| OCR Text |
Show a6o BASIS OP AMERICAN HISTORY [ 1500 which has produced a rich variety in expression. Little is known of the meanings of these patterns, xbut the symbolism is probably mainly religious. In the personal decorations used in dances and ceremonials of all sorts much ingenuity is displayed, and as these performances are for the most part dramatic in character the dress and decoration usually indicate a particular mythological being whom the actor is impersonating. * In this way has grown up the use of the grotesque masks of the northwest and the bizarre decorations and disguises of the plains and the southwest. The most immediate ^ expression of aesthetic impulse is probably the dance, and the passion with which primitive peoples indulge in this form of excitement is well known. The variety of Indian dances is of course very great and they cannot be described in detail. The influence of the dance, however, in bringing a group of individuals under the sway of a single emotion with their energies directed towards a single end, as in the war- dance, ' and its consequent importance as a social factor, can easily be imagined. . Indian music is distinguished by rhythm, often extremely complex, rather than by melody. Instrumental music is little more than the beating of time in accompaniment to the songs. The ritualistic songs are usually long chants or recitatives rehearsing the traditions or myths connected with the particular ceremony. Songs of war, love, ridicule, |
