g Below left is the group Chakira doing a song made famous by The Ventures, the old twangy guitar outfit from the 50's-60's. It comes from a compilation CD from the Azzura Musica label released in 2006, titled Aquaria. The song is one of these musical attempts to define a "theme" - in this case: "Apache" - and it works pretty well. In my experience, most Native Americans do not take offense at stuff like this - white artists dabbling in Native themes, but not trying to pass themselves off as Indian. In the center it's Philip and Patsy Cassadore, from the San Carlos Apache Reservation, on a cut from their Traditional Apache Songs CD, released by Canyon Records in'02. And on the right is Michael Martin Murphy, once again, doing a "rock talks American history" type thing. This is off his Live at Billy Bob's Texas CD - Smith Music Group, '02. g
A Quote from Geronimo [Goyathlay], 1829-1909 (above), From Native American Wisdom, Running Press
We had no churches, no religious organizations, no sabbath day, no holidays, and yet we worshiped. Sometimes the whole tribe would assemble and sing and pray; sometimes a smaller number, perhaps only two or three. The songs had a few words, but were not formal. The singer would occasionally put in such words as he wished instead of the usual tone sound. Sometimes we prayed in silence; sometimes each prayed aloud; sometimes an aged person prayed for all of us. At other times one would rise and speak to us of our duties to each other and to Usen [God]. Our services were short.
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v From the Santa Fe Railway Indian Village Souvenir Brochure f Apache d Of all the Indians of the Southwest, the most warlike in modern times were the Apaches. The name itself, a Zuni word meaning "enemy," adopted by the Spanish explorer Onate in the sixteenth century, has remained a name of terror down to our own day. Yet this was doing them, as a people, much injustice, since, far more than other tribes, they varied among themselves in fighting qualities and in their ability and desire to assimilate civilized habits. Because of their wild nomadic habits and their fighting temper, intensified by resentments against white encroachment, much less is known of Apache family life, social customs, and human qualities than of the Pueblos. From earliest times the women seem to have grown corn and melons at their rancherias, but the tribe subsisted chiefly on wild game and horse meat, refusing to eat fish or wild turkeys because of traditional tabus. Horses - mustangs - not only provided transportation and meat, but served as means of exchange with other tribes for food, hides, and other items. (cont'd below) t
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f The dress of the Apache is picturesque, especially on ceremonial occasions. The buckskin moccasins of both men and women were of a peculiar type, with hard rawhide sole and upward-curving toe, often extended with long uppers to protect the legs. Women formerly wore buckskin tunics and short-fringed skirts decorated with beads. The Apaches were perhaps the hardiest of all American Indians, going about all but naked in zero weather, bathing themselves and their babies in icy mountain waters. The Apaches are now settled in western bands upon the White Mountain and San Carlos Reservations in Arizona, the Mescaleros and the Jicarillas upon their present lands in central and northern New Mexico. b
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The Chiefs of the Buffet-Library-Baggage Cars
by John Rhodes Santa Fe Railway Historical & Modeling Society
The Santa Fe Railway tried to portray the Native Americans in a way that promoted tourism. This wasn't an entirely one way street, because it also helped the native's economy. Santa Fe didn't just name their prestigious trains The Chief, Super Chief, Texas Chief amongst others, they also named some of their passenger cars after Native American Chiefs and places. Ten [further research indicates maybe 13] of the Buffet-Library-Baggage cars that were built in 1927 by Pullman-Standard were named after Native American chiefs.
Some of these Chiefs were well known and in other cases, it appears that non-Native Americans gave individuals the "honorary" title of Chief, whether they were a chief, or not. Due to the obscurity of some of the names, it becomes very difficult to figure out how or why some of the names were chosen by Santa Fe.
One of the well known chiefs was Geronimo or Goyathlay. Born in 1829 in what is now western New Mexico, he was a Bedonkohe Apache and a member of the Nednhi band of the Chiricahua Apache. Geronimo was a leader of the last American Native fighting force formally to capitulate to the United States. Because he fought against such daunting odds and held out the longest, he became the most famous Apache.
In 1858, Geronimo returned from a trading trip and found his mother, wife, and three children murdered by Spanish troops. From then on, he waged war on Mexican settlements whenever he could. In 1876 the Chiricahua were forcibly moved to eastern Arizona but Geronimo fled to Mexico. In 1882, Apache scouts working for the U.S. Army found him but he escaped and wasn't found until 1886. The last few months of the campaign took over 5,000 soldiers, one quarter of the entire Army at the time, and up to 3,000 Mexican soldiers to track down Geronimo and his band. Geronimo and his people surrendered in 1886, and were first transported to prison in Florida. One year later they moved to Mt. Vernon, Alabama where a quarter of them died of tuberculosis and other diseases. In 1894 Geronimo was moved to Fort Sill, Oklahoma where he died in 1909.
