>>9822582Agreed. I've always wanted to make a Sa'Li'Mo:Be'Ya' suit (pic related, though not the best) ... a type of Zuni (southwestern native american) katchina. I was on the Zuni Reservation during one of the night dances, and got to witness a few of these guys. Beyond the ruff of feathers is like this tiny facemask with small eyes and this sort of tube mouth. During the night dances they are like the police of the spirit world. We were told that if one comes up to you, to look down and to the left and do not respond. They sort of jog quickly in place, pounding the ground fast with their feet, and they move around outside of the dances, patrolling. They carry these staves made of dried, tightly wrapped yucca, and they won't hesitate to smack you with them.
There was another group of people watching, only these dudes were not well informed on the Sa'Li'Mo:Be'Ya', and when one came up to them this dude was like "hey dude sweet costume does it get hot under all those feathers??" and without hesitation the Katchina smacked him across the face with the stick. His friends tried to help him out but two more came out of nowhere and started beating them up. Meanwhile, the reservation cops were just sitting there and laughing. Later on in the night one came up to me as I was leaving, and though he was like 6 inches shorter than me he was fucking terrifying.
Amazing experience though.
