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Lorraine Black's infectious laugh belies the serious magic her hands conjure up when weaving a basket. Unprecedented in her ideas, Lorraine's baskets are innovative and beautiful. Many of them make good use of texture through over-stitching and the addition of objects such as flint arrowheads.
The third daughter of Mary Holiday Black, Lorraine grew up in the family tradition of basket weaving. She began by harvesting young stalks of sumac in the springtime, from where it grows along water ways. She learned how to prepare it for weaving by splitting the willow shoots into three thin strips using teeth and fingers, removing the core, and then rubbing away the bark with buckskin. Her hands soon knew the cuts and sores created by handling the sumac, her cuts stained by the colors of the dyes.
After the intensive work of harvesting and processing is complete, then comes the challenge of beginning a basket. This requires holding together two layers of either three or five rods of unsplit willow, coiling them, and binding them together by interweaving the sumac strips. It is a challenge for the most skillful hands.
Learning to weave ceremonial baskets at about age thirteen, Lorraine continued in the art, quickly transcending traditional designs with new concepts in both design and color.
Now the mother of two young sons, Sebastian and Deon, Lorraine presently makes her home in a small town in Southeastern Utah. Still, her roots extend to Monument Valley, the place of her upbringing. Her art is influenced by her birthplace and her heritage from the Bitterwater and Folded Arm Clans.
Holding one of Lorraine's baskets, with its bright colors and intricate designs, you can almost hear her childlike laughter transcend the coils and spill into the room.
Crow feathers are sought for the arrow shaft and for use in ceremony. The buzzard is not molested, and both are sacred. Pg. 159
An Ethnologic Dictionary of the Navajo Langauge, 1929; The Franciscan FathersCrow (ga'gi)
(U) as a carrion eater, classed with birds of evil propensities, is difficult
to persuade. He is important in the myths of the Night Chant and War Ceremony,
a 'crow-bill' being a major property of the latter.
Crow gossips if he sees someone covered up early in the morning, spreading the
news that the lazy person must be sick.
Before the world was transformed, Red Crow was a messenger of Cliff Monster,
reporting to him the existence of human beings (Matthews 1897, p.107; 1902,
p.159; Haile 1938b, pp. 93, 193; Hill 1938, p. 19; Reichard, Shooting Chant
ms.).
Don't bother baby hawks or eagles. You'll get a rash or sores on your body. Pg. 82
Eagles
('atsa) (P, H), expert and powerful fliers, are believed to derive from Cliff
Monster.
Scavenger of the Bead Chant placed in an eagle's nest by hostile pueblo people,
refused to deliver the eaglets to them. He lived with the Eagles for some time,
learning about their home and their customs. When the old Eagles came home at
night, they took off their downy garments, which opened down the front, revealing
human forms in white suits which were never removed.
Eagle feathers were of great value to the Navaho in their ceremonies, but the
Eagles of this story shook skin diseases, sores, irritations, and itching on
their enemies.
The bald eagle is held to be the 'first' or ' chief.' In the story of the Eagle
Chant, Monster Slayer, learning the details of eagle catching, did not make
the chant symbol until he was able, by repeating his experiments, to catch a
bald eagle.
Hill's account of eagle catching should be compared with the stories of the
Eagle and Bead chants; each record has much to contribute to the others (Reichard,
Shooting Chant ms.; 1939, pp. 26-36; Haile 1938b, p.121; Matthews 1897, pp.
195-208; Newcomb 1940b, pp.50-97).
Horses are kept for breeding, riding, and driving purposes. They are rarely fed, being turned out at large after use. Even when at work little or no feed is provided, as the Navaho is indifferent to the needs of his horse. Yet they thrive where others of their kind might starve, and in addition give remarkable tests of endurance. Pg. 145
Horse racing with light betting is frequently indulged in. On festive occasions betting is very heavy, losses being sustained with as much indifference as gains are accepted with joy and laughter. The Navajo is as cheerful a loser as he is a winner, and often stakes his most treasured possessions on a single issue. A fleet horse is better cared for than the usual run of horses, and is often practiced and trained long before the race. Pg. 154
When the
Holy People first made the horse, it was a complete thing, but it would not
come to life. They tried to get it to rise up on its strong legs, but it would
not rise. Caterpillar was asked to help. "How can I help?" he asked.
"You know," one of the Holy People said, "where the sacred flints
are kept." "Yes, this is true. But I am slow getting around."
Then the Holy People prayed over Caterpillar and he became Butterfly. Swiftly
he flew to the Mountain Where Flint Is Kept, and gathering four flints, he returned
to the Holy People and put the flints into the hooves of the horse. The great
horse stirred, quivered, came to life. Then it surged, leaped into life, struck
the air with its hooves, and galloped off into the clouds. "Look,"
a Holy Person said,"the horse makes the marks of Butterfly when it dances
on its hooves." And it has been that way ever since. Pgs. 175, 176
Five Horses: The five horses of the Sun Father are a way of telling time, Navajo
style. White shell and pearl horses represent dawn, turquoise is noon, red shell
is sunset, and jet or coal is night.
The horses'
hoofs are hada huniye (agate), the banded male stone. The hair of the mane and
tail is called nltsa najin, little streaks of rain. The mane is called e alinth
chene. Horses' ears are the heat lightning, that which flashes in the night.
The big stars that sparkle are their eyes. The different growing plants are
their faces. The big bead, yo tso, is their lips. The white bead is the teeth.
Tliene delne' dil hilth, a black fluid, was put inside horses to make the whinny.
Pg. 13
Sandoval told Goddard that the horse's hoofs have stripes because they were
made of mirage (variegated stones) and because the rainbow went into the making
of its very gait. Its mane came from a small rain cloud, and its tail from black
rain, while its intestines came from water of all kinds. Some of nature's most
majestic forces and elements went into the composition of its head. Sandoval
related that "distant lightning composed its ears. A big spreading twinkling
star formed its eye and striped its face." The face itself was formed of
living plants, and the growing vegetation that made up its face illuminated
it at night. Large sacred beads composed its lips, and its teeth would not "wear
out quickly" because they were formed of the Navajo's treasured white shell.
Sandoval's mythical horse was indeed a forceful and beautiful creature when
it neighed, the sound really came from a black flute inside its mouth. Moreover,
Sandoval supplied Goddard with some additional information about the horse's
body, which is not included in the O'Bryan recording. It seems that red stone
was used to produce the horse's heart, sunrays its bridle, and that even the
dawn played a role in making up its belly, thus dividing it into two parts one
black and one white, which meant that it belonged to both day and night. Pg.
14
"Here they are, those with which in time to come (people) will live,"
he said .......... He opened a door toward the east, they say. The place was
so large that it extended as far as one could see .......... At the entrance,
white shell was prancing about, they say, white shell in the likeness of a horse
.......... Gracefully doing like this, lifting its foot continually, it was
prancing about, they say. All of different kinds, white shell horses extended
off in great numbers .......... A great amount of mist-like rain falling on
them continuously, they extended off in great numbers .......... Blue birds
fluttered over their heads, they say. The myth tells us that after showing Turquoise
Boy these holy white horses in the first enclosure, Mirage Man continued his
tour with a visit to another wing of the place, built just like the eastern
one, but facing the south this time. In this place, a great turquoise horse
tied with a handsome turquoise-blue rope was prancing about at the entrance,
and from him had sprung the many blue horses which stood behind as far as the
culture hero could see. The youth could also see that rainbows formed an arch
over the sky around the blue horses while blue swallows fluttered over them,
doubtless empowering the horses with the speed and endurance they contained
in their blue feathers. The birds also symbolized the happiness and the immortality
surrounding Sun's herd. Again, the horses were enveloped by a mist, which only
intensified their beauty. Now, there remained only two other enclosures a western
one and a northern one, and as before, Mirage Man showed the youth these places
too. Basically, they resembled the other two, except that the horses, roped,
and birds inside each one differed entirely in coloration. The western horses
and the things surrounding them were yellow, while the northern horses and the
things surrounding them were spotted. Pg. 21
The Navajo and Apache also have directional color associations for certain stones
and shells, which, because of the religious significance attached to them, play
important roles in their mythologies, ceremonies, customs, and beliefs. These
stones and shells are also commonly associated with the cardinal horses, as
the above myth illustrates in its references to the horses of white shell and
turquoise. A fine example of this association is supplied in some information
which the Navajo named Hatali Natloi gave Matthews. Hatali Natloi said that
the first white horse was made of white shell, the first iron-gray horse of
turquoise, the first black horse of cannel coal (jet), the first piebald horse
of haliotis shell, and the first red (sorrel) horse of red stone (carnelian).
