the pueblo plaxa, and with much labor, much wran gling, much scurrying, perspiration, ex hortation and grunting a huge pole, W feet long, is set perpendicularly therein. The omnipresent church Intercedes, to remind: and about 5 o'clock the bell of tho little chapel summons to mass. While we. and other strangers who have driven out. Inquisitively witness, and the Mexican stand at the thresh- raisol up his tiny right hand to his tem ple, military fashiin. Principe de Asturias'- life Is most healthy. He is already bathed and dressed by 7 o'clock, and then visits his parents. The most of the day he spends in the beautiful gardens of the royal residence, wheeled in a perambulator, and when tired sleeps under' the shadow of a chest nut in one of Queen : Victoria's favorite nooks It is a real open air life, and the doctor who visits him twice a day Is sur prised at his wonderful health. When tha w?aiher Is bad. and during the last week It has been cold ,iere, with patches of enow still unmelted on the surrounding mountains, he Is taken in doors, and amuses himself with hla first toy, a "Teddy bear." which Queen Vic toria ot in a raffle for charity purposes, and with Japanese toys presented by Prince Kurokl during his recent visit and by the Japanese ambassador in Madrid, Mr. Maugiro-Inaxaky. v He also takes a daily afternoon drive accompanied by two nurses, in an open landau drawn by four mules and escorted by a couple of mounted "Guardia Clviles." Here at J.s Granja, according tu custom, a special rider, in chocolate colored dress, with white leather bard across the chest and large brimmed soft white hat, which gives him the appearance of a cowboy, rides b the Principe de Asturias on one of the small, dark long-haired native horses called "biases." King Alfonso of Spain seems to be chiefly known abroad as a most excellent sportsman. But he is something more than that- Though not resembling the Instant is the change from one wor ship to the-other. Notified by the sig nal, while the celebrants are pouring from the altar selected dancers who have been waiting, to .the rear of each of the casus grandes. advance through the gloam. waving sprays of yellowed aspen foliage and melodiously chanting In the Taos tongue. " This is the Sun Dance. Shoulder to shoulder, in two long lines facing in ward, the dancers, shuffling and chant ing In perfect accord, traverse the plaza and enter the churchyard. All wear white blankets. At the church door they reverse, recross the plaza, and having danced before each of the com munal houses (the caaas grandes) they disperse. Thla ends the' public preliminaries. Spanish In thla particular, he gets up very early, and even at I Granja devotee the greater part of the morning to hla favor ite studies on military subjects, and those who have heard his talk about such mat ters recognize hia sound knowledge. But as he Is now on holiday, "en vaca cionee," as he calls it, polo constitutes his main amusement ax La Granja, besides his morning walk, on which he is only ac companied by Marques de Viana. No one can mistake King Alfonso'a walk and dress. He walks with long strides, and when recognizing a friend some distance off, utters the Spanish sa lute "Adois" In a clear voice, throwing up his arm with a peculiar toss. He wears his hat pulled down almost to the nape of his neck, a mannerism which has become the fashion In Madrid, especially when wearing soft green "Tyrolean" hats, which King Alfonso usually affects. Polo is played every afternoon, and the ground was opened officially. last Mdtiday. It is an ideal polo ground, and. according to the professional, few. If any, European polo grounds rival Ijo. Granja. It lies just at the foot of La Granja Mountain, amid splendid scenery. The ground is suffi ciently hard and the turf excellent. Society life at La Granja, which at tained great splendor during the reign of the late King Alfonso, fell away during the present queen mother'a regency, as she, preferred to pass the Summer on the -Spanish seashores. La Granja begins to revive again, since it Is the favorite residence of Queen Vic toria, who. loving a quiet, open air Ffe, with beautiful gardens, finds these elements at Ildefonso. King Alfonso, too. Is now getting more accustomed to La Granja than at the outset, and en courages the nobility to visit the place. La Granja, Spain, dispatch to New Tork Herald. ' I What transpires during the night, we may not know. Dawns San Geronimo day. First is the elevating, to the cross-bar at the ajjex of the pole (before mentioned as having been erected with so much stress) of the festal offerings; a sheep, throat cut; a bunch of melons; a sack of bread and maize. The display, fastened aloft by a half-naked Indian, constitutes the pueblo's thank-tribute to the sun; for so largely does the sun figure. In the Taos Indian's thoughts with reference to the cele bration, that this ancient harvest fes tival this pseudo Saint's day is dom inated still by the creative orb. Ever since sunrise visitors have been pouring into the pueblo grounds horseback, afoot, in vehicles of all descriptions. Many are merely on lookers; others, like the Mexican ped dlers, the Apaches and Navajoes and San Juans, are out with an eye to busi ness as well as to spectacle. About 8 o'clock another mass is called; and thither, again went their gorgeous way the pueblo people. By the time that the mass Is over the grounds resemble a fair; with the wagons of the Mexican vendors, selling melons, pinon nuts and scarfs, with the alien Indians, proffering articles of handicraft; with the horsemen dash Cost of the Roosevelt Hunt PRESIDENT ROOSEVELTS Hunting trip to East Africa, which Is planned for next year, will decrease the Presiden tial savings some 130,000 to $23,000 at a low estimate, but, inasmuch as Mr. Roose velt already has been offered more than ten times that amount for his story of the trip, to be written upon his return, it isn't worrying the family banker.. What is concerning all the Ro'osevelt family and the close friends of. the Presi dent may be summed up as "things that might happen on that trip." It is no small matter this 20,000-mile journey to the wildest section of the world, where big game is as populous as it has come to be scarce in the "won West." It isn't so much the lions, elephants and their as sociates that are being feared, although the element of danger they always pre sent contains the essential zest of hunting with any true sportsman. But there are many other enemies of human life, which the President will