Always Coming Home
Page 24
If there was a stage, it was elevated enough that the musicians could sit on the ground in front of it without hiding the actors. If the stage was merely marked out, the musicians sat in a semicircle behind the central stage.
Stage left was the Earth; stage right was the Sky; the center, the raised platform or hinge of the heyiya-if, was the Mountain, or the Crossing Place.
The Wedding Night At Chukulmas
The Wedding Night at Chukulmas was one of the plays that were performed before the ritual drama of Awar and Bulekwe, on the evening of the second day of the World Dance at Wakwaha.
The actor’s manuscript from which the translation was made consisted of the speeches only; descriptions of the stage and staging were provided by the actors and expanded by the translator after seeing a performance of the play
The stage would be divided as usual into the two Arms of the World, the connecting/dividing point, the Hinge, being represented by an elevation in the center. The madrone tree which would occupy center stage for the sacred play to follow might already be in place—a live young tree in a tub of madrone wood. For this play, stage left is understood to be the town of Chukulmas, and specifically the interior of a Serpentine household; stage right represents the dancing place of Chukulmas, and specifically the interior of the Blue Clay heyimas; while the central tree first shades the pathway between the two arms of the town, and later the Black Adobe Lodge.
The musicians play the Beginning Tone.
Men come on at the left, singing one of the traditional World Dance songs for the second day of the festival, sung by the Blue Clay House: songs to game animals, perhaps the Deer Dance Song, or a less elaborate one such as the Squirrel Song:
Running up and down
kekeya heya, kekeya heya,
the digger-pine world,
kekeya heya,
the digger-pine world!
Singing, they cross the Hinge and come into the dancing place, the area in the curve of the five heyimas buildings. By a stylised gesture each in turn signifies that he is climbing down the ladder into the heyimas. When they are all in the heyimas, the music ceases.
THE SPEAKER OF THE HEYIMAS:
Now is the right time to set out the supper for each man of our House about to be married. He will be leaving his mother’s household and his mothers’ House, returning but always leaving again, until he dies and comes home to the Blue Clay. Tonight the young men leave us to be married for the first time. This is the time to set out the wedding supper for them.
The Chorus usually consists of nine people; in this case, ten. Only one member of the Chorus speaks at a time, unless otherwise indicated.
CHORUS I:
Everything is ready. The old men are setting it out.
SPEAKER:
Why aren’t you helping them?
CHORUS I:
I thought I’d eat the supper instead of serving it.
SPEAKER:
You’ve been married three times!
CHORUS I:
And only got dinner for it once. It’s not worth while.
SPEAKER:
Keep your hands off those pies.
CHORUS I:
All right, all right. But there’s so much food here for only three men to eat. Young idiots. What do they want to get married for, anyhow? This is the only good part—the wedding supper. After this, boys, it’s a different story. Little wifey here, oh yes, that’s fine, and then wifey’s mother there, that’s not quite so fine, and then wifey’s little auntie here and little great-auntie there and it’s not so fine at all, and then, then there’s the Grandmother-In-Law! Oh, you don’t know, you don’t know what you’re doing! you don’t know what you’re getting into! And none of them will give you a dinner half the size of this!
SPEAKER:
It’s ready. Now is the right time to sing the bridegrooms to the feast.
The rest of the Chorus have been miming the serving of the wedding feast. Now the Speaker and six men of the Chorus stand to the right and sing the first verse of the Wedding Song (which is not written down). Four young men of the Chorus sit down in front of them, as if sitting to the wedding feast at the low table. One of them sits with his back to the audience.
CHORUS (unison whisper):
Who is that one?
SPEAKER:
There are four men to be married here.
CHORUS II:
We cooked the wedding feast for three.
SPEAKER:
Who is he, that one?
He sits on the right.
He wears last night’s clothes.
O bridegroom, young man,
you cannot eat this food
with ash-covered hands!
The “last night’s clothes” are the mourning garments worn by the Black Adobe dancers on the first night of the World Dance, the ceremony of mourning—tight and black, swathing the limbs, and the hands and bare feet smeared with white ash. Until they sit down, the Fourth Bridegroom has been hidden among the Chorus. Now we see his clothing, and that his head is covered with a fine, thin, black veil.
CHORUS II:
I will bring water.
SPEAKER:
Will you wash your hands
in the water poured
from the blue pitcher
into the clay bowl?
CHORUS II:
I have poured water.
SPEAKER:
O young man, bridegroom,
you can’t be married
silent, in silence!
The Fourth Bridegroom does not respond, but sits rocking his body a little—as people do during the ceremony of mourning of the previous night.
SPEAKER:
Young man, you must say
the name of your wife,
the name of her House.
THE FOURTH BRIDEGROOM:
Her name is Turquoise
of the Serpentine.