Thus, horses, according to their colors, are called after the different substances
of which the Navajo believe the cardinal horses were made. For that reason,
the Navajo speak of turquoise or gray horses as dolizi lin, red stone or sorrel
horses as bastsili lin, cannel coal or black horses as baszini lin, and haliotis
or spotted horses as yolkai lin. Pg. 21
Navajo mythology expresses this same regard for the white horse and often describes
the sun and moon deities riding about on their elegant, milk-white steeds. In
the foregoing myth, it will be noted that the white horse occupies the east,
his most common cardinal position in Navajo mythology, for the Navajo frequently
associate white with the color of dawn or early morning light, which banishes
the shadows and mysteries of night. Because of this association, it is said
that a Navajo who owns a white horse feels himself fortunate and believes he
will have no bad luck when he rides it. Sun's dawn horse plays a prominent role
in a version of the myth concerning the Twin War Gods' visit to their father's
house, which Maud Oakes recorded from a famous Navajo scout and medicine man
named Jeff King. King told Oakes that at the beginning of time the Navajo's
first holy beings chose this white horse for the young sun deity to mount each
morning as he carried his burden of light into the sky. He told too of how the
Twins, at a much later time, saw this horse at the deity's home in the other
world and of how they met their previously unknown sister Sun's daughter who
helped their father catch his horse every day. "Each morning," she
would shake "a rattle to call the white horse for Sun to ride," he
explained. Implying a change of its color with a change of its cardinal position,
King also said that Sun's horse "moves around as it faces the four directions."
Pg. 22
Most versions of the Navajo myth concerning Sun's courtship of Changing Woman
( a goddess sometimes referred to as White Shell Woman ) say that when Sun first
appeared to woo her, he was dressed in white and chose to ride his splendid
white horse, which sported a bridle and a saddle of the same color. The deity's
choice of the white horse for this occasion signifies something else this time.
First of all, Sun and his horse are attired in white to complement the theme
of whiteness surrounding White Shell Woman. But more important is the purpose
of Sun's visit to the goddess, who was them but a girl out gathering seeds.
He wishes to instruct her as to how she might accomplish conception. The fact
that Sun insisted on white dress for both himself and his white steed at this
particular time "apparently differentiates," as Reichard says, "the
naturally sacred from the profane." Newcomb lends support to such an interpretation
by identifying white as "the color of purity and of the spirit" qualities
commonly associated with the goddess whom the Navajo picture as being almost
entirely above reproach. - Moon's horse is addressed third in a prayer to the
holy horses in the Navajo ceremony known as Flint Way; it is called "horse
of the moon, who puffs along the surface of the earth." Pg. 23
The Navajo, on the other hand, usually place their black horses at the north
rather than at the east. This northern cardinal horse represents the night sky
and is called Sun's "black jewel" horse in one Navajo myth .......
If a "horse has white stockings, he also sees by (means of) them."
Pg. 26, 27
Red Horse: Sometimes the Navajo use him as a substitute horse in their color
circuits and pair him with black to indicate such dangerous things as dark skies.
Accordingly, a Navajo tradition says that Sun mounts either his red horse or
his black horse "when the heavens are dark with storm." Pg. 27
The Cardinal Horse that Navajo mythology values most is the turquoise of blue
horse. Much of the association that the black cardinal horse has for the Apache,
the turquoise has for the Navajo; for this is the mythical horse the Navajo
think of as being Sun's favorite the one he rode all day. Undoubtedly, that
is why Mirage Man, as mentioned earlier in connection with the Navajo myth,
kept sun's turquoise horse behind the second door of the other world corral
the door which opened to the south. In the color circuit employed in this myth,
the blue to the south "signifies" to use Gladys Reichard's words "the
bright blue sky of day." Thus, it seems consistent to reason that the Navajo
would extend the association a step further and think of the sun as a deity
riding his blue horse across the sky all day. Pg. 27, 28
Two Navajo songs for good luck with horses picture for us their idea of the
mythical turquoise horse. One song says that as he moves along, he does not
raise dust; only glittering grains of mineral , of the sort the Navajo use in
religious ceremonies, fly behind his speedy hoofs. When he gallops, sacred pollen
surrounds him as dust would an ordinary horse. Through the pollen, he seems
enveloped by mist,........ The other song, which the elder of the Twins is said
to have sung for good luck in the Navajo version of the horse race around the
world, extols, in the youth's own words, the powers of the mighty blue stallion.
Here is the way part of it goes:
The turquoise horse prances with me.
From where we start the turquoise horse is seen.
The lightning flashes from the turquoise horse.
The turquoise horse is terrifying.
He stands on the upper circle of the rainbow.
The sunbeam is in his mouth for a bridle.
He circles around all the people of the earth
With their goods.
Today he is on my side
And I shall win with him.
Many intimate
glimpses of the sun with his favorite horse are given in Navajo mythology. First
of all, sun was ever mindful of the needs of his powerful turquoise stallion,
which was larger than an ordinary horse. 80 One of the deity's first remarks
after he had been created and put in the sky concerned the care of his majestic
blue horse. As he went on his initial trip across the heavens, Sun looked for
a nice place to pasture his mount at the noon hour. Approaching the center of
the sky, he discovered a likely spot and said: "The blue horse that I ride
will eat there."............ Apparently, though, the turquoise horse was
well pleased with the unusual kind of pasture Sun chose for him. The first of
the Navajo songs discussed above describes him "neighing joyously"
as he stands on precious hides of all kinds which are spread out across the
sky to symbolize clouds. There in that cloud pasture, he feeds on the tips of
lovely new flowers and drinks of four mingled waters from a stream which connects
with the four regions of the world.
80. Matthews, Navaho Legends, p. 233, n. 118. Another Navajo myth mentions Sun
showing the Twins a huge horse which he kept under "a trap door in the
center of the floor" of his house. Though the color of this horse was not
given, he was described as being "like a team horse with hoofs about a
foot in diameter." See Fishler, In the Beginning, p. 71. Pgs. 29, 30
The Navajo and all the Apache groups usually place the yellow mare at the western
cardinal station, since they commonly associate its coloration with the various
hues of yellow seen in a sunset or in early evening light. The "abalone
shell in the likeness of a horse," which the Navajo Mirage Man is said
to have kept behind the third door of the sun's corral, is the sacred shell
associated with this horse in myths and ceremonies by all the Southern Athapascan
people. Sometimes called ear shell, abalone is spiral shaped, lined with mother-of-pearl,
and perforated along its outer edges. The Navajo expression for abalone is "the-particular-one-that-is-iridescent,
the-one-whose-various-colors-scintillate." Oyster shell is also a common
substitute for this shell. The earthly models for this mythological horse are
a yellowish brown sorrel, a coyote dun, or a Palomino. Pg. 33
The last kind of horse found among the Navajo and Apache cardinal herds is the
horse of two colors the dappled, the spotted, or the pinto. Such animals frequently
appear at the north in color circuits of the ..... Navajo; The haliotis shell
of many-colored flecks, which resembles the abalone in texture, is often used
in myths and ceremonies to signify spotted horses. So is agate. Sometimes the
word "spotted" is substituted by the words "sparkling,"
"glittering," or "variegated" in Navajo and Apache myths
and tales about this horse. In ceremonies when such a color impression is intended,
either mixed jewels tiny fragments from all the sacred stones are used, or else
a type of stone called "mirage stone." Mirage stones are white, gray,
yellowish-striped stones, which are shiny when polished, causing a magnified
reflection of a number of colors. For instance, the Navajo refer to certain
types of quartz as "mirage rocks," and in one Navajo myth, some small
stone horse fetishes of different colors, called "Mirage Quartz Rock Horses,"
are shown the Twins by a supernatural being named Frog Man. Pg. 37
The Navajo Mirage Man, who was himself a combination of colors, expressed the
same sort of regard to Turquoise Boy when he was showing him around the sun's
corral. Implying the climactic nature of the fourth time, the Navajo myth states
that the old man showed Turquoise Boy the horses he valued most when he opened
the last door of the corral the door which led to the "spotted horses"
with "the white eyelashes." In a similar way, Frog Man, who in another
Navajo Myth was acknowledged by Sun as knowing as much about the breeding of
fine horses as anyone in the gods' world, treasured the "Mirage Quartz
Rock Horses" he kept in a ceremonial basket. It was said that Frog Man
"raised all kinds and colors of horses, sheep and goats," and that
he, like the sun's corral-keeper in the other myth, was formed also from a mirage
substance quartz rock, in this case. However, Navajo traditions say that their
horse-loving sun deity prized his paints, his dappled and his spotted horses
too so much, in fact, that he kept an entire cardinal herd of them. Those who
saw these beautiful horses must have had a rich experience, for one glimpse
at them in a Navajo myth is enough to convince us that they combined all the
colors Sun most enjoyed on the may good horses he rode in each of the quadrants.