But Geronimo was never a "chief." He was a medicine man, a seer, a spiritual and intellectual leader.
[We've edited this piece for brevity sake - the author continues here with brief bio info on the other chiefs whose names were on the cars. They were: Santanta, Medicine Wolf, Yellow Bear, Old Wolf, Manuelito, Lolomai, Santiago, and Sahnni.]
The fact that the Santa Fe chose both well known and some extremely obscure names is interesting. In the case of the well known chiefs, I couldn't help but feel the Santa Fe was quite forward thinking in choosing Native American leaders, who, though they were formidable warriors, were also the epitome of loyalty and integrity to their own people. Keep in mind the Santa Fe did this in 1927, when attitudes were much different than they are today.
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t The "Chief Manakaja" is not mentioned in the names in the article above, but further research has revealed that this is one of three other "chief" cars built in the same "batch," and is the only one of the "chief" cars still in existence. The names of the other two out of three not mentioned, I cannot find. The "Chief Manakaja" awaits restoration here at the San Diego Railway Museum. The man they named the car after was a chief of northern Arizona's Havasupai Tribe from 1900-1942, and led the fight to have tribal lands returned to the tribe which had been taken from them when the Grand Canyon National Monument was created. It's really just as amazing (if not more so) as the "Geronimno car" story. The fact that the railway named a car after a chief that was not a "historical" figure, but rather a living leader, and crusader, for the restoration of land stolen from the tribe by the government (and won!), speaks highly of some men, somewhere, in the front offices of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad in 1927. b
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From the Santa Fe Railway Indian Village Souvenir Brochure a Dances of the Southwest Indians a The dances of the Southwest Indians, which are performed every day in the Santa Fe Village, are a segment of the only true American folk dances. These dances are, in a sense, a dramatized prayer; a symbolic expression to win the favors of the Gods in the harvest, the hunt and the battle, and to ward off misfortunes, sickness, and disasters.
As a rule, the dance itself is only a part of the complete ceremony in which other activities such as fasting, cleansing, and purification are a necessary part of the complete ritual.
These dances usually are only performed on the reservation because of the rituals that are required to precede them. However, the friendly Indians of the Santa Fe Village have consented to perform the following dances outside of the Pueblo building.
[Editor's Note: The brochure then goes on to describe the 13 dances that the Indians performed in Chicago. The 13th, the Apache Crown Dance, is described further below.]
Here are Philip and Patsy Cassadore again, from their Traditional Apache Songs CD, Canyon, '02. (2:29)
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The Apache Crown Dance is known generally as the Devil Dance. The Apaches say this term is incorrect. This is a ceremony for the young girls of the tribe who are entering womanhood. The male dancers represent crowned messengers from the God of the mountains. They bring promises of protection and help to the girl in childbirth, provide ample food and happiness for the remainder of her life. Thus she is inducted into womanhood with the blessings of the God of the mountains. This is a spectacular dance in which the male dancers are weirdly costumed in blacks masks and large crowns of varied shapes. Their bodies and crowns are painted in such designs as to indicate they came from such great heights that stars are caught in their crowns and painted on their bodies. Women also take part in the dance in conventional Apache dress. As the dance is completed the masked messengers vanish again to inaccessible recesses in the mountain. _
n The legacy/legend/life of Geronimo is an amazing story, and it's influence can be found all over the map, figurative and literal. Here's bluesman Keith Dunn with straight up vocals and harmonica, no guitar - similar to a "field holler," and that style goes way back. It's from his Alone With The Blues CD, from deeTone Records - '98. (4:31)
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t Another Geronimo
The gentleman in the photo above is a friend of mine from Pohnpei Island, the capital of the Federated States of Micronesia, far away in the Western Caroline Islands, in the big blue Pacific. His name, and it's on his license, is GERONIMO Rodriguez. Years ago, he saw a movie down in the islands about the famous Apache warrior and leader, and shortly thereafter took the name. It could be termed extreme hero-worship, but I think it's much deeper than that. He's standing here in the Lincoln County Museum, only short miles from the Mescalero Apache Reservation and their Inn of the Mountain Gods, which was our next destination. We'll have more up about my friend down the line. He bailed out the white boy from a certain bloody mess, and the white boy bailed him out further down the road. We'll explain it all when the time comes.
