Erik said:
Then there's this Native American chief called Colita. Not as famous as chief Joseph from the NezPerce or Shaman Sitting Bull or Geronimo (to name some) but still...a town has been called after him.
ahhh...some dance to remember, some dance to forget...
From living the first 28 years of my life in California I can say the song has many meanings, to me at least....
But your mention of "dancing to remember," and some things regarding Native American history brought to mind, in connection also to "eagles," some information I learned of regarding the South-West Indians "Ghost Dance." This information may be a surprise to some...
The crow, yes, the crow, became the center of that ecstatic ritual in the 1890's. The Indians traditional ways of life were on the point of disappearance. The buffalo herds on which they depended were vanishing.... During this, around 1890, during an eclipse of the sun, a Paiute Indian named Wovoka had a vision in which he claimed to have seen God. He returned to tell his people that they must love one another, live peacefully with the white people, and God would restore their lands, the game would return, and their ancestors would rise from the dead. The Indians would live in a rejuvenated world free from old age, disease and death. To hasten this change the Indians performed a dance (Ghost Dance/Crow Dance) for five days and nights with only brief periods of rest, during which several had visions in which they saw their forebears. This new ritual, the Ghost dance, brought renewed hope, but it culminated in great tragedy. There were soon many versions and interpretations of the Ghost Dance (Crow Dance) among different tribes. Some took the originally pacifistic doctrins of Wovoka as a counsel of war. The result was an escalation of tensions that culminated in the massacre at Wounded Knee in December 1890.
The eagle had been the central bird in most mythologies of Native Americans throughout the US, but in times of crisis they thought more of the crow. A stuffed crow was often placed in the center of a circle, in which the dancers moved, and the crow was also depicted on their shirts, leggings and moccasins. The dancers interpreted the cries of the crow as prophetic utterances.
The crow in the Ghost Dance religion was roughly the equivalent of the dove, symbol of the Holy Spirit. The leaders of the Ghost Dance sometimes wore the feather of an eagle, but more often they wore what was known as the "wakuna." This consisted of two feathers of a crow, tied together, but slightly apart from one another, which a dancer placed in his or her hair. These feathers represented the angelic wings, with which the dancer would ascend to heaven.
One song sung during the Ghost Dance among the Arapaho went:
My children, my children.
The wind makes the head-feathers sing -
The wind makes the head-feathers sing.
My children, my children.
Our father, the Whirlwind,
Our father the Whirlwind,
Now wears the headdress of crow feathers.
Now wears the headdress of crow feathers.
The earth - the crow,
The earth - the crow.
The crow brought it with him,
The crow brought it with him.
The crow is circling above me,
The crow is circling above me.
The crow having come for me,
The crow having come for me.
The dancer who composed that song saw a crow circling above his head, and he believed it was an emissary to conduct him to his departed relatives.
And so that verse in the song Hotel California brought this also to mind....
"...some dance to remember, some dance to forget."
8[
That's a great story.