Asheville today does homage to the Mountain Majesty and his Queen, Summer, as the initial celebration of Nahna-Yona falls into full swing with thousands of loyal subjects and worshipful onlookers to welcome the long-heralded event that promises to be one of the most successful festivities of its kind attempted in the Land of the Sky.
Definite assurance that a large delegation of Indian athletes, hailing from the Cherokee Indian Reservation near Asheville, will participate with native dances and the famous game of Cherokee ball, was given when there, reached the city yesterday George A. Owl, of the Reservation, who will be in charge of the athletes and dancers.
Details of the Coronation Ball, the culmination of the Nahna-Yona celebration in the Land of the Sky, have been completed to give one of the most elaborate affairs of the type one could desire.
The event opens Tuesday afternoon at 5 o’clock with the grand parade in which the Mountain Monarch with his Queen will ride triumphant in royal robes through the City Streets, coming from mighty Beaucatcher, past the High School and thence along College Street, through the Square, and upon Patton Avenue, swinging into Haywood Street and on to the Yahna-Yona House, or Auditorium, where great festivities are scheduled for 8:30 o’clock, Tuesday, tonight, with Society Vaudeville. Here a program replete with lively numbers will be rendered for His Majesty and Her Highness, who will occupy the Royal Box during the entertainment. So popular has this event been proving even in forecast, that the subjects are being urged to purchase reservations early at the Goode Store on Patton Avenue.
Mighty Monarch in Court Robes
Taking his subjects by surprise, the Mighty Mountaineer Monarch has sent word that it will please him to appear in the courtly robes rather than the rugged garments of his lofty reign.
Wednesday afternoon the Cherokee Indian delegation plans to arrive, there being between 18 and 20 in the party, all athletes in splendid trim for the game demands the stamina of the Marathon and the muscle of American football, combined with the endurance of the men upon the mat.
This sturdy delegation will parade through the streets of Nahna-Yonaville early Wednesday afternoon, will hurl the war hoop of defiance broadcast to the enemies of His Majesty, and return to Oates Park where one of the crowning features of the festivities will take place.
Here will be staged those pre-contest dances for which the Redmen are justly famed and which have been handed down from chieftain to stalwart son for countless moons on end.
Following the same evening, at 8:30 o’clock will come an unusually artistic tribute to His Majesty and the Queen when Artists’ Night is observed. This will be followed Thursday afternoon with an equestrian demonstration by members of Troop F. Cavalry, with exhibition of tilting and other feats of horsemanship promised in abundance in the heart of the Biltmore Forest. This has been made possible through the kindness of Mrs. A.S. Wheeler, who has tendered the use of her riding ring for the use of His Majesty’s entertainers.
Coronation Ball for Loyal Subjects
Reaching the peak of the celebration, loyal subjects will gather for the Coronation Ball at the Battery Park Hotel, Thursday evening, to be known as Nahna-Yona Inn, and here it is that the Queen will first receive the tribute from her lord and his adherents and he will first stand forth unmasked to let his faithful know his kingly visage. The sadness of farewell and parting, however, will be broken by the knowledge that yet but a year and Nahna-Yona will return, more wonderful than ever.
Those who have prided themselves upon prowess upon the athletic field no less than those who, from afar off, have gazed with wonder upon the mighty deeds of valor that take place within the arena, will e given an opportunity Wednesday afternoon not only to view a group of full-blooded Cherokee Indian athletes ready for action, but to see with their own eyes what all authorities have conceded to be the most fiercely contested game known to athletes in any nation.
Stalwart Warriors to Battle at Park
Stripped as perhaps their forefathers were stripped of all unnecessary garments at the hour of battle, 18 or 20 stalwart warriors will meet at Oates Park in the second day’s celebration of Nahna-Yona festivities, prepared to give an exhibition of real Cherokee ball, an ancient game and one requiring great ability, strength, skill and endurance.
This will follow a parade through the city streets and a pre-contest war dance at the park. Lining up in equal numbers with the field equally divided between them, the Indians will each be armed with two mall implements such resembling a miniature tennis racket.
It is customary in the native games to have players as well as their supporters participate in a dance lasing from dark until 4 o’clock the next morning, with the game scheduled for the afternoon.
