Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 2, 1891.djvu/502

446 Ya-yennas-ganné. Antonio persisted in translating this as Maria Santissima.

"When God was assassinated, she remained on earth, taking care of his children, and when God came up from the ground again, she united with him," Antonio Besias was determined to colour the conversation with his own views, but it is unmistakably evident that the Roman Catholic ideas of his childhood, blended no doubt with some absorbed by the old man from Mexican captives, had mingled with the aboriginal theology.

Such an admixture is to be vigilantly watched for in all cases. Both Apaches and Navajoes have, at times, had much association with the Mexicans. Many of the women and children of each race have been taken captive by the other, and thus confused notions of Roman Catholic theology, saints and festivals, have crept in among the savages. Ya-yennas-ganné is, in all likelihood, the goddess of Salt. Such a goddess is adored by the Zunis. The most sacred ceremonies of the Apache ritual are celebrated in caves at the Salt Springs on the Rio Prieto, which makes the assumption less violent.

Eshké-endesti continued: "When the day dawns, we commend ourselves to the Light, and do the same to the Sun when he appears. The Sun is a god, and so is the Moon."

In a conversation with Eskiminzin, one of the prominent Apache chiefs, it was learned "that when the Apaches go on the war-path, hunt, or plant, they always throw a pinch of corn-meal or Hoddentin to the sun, saying, 'with the favour of the Sun, or permission of the Sun, I am going out to fight (hunt or plant, as the case may be), and I want the Sun to help me.' The Apaches believe in the sun's power, because they always see him going round the earth, and even when they go on a pleasure-trip they pray that the sun-god may grant them