CHORUS III:
This man must be from some other town, he talks so strangely. Maybe he’s not even from the Valley. Maybe this is a no-House person. What is he doing here? What has he come here for?
THE FOURTH BRIDEGROOM:
My House is Blue Clay.
This is my wedding.
SPEAKER:
Then eat the dinner
we have made for you
in your Blue Clay House,
the house of your life,
and we will sing you
when the time is right
to your bride, your wife,
to your marriage house,
to your children’s House.
While the Speaker and Chorus serve them, the four bridegrooms eat. On the left stage, women are entering, and the action shifts to that area; the Blue Clay men sit or kneel motionless on the right-hand side. The women come in singing a Second Day of the World song of their House, the Serpentine, such as the Counting Grasses Song. They are the Grandmother and a Chorus of ten, rather than the usual nine, women. After they have all come on, the song dies away and they bustle about in a lively and rapid housecleaning dance.
GRANDMOTHER:
Get everything ready.
Hurry up! Be quick!
CHORUS (various single voices take the lines):
Where is the hearthbroom?
Is the bed laid out?
I can’t find the cord.
They won’t want the lamp!
I’ll get the good sheets, [etc.: improvised.]
Ready, Grandmother!
GRANDMOTHER:
Where is she, our girl
to be married now,
tonight, where is she?
From the Chorus two young women come forward, one dressed in bridal clothing of yellow, orange, and red, and one in the dark mourning garb of the previous night.
CHORUS (unison whisper):
Who is the other?
GRANDMOTHER:
Come, let me see you,
Sunlight of summer!
Ha, that was my vest,
when I was married!
Who is that other?
FIRST BRIDE:
I don’t know, Mother.
GRANDMOTHER:
Summer dawn, sunrise!
Well, this Blue Clay man
is wise and lucky.
He is welcome here.
Let him, for your sake,
live under this roof,
in his children’s House.
Let him come in now!
Let the man enter!
CHORUS I:
Grandmother, listen.
There is another.
There is a stranger.
GRANDMOTHER:
Who is this woman?
The Second Bride stands still and does not respond. Her head is covered by a fine black veil.
GRANDMOTHER:
You have been walking in the hearth, girl; there’s ash on your feet. You must have burned the bread, girl; there’s soot on your hands. Have you been climbing trees, girl? There’s pitch on your face. Do you not wash before your wedding? Who are you? What are you here for? What are you doing in my house, on a wedding night, on the second night of the World?
CHORUS II:
Why is she crying
on the Wedding Night?
GRANDMOTHER:
Of what House are you?
SECOND BRIDE:
Of the Serpentine.
GRANDMOTHER:
And of what household?
SECOND BRIDE:
I am Flood’s daughter,
Toyon’s granddaughter.
GRANDMOTHER:
I don’t know those people. I never heard of that family. No such people live in Chukulmas. You must be from somewhere else. Go back there. You can’t come into this household and get married. Who are you marrying, anyway?
SECOND BRIDE:
I marry Thunder
of the Second House!
When she says this, the men over on the right side of the stage stand up and begin to come towards the center of the stage, dancing slowly, and singing the first verse of the Wedding Song very low and soft.
GRANDMOTHER:
I don’t know him. Nobody lives in this town named Thunder. You must be crazy, woman; you must be a forest-living woman who’s lost her wits, living along too long. You are making up the world. Well, this is the world that made us up! And tonight we’re dancing it. You can dance with us, if you’ll take off last night’s clothes, and wash your face and hands and feet, but you can’t get married here, because this isn’t your household, and there isn’t any husband here for you.
SECOND BRIDE:
I bring my husband
to my daughters’ house.
CHORUS (unison whisper):
To her daughters’ house.
GRANDMOTHER:
What are you talking about, young woman? That’s nonsense. You must be crazy. Enough of this. Go away, get out, go back where you came from. You are spoiling the Wedding Night. Go!
The Second Bride turns and goes slowly towards the center of the stage, while the women of the household stand still, watching her. The line of men coming singing from the heyimas stand still and watch the Fourth Bridegroom, who comes forward. The Bride and the Groom stand facing each other across the Hinge, under the madrone tree.
BRIDE:
No house. No hope.
GROOM:
They sing for us,
to marry us.
BRIDE:
Too late. Too long.
GROOM:
It was my fault!
BRIDE:
No matter now.
She begins to turn and go very slowly towards the back of the stage, past the tree. An old man comes forward from the Chorus of men, and says to the Speaker.
OLD MAN:
May I speak to her?
SPEAKER:
Keep her from going!
OLD MAN:
Woman in tears,
tell me your name.
BRIDE:
I was Turquoise.
OLD MAN:
Daughter of Flood,
Toyon’s daughter?
BRIDE:
I was that girl.
