Chapter XXII: Dances

Mountain Maidu had more dances and more types of dances than other tribes of the Lassen area. Tribes of the Sacramento Valley had many more and more complicated dance ceremonies than ours did.

Mountain Maidu had formalized sweat dances which were performed inside large dwelling lodges at night and were participated in by both sexes. As in the case of Yana, only one man, the leader, sang and hit the central pole rhythmically with a split stick rattle. The dancers performed simultaneously but in one spot until they were exhausted and took a cold swim afterwards.

Of the less ceremonial Atsugewi sweat dance, Garth states:

“... Men danced naked except for circlets ... of twisted grass around
the waist, head and upper arm, and occasionally from one shoulder
diagonally across the chest.... Three or four lines of black or white
paint might be drawn across the chest and upper arm. Women wore a
skirt and only a small amount of paint. The dancing took place in the
combination sweat, dance, and dwelling house of the chief or head
man.... The fire was built high with dry mountain mahogany ..., pine
..., and sometimes with willow ..., all woods which burned without
much smoke; the ventilator door was closed and the dance began. The
one singer sat in a corner and beat time with a split stick rattle....
Each of ten or twelve dancers might approach close to the fire to show
his ability to endure heat, pick up burning brands, one in each hand,
and alternately hit one upper arm and then the other with the brands.
The heat often became so intense that water had to be thrown on the
center post to prevent its catching fire. There was rivalry to see who
could stay inside longest, and after a time one man after another
emerged and dived into the icy water nearby or rolled in the snow.
There might be sweating three or four nights in succession on the
occasion of a communal hunt.”

Mountain Maidu held a dance gathering each spring for Black Bear and Grizzly Bear. They believed that this dance had been done by animals in mythical “before Indian times”. This gathering lasted three days and nights, but the actual dance was in progress only one day and night. Only women danced but men participated in the ceremony dressed in bear robes. There was much feasting too.

The pre- and post-war dances are discussed under the chapter on war.