Note 4 — CEREMONIAL ORGANIZATION

The reason for the throwing of the beads is as follows: Pomo custom prescribes a period of mourning lasting one year. If a dancer so far forgets his sorrow as actively to participate in a ceremony of this kind before the expiration of the prescribed mourning period after the death of a friend or relative some atonement is required. It is customary under such circumstances for some one in the audience to throw some loose shell-beads at the dancer, these being evidently intended as an offering to the spirits and having nothing directly to do with the dancer himself.