According to the myth, "to the east were ones with white bodies with all
kinds of blue designs and spots. To the south was a blue one with white spots
and all kinds of designs. There were also horses with white finger marks with
a blue background. To the west was a yellow one with black and white spots,
while to the north was a black one with a yellow-reddish nose and white spots
all over it." Pg. 38
Fortunately, the things the goddess needed to create the first horses for mankind
were already at the new residence. Inside this palatial hogan were four horses
made of jewel substances, belonging to each of the directions, and in the center
of these stood a stately jet horse "at the root of a perfect cornstalk
. . . . . . On the cornstalk's top sat a black songbird." Like everything
else in her western home, the goddess's cornstalk was modeled after the one
Sun kept at his eastern home. A better idea of what it looked like and what
purpose it served can be had by examining the one belonging to Sun. According
to a description Goldtooth supplied Fishler, Sun's cornstalk grew in the center
of a basket which he kept on a shelf in the center of his house. Inside the
basket were also some pieces of turquoise, all types and colors of corn, and
four horse fetishes facing the cardinal directions and surrounding the cornstalk,
on which hung two ears of corn, most probably representing the male and female
sexes, since this is what they ordinarily symbolize in Navajo myths. The sacred
stone and shell horse fetishes "ate the corn pollen that fell from the
corn tassels," Goldtooth said. They were tied to four posts which also
stood inside the basket, facing the four directions. Sun and moon designs were
carved on each post and attached to each were eagle feathers and rattles of
precious stones and shells. "There were rattles made out of white bead
on the pole to the east, turquoise rattles to the south, oyster shell rattles
to the west, and jet rattles to the north." Perhaps the white rattles were
the ones that Sun's daughter used each morning to summon Sun's white horse,
a daily chore mentioned previously. Goldtooth said that when Sun himself shook
the rattles of white bead, the horse fetishes tied to the poles of the four
directions "would also begin to rattle and move just as if they were alive."
In fact, this was how the fetishes got their exercise, he noted, adding that
Sun also shook the rattles "to give pep and energy to all animals, plants,
bushes, trees and all things upon the earth." Pg. 57
A white shell basket stood there. In it was the water of a mare's afterbirth.
A turquoise basket stood there. It contained the water of the afterbirth. An
abalone basket full of eggs of various birds stood there. A jet basket with
eggs stood there. The baskets stand for quadrupeds, the eggs for birds. Now
as Changing Woman began to sing the Animals came up to taste. The horse tasted
twice; hence mares sometimes give birth to twins. One ran back without tasting.
Four times, he ran up and back again. The last time he said, "Sh!"
and did not taste. "She will not give birth. Long-ears (Mule) she will
be called," said Changing Woman. The others tasted the eggs from the different
places. Hence there are many feathered people. Because they tasted the eggs
in the abalone and jet baskets many are black.
O'Bryan's text, again more detailed and much clearer, supplies the missing links
of the Goddard version:
After the White Bead Woman's chanting, the four horses began to move, the white-bead
horse fetish, the turquoise horse fetish, the white-shell horse fetish and the
banded stone horse fetish. These four stone fetishes were made into living horses.
Life came into them and they whinnied. Then the White Bead Woman took the horses
from her home. She placed them on the white bead plain, on the turquoise plain,
on the white bead hill, and on the turquoise hill. Returning, she laid out four
baskets the white bead basket, the turquoise basket, the white shell basket,
and the black jet basket. In these she placed the medicine which would make
the horses drop their colts. The White Bead Woman then went outside and chanted,
and down came the horses from the hill; but instead of four there came a herd.
They circled the home, and they came to the baskets and licked up the medicine
with one lick. Now some of the horses licked twice around the baskets; so once
in a long while there are twin colts. But the horses that licked out of the
black jet basket licked more than once, and they have many colts. Then out of
the herd there came one with long ears. She snorted and jumped away; and the
second time she approached the basket she snorted and ran away. So she was not
to have young, either male or female. It was planned that the fetishes of the
horses were to be laid in the center of the earth, in a place called Sis na
dzil .... Pg. 61
A Navaho on foot was no menace to the Puebloans, but a Navajo or tribe of Navajos on horseback was a different equation. No longer were they a subservient race. They could strike, raid, and be away before the stone house dwellers could string their bows and shoot their arrows. The possession of horses brought a golden era of prosperity to the tribe. They stole sheep and goats from the Mexicans; from the Puebloans they stole corn and beans to plant in their own extensive fields, and wherever possible, they took women and children into slavery. The wealth of a clan was counted by the size of the flock of sheep, and for every man, woman, and child there was a horse to ride. Pg. xxiii
Since the horse was not indigenous to the western hemisphere, its arrival brought a wholly new way of life to most of the Indian tribes. It came to signify power and speed and wealth. Pg. 62
The acquisition of the horse had a profound effect upon Navajo culture. Not only did increased mobility enlarge the range and frequency of contact with non-Navajos, but also it altered the character of social relations within the tribe. It was now possible to visit more frequently and to attend ceremonial events from much greater distances. Thus, the audiences at ceremonials became larger, and this in turn may have led to the elaboration of the ceremonies themselves.
As one
might expect, the origin and transformation of the present Navaho world are
more fully described than any of the nether regions; it will be discussed below.
Two higher realms of the universe are depicted in broad lines, and conceivably
there are other wolds above those. The sky is a world just like this one; in
it Sun, Moon, and stars are visible to us as they move through the space between
the world hemispheres. Above the stratum into which we look, the heavely bodies
have their homes, living much like the people here on earth. The better-known
Thunders also live in the sky realm.
The Land-beyond-the-sky is inhabited by extra-powerful storm elements Winter,
Pink and Spotted Thunders, Big Winds, and Whirlwinds. They run a school for
novices learning the ritual of the Male Shooting, Hail, Water, and Feather chants;
the pupils are conducted thither and back by other gods.
Dawn, Dawn People (yikaih, yikaih dine'e) (P) are referred to incidentally in
relation to Sun's sky wife. They are manifestations of the Holy People and there
may be a chant in which they are leading characters.
A group of people killed at Taos were Sun's children. The two chief ones, girls
dressed in spiral strings of jewels, were called Two-dawns-arrive (Haile 1938b,
p. 163; Goddard, pp. 139-40).
Female Gods (xa'ctce' ba'a'd, yei' ba'a'd) (P) are described by Matthews as
female representations of the more familiar gods. The masks and dress of Female
Gods differ from those of their male partners. I am not sure whether they are
always the same or are modified according to the males with which they are paired.
They function only weakly in the chants with which I have dealt most (Matthews
1902, pp.16-9, PI. III, D; Curtis, p.110).
Fringed Mouth (zaxado'liai, zaxa'do'liai) (P) is a major character of the Night
Chant, whose costume and properties are conceived in great detail. It is, however,
difficult to get a clear idea of his function. The name is taken from the mask,
which has fringe around the eyes and mouth. There are two kinds of Fringed Mouths,
Land Fringed Mouths (tsentci' zaxado'ltsa') and Water Fringed Mouths (ta'tla'dii
zaxado'lia'i). The few references indicate that they are the lifting force of
lightning.
When the log containing Self Teacher was stuck at a falls in the San Juan River,
the gods labored in vain to release it until the Water Fringed Mouths roped
the log with the lightning onto their bodies, and lifted it.
When the log containing the Visionary was stuck in an eddy, the Land and Water
Fringed Mouths found out who was responsible and offerings were made to Beaver,
Otter, Fish, and Water Coyote to release it.
The Eagles of the Bead Chant found difficulty in lifting the earth boy, Scavenger.
When they tried, he spun round so that they were not able to rise. Wind took
the news to Land Fringed Mouth, who came with Talking God. The Eagles had wrapped
the boy in a dark cloud attached with lightning and rainbow strings. It was
dark inside; Talking God and Fringed Mouth put a crystal inside to furnish light
and gave him a yellow tube of reed through which to breathe. They placed Fringed
Mouth's headdress on Scavenger's head and a reed wand in his hand. The Eagles
were able to raise him, so prepared, to the sky (Matthews 1897, pp.168, 170,
215; 1902, p. 11ff., 178; Sapir-Hoijer, pp.157, 505; Curtis, p.108; Reichard
1939, p.29).
