DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42067#0144
122
Symbolism
small triangles may be placed in the inner triangle. Thus it be-
comes the mythical mountain in which, at the beginning of time,
the buffaloes were kept and which is located on a snowcovered
plain. On the slopes of the mountain grow trees. Again, quite
different, is the interpretation given by the Pueblo Indians. In
their arid country the greatest need is rain without which their
crops wither and starvation stares at the people. The communal
life centers around the idea of fertility to be attained by an abun-
dance of rain. Accordingly they interpret the symbol as a cloud
from which the rain falls. Since their art is far less angular in
style than that of the Plains Indians, they often substitute a semicircle
for the triangle and attain a greater realistic resemblance to clouds
by superimposing three of these semicircles, from which flow down
the rain lines. When we turn to the western plateaus, we find
among the Shoshone the regular design of the obtuse triangle ap-
plied and explained on the basis of geographical features; it suggests to
them montain-passes and a fort protected by palisades. Further to the
north we do not find the enclosed rectangle, but the triangle and
the spurs at the base persist. These are explained as paws of a
bear, the triangle being the sole of the foot, the spurs the claws.
In the eastern woodlands new developments occur. The triangle
now is exceedingly narrow, so that there is no room for the en-
closed rectangle which is reduced to a triangle. The sides of the
triangle are produced beyond the apex, even more so than among
the Sioux Indians, and a considerable number of almost straight
vertical lines are added to the sides. The form bears now a cer-
tain resemblance to a fish tail and is so interpreted. Still more
curious are the developments in New England. The triangle and
the enclosed rectangle are still unmistakably present, although curved
lines, characteristic of eastern American art, are added on. The in-
terpretation has changed again. The pattern is a symbol of the
town or of the tribe and its chief.
Among none of these tribes do we find any indication of the
existence of more realistic forms from which the conventional tri-
Symbolism
small triangles may be placed in the inner triangle. Thus it be-
comes the mythical mountain in which, at the beginning of time,
the buffaloes were kept and which is located on a snowcovered
plain. On the slopes of the mountain grow trees. Again, quite
different, is the interpretation given by the Pueblo Indians. In
their arid country the greatest need is rain without which their
crops wither and starvation stares at the people. The communal
life centers around the idea of fertility to be attained by an abun-
dance of rain. Accordingly they interpret the symbol as a cloud
from which the rain falls. Since their art is far less angular in
style than that of the Plains Indians, they often substitute a semicircle
for the triangle and attain a greater realistic resemblance to clouds
by superimposing three of these semicircles, from which flow down
the rain lines. When we turn to the western plateaus, we find
among the Shoshone the regular design of the obtuse triangle ap-
plied and explained on the basis of geographical features; it suggests to
them montain-passes and a fort protected by palisades. Further to the
north we do not find the enclosed rectangle, but the triangle and
the spurs at the base persist. These are explained as paws of a
bear, the triangle being the sole of the foot, the spurs the claws.
In the eastern woodlands new developments occur. The triangle
now is exceedingly narrow, so that there is no room for the en-
closed rectangle which is reduced to a triangle. The sides of the
triangle are produced beyond the apex, even more so than among
the Sioux Indians, and a considerable number of almost straight
vertical lines are added to the sides. The form bears now a cer-
tain resemblance to a fish tail and is so interpreted. Still more
curious are the developments in New England. The triangle and
the enclosed rectangle are still unmistakably present, although curved
lines, characteristic of eastern American art, are added on. The in-
terpretation has changed again. The pattern is a symbol of the
town or of the tribe and its chief.
Among none of these tribes do we find any indication of the
existence of more realistic forms from which the conventional tri-