have to encounter and subdue. The journey to the east coast of Africa will be one of the most wonderful pilgrim ages a man of the Western world might take. The President will pass through seas and straits which alone could have washed away the tomes of history they have seen written. He will come into con tact with customs and people by far the most interesting In the world, and finally, as a sort of guerdon for his wanderings, the traveler will reach Zanzibar (a place which merits its name. Paradise). It has been called the most interesting la sauare miles in the world and appears ing hither and thither vaqueros. rancheros and Americans; with pedes trians white and brown, male and fe male, sauntering and staring; and with the cameras in active operation by professionals and amateurs. A procession issues from the chapel, bearing under canopy the saint himself. Jerome; a rudtfly-carved, venerable wooden figure endowed, for the occasion, with sentient attributes. Carefully . es corted he is transferred to the bower, and there, by respectful hands, is in stalled, together with crucifix and draped shrine. Immediately, upon the track along which he now gazes, line up the racers; a chosen band from each of the houses, stationed, in opposing divisions, half and half, at either end of the course. They are variously decorated, naked save as to breech-clout and lavishly patterned with paint. Upon their ankles, to bestow speed, are tied eagle feathers and patches of down are scattered, also, over limbs and body. The course is 400 yards. This is a relay race; the runners start, two by two. race to the farther end, and are relieved by two other runners. Back and forth speed tho painted forms, amidst wild encour agement from the Indian guards and the closely-pressing spectators. The race con tinues for an hour. Victory is decided; to merit the description. In Its scant area the flotsam and jetsam of the East ern world has gathered. It contains, shoulder to shoulder, in Its heterogeneous people and life, the elements of the finest culture, the deepest ignorance, morality, degeneracy, vice and virtue, more fantas tically Interwoven into the life of the place than anywhere else In all the world. Here the President will get his supplies, guides, servants, porters and other blacks who will be his companions on the hunt. From Zanzibar he goes to the chief city of English East Africa, on the border of German Africa and from there plunges Into the vast, silent, disease-breeding Jun gle, where a white man goes with the as surance that death, multiform, pestilent and horrible, lurks in every thicket and stream and tree: a place where the chances of living are reduced to the ulti mate natural minimum. Preceded by his blacks and followed by more of the same, bearing the rather im posing luggage of the expedition, and, in bad weather, the head of the expedition in a hammock, the President will enter a world vastly different from anything he has ever seen. In the great miasmatic jungle, where every step of the road for many miles will have to be along virgin paths cut through the often poisonous brush, death waits, invisible and intrusive, for the bold hunter. The miasma may give him a fever that will kill him In eight hours or leave nlm suffering Hie most horrible of tor tures In a land of torture. He may re cover only to be grasped again by the ter 1 . j .. 7 CLOWNS C1.1MB1NG and at once the runners and th(Hf kin unite in another dance, which may be called the dance of triumph. Again chanting and shuffling and waving the yellow aspen the dancers proceed to the casa grande which has won. The cere monial drum booms accompaniment. From the casa grande roofs the women pelt down bread not alone womanly reward to husbands and children and brothers, but token of the sun's pleasure at the late spectacle. ... After this dance the pueblo gives itself over to recuperation, and to "shopping" expeditions among the many vendors. Fruit and pinon nuts are liberally bought. At noon every pueblo household lias a big dinner, to which strangers, no mat ter what the race, are generously in vited. In the afternoon appear the clowns, or the chlxonctti representative of the my thical delight-makers, who, in early times, saved the pueblos from pestilence and famine. Seven in number, striped alternately upon their naked bodies, with black and white, their braids stuck through with sprays of ripened grain, for two hours they amuse the crowd: their grotesque actions being received with loud applause. Finally they attempt to climb the pole, to secure the booty at the top. After some considerable time spent in nonsen sical essays, they resign ther post, and a champion climber of the community sallies to the rescue. He scales the smooth column: he lowers the sheep, the bread and the fruit to the waiting clowns below. This marks the close of the festival. The sun is touching the western horizon. While back to Fernandez de Taos stream the outsiders, Saint Jerome is restored to his chapel, and the sun sinks. The honor of both has been satisfied. The pueblo may rest content. rors of his fever every year or two the balance of his life, or he may escape en tirely. The President will not have proceeded far before rebellion will break out in his train. This kind, however, is more easily settled than miners' strikes, and all may be well. Then , he may be overtaken and cap tured by a native Prince, who will require beads, wire, brass and the like to keep him from devoting his distinguished guest to glutting his appetite. Upon finding that his visitor is the late head of a great government, the chief will even become solicitous, send around a few buckets of stinking native beer, even some pellet of bhaiig. that the Prtisldent may dream the dream the hashish eater, and as a last mark of courtesy demand that the President marry a couple or more of his dusky belles. The diplomacy of Mr. Roosevelt will have to be relied upon in this extremity. In the end. all these perils having been safely passed. Mr. Roosevelt will resrh the happiest hunting grounds in all the world, where he may shoot Hons, hippo potami, specimens of the buffalo, rhlnos ceros, bok. etc.. till his ammunition runs out or something happens. And for this the price will be $25,000. Kansaa City Star. Miss Ross Becker has be.n appointed si claim agent and United States pension at torney In Missouri. She has been known for yeas as one of tlje most successful women in St. Lxiuis, being a notary public and an insurance axent. i ? H FA i 1 h 1 - 4 ",A . iiiX.
