- from T.T. Waterman 1910 The religious practices of the Diegueño Indians in M. Steven Shackley (ed.) 2004 The early ethnography of the Kumeyaay University of California
This ceremony is not considered by the Diegueño to be an ordeal.
Several girls undergo the ceremony at the same time. At least one of them has to be in the actual period of adolescence, while the others may be either older or younger.
A pit is dug, large enough to accommodate all of the girls when stretched out at full length. This excavation is lined with stones and a large fire kindled in it. When the stones become very hot, the fire is taken out and the pit filled with green herbs. Three kinds are used, white sage, thistle sage and common ragweed.
The girls ... are placed at full length, face-downward on the bed of herbs, and covered with a blanket of rabbitskin. Sage-brush is then piled over them. The heat of the rocks causes a fragrant steam to rise about the girls. This is kept up by occasionally renewing the herbs and putting in new hot rocks. The girls remain in this pit with as little movement as possible as long as they can stand the strain of confinement .... This is usually about one week, though girls who are not of a nervous disposition stand it for three or four. The longer the confinement, the greater the benefit is supposed to be.
A ceremonial crescent-shaped stone is warmed at the fire and placed in turn between the legs of each girl close to her body. The supposed effect was to warm and soften the abdominal muscles. The quality imparted by this means was thought to last through life, and to make future motherhood easier for the girls. A garland or hat of ragweed, wrapped with tule, is placed on each girl’s head. This garland is renewed every day while they remain in the pit. They also wear on their wrists, throughout the ‘roasting,’ bracelets made of human hair. Their faces are painted black each morning with straw-charcoal.
Certain restrictions are placed on the girls during the progress of this ceremony and for some time afterward. They are required in the first place … to stay in the pit with as little movement as possible, leaving it only for short periods at a time. If they moved about or were restless they would through after life be nervous and discontented. Once every day they are taken out, carefully wrapped in blankets, while the pit is lined with hot rocks and filled with fresh brush.
The girls are placed in the pit usually in the afternoon towards sunset. When they are comfortably fixed, the matrons of the village gather around them, each woman holding a small branch of white sage. At a signal they wave these branches up and down.
Meanwhile two of the older women chant:
Cover cover
Brush fine
Eu!
This song is repeated for quite a long time. then the branches are dipped in water and the girls sprinkled. The same two women sing:
When the sun gets low, all the women join hands in a circle about the pit. Then they dance around in a line from left to right. Each woman holds her arms out from her sides and raises first one hand and then the other in time to the music. the men singing the following song while the women dance:
Low-down he-is-flying
Low-down he-is-flying
Eu!
The song is said to refer to the sun.
When the sun has gone down, the dancers circle in the opposite direction while the men sing:
Circle-the-other-way circle-the-other-way
Eu!
The custom is for these dances to continue all night. A great many songs are known, of which the following is a sample:
Lying thistle-sage under she-is-lying
Willow under under
She-is-lying (under) that which
She-is-lying (under) that which (is) green
Eu!
You-must-sing you-must-sing
You-are embarrassed you-are-embarrassed
Eu!
When the sun rises they sing the following song:
Sunrise I-menstruate
… red
eu!
On the second and following days of this ceremony it is the custom for the people of neighboring villages to come and join in the ritual.
During the progress of this ceremony each of the girls is tattooed on the face. The process is performed with a cactus thorn and powdered charcoal, and therefore requires some little time. A little is done every day until the whole is completed. One of the old women begins it on the second day. The usual design is a stripe downward from each corner of the mouth, with sometimes a third stripe down the middle of the chin. A small disc is sometimes tattooed between the eyes. If this tattooing were not done, it is believed that the girls would turn into beetles when they die.