OLD MAN (to the Groom):
You are Thunder,
Creek Dancer’s son?
GROOM:
I was her son.
OLD MAN:
These are people who died a long time ago. I have lived a long life, but they were dead long before I was born. They were young people in this town, about to be married, sleeping together. They quarrelled. I don’t know what happened. It was a story people told when I was a child, an old story, and I was a child, not understanding, not listening carefully. The young man died; perhaps he killed himself in anger. That may have been how it was. The young woman had said she would marry some other man, and so he killed himself. And she never married that other man or any man. She died young, unmarried. I don’t know how it was. Maybe she killed herself. I only remember the names, and old people talking of that sad story that had happened when they were young. How did you die? Did you kill yourselves? It is a cruel thing to do.
The Bride and the Groom crouch down, rocking their bodies, and do not answer.
THE OLD MAN:
I am sorry.
It is long past.
No matter now.
SPEAKER:
What is it they want?
GRANDMOTHER:
Why have they come here?
GROOM:
To be married.
BRIDE:
To be married.
SPEAKER:
The dead can’t marry
in the House of Life.
How can we help them?
The Grandmother comes forward so that she faces the Speaker across the Hinge, she behind the Bride, he behind the Groom.
GRANDMOTHER:
We cannot help them.
Listen: they are dead!
There’s no undoing.
No one is married
in the Four Houses,
on the other side.
CHORUSES (unison, softly, in songspeech to the Continuing Tone):
No one can marry
where they are living,
in the Four Houses.
They’re tired of grieving.
They made a mistake.
GRANDMOTHER:
There’s no unmaking.
Not where they are now.
SPEAKER:
My heart cannot bear
grief outliving life.
They lived here, people
of our town, Blue Clay
and Serpentine, once.
Let them be married
here in Chukulmas,
in the dark house,
the Black Adobe.
Is this wrong to do?
The Old Man comes to the center stage, under the tree, between the Bride and Groom.
OLD MAN:
That is my household:
I am the Speaker
of the Black Adobe.
I think this is right,
to do this is right,
to unmake sorrow.
Come with me, children
of the Four Houses,
Turquoise and Thunder:
I summon you: come.
You will be married.
under the earth,
inside the world.
SPEAKER:
You, men and women
of the Five Houses,
sing them their marriage!
The Old Man goes directly back and then down behind the elevated center stage, disappearing from view. The Ghosts follow him. As they meet behind him they take hands, her right hand in the Groom’s left. The two Choruses sing the second verse of the Wedding Song.
GRANDMOTHER:
I tell you: no good
will come out of this.
The Old Man and the Ghosts have disappeared. As the Choruses continue singing, the young Serpentine bride in her splendid clothes comes forward to meet one of the Blue Clay bridegroo
ms, he too dressed in saffron and crimson.
BRIDE:
Come to my household.
GROOM:
I will come gladly.
GRANDMOTHER:
Sing them the song, then!
SPEAKER:
Sing them their marriage!
All slowly dance the line off left, singing the last verses of the Wedding Song to music and at last the Ending Tone.
The Shouting Man, The Red Woman, And The Bears
The entire text is a translation of a manuscript in the Library of the Madrone Lodge in Telina-na.
This is a play with music. Drums beat five and five, and the Beginning Tone.
Nine Bear People come up and over the Mountain one by one from the left.
They dance to music in the House of Death and Rain.
Bodo begins shouting, below the stage at the left. The Bears go and wait behind the Mountain. Bodo comes on the stage at the left. He is an old man limping and weeping and shouting and waving his arms.
Bodo says:
What was I born for?
What is the reason?
What am I here for?
What must I do here?
Give me an answer!
What was I born for?
Give me an answer!
Answer me why! Why!
Answer me now! Now!
The Bears begin to close in around Bodo as he shouts and dances. He keeps his back to them, but when they reach out for him he evades them; they move slowly and he is very quick and agile. Gradually they drive him towards the Mountain. He begins to climb the Mountain, shouting.
Bodo shouts:
Why did I come here
and live in this house?
I will find out why!
I’ll find the answer!
Yah! I have found it!
He drops on his face. The Bears withdraw behind the Mountain. Bodo rises onto his knees, bows down, rubs his face in the dirt in circles, prostrates himself, wallows, throws dirt on his head, and finally, in a humble crouching posture, begins to chant in falsetto.
Bodo chants:
O Revelation!
O Understanding!
Holy I worship,
Divine I adore,
Master I obey,
Answer I listen,
Reason I believe,
Shining of the light!
O Everlasting!
Infinite Power!
Infinite Power!
Bodo chants and grovels.
Avu comes on the stage from below left. She is a fat woman with red hair.
She walks towards Bodo and the Mountain. The Bears come closer, coming out to follow in a line behind her, cautiously.