Those who did not take any part in the dancing were lying around the various fires, the number of the dancers changing with the different songs, according to the degree of enthusiasm among the people.  Many went to sleep for a while, but this is not deemed very polite to the owner of the ranch, as the effect of the dancing is much greater upon the gods when everybody takes part.  I was told that to keep the people awake a man sometimes goes around spurting cold water over the drowsy and nodding heads.

The function had been opened by the owner of the ranch making alone five circuits around the fire, carrying the musical instrument and the two playing-sticks and doing reverence to the sun every time he passed the altar.  Just before sunrise the mitote concluded with the dramatisation of the killing of the deer.  Deer-skins were brought from the bower of the altar, and the men put on their bows and quivers, each of which contained twenty-five arrows and had two slings attached to it.  The men held the deer-skins in their hands and danced five circuits.  Two light-footed boys next appeared on the scene to play the part of the deer.  They had deer-skins on their backs, and in their hands held deer-heads with antlers.  These they showed five times, alternately to the shaman who furnished the music, and to the altar.  Then they began to run, followed by the dancers, who shouted and shot arrows, also trying to catch the deer by throwing lassos that had been kept in the bower.  Often they had to flee from the deer, who chased them off the dancing-place.  But they returned, and at sunrise the deer were captured on a matting spread before the altar, where the dancers now took positions.  Starting from here they next made five circuits around the dancing-place in the direction of the apparent movement of the sun, then five circuits in the opposite way.  The shaman’s beating slowed down, once more all the dancers jumped up quickly, the music stopped, and the dancing was finished.

Now the feasting began.  The food, that had been placed on the altar, pinole and toasted corn, was brought forward, and the host and his wife ate first.  After they had thus broken fast, all sat down, and to each one the following dishes were served on little earthenware platters or bowls:  A small slice of deer-meat that had been cooked between hot stones in an earth mound, and a handful of toasted corn; a ball made of pinole mixed with unbroken beans; four tamales, and one ball of deer-meat and ground corn boiled together.  The last-named course is simply called chueena (deer).  The boys who served it had on their backs three bun-dies, each containing three tamales, which the boys afterward ate.

The host always asks his guests to submit for four days longer to the restrictions that are necessary to insure the efficiency of the dancing.  These refer mainly to abstinence from mescal and women, and are conscientiously observed for five days before and five days after the occasion, by the family who arranges the dance.  The shaman, on whom the obligation to observe these formalities is greater than on anyone else, may have to officiate at another mitote before the time limit for the first has expired, therefore much of his time is spent in privations.