EAGLE DANCE BLOCKPRINT FROM HANDBOOK OF INDIAN DANCES
Accompanying text reads:
EAGLE DANCE
A fragment of a rain and growth ceremony formerly common to all Pueblo towns. It was performed in the early spring and likely to be repeated from time to time during the summer. Te Eagle or Thunder Bird was supposed to have direct intercourse with sky powers and was much venerated by the Indians. Either the Golden or American Eagle is still sometimes kept in captivity in the pueblos. The dance is a dramatization of the relationship between the Eagle and man and deific power. Two young men, costumed as Eagles, in the course of the dance imitate almost every movement possible to these great birds. You see them in the act of soaring over the fields, of perching on high places, of resting on the ground and going through various mating gestures.
Quoting Edgar L. Hewett more directly: "One of the outstanding features of the religion of the Pueblos is the intimate relationship of the people to all living things. The life of man is in no way different from the life of all other animals. Even rocks, clouds, sky and things which are by us considered inanimate are thought by the Indian to be possessed of life exactly the same as the life of the human being. This relationship is constantly recognized, and the preservation of harmony with all things about him is one of the essentials of successful life with the Indian. The animal ceremonies of the fall and winter, like the Rain and Cloud Ceremonies of the summer, are directed by this idea."