The Tepehuanes have medicine lodges in remote places, where they secretly gather once a month, or every other month.  The name of the lodge is Vakir Nuidadu (vakir = the inside of the house; nuidadu = where there is singing; i.e., “the house where there is singing inside").  Here they sing to call down their god Tuni, whom they also call their brother-in-law (Gunosi).  He instructs the shaman how to proceed to get rain, and to avert evil, by making tesvino and by dancing.

The gathering at the medicine lodge begins at dusk, three shamans being present.  A cross is raised and many kinds of flowers from the barrancas are attached to it.  Eagle feathers, too, are hung to it, as well as strings of beads.  From each arm of the cross is suspended an “eye of the god” (Vol.  II, Chap.  XI), called in Tepehuane, yagete.  There are three jars with tesvino, and three bowls with meat are placed before the cross.

The fire is put out, and the shamans begin to sing different songs with different melodies, continuing until nearly midnight, when a noise is heard on the roof, as if somebody were walking there.  The Indians sing on, and the walking on the roof is heard three times.  At last the roof opens, and behold somebody jumps on the floor three times.  The singing stops, and Tuni (Tata Dios) is among the people.  He looks like a Tepehuane, with a breech-cloth and tunic, but without blanket, and with a bandana around his head.  The borders of the breech-cloth and of the tunic are of gold, and so are the ends of his hair.  Only the shamans see him.

He greets them with the usual salutation, “Vaigase!” and the assemblage responds in the same way.  He plays with the Indians, and calls them his brothers-in-law.  Three cigarettes are made and placed near the tesvino.  “Smoke, brother-in-law!” they say, and all laugh and make merry with Tuni.  He then makes a speech, telling them to make plenty of tesvino in their houses, in order that the world may not come to an end.  He is invited to drink, and to sing three different songs, in which all the men join.  He then drinks tesvino, with such a gurgle that all can hear it.  “How strong it is,” he says; “I may not even be able to get home!” He also sprinkles tesvino over them.  Anyone who wants to drink simply stretches out his arm, saying nothing, and a full drinking-gourd is placed in his hand.  When empty, the gourd vanishes.  Such a person will remain drunk until morning, for Tuni’s hand is strong.

He remains for about half an hour, and when he leaves he says that he will come back if the people make tesvino for him.  He vanishes like a breath, noiselessly.

Immediately after he has gone, a female deity comes, whom they call Santa Maria Djada (mother; that is, the moon).  The same salutations are exchanged, and the women ask her to sing.  She, too, receives tesvino, and makes a speech, the trend of which is that they must go on making the liquor through the year, lest their father should get angry and the world come to an end.  Afterward the Snow and the Cold also come to play with the people in a similar way.