Gray God (xa'ctce' lbahi) (P) is specifically envisaged. Though he is not described,
his functions are referred to in the Night Chant. With Talking God and Female
God he performs the ritual of the circular prayersticks; he participates in
the ritual with the Night Chant talisman and he, instead of xactc'e'oyan, may
administer the medicine. He is one of the begging gods.
He conducted the Stricken Twins on a part of their journey. When they came to
the House of Gods, he held up two fox-skins; as he pulled them apart, cloud
curtains rolled back and the twins entered.
According to Sapir (probably through Father Berard), Gray God, Water Sprinkler,
and xactc'e'do'di' are three names for the same deity (Matthews 1902, pp.69,
94, 126, 130, 238; Sapir-Hoijer, p.511, 91n).
Hard-flint-people (be'c ntlizi') (P) seem to be a personification of flint and
are probably the mythological prototype of the Black Dancers of the War Ceremony.
Their noisy behavior was shocking to Monster Slayer, but it was not dangerous
because their leader, a woman, had medicine in her quiver which would prevent
the enemy from hearing the noise. An unexplained remark doubtless refers to
the fearsome flashing of flint- 'reddish light shone through her leg tendons.'
Flint People were dressed in flint and protected by lightning, sunrays, and
rainbows. They had arrows of heat and cold; they stole food from the gardens
of the enemy. Monster Slayer had to admit that their power was greater than
his (Ch. 12, Red; Haile 1938b, pp. 159-62).
Male God (xa'ctce' baka', yei' baka') (P) perhaps means 'some male god or other.'
He doubtless has different specific aspects and functions in the various ceremonies
in which he appears. So far as I know, he is not a part of any of the chants
to which the Shooting chants are most closely related.
Male God, paired with Talking God, is a part of a corn-planting rite of the
Night Chant, probably another manifestation of Talking God (Matthews 1902, pp.
15-7, 202).
Pollen Boy (ta'didi'n 'acki') (P), symbol of the male generative element, is
of prime importance in blessing and protective rites. He is paired with Cornbeetle
Girl, one of the group, otherwise composed of birds, that brings and accompanies
happiness. The names of both occur in all the formulas I have found (Newcomb-Reichard,
Fig. 10, PI. II, B, D, XXI, XXII; Wheelwright 1942, Set II, 4).
Racing Gods (ta' dza'sti'n, 'He-simply-lies,' and 'acki' nde'sgai, 'Boy-radiating-white-streaks')
(P) are vivid examples of the 'Dirty Boy' theme. They were treated as inferior
creatures to be despised and mocked. The one is described with some detail;
the other is said to be like his brother. The office of the meal sprinkler in
the Fire Dance is one of great honor. Two are chosen, carefully decorated, and
given wands and fawnskin bags containing meal. Since these couriers have to
cover a great deal of ground in order to invite people, even strangers, the
office requires speed and endurance for which only exceptional persons can qualify.
The fullest version of the mythical couriers is in the myth of the Mountain
Chant.
When those having charge of the chant sung over Reared-in-the-mountain on the
fifth day asked for volunteers to carry out the meal-scattering, no one responded,
and even though the young men were coaxed, all refused to go. At night an old
woman entered the hogan where the elders were arranging the ceremony and announced,
without preliminaries, "I will send my grandson as a meal sprinkler."
The people were so astounded that they thought the offer a great joke. The old
woman lived near by and whenever anyone visited her hogan, her grandson lay
on the ground asleep. He never went out to hunt, and the people concluded he
was lazy and worthless. His hair was unkempt, short, and matted; he was dirty,
lean, and bent. Because of their low opinion of the boy, the people did not
reply to the old woman's offer except with laughter, significant looks, or silence.
After the fourth offer, the leader told her to bring in the grandson to show
him off. The old woman waited until morning.
When in the morning the boy appeared among the group of singers, he was the
ideal Navaho youth. His hair was thick, glossy, and so long that it fell below
his knees; his legs were strong and firm; he held his head erect and walked
with poise and self-confidence. His brother, no less handsome, came in and sat
opposite him. The men in charge were so astonished that, without a word, they
began to prepare the youths for the journey.
After careful instructions the boys walked slowly away from the hogan. Those
left behind gave way once more to misgivings, saying that the young men would
never accomplish their mission. The lads went out of sight just as the sun rose.
Those left behind continued to make fun of the runners as, waiting, they played
games. About the middle of the afternoon-ordinarily the runners do not return
until night-the two couriers were seen returning, one from the north and one
from the south. The people said they must have forgotten something and were
coming back for it, meaning they had not even got started.
The boys entered, handed their bags to the chanter, and sat down. One pouch
contained some corncakes baked in ashes that were still warm, the other some
maguey jelly, proving that the couriers had reached their respective destinations,
had sprinkled the meal, and received tokens of acceptance from those invited.
Not until night did they tell the story of their trip, for they waited until
the people who 'had no sense' had gone out. This time they wore valuable jewelry
and embroidered blankets such as the gods once wore but which man no longer
sees.
Later in the evening when the guests had all arrived, a chief went among the
crowd and found the old grandmother sitting humbly apart. He spoke to her: "Your
grandsons have done a great honor to us. . . . Tell me, won't you, how they
accomplished this wonderful deed."
The old woman explained, "They are Holy People. For many years my grandson
has risen early every morning and run clear around Mt. Taylor time and again
before sunrise. That is the reason people have not seen him in the daytime;
he has been asleep. At the base of Mt. Taylor are numerous rockpiles, all made
by my grandson, who dropped a rock every time he ran around the mountain."
The well-dressed young men, after reporting to the singers, went about the camp
visiting and flirting with the wives and sweethearts of those who had mocked,
and everywhere the woman fell for their blandishments. There was nothing for
the men to do but sulk.
In the myth of the Stricken Twins, the Holy Ones from Red-rock-projects were
said to be the best runners and acted as couriers to carry the news of the success
of the boys in their attack on Awatobi. The names are not given; these may have
been Red Gods (Matthews 1887, pp. 411-5; 1902, pp. 25, 256; Reichard 1944d,
pp. 89-93; Haile 1943a, p. 31).
Red God (xa'ctce' ltci") (P) seems to be a particular manifestation of
Racing God.
Red gods were dispatched to find the hero of the Night Chant after he had been
gone unduly long.
At their home, Where-red-rock-stands-up, Red gods refused to help the Stricken
Twins: "It is not our province to cure. We are the bearers of the whip,
the Racing People. It is our duty to punish the runners who lose in the race"
(Matthews 1902, pp. 194, 223).
Round Darkness (tcaxalxe'I didjoli') (H) and Round Wind were called by First
Man to celebrate The Twins' victory over Big Monster. They sang and danced with
much spirit. Round Darkness was said to have been a dwarf (Haile 1938b, pp.113,
252, 41n).
Round Wind (n'ltc'i didjoli') (H) informed Monster Slayer about the fierceness
of Burrowing Monster (Haile 1938b, p.113).
Shooting God (xa'ctce'oltohi) (P) succeeded in persuading Changing Woman to
move to the west when other armored gods had failed.
In the Night Chant, a man wearing a female costume is called Shooting God. According
to Stephen's manuscript, Shooting God was a berdache. One lived at each of the
sacred mountains with Talking God and xactc'e'oyan (Newcomb-Reichard, pp. 34-5,
Fig. 4, PI. XVI; Matthews 1902, pp. 24-5).
Sky (ya' dilxil) (P) is paired with Earth as the origin of all things. It is
black, with the chief heavenly bodies depicted on its body, the stars and constellations
and their positions differing at various times of the year (Newcomb-Reichard,
p. 37).
Sky Pillars (yaya' nzini) (H), 'Those-who-stand-under-the-sky,' had their origin
in the difficulties of getting the sun into the sky. Changing Woman lit a turquoise
disk with a crystal (even though up to this time there had been neither light
nor heat!) and it became heat incarnate. The heavens were so close to the 'people'
that they could hardly stand upright. When the people looked up, they saw two
rainbows crossed. There was so little space between the earth and sky that the
heads and feet of the rainbows almost touched the heads of the people. As the
people were vainly trying to raise the sun, First Man and First Woman suddenly
appeared. The First Pair raised the sun somewhat by means of a sunbeam, a crystal,
and a rainbow, but their power gave out before the heat was ameliorated.
Then they made two poles of turquoise and two of white-shell, and with the four
poles the twelve men at each of the four cardinal points raised the sun still
higher. Even this was not sufficient to prevent burning, and the men were driven
to stretching the earth by blowing, a device that finally succeeded in getting
the sun into a place that allows for a satisfactory temperature. Earth's position
depends upon the support of the Sky People, assigned their duty by Changing
Woman. When The Twins visited Sun, he led them out to the edge of the world
where the sky and earth come close together and beyond which there is nothing.
