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

Dbnsmoeb] pueblo MUSIC 51
Translation
(Period A)
There was once on the west side of Laguna,
On the lower west side,
A bowl like that in which the medicine man mixes herbs and water,
It used nicely to produce cattails, plants and pollen,
It used nicely to draw the raingods to paint it with sprinkUng rain, making
a picture of the rain.
Now here above us, from the north direction, the duck raingods fly.
They are looking for the medicine bowl west of Laguna.
Alas! A sad calamity has happened.
Pitiful it is.
Now here about us from the south direction the winter wrens come.
The birds are white and in their flight they look like clouds.
They are looking for the medicine bowl west of Laguna.
Alas! a sad calamity has happened,
Pitiful it is.
Analysis.—The principal interval in this song is the fourth which is generally
associated with birds, animals, or motion in Indian songs. The interval of a
minor third occurs only a few times and is the interval commonly associated with
sadness in the usage of the white race. A short rhythmic unit occurs frequently,
also a reversal of the count divisions by which the accent is transferred to the
triplet of eighth notes. The song has a compass of seven tones and is based on
the fourth 5-toned scale (cf. footnote 1, table 6, p. 115).
HAEVEST DANCE SONGS
The Harvest dance of the Acoma was said to be part of the Corn
dance. Four of its songs were recorded but the customs pertaining
to the dance were not a subject of inquiry. One of the songs, not
transcribed, contained these words, the first three Hnes being sung
twice and followed by the last lines which were also repeated.
Look there, somewhere beneath the home of the raingod,
There underneath their home the raingods are painting themselves, with
their shoes of clouds and with their ceremonial sashes,
With these they look handsome, and now they will return.
This way from the north, from the north path whence I came,
There the old-time prayer-sticks are repainting themselves in the same
manner.
The three Harvest dance songs here presented were sung with
clearness.