Konrad Theodor Preuss, trans. by Furst, in Shaeffer and Furst (1996), pp. 94-135.

in the night used in religious songs can also mean in the rain, or rainy season West-the direction of the deadsun set Rainy season bring joy Many names for rain and clouds Note: the Lower Pecos is not monsoonal, but has unreliable rain. A days walk to visit someone is considered nearby Different chants for each ceremony. Last all night and maybe the next day. Sung only by the shaman. Repetitions of the chorus sung by all and then sung in each of the five directions. People sitting or lying around comfortably as they join in the chorus. Some with drums, some without. Chants are mainly a dialogue of the gods with Kayaumari, the messenger of the fire god, Tatewari, or with Tatewari himself. Objects speak, their deeds are recounted, such as feathers, arrows and other ceremonial objects. About every ten years or so at the onset of the rainy season, the entire panoply of gods must have a curing ritual. Chants are sung in a flat tone without regard to performance art. Words themselves have magical powers. Various curing chants 1. In a common song Kayaumari questions the gods to determine that there is no illnesss 2. Song for serious illness, in which the gods reveal who sent the sickness and what sacrifice is required for a cure 3. curing people after the death of an elder. It is assumed that such a death, out of spite, call forth a disease-causing animal. 4. Curing the earth when it fails to rain. Esp. at the onset of rainy season. 5. Curing the rain, during the rainy season to bring more rain. 6. Curing the gods, esp. if they have failed to bring enough rainmaybe after several years. Many of these curing chants involve killing the itauki, a mythical disease-causing animal. Shaman shows mortals a hair from an animal. Killing the itauki is done by hurling a feathered arrow. The singer falls shaking and vomiting to the ground. Star Boy or some other stars may come to slay the itauki. The shaman may spit on various objects or in the five directions. He may hurl the arrow in the different directions. He may suck on people near by.

An itauki, which means hidden thing is also the work of the sorcerer. It roves like a mountain lion, can fly buzzing through the air, and can emerge from the fire. It can impede the rain and make both gods and people sick. The itauki can be killed by sticking spears in the ground all around the fire and slowly moving them closer and closer to the flames. This process is difficult for the singer, or actor, who falls to the ground an must have water poured over his head. Magic spells can be cast by sorcerers. The fire god explains that a sorcerer has thrown something at him. Or a goddess is illboth must be cured by killing the itauki as described above. An all-night chant is required to break a spell cast over someone. After someone dies, when someone becomes ill, or animals are found suffering. The sorcerer points a candle [torch] to the west while invoking the gods or waves a hair from the person in order to bewitch them. The sorcerer shows these things to the evil itauki who activates the illness or infertility, etc., against the person. An all night chant is sung five days after a death. On this night the deceased returns home, is fed, and is finally driven off by magical means. Participants paint their faces, hands, and feet black. The soul return one time and makes a long speech to his relatives, as sung by the shaman. At the end the shaman says Now go! and the soul leaves for good. The dead soul merges with the rocks and mountains of the sacred landscape. The dead are revered for their wisdom, in particular those who were shaman. It is thought they may return to give counsel and protection. Sometimes in the chants when the gods are called in a ceremony, they dont want to come. For example the rain goddess doesnt want to come, saying I am afraid of the Rainbow. So all sorts of things must be tried to get her to come. The shaman can tell a funny story in this part of the chant, much to the delight of the people. The rain goddess continues Before my door in the mountains, a sorcerer has covered up the waters. He has planted an arrow in the north, another in the south, and another in the center. And Our Elder Brother Wind is in front of me. The hero finds the sorcerers arrows and tames them by shooting at them with his own magical feathered spears. He tames the wind by pouring ground maize [sotol] mixed with water on the ground. In winter an all-night chant is sung to promote the common welfare of the group. How the Cloud Came to Be Preuss, p. 102 (Schaeffer and Furst) [a story to tell]

A child cried constantly, so the parent threw him out. His brother went looking for him and cried (wept tears). Come back, he said. No, I wont. Go home and prepare my

