Man's Kilt and Flap, meant to be used in Buffalo Dance Ceremony

This Man's Kilt features two painted images of the plumed or horned serpent, a supernatural being associated throughout the southwestern United States with fertile, life-bringing, sacred waters. For the Buffalo Dance a male performer with his upper body painted black would wear this kilt while imitating the movements of the buffalo by using rhythmic and lumbering dance steps. The ceremony remains a popular social dance performed throughout the Rio Grande Pueblos in January; it also serves as a powerful religious ritual that is believed to cleanse the village of misfortunes.