Music of Acoma, Isleta, Cochiti, and Zuñi Pueblos - Flutopedia.com

34 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Boll. 165
FLOWER DANCE SONGS
In February or March of each year the Acoma hold a dance "as
an invitation to the flowers to bloom again." This dance is not related
to the ceremonies intended to bring rain or secure good crops but is a
simple gathering of the people, beginning at sunrise and ending at
sunset. Visitors often come from other pueblos to see the dance which
is held in the plaza. The Acoma name for this dance is "gdspirdih,"
a word not used in any other connection.
The most prominent person in this dance is an unmarried girl who
may be selected from any family in the village and is usually a girl
known to be proficient in the songs and use of the drum. The dancers
are 20 unmarried boys, the leader being the boy who first "started to
get up the dance," and the next in leadership being the first boy he
asked to help make the arrangements.
The girl wears a ceremonial blanket as a robe (pi. 4, 6), and her hair
is arranged in "squash blossoms." The boys wear leggings and
moccasins, and their bodies are painted pink without decorative
designs. Beads and shells are around their necks and wrists. The
sash commonly worn by Acoma women is worn by the boys at this
time, being worn over the right shoulder (pi. 4, b).
are made of artificial flowers and eagle down.
Their headdresses
The women make the
flowers of cloth in all colors and arrange them in a fillet with three
tall tufts of eagle down, one above each ear and one in the middle of
the front. A replica of this headdress was made by Wilbert Hunt
(pi. 5). If a boy has long hair, it is tied in a bunch at the nape of
his neck.
The Flower dance is old but only one old song is used, this being
the song with which the girl opens the dance. Generally the other
songs have been composed since the previous dance, though a song
5 or 6 years old is occasionally used, the words being changed and
"the song fixed up a little." There is no formal preparation for the
They
dance, but the boys gather to select and rehearse the songs.
have a meeting place where they gather before the dance and to which
they withdraw for the feast at noon, coming and going often to this
room during the dance.
When all is ready for the dance, a ceremonial blanket is spread for
the girl to kneel upon. She kneels on one knee and beats a vase drum,
using a stick with a wide hoop at the end (pi. 3,6). The under surface
of the hoop strikes the drumhead, the hoop being at right angles to
that surface. This vase drum and stick are not used at any other time.
The dancers stand in a line in front of the drum, with their faces
toward one end of the fine. Each boy has a turtle-shell rattle (pi. 4, b)
fastened below his right knee, its soimd marking the time as he dances.