traight and agile.

After the stick was taken away, an older female relative took a small
amount of ash on a whisk of sage, and dusted the nude girl on the head,
arms, and legs. This ritual was accompanied by an informal prayer that the
girl not suffer pains in her head, arms, or legs. She was told: "I am
doing this early in the morning so that you will get up early in the
morning and work hard." The whisk was then thrown into the crowd, along
with a gift, which today is usually a bit of money. Food or beads were
apparently used in the past.

After the dusting, a basketful of water was brought forward and the girl
was bathed. The basket was then thrown into the crowd. This was considered
a high point of the celebration. After she was bathed, a few dabs of
native pigment were placed on her chest and face.

The ceremony above was described as the "real way to do it ... the way
they did it in the old days."

The Carson Valley Record Courier reports a puberty dance held in the
summer of 1919 in which at least some of these activities were observed
(although the reporter thought he was attending a betrothal dance) Some
two-hundred Indians were in attendance. There were no fires, only lanterns
and flashlights. The participants had taken up a collection and purchased
watermelon, ice cream, cake, pie, bread, and meat for the feast. The food
was served (to the surprise of the reporter) on a long table with plates.
About midnight two girls appeared in the center of the dancing circle
carrying long wands.

In 1926 Lowie witnessed a girls' dance near Minden and was obviously
unimpressed. The crowd gathered slowly and gradually began to dance. He
makes no mention of either the wand or the ash-dusting ritual, nor does he
give us details of the feast. The bath was given from a tin can, and he
does not report a basket's being thrown (Lowie 1939, pp. 305-308).

One suspects that dances held today are somewhat more elaborate than those
of three or four decades ago, possibly as a response to increasing
awareness and pride in the fact of Indianness. Certainly every girl
expects to have her dance, just as a debutante expects to have a
coming-out party. When death in the family made it inadvisable to hold a
dance on a girl's first menstrual period, everyone agreed that it was
indeed a shame. The girl went through her four-day fast and a small party
was held for her when her second period occurred. One informant insisted
that in the "ol