A quant touch is added to the scene when the adherents of both sides crouch eagerly upon the sidelines to bet their last blanket against their opponents’ favorite string of beads, the stakes being guarded in one section of the field until the final results are made known.
With 12 points necessary to win, each side seeks to place the ball between their goal posts. None may pick up the small ball with their hands, but are forced to use two sticks to which they must hold their deathly grip lest an opposing player send them hurling from their hands and thus put them out of the game.
Tactics Furnish Many Thrills
Tactics of practically all descriptions are admissible in the game when opposing players meet, thus furnishing the combined thrill of a football game, the speed and dash of baseball, the fancy steps of tennis, and the determined exhibitions of muscular stamina one expects of the wrestling game.
Participating as stellar players and well known Cherokee ball athletes in the Wednesday game will be Screamer, French, Jesson, Wahyahneetah, Saunooke, Armachain, Tramper, Stamper, Hatliff, Walkingstick, Youngbird, Youngdeer, Bigwick and others.
The dances prior to the game, as well as the war hoop exhibitions, are expected to be among interesting features of the Cherokees visit during the Nahna-Yona festivities.
Initial Event Will be Parade
As the initial event in the Nahna-Yona festivities will come a big parade in honor of the Mountain Majesty and his Queen, who will ride in royal robes. Beginning at 5 o’clock form the High School, the march will lead the royal party along college Street through Pack Square and down Patton Avenue, thence into Haywood and to the Auditorium. The order of participation in the royal party follows:
Keys to City of Asheville, Board of commissioners, the King and Knights, Asheville Power and Light Company, Queen, Blon Marche; Maids, Emporium; Nymphs, Asheville Telephone and Telegraph Company; Flower Girls, Brownhurst; Entertainers, Western Carolina Automobile Company; Dancers, Teague’s Drug Store. Marshals for the parade have been named as Percy Blackman, chairman; Charles Pinner, E.c. Green and Dr. A.S. Wheeler.
Society Vaudeville Given Thursday Night
Society Vaudeville will feather the second portion of the Nahna-Yona program to be given Tuesday night at the Auditorium at 8:30 o’cloc. An attractive program has been prepared as follows:
Act I.—“Battle of Too Soon” A screaming farce under the direction of Tom Kane, K. of C., at Oteen. Mr. Kane has been in professional work of this kind for five or six years.
Cast of characters:
Major Headache—Tom Gorman.
Private Go-Lightly—Andrew White.
Act II.—Monologues, “Bridge,” Mrs. J.S. Styles. Mrs. Styles needs no introduction in Asheville and this act is up to her usual standard. Act III.—Selected songs, Blanche Loftin and Frank Hill.
Act IV.—“Gay Gavotte,” Duo of dancers—Miss Jane MacRae and Miss Sarah Harrison.
Ballet: Miss Virginia Lee, Miss Edith Carr, Miss Dorothy Osborne, Miss Julia Schoepf, Miss Josephine Carr, Miss Inez Kessler, Miss Jane Griffin, Miss Mildred Baird.
All young ladies of the dancing set in a gavotte, staged by Mrs. Frances Hawley Dodson.
Act V.—Tom Kane, assisted by Miss Elizabeth Witherspoon in “A Few Loose Moments.” This act is just about all right.
Act VI.—Bachelors Quartette. James Howell, Harry Novick, James Cunningham and Sigmund Blomberg.
Act VII.—“Maid in Asheville” Cast for Fashion Revue.
Young ladies selected by Mrs. John MacRae to be costumed by Mrs. C.C. Lantz.
The Period Girls, appearing before His Majesty, the Mountain King, depicting the styles from 1650 to 1910 and glimpses of 1925, will be an important feature of the opening night and the following cast, with a brief history of the idea has been announced:
For the Maid of 1650, Miss Dorothy Webb
For the Maid of 1700, Miss Katherine Randolph
For the Maid of 1776, Miss Edith Carr.
Maid of 1800, Miss Emily MacRae.
Maid of 1861, Miss Helen Hawthorne.
Maid of 1875, Miss Margaret Harrison.
