DANCE OF THE FLAMES

Waikato Times, Volume 118, Issue 19633, 20 July 1935, Page 14 (Supplement)

DANCE OF THE FLAMES

What Miss Ros: At Peril oi

Natives performing weird “fire dances” in the tropical jungle—a ceremony which few white people have witnessed —are among the memories brought back by Miss Rosita Forbes, the traveller, from her recent visit to Dutch Guiana. A 200 miles’ trip into the interior, along almost impenetrable paths, was needed to reach the scene of the dances, which are performed only at full moon and are part of the cen-turies-old tribal legends. The story of her exploits was told to a London reporter by Miss Forbes, who said that she believed she had risked her life to .watch the "Dance of the Flames.” “I was hidden about 100 yards away in the jungle,” she added. “A young girl, naked except for a snakeskin round her neck, stood before a fire in a clearing. “I was told she was the priestess of the, fire, and must be a virgin. Three old men were beating on drums called “Father,” “Mother,” and “Child” from their different sizes.

Flung Themselves on to Fire. “Around the fire sat about 100 young men. One of them, grotesquely striped, strutted up and down like a tiger. Suddenly, the girl threw some powder on the fire, and this young native flung himself in the middle of the flames. , „ “The other natives followed, and began making fires of their own from the blazing mass in the centre.

ta Forbes Saw Her Life.

“They started to dance among the various fires, until all we could see from our hiding-place .in the jungle was a mass of heads bobbing up and down in a sea of flames which reached up to the dancers’ shoulders. “Then the girl priestess dropped her arms. The men leaped out ( of the flames, appearing to be quite unharmed by their ordeal. We had been watching for a long time when one of my natives was affected by the weird dance, and flung himself on the ground and made strange noises. “Another native who was with me seized and half stifled him, and we had to leave. The chimneys of Paramaribo, the capital of Dutch Guiana, to which we made our way back finally, were a most welcome sight.” Miss Forbes said that to reach the scene of the fire-dance she had to follow the route of escaping convicts, because she learned the Dutch Government were on the alert to stop her.

Test of Courage,

“I have never heard of a dance like the one I saw,” she went on. It seems to be a test of the young warriors’ courage. The tribe is supposed to be descended from negro slaves who escaped from their masters in the Guianas 500 years ago and joined the local natives. I found no explanation for their ability to perform the dance in the flames, unless they have discovered some jungle product which hardens their skins.”