[The Delight Makers by Adolf Bandelier]@TWC D-Link bookThe Delight Makers CHAPTER VI 27/51
The mere fact of a certain boy stamping the earth beside a certain girl on a certain occasion, or a certain maiden tripping by the side of a particular youth, does not call for that active gossiping which would result if a couple were to dance with one another alone at one of our balls.
A civilized ball is professedly for enjoyment alone; an Indian dance is a religious act, a public duty. The society who are now exercising their calisthenics in the court has much similarity to the Koshare, yet their main functions are distinct. They are called the Cuirana. If, during the conversation in which Topanashka informed his daughter as to the origin of the Koshare and the ideas underlying their role in Indian society, Say Koitza had inquired of him about the Cuirana he might have given her very similar information. With this marked distinction, however, that whereas the former consider themselves summer people, the latter are regarded as winter men.
While the Koshare are specially charged with the duty of furthering the ripening of the fruit, the Cuirana assist the sprouting of the seed. The main work of the Koshare is therefore to be done in the summer and autumn, that of the Cuirana in the spring; and, moreover, while on certain occasions the latter are masters of ceremonies also, they never act as clowns or official jesters.
Their special dance is never obscene, like that of the Delight Makers. During their performance, therefore, the public did not exhibit the unbounded hilarity which marked that of their predecessors.
The audience looked on quietly, and even with stolidity.
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