Maid of 1890, Miss Ruth Simpson.
Maid of 1910, Miss Josephine Carr.
For the Modern Girls the following will serve:
Knickerbocker Girl, Miss Mary Pettus.
Golf Girl, Miss Elizabeth Collins.
Equestrian Girl, Miss Virginia Garlick.
Tailored Girl, Miss Lucile Pass.
Afternoon Tea Girl, Miss Hannah Weaver.
Dinner Gown Girl, Miss Virginia Lee.
Evening Gown Girl, Miss Sarah Harrison.
Gingham Gown Girl, Miss Inez Kessler.
Mrs. C.C. Lantz has loaned the handsome gowns to be worn by the Period Girls, and has consented to be Chairman of costumes. She will be assisted by Mrs. W.L. Dunn and Miss Ida Hamilton.
Youthful Dance Appears Wednesday
The artistic zenith of Nahna-Yohna festivities will be reached Wednesday night when a group of artists will be seen and heard at the Auditorium at *;30 o’clock at which time Lilian Emerson, youthful dancer of note, and Andrew Hemphill, well known tenor, will head the program, other artists being Vivian Payne Pruitt, soprano, and Spencer King, pianist.
Under the leadership of Paul Herfurth, violinist and conductor of the Battery Park Hotel orchestra, that group of players has volunteered to assist entertain His Majesty Wednesday night. The other players are Carl Behr, ‘celloist, and Miss Beth Peeke, pianist.
The program follows:
Orchestra: Liebes Feud, Kreisler, Lillian Emerson; a gavotte, Saint Saens and Etude, Chopin, Spencer King. “Peace, Peace, Mio Dio,” La Forzo de Destino, Verdi, Vivian Payne Pruitt.
Ah Moon of My Delight, Lehman, Persian Garden, Andrew Hemphill; Minuet in C., Beethoven, Lillian Emerson; Intermission.
Orchestra: Orientale by Caesor Curr, Lillian Emerson; orchestra, Serenata Mokowski, Lillian Emerson; Paloaise, Chopin, Spencer King; selected by Vivian Payne Pruit, selected Andrew Hemphill, pelude, Rahcmaninoff, Lillian Emerson, orchestra, and L’Automine, Glazounow, Lillian Emerson.
Coronation Ball on Thursday Evening
From the standpoint of regal splendor, the Coronation Ball at which subjects will appear by invitation Thursday evening at the Battery Park Hotel will stand as a fitting conclusion of Nahna-Yona festivities in the Land of the Sky.
There has been prepared under the direction of Mrs. Eugene B. Glenn and Mrs. W.L. Dunn, and elaborate staging of this royal event in which the Monarch and his Queen will be the central figures in a galaxy of beautiful court followers. Mrs. George W. Vanderbilt, who is contributing largely for the spruce decorations appropriate to the occasion, is chairman of the committee upon decorations.
Against a backdrop of regal spruce and deep green velvet hangings are the thrones of King and Queen, raised upon a dais. The royal procession will form without the ball room, moving up the center of the ball room floor toward the thrones upon which will appear two golden chairs of Italian design, brought purposely from the Biltmore House for this occasion.
The Queen, attended by maids in waiting, will appear in white, and the King, in his royal vestments attended by knights. The archbishop will preside at the coronation of Queen Summer.
Flags and bunting will appropriately decorate the ball room and willing pages will wait upon the royal party at the coronation proceedings.
Yahna-Yona Legend: The name is derived from the Cherokee Indian word for Spruce and Yonah, the name of the Mountain beloved by the Redmen, literally relating to bear which made their homes upon the mountainside.
Colors: The blue has been taken from the sky of the Land of the Sky; the green of the Spruce upon the mountain peaks, and the mellow gold of the matchless mountain sunsets.
The Story: Coming down from his lofty highland throne the Mountain Monarch, masked, will appear before his loyal subjects in company with Queen Summer, enjoying the festivities of Nahna-Yona for three days, before participating in the coronation of Her Majesty as the hour strikes for his return for another year to the seclusion of his Skyland reign.
. . . .
From the front page of The Asheville Citizen, July 11, 1922
No comments:
Post a Comment