Here sixteen poles-four of whiteshell, four of turquoise, four of abalone, and
four of redshell-reached from earth to sky. A deep stream flowed between the
party and the poles. When asked on which ones they would ascend, The Twins,
prompted by Wind, chose the red poles, since they stood for war.
The earth's center (xadji'na'i, ni' alni") is a holy place, indicating
the Place-of-emergence, which has various geographical locations, none actually
fitting the description. The corresponding point in the sky is the Skyhole,
the place to which Sun led The Twins when giving them their geography test of
the world. It was edged with four smooth, steep, shiny cliffs of the same precious
stones as the poles that supported the sky. Sun sat at the west side of the
hole, the boys at the east. Even keeping their places would have been impossible,
had not Wind blown up through the hole and kept the youths from slipping down
through it.
The number of Sky Pillars varies.
One time First Man ground rock and broadcast it; rocks stood up in a line. Then
the four People-who-stand-under-the-earth began to sing and, moving away from
each other, stretched out the earth.
These supporting people are pictured in a sandpainting of the Hail Chant with
the explanation that the twelve people, six males at the north, six females
at the south, hold up the earth. Their names are ni' yo'tso, 'Earth-big-whiteshell,'
and yaya' nzini, 'Those-who-stand-under-the-sky.' The same kind of pillars-of
reed or precious stones-hold up earth and sky.
The Wheelwright creation story describes the Earth Columns as twelve Big Winds
in each direction, explaining that all kinds of winds were sent to support the
sky and the stars (Stevenson, pp. 276-7; Matthews 1897, p. 113; Goddard, p.
137; Reichard 1944d, p. 103; Wheelwright 1942, pp. 66-7; 1946, p. 192).
Superior God (xactc'e' 'ayoi) (P) is mischievous and only incidentally helpful.
In one myth he seems to be identified with the Visionary of the Night Chant.
His offerings are described. He made a device to hinder the progress of the
whirling log of the Night Chant, pretended to be friends of the Holy Ones concerned
with its progress, but did not help them.
In two myths of the Night Chant, Superior God kidnaped co, the hero.
Superior God, accompanied by Talking God, met the Stricken Twins at a crater
in the vicinity of Mt. Taylor and told them that anyone trespassing on the territory
of Superior Gods would be whipped and would never again return to his own people
(Matthews 1902, pp. 162, 181, 204, 237).
The Brothers (dine na'kitsa'da) (P), 'the twelve people,' are idealized individuals
who control rare game and game lore. According to Matthews, there were eleven,
who lived with and provided well for their only sister; according to my version,
there were twelve. Both stories concern The Youngest Brother more than the others;
the life of the older ones is suggested rather than revealed. One was named
Reared-in-the-earth by the Holy Ones because they had hidden him in the earth
to spy upon his sister. This name, which was given also to a counterpart of
Monster Slayer for other reasons, suggests that The Brothers may be duplicates
of The Twins. There is reason to conclude that all are children of Sun and Changing
Woman.
In my version of the myth, The Brothers fear Coyote; in Matthews' version, they
openly flaunt him. Although they were destroyed in the contest with Coyote,
Changing Woman restored them; their remark puts them in the class of intermediaries:
"We do not visit the people, but we stand on the mountains and watch them."
The twelve snakes on each side of the center of the Grinding Snakes' painting
are said to represent the Twelve Brothers, as are twelve Medicine People on
each side of the Hole-of-emergence in an unpublished painting (Matthews 1897,
pp.92-9, 103, 149, 226; Reichard, Endurance Chant ms.; 1939, PI. XV; Newcomb-Reichard,
PI. IX; Huckel ms.).
Turquoise Boy (do'tliji' 'acki') (P) appears in a curious description by Sandoval:
In the third world, at the east side of the eastern mountain, lived Turquoise
Boy, with twelve male companions and the Mirage People. After First Man had
decreed many things about this third world, including the months and seasons,
he said to Turquoise Boy, "Step inside the sun and put the reed flute with
twelve holes under your shirt. Let the Mirage People step inside with you to
keep you invisible to Earth People." Turquoise Boy agreed and said that
whenever he passed by he should be recompensed by the death of a person. Whiteshell
Boy was put into the moon for the same purpose.
There is perhaps some connection between this happening and the gift of the
agate or turquoise 'man' Sun gave The Twins, represented by the pollen ball
in the Shooting Chant (Pollen ball, Con. B; Goddard, pp.128, 135).
Water Horse (te 'Ii") (U), depicted in sandpainting and occasionally referred
to in myth, was said to be Water Monster's pet; the name means literally 'deep-water-pet.'
He was the guardian of Water Monster's home.
When The Twins were about to visit Hanging Cloud, the assembly which was to
consider the matter of originating chants was announced by Water Monster and
Water Horse, and was held at their home (Newcomb-Reichard p. 62, PI. XXIX, XXXIII;
Matthews 1897, p.168; Reichard, Shooting Chant ms.).
Water Monster (te'xo'ltso'di') (U) is said to look much like an otter with fine
fur, but has horns like a buffalo. The young look something like buffalo calves,
but have spots of all colors, yellow hands, and a generally strange appearance.
In sandpaintings Water Monster resembles Thunder, but has an elongated body.
Monster Slayer transformed parts of the subdued Traveling Rock into Water Monster,
who promised to keep mountain springs open and rivers flowing.
Water Monster was a character of the lower worlds.
Spider Woman stole Water Monster's child in the second world and it has been
lost to this day.
Water Monster kept following the people to get back his child. The people made
Spider give it back and Water Monster returned to the world below.
Water Monster is everybody's friend.
After the separated men and women agreed to live together again, a woman and
her two daughters were left behind. The men promised to fetch them the next
morning, but the women were so eager they jumped into the water. The mother
drowned and the daughters were seized by Water Monsters. The people, aided by
White Body (Talking God) and Blue Body (Water Sprinkler), went under the waters
to the home of Water Monster. Coyote sneaked along. The monster refused to return
the girls and Coyote stole two of his children, concealing them under his robe.
He thereby caused the floods that drove people out of the fourth world.
Water Monster represented a large group of Water People who grabbed Self Teacher
as he traveled in the whirling log. He defied Water Sprinkler, who came after
the youth, but gave up to Black God when he set fire to the waters. An incident
of the War Ceremony, in which Coyote and Owl sing, represents the conquest of
Water Monster by Monster Slayer. In another version, Monster Slayer, attacked
on his way to Sun's home, overcame Water Monster with a prayer. When I first
wrote of sandpaintings l called this creature Water Ox, because I thought the
horns distinguished him from Water Horse. The name was unfortunate, for horns
do not characterize, but symbolize, power. The name means 'One-who-grabs-in-deep-water'
(Newcomb-Reichard, p.62; Matthews 1897, pp.73-7, 168-70, 212, 8n; 232, lion;
Wheelwright 1942, p.55; Stephen 1930, pp.100-i; Goddard, p.131; Haile 1938b,
pp. 127-8).
Water Sprinkler (to ninili', to neinili') (P) often accompanies Black God, but
he appears too with Talking God. Water Sprinkler, said to be the 'same' as Blue
Body of the fourth world, is the rain bringer and water-carrier of the gods.
The jar of collected waters is his symbol in story and sand-painting, though,
curiously enough, he does not carry it in the masked impersonations. He controls
rain and waters. He causes rain by sprinkling the collected waters in his jar
in the four directions. He can separate and walk through deep or underground
waters.
In the Night Chant, he is impersonated as a clown. His clothing is of inferior
quality because he 'might get wet.' He is usually out of step with the other
dancers. He gets in their way, peers about while the others concentrate on song
and steps, moves away to inspect little things among the audience, or sits on
the ground with his hands clasped around his knees and rocks his body to and
fro. Sometimes he dances with the group, concentrating so seriously that he
does not notice they have left the dance place; then discovering that he is
alone, he runs after them as fast as he can go. Sometimes he carries the skin
of a small animal which he drops and pretends not to notice. Suddenly he hunts
everywhere for it in great agitation, although it lies in plain sight. When,
after much tomfoolery, he finds it, he jumps on it as if trying to kill. At
length he lifts it like a heavy burden and carries it away on his back. He is
said to act like this because he is pleased with what is being done in the ceremony.
One of Water Sprinkler's duties, besides separating deep waters, is to extinguish
fire made by Black God; in addition, he is often sent to investigate things
in the water. He went to see what stopped the whirling log at an eddy and found
a dam, but could not find the people who had made it. When the Fringed Mouths
discovered it had been the Flat Tails, he helped to negotiate with them. When
the log stopped again, Water Sprinkler found the people who had made the dam.