chair, my jug, my arrow, bracelet, and sandals. So the brother did. Wait five nights then I will appear white on a mountain peak, said the first brother. The mother, father and brother did, but then the child rose in the sky and thundered and killed his parents. Only the older brother was not hurt. Now they are dead, said the Cloud Brother. Now our mother is raining. The Turtle and the Squirrel A turtle tried to cross a rocky hillside. (its a complicated story with many parts, but this is the gist.) The turtle wants to go back to the river, but a deer picks him up. The deer gives him a stone, and the turtle kills him and roasts his meat. Squirrel and wolf come along and try to get the meat, but find nothing. Turtle drops a bone on a childs head, and the child starts to cry. Who threw it? asked the mother. Everybody searched. The child then saw the long neck of the turtle sticking out. They hit the turtle with and axe. Then the squirrel tells them to hold on to his tail while he jumps. Apparently they were also holding the turtle because he fell in the middle of the creek when the squirrel jumped. So they caught the turtle and ate him. But they died of thirst after that because the water dried up. Then two of the bodies burst open and created the two shells of the turtle. Now the turtle consists of two pieces that are put together. That is how far the story goes. A Cora ending to this story: The turtle is pursued by wolves, who finally eat him. All the wolves dies of thirst. Squirrel finally instructs the last two surviving wolves to vomit up the remains of the Turtle and sew them back together again. The Cora have a belief that the turtle causes water to flow. The squirrel sometimes represents the sun. The possum is fire. Thus the squirrel (sun) kills the turtle (rainy season) and moves until the turtles reformation. The story is about how the sun moves across the sky to the rainy season. The deer sacrifices himself for the rain. The two pieces of turtle shell are created when he is hit with the axe. When the turtle falls into the creek, the rainy season begins. Then it gets dry again. When the two bodies burst open, the clouds begin to rain again. Deer represent stars. Wolf represents the solstice. p. 108 a Chant for the Beginning of Night Tatewari summons Kayaumari (who personifies the deer and stars) but Kayaumari is unwilling to come. So Tatewari grabs him by the hair and drags him along the ground. (the twilight) Daybreak Star Boy, evidently the Morning Star or Venus, and the best shooter, slays the deer (stars) with his arrows when the sun comes up each morning.

Danzantes, a religious dance fraternity, carry large leaves or branches and a rattle. They wear crowns of blue heron feathers. They are cloud-beings, and are credited with certain well-being of the group. They dance at certain ceremonies. Rhythmic dancing in some ceremonies. One where the dances have to stomp and stir up a lot of dust because the song talks about the deer leaping back and forth to stir up dust. Dancers each hold a deer tail in his/her hand. Dancers rub or clack two notched deer scapula together as a sort of rasp for music. p. 122 During ceremonies, the singer always sits facing east. Two assistants sit on either side, and repeat each phrase whenever the singer pauses. This goes on all night. Extraordinary amounts of times given to ceremony from dark to sun up is one chant. Great monotony. No dancing except for peyote ceremony and spring corn. (rain?) Some dances are merely walking around the fire. p. 114 A young woman had a child by an older man. But a young man her age married her. The young man was considered the real father of the child. However, man and wife did not always get along. The woman chased him around and beat him with a stick. Finally she grabbed him by the hair and led him off. Grabbing by the hair is a common way to force reluctant people to come. p. 124 the gods require offerings of food, drink, magical objects such as feathers, stones, etc., The maize goddess requires a catfish that is conceived as a snake. [White Shaman]. (maybe this could be a goddess of some other life-sustaining plant, such as sotol.) The eastern rain goddess requires a monster that lives in the deep water and is something like a buffalo. In a bad thunderstorm it is said that this animal is stomping around. The earth mother [Grandmother Growth] requires a lizard [these could be paintings on the wall for the book] Human beings are responsible for 1) the renewal of rain 2) keeping illness and witchcraft from the world 3) taking care of the gods Penis and vagina are abstracted to relate to any objects similarly shaped. Sexual transgression is seen as wrong, yet there are instances of polygamy and misbehavior. Many jokes about penis. Everybody laughs. Preuss says they are anything but chaste. Sometimes Star Boy and Eagle Girl perform a parody of sex. ??? fake copulation by old men dressed as women, dancing around. One shows his penis and pretends to copulate. Preuss p. 133

Intercourse with women can be seen as dangerous and likely to cause illness. The vulva is dangerous and can a man fall ill with a fever. The shaman sucks the pathogen out of the patient, sprinkles him with sacred water, and repeats the chant in five days, during which time the patient must abstain from salt and sexual activity. Peyote ceremonies are October to March. Suring this time also a ceremony to celebrate the rising sun (Winter). The sun god is called the Yellow Rattlesnake. June deer hunt at dawn Preuss p. 131 Symbolic value to capturing a deer near dawn. Sometimes this is acted out by three men respresenting the Sun, Tatewari, and deer. Chanting. Good omena deer hair that falls into a gourd container. Course cakes are placed on a mountain for the Sun. Thorn Boy carries tobacco in a wart gourd secured with five spines of prickly pear. Sacred tobacco. He dances around the fire with the two leader of the hunt above. When children are born, they are thought to come down from the sky, and souls return there after death until a shaman can snatch them from the air in the form of five little stones of which the relatives take custody.