Even as a child, Nacho Naponohi was a nimble creature that craved to dance. He never missed a Yaqui ceremonial dance; and by the age of sixteen, he had mastered all of the intricate and difficult Yaqui ritual dances. He was especially fond of the Yaqui deer dance, which demands the skill to imitate the movements of the supple Sonoran deer.
As soon as young Nacho had equipped himself with the traditional deer hoof ankle rattles and deer headdress, he would daily practice all the deer movements that his elders had taught him. For a while this satisfied his need to dance, but he often felt that something was missing in his deer presentation.
One night while sitting on a boulder overlooking a moonlit arroyo deep in the Sonoran Sierra Madres, he discovered the missing "something". That night the canyon breeze was a soothing contrast to the fierce daytime heat of the comfortless desert. The refreshing night air magnifies smells and sounds that are overwhelmed in the furnace of daytime. The delicate fragrance of the pitaya cactus and the voices of the melodic coyotes caused Nacho to drowse briefly.
A slight clicking of loose stones suddenly awakened him. He soundlessly arose and stretched. His searching eyes soon spotted the small herd of Sonoran deer that had entered the rocky moonlit amphitheater, which fronted his elevated perch.The graceful beasts carefully picked their way through the stony arroyo until they were within an arrow shot of Nacho. Now the herd sensed his presence, and they froze in silver silence. The beauty of the creatures was adsorbed by Nacho, and he could not resist slowly shaking his head with its deer head adornment at the stone-still herd. Carefully he glided from his boulder into the moon-drenched amphitheater.
The herd sensed in Nacho a kindred being. As Nacho reached the deer's ground level, the herd suddenly melted into the deep shadows of the arroyo. All that remained in the amphitheater was Nacho and a solitary deer, which displayed no alarm of fear. Nacho cautiously approached this antlered marvel.
While closing on the deer, Nacho began to slowly shake his head and quietly rattle his deer hoof ankle rattles. When he was within two meters of the magnificent buck, Nacho began to slowly sway and rhythmically shake his small gourd rattle. To Nacho's amazement, the deer began to sway to the rattles rhythm. If Nacho moved to the right, the deer moved to the right, if he moved to the left, the deer moved to the left.
Nacho now deliberately raised his right hand with the vibrating gourd rattle. Before his unbelieving eyes, the deer raised his right forefoot and shook his hoof in the same rhythm as the Yaqui's rattle. Smoothly Nacho executed a graceful pirouette. Through the corner of his eye he could see that the deer was repeating the same movement. Carefully whirling about, the Yaqui and the deer again faced each other. The Yaqui shook his deer antlers, and the deer shook his antlers in turn. Suddenly Nacho danced quickly and effortlessly to the right. The deer also quickly and noiselessly danced to the right.
Finally Nacho stood silently, just arms length, before the huge buck. Cautiously the Yaqui reached to touch the deer's shoulder. Magically the deer raised his right forefoot and laid a hoof on Nacho's shoulder. Nacho made a half step forward, and the deer smoothly raised his upper body and took a half step backward. Nacho took a half step to the left. The deer, with its forelegs resting lightly on Nacho's shoulders, flowingly followed the movement.
Nacho quickened the pace with graceful waltz like movements. The deer did not miss a step. Abruptly they released their dancing clinch. Each twirled, and then adroitly resumed the clasp. Skillfully, Nacho performed a complicated Yaqui two-step. The deer followed suit, never missing a beat. The dance gathered momentum as the magical pair danced to a gracefully choreographed rhythm.
They must have danced for some time because Nacho began to tire. His eyelids grew heavy with sleep. The dance pace slowed, but the deer still matched Nacho step for step. Nacho must have dozed, because when he opened his eyes, the deer was not to be seen.Nacho looked intently over the silver bathed amphitheater, but he saw no deer. He realized that something magical had happened this night. He knew that he would never be the same young deer dancer. Soon after the moonlit dance, things changed in the Yaqui River valley.
The Mexican government built a huge hydroelectric dam; and much of the valley, including several Yaqui villages, disappeared beneath the new lake's waters. Many displaced villagers went to Hermosillo to find homes and work. Nacho left the valley to work in a government cement factory near the city. His government job ended his happy days as a Yaqui deer dancer.
Still, even after years at the cement plant, when the Hermosillo night wind blew soft and warm, the petaya blossom perfume would drift down from the mountains. On these nights, Nacho would dream of the deer dance. In his dream, he and the deer would sail through the mountain moonlight. No one could dance the Yaqui deer dance better.
The arroyo amphitheater deep in the Sonoran Sierra Madres still sleeps fitfully under the torrid desert sun; but on certain nights, when the breeze is soft and the coyote's song is mellow, the Yaquis say that a solitary deer is sometimes seen in the moonlit arroyo.
Yaquis who have seen the lone deer, say that at first the deer
stands silently in the silver moonlight. They say that he seems
to be waiting for something or someone. After a while the deer
slowly begins to sway its antlers from side to side as if to an
unhurried silent drum beat. Gradually the rhythm quickens. The
deer rises on his hind legs, pirouettes, and begins to dance.