Water Sprinkler taught the Visionary of the Night Chant how to prepare and preserve
the products of his garden.
Nearly all the gods officiate in some capacity at the bath rite of novices.
At one of Rainboy's baths, numerous gods participated: the yucca roots had been
pounded on one side and they were supposed to stand upright. Water Sprinkler
volunteered to hold them up. Changing Woman made suds while Talking God sang,
Water Sprinkler poured water into the basket, and Changing Woman removed the
yucca roots.
Water Sprinkler lived at Big Willow, a long distance from Talking God's home
in the canyon, but when anything happened that concerned them both, they met
for consultation in between (Matthews 1897, pp. 68, 166, 168, 170; 1902, pp.
29, 175, 178, 180, 189-92, 208; Curtis, p. 106; Reichard 1939, p.31; 1944d,
p. 79).
Water Woman (to 'asdza"n) (P) lives in the water and presides over all
small tributaries. Rain is her child (Stephen ms.).
Water's Child (to biyaji) (H) is said by Father Berard to be spring water and
by Matthews to be the splash of rain falling into a quiet pool (Haile 1938b,
p. 254, 98n; Matthews 1902, p. 311, 22n).
Whirlwind (niyol) (U) is a common phenomenon in the Navaho country. If a person
sees one coming toward him, he may rush toward it and say "s-s-su!"
(the Navaho equivalent of "Scat!") and the whirlwind will turn in
the opposite direction and subside.
Whirlwind and Flint Boy helped Youngest Brother when he was hidden in the fireplace,
watching Changing-bear-maiden and Coyote. They made tunnels for him to hide
in, gave him weapons and the monitors, Wind and Darkness (Matthews 1897, p.
101).
Whistling God, Sucking God, Squeaking God (xactc'e''idiltso'si') (U) is quite
well described by Matthews. He gets his name from the sucking noise which the
Navaho compare with that of a mouse. He has a black face and dwells in a cave
in which there is a white rainbow; he is considered 'bad.'
He joined Superior God in hindering the progress of the whirling log.
Whistling Gods released the cave trap which had caught the Stricken Twins. These
gods moved very fast and carried a four-stranded yucca whip. One of them told
the Stricken Twins that every one who came to their house, even the gods, must
be whipped; naturally they had few visitors.
Offerings are described for Whistling God.
There are some hints that Whistling God may be related to Wind (Sapir-Hoijer,
pp. 177, 185, 224-7, 511, 93n; Matthews 1902, pp.181, 215, 236).
xactce'o'yan, xactc'e'oyan (P) is an untranslatable name of the weaker companion
of the pair dominated by Talking God. Matthews translates it 'House God,' and
strangely, his translation has been followed by all his successors except Goddard.
Sandoval from Shiprock, who worked with Goddard, thought the misconception very
amusing. Tla'h, who was from Newcomb, thought the translation ridiculous, but
was more annoyed than amused by it. The informants at Ganado agreed in not attaching
a meaning to the name.
xactc'e'oyan is minutely described by Matthews. What has been said of Talking
God to the effect that symbols are emphasized, not exclusive, holds for his
companion as well. xactc'e'oyan is represented as having charge of farm songs
and is the god of evening or sunset.
Two origins are given for him: Yellow Body stood for xactc'e'oyan in the third
world; he is said to have been created by Whiteshell Woman from a yellow corn
ear.
As the gods flocked around the Visionary marveling at his turkey, he explained
every symbol of its body. When he finished, the youth said to xactc'e'oyan,
"That is the way my pet turkey is dressed. Tell me now, how is your pet
turkey dressed?" The god answered, "I have no pet turkey. Things that
belong to the water are mine.
Water Boy is said to be the son of xactc'e'oyan. The young man pitted against
the sometime successful Gambler, the one who finally overcame him, was the son
of xactc'e'oyan, whose name is not given; he was a young married man who had
no children.
The god xactc'e'oyan is mentioned as often as Talking God, usually as his companion.
xactc'e'oyan helped the Visionary by negotiating with the Water People, who
impeded the whirling log; he blew upon the rainbow on which the Visionary moved
his crops to start it. xactc'e'oyan was severe to the Stricken Twins until they
had obtained the treasures of Awatobi; later, he was prominent in the ceremony
for their treatment.
xactc'e'oyan is concerned with fees: Sun told his son by Rough Woman, groomed
to beat Gambler, to get the stakes for betting from xactc'e'oyan. After everything
had been prepared and the young man was ready to start off, the god asked about
his fee. When it was promised, xactc'e'oyan advised the party to wait yet another
day in order to make the mind of Gambler 'forked,' that is, to keep him from
concentrating on his games; an additional fee was paid for this information.
When Monster Slayer caught his first eagle, he gave twelve choice tail feathers
to Talking God and twelve tail feathers of the second eagle to xactc'e'oyan;
these may now be seen in their headdresses and as rays of the rising and setting
sun.
According to Stephen, xactc'e'oyan lives with Talking God inside La Plata Mountain;
both guard the game animals.
When the gods took co, hero of the Night Chant, on a round of visits to the
gods, they came to the home of one of the xactc'e'oyan (one of these gods was
in the party but the house was not his). It was made of blue sky. On top of
it grew four spruce trees: at the east, a white one with a pigeon on its tip;
at the south a blue spruce with a bluebird; at the west, a yellow spruce with
a pygmy owl; and at the north, a black spruce with a yellow-shouldered blackbird.
During their wanderings the Stricken Twins, with the conivance of Talking God,
came into an assembly led by xactc'e'oyan at Broad Rock. The house was among
the rocks; on its front there was a rainbow of two colors; as soon as the boys
touched the rock,it flew open and they entered an empty chamber. On the opposite
wall they saw an arched door of three rainbow colors, which also flew open.
They continued through three rooms, each of which had one more color in the
arch of the secret door, until they entered the fourth door, over which was
a rainbow of five colors. The door itself was covered with beautiful rock crystals
glittering like stars. When they entered the fourth room, they were confronted
with so many Holy People that the lame boy was abashed and hung his head (Matthews
1897, pp. 68, 82-3, 225; 1902, pp. 10, 16, 179, 192, 208, 218, 263, 316, Pl.
III, B, VI; Stevenson, p. 227; Goddard, pp. 142-3; Newcomb 1940b, pp. 63, 73;
Stephen ms.).
xactc'e'do'di (P) is said to be another name for Water Sprinkler and Gray God.
When the Stricken Twins approached the gods' home, their dog barked. xactc'e'oyan,
sent by Talking God to investigate, led the twins in.
xactc'e'do'di had a blue face and a quiver of puma skin, and accompanied Monster
Slayer and Child-of-the-water in a rite.
When the Stricken Twins returned with the treasures of Awatobi, xactc'e'do'di'
accompanied xactc'e'oyan as he went to meet them.
xactc'e'do'di helped Water Sprinkler to get sand for a sandpainting.
Possibly xactc'e'do'di is identified with Crane (Sapir-Hoijer, p. 511, 91n;
Matthews 1902, pp. 230, 232, 256, 263; cp. Haile 1943a, p. 22).
xa'dactcici' (P), associated with yucca, appears in some forms of the Night
Chant. His home is called Narrow-yucca-spreads; he carries a yucca plant on
his back and a whip of yucca fiber in his hand. Whipping with yucca, believed
to relieve lumbago or headache, is his only power.
xa'dactcici' conducted the Stricken Twins into one of the homes of the gods.
One of the mountain sheep that turned into gods became xa'dactcici' (Matthews
1897, p. 251, 266n; 1902, pp. 14-5, 233; Stevenson, p. 283).
The Navajo hogan is more than just a place to eat and sleep and the concept of it as a "home" bears little resemblance to a white person's attitude toward his dwelling place. The hogan is a gift of the gods and as such it occupies a place in the sacred world. The first hogans were built by the Holy People of turquoise, white shell, jet, and abalone shell. The round hogan is symbolic of the sun and its door faces east so that the first thing that a Navajo family sees in the morning is the rising sun .... Father Sun, one of the revered of the Navajo deities. The construction of a new hogan is almost always a community affair. Once completed, the new hogan is consecrated with a Blessing Way rite whereby the Holy People are asked to "let this place be happy." The positions of persons and objects within the hogan are prescribed in the legends: the south side of the hogan "belongs" to the women, the north to the men. The male head of the family, and any distinguished visitors, sits on the west side facing the doorway. The placement of all persons and seating arrangements during ceremonials or other important events are prescribed in considerable detail. If a hogan is struck by lightning it is considered chindi bewitched and is deserted. It is also deserted if a death occurs within and the body is removed through a hole broken in the north wall the direction of evil. Pg. 15
The Navajo house is devoid of any decoration. Still, in the description of the legendary prototypes of the various hogans, the Navajo selects all that is gorgeous, splendent and precious in nature for their construction. The poles of the conical hogan, for instance, were made of precious stones, such as white shell, turquoise, abalone, obsidian (cannel-coal), and red stone, and were five in number. The interstices were lined with four shelves of white shell, and four of turquoise, and four of abalone and obsidian, each corresponding with the pole of the respective stone, thus combining the cardinal colors of white, blue, yellow, and black into one gorgeous edifice. The floor, too, of this structure was laid with a fourfold rug of obsidian, abalone, turquoise, and white shell, each spread over the other in the order mentioned, while the door consisted of a quadruple curtain of dawn, sky blue, evening twilight and darkness. As a matter of course the divine builders might increase its size at will, and reduce it to a minimum, whenever it seemed desirable to do so. Pg. 328
Many Navajos live in frame houses today, but it is still common to see a hogan in association with a house or by itself. Two types of hogan exist: the nearly obsolete, conical forked-pole [male] hogan, which the Navajo brought with them into the Southwest, and its replacement, the larger and more substantial round-roofed [female] hogan, which may be circular, hexagonal, or octagonal in shape. Built to ritual specifications, the hogan faces the rising sun. Many Navajos still have a summer camp near their cornfields and a more substantial winter camp, which they occupy after the harvest.
Some Navajos
conceive of the earth's surface as being covered by an enormous transparent
hogan of the older, conical, forked-pole style, with the Sacred Mountains at
its cornerposts. Talking god stands at the doorway, which faces the east, while
Calling God is at the west. The hogan is a living entity, with the smokehole
as its breathing hole; this is where prayers emerge and rise to the heavens.
The first hogan, constructed after the Emergence into the present world by the
diyin dine'e near the rim of the Emergence Place, was not only the site for
the creation of many elements of the present world, but also a model of the
cosmos. It was in the hogan of Creation that Black God produced and placed the
stars in order to beautify the "dark upper" or sky. Both the shape
of the hogan and the required directional movement within it are associated
with the sun. The hogan was built in the shape of the sun because "the
sun being the source of heat, light, and protection from the evils abroad at
night symbolizes the qualities that were desired for the home." The doorway
faces east to catch the blessing of the first rays of sunlight. The Navajo word
for east, ha'a'aah, reflects the order inherent in the repetitive diurnal motions
of the sun, for this word mans literally "a roundish object [the sun] moves
about regularly." The required directional movement after entering the
hogan is the sunwise circuit, which also reflects a recognition of the motions
of the heavens. The hogan has been called a master encoding, or a diagram of
the Navajo cosmos. The first hogan was conceived, planned, and constructed by
the diyin dine'e who decreed that the Earth Surface People should follow the
plan of this first hogan with its posts at the four cardinal directions and
east-facing doorway. The main poles of the hogan are to be picked up in the
sunwise order, with two stones of the sacred jewel associated with each direction
embedded in the ground next to each pole. Sacred jewels are condensed symbols
intimately related to sacred colors, directions, places, and entities. Although
the hogan is never physically subdivided, it is conceptually divided according
to directional orientation: four forked upright posts are named for each of
the directions while the interior space is divided into areas that include the
eastern, southern, western, and northern, recesses, and possibly "sky center,"
and area in between the fireside and western recess. One Navajo eloquently explained
the sacredness of the hogan:
The hogan is built in the manner of this harmony. The roof is in the likeness
of the sky. The walls are in the likeness of the Navajo's surroundings: the
upward position of the mountains, hills, and trees. And the floor is ever in
touch with "the earth mother." The hogan is comprised of white shell,
abalone, turquoise, and obsidian, bringing the home and sacred mountains into
one sacred unit. The home is also adorned with the dawn, the blue sky, the twilight
and the night the sun in the center as the fire . . . . . The hogan is a sacred
dwelling. It is the shelter of the people of the earth, a protection, a home,
and a refuge. Because of the harmony in which the hogan is built, the family
can be together to endure hardships and grow as a part of the harmony between
the Sacred Mountains, under the care of "Mother Earth" and "Father
Sky." Pgs. 92-94
Her house, which was one of the four in the cluster, was the largest, for it was used as the ceremonial hogan when necessary. Dezba's brother, Lassos-a-warrior, was an important leader of curing ceremonies, often called "sings," and there were many occasions when one of them was held at her home. The ceremonies required a special house, preferably a large one, and Dezba lived in this one. When for five on nine days, it was needed for religious purposes, she moved out and lived in one of the other hogans for the time. She considered it no inconvenience to do so, for the fact of having a "sing" in the house brought blessings and good fortune to it. Pg. 19
Gradually
I learned that there are no villages or towns on the reservation. The only time
you find Navajos together in large groups is during one of their ceremonies.
Families travel many days to participate in these. In addition to his aversion
for community dwelling, the Navajo settles in one spot for no more than six
months, if that long. He moves his family, his cattle, and his other belongings
up and down the mesa land. This is especially true of the Indians in the western
section of the reservation. The Navajo spends the summer season on the lowlands,
living in the chahao, a temporary shelter loosely built of shrubbery. In winter
he lives on the highlands in a permanent hogan solidly built of juniper logs
and covered with sand-mud. Since the entrances always face east, Navajo dwellings
serve as compasses, and one need never worry about getting lost when a hogan
is in sight. These one-room windowless houses, with a smoke hole through which
the family hopes the smoke will escape, give protection against snow and cold,
not uncommon in this desert country at altitudes of six to nine thousand feet.
In the evening the family gathers around the open fire in the center of the
hogan. The fire produces little light and much smoke, and since there is no
other illumination, the Navajo cannot occupy himself with anything that requires
good lighting. It is impossible to read by the firelight, and , of course, unless
he has been educated in the American schools, the Navajo cannot read. So he
entertains himself and his family with stories, legends, and myths. They are
told quietly, with naive gestures and picture-words; and the narratives are
colored with his belief in gods, spirits and chindi (ghosts). The Navajos have
no Shakespeare, Virgil, or Homer, but much of their poetry is truly beautiful.
They have no Bach, Beethoven, or Mozart, but they chant single verses with fiery
zeal and poetic expression. They have no Crusaders, Knights of the Round Table,
or Daniel Boone, but they have god heroes who have slain fantastic monsters
and giants and who even today protect the Navajo against evil spirits and the
evil eye, and help him when he is in difficulty.
If anyone is about to die, the family moves out of the hogan, leaving the patient
to the medicine men. The Navajo believes that the hogan becomes haunted when
a human being dies in it. Therefore the family or the medicine men try to get
the dying patient out of the building before it is too late to save the home
for future use. I have seen a number of abandoned hogans, their doorways blocked
with stones and special holes knocked out in the north sides through which the
corpses were carried out by medicine men for burial. Sometimes instead of just
abandoning the hogan, they burn and level it. This indirectly serves as a prophylactic
measure. Other traditional practices are even more effective barriers to epidemics.
For instance, they break all the earthenware and cut up the household blankets
so they may never be used again. Near the grave of the dead man they kill his
best riding animal, after decorating him with his saddle and all of his trappings.
Practically everything that may have come in contact with the sick person is
destroyed to keep his chindi, or in our language the infecting bacteria, from
harming others.
When a Navajo gets sick, his family and friends literally run away, leaving
him to the ministrations of the medicine men. In the event that the sick person
has a contagious disease, this custom provides a pretty thorough quarantine.
the medicine men, by the way, are supposed to possess the power of keeping chindi
away from themselves while they are freeing the patient from them.... The Navajos
have no undertakers and no coffins.
Always situated near a spring or waterhole, the hogan is hectagonal in shape
almost circular, in fact. Juniper logs, graduated in length and diameter, are
placed parallel on top of each other, so that, as the walls rise, the room grows
smaller near the top. There is no furniture only a sheepskin to sit on and,
perhaps, a few plain cooking utensils, including the highly prized coffee pot.
The hogan is the center of family life, and the Navajo spends most of is time
there, even though it is such a simple structure and contains little. He is
anxious that his hogan and his family be unmolested by men or evil spirits.
He hopes that his wife and all of his children will have enough to eat. He prays
that his hogan will not be visited by sickness or "enemy ancestors."
To make sure that all his desires and hopes will be realized in his hogan, he
prays and performs ceremonies before he moves into it. Unfortunately, the ceremony
of hogan dedication is no longer faithfully practiced by every Navajo. The manner
of building and the dedication ceremony demonstrate how friendly, deeply religious,
poetic, and playfully humorous the Navajo is. All neighbors and friends voluntarily
participate in the building, so that it is finished in one day and is ready
for the dedication before sunset. The wife sweeps out the new hogan while her
husband builds the first fire in the middle of the floor directly under the
smoke hole. She goes out of the building, pours white cornmeal into a basket,
and hands it to her husband, who then enters the hogan and, in a certain prescribed
order, silently rubs a handful of the dry meal on the five principle timbers
which form the frame. Then, with a sweeping motion from left to right, he sprinkles
the meal around the outer circumference of the floor, saying in low measured
tones:
"May it be delightful, my house,
From my head my it be delightful,
To my feet may it be delightful,
Where I lie may it be delightful.
All above me may it be delightful,
All around me may it be delightful."
He next flings a little of the cornmeal into the burning fire, saying: "May it be delightful and well, my fire." Then he tosses a few handfuls up through the smoke hole, saying:
"May it be delightful, Sun, my Mother's ancestor,
May it be delightful as I walk around my house."
He sprinkles a few more handfuls on the fire, saying in a subdued voice:
"May it be delightful, my fire,
May it be delightful for my children,
may all be well,
May it be delightful with my food and theirs,
may all be well,
All my possessions, may they increase,
All my flocks, may they increase."
By this
time it is dark. The womenfolk, who during the day have been cooking, and the
men, who have been attending to other details, begin entering the hogan. They
help to bring in the family possessions. Sheepskins are spread over the floor;
a blanket is suspended over the doorway; more logs are added to the fire. The
men squat around the fire; the women sit in a group a little farther away. Food
is served. Everyone is tired. They say little and in very low voices. But all
of them are happy. The man and wife are happy because now they are the possessors
of a building where they will be raising their family. The relatives and friends
are joyous because they have done a good deed.
A few days later they hold a housewarming party. The occasion has a more solemn
meaning, too, since if it is not observed soon after the hogan has been competed,
bad dreams will plague the dweller, toothache will torture them, evil influences
from the north will descent upon them, diseases will visit them, and the hogan
will be haunted. So the shaman is invited to sing ceremonial house songs when
all their friends from the neighboring canyons and mesas will be present. There
will be feasting, smoking, gossip, and talk by the hour. The shaman will sing
in a drawling voice and the men will join in. They will sing songs to Estsanatlehi,
Goddess of the West, and Yolkai Estsan, Goddess of the East, to the Sun, Dawn,
and Twilight, to the Light and to the Darkness, to the six sacred mountains,
and to many other deities. They will sing other songs to keep evil spirits coughs,
sorcerers, and ghosts away. When the songs are finished at dawn, the visitors
will round up their horses and go home, happy that all's well that ends well.
Pgs. 181-185
Each member of a family has a stipulated place within the hogan - the unmarried men at the south, the single women at the north; the bed of the senior married couple joins the male and female sides of the house at the west. In the ceremonial hogan [or shade] the men usually sit at the south, the women at the north; patient and chanter sit at the rear - that is, at the west side behind the fire. If there are variations on this plan, they are due to ritualistic requirements. For example, the patient of the Shooting Chant, male or female, sits alone at the south side of the hogan during the 'short singing' of the first three nights.
Frequently, though not invariably, certain dieties have characteristic stations
with respect to others. Talking God, as a leader, had the front position when
he traveled with a group on one of the supernatural conveyances. He stood on
a rainbow at the front while xa ctce'oyan stood at the back, and the accompanying
group of Holy People, or the hero they conducted, stood between them. In the
Night Chant, Talking God at the front was aided by Water Sprinkler at the rear,
while visionary, whom they were escorting, was between. When the gods took Self
Teacher to the underwater world, Water Sprinkler guarded the front and Black
God the back; thus protected, Self Teacher was led safely out from the home
of Water Monster.
Even the body position of deities may be distinctive. People in myth are told,
for instance, that Black God, though so old he can scarcely walk, may be recognized
by his upright sitting posture. They find him sitting with one leg hanging limply
over his knee, a posture signifying aloofness, which must be overcome by the
proper approach of those asking a favor. The same pose is assumed in life by
a Navaho whose feelings have been hurt; usually he takes up a position half
sitting, half reclining in front of the fire, 'among the ashes,' a place ordinarily
avoided. His position and attitude indicate that some member of the family must
guess at the offense under which he feels himself suffering and make restitution
to bring him to a normal frame of mind and, incidentally, to his proper place
in the family circle.
In the House Blessing song of the Shooting Chant the following sequence is mentioned:
east post, west post, south post, north post, outside layer of earth on the
roof, the layer of bark that holds the layer of earth, the back of the interior,
the center [symbol of the fireplace], and the place of the metate just north
of the door. The places indicated in prayer include those just named, but extend
the locality somewhat. The singer asks blessings for the patient: from the hogan
roof, through the inside of the house sunwise around the fire, and out the door
to the immediate vicinity of the dwelling, where the gods protectingly encircle
it, and farther to the plants, trees, and rocks. The space indicated is safe
for the patient because it is circumscribed, but it is universally extended
when the prayer includes Mountain Woman, Water Woman, various birds, and many
distant sacred localities.
Navajo Religion, Vol I; Gladys A. Reichard, 1950
Homes (xo'yan)
have been mentioned as characterizing deity. Several good descriptions of the
Navaho home are available. The following notes concern concepts centering about
the home (and house) and the house blessing.
The houseposts, according to the Shooting Chant myth, were originally of agate
arranged in the flint-armor colors, black at the east, blue at the west, yellow
at the south, pink at the north, and white at the top or central portion. It
was decreed that in the future the posts should be of oak instead of agate.
Today the oak sprigs of the house blessing represent the posts.
In the Eagle Chant myth, the description of the first house prescribes cleansing
and song. The construction of the house was simultaneous with the making of
the eagle trap; both were done with ritualistic care (Mindeleff, pp. 475-517;
Reichard 1944d, pp. 3, 5, 17, 51; Shooting Chant ms.; Matthews 1887, pp. 399,
400, 407, 408; 1897, pp. 161, 164, 168, 185, 204; 1902, pp. 47, 168, 192, 206,
210, 230; Newcomb 1940b, pp. 54, 57, 58-60).
House blessing (xo'yan yilzi'h, xo'yan da'atlic) is an initial rite of all ceremonies.
It consists of laying new oak sprigs in the hogan (or shade) walls at the cardinal
directions, sprinkling the places with corn meal, and singing. The blessing
of a new home is more elaborate, being a rite or ceremony in itself, a part
of the general Blessing complex. The songs and prayers, addressed to Sky, Earth,
and Rain, are necessary to happiness in the new home. Four songs are required,
twelve may be sung; two prayers are the minimum, six may be chanted.
The mountains, inhabited by Talking God and xactc'e'oyan, were the first homes;
after the Blessing rites, they became hogans-the foregoing are JS's notes of
summary, given me when he presided at the dedication of the new stadium at Gallup
(Kluckhohn-Wyman, pp. 76-7; Goddard, p. 151; Reichard 1944d, p. 51; Haile 1937).
The Navajos have their own ideas as to their origin. According to one of the legends, their ancestors traveled through eleven lower worlds before settling on this earth. They think of these worlds as chambers, one on top of the other. They have climbed from one to another to reach the Here and Now. The first four were dark worlds, and the people were like animals in that they had no language. The second four were red worlds, and it was during this sojourn that they learned to speak. The last three were blue worlds. During this period they learned to make pottery. The present world, the twelfth, is referred to as the white or yellow world. Once here, Dinneh, the People, as they call themselves, did not become stationary. First they lived on a piece of land in the east. Later they came to the present locale after crossing water. This latter meager reference coincides well with our idea of their migration from Asia via the Bering Sea. The Navajos are of the Athapascan language group, related to the Apaches and other Athapascan Indians of Northwest Canada. They have no written language. They send their messages by word of mouth and the word travels very fast. In 1908 when a few white men were killed on the reservation, word of the incident was carried two hundred miles from hogan to hogan in two days. Occasionally they use hieroglyphs, a few specimens of which I saw on the sandstone walls of their canyons. Usually these are crude pictures of horses, goats, or sheep, through which they are trying to convey an idea. A dragon with its arms up means "flying." A dot with a circle around it means "migration." A dot with several parallel circles means "steps in migration as one proceeds from the original point." This usually refers to the steps in the Navajo tribe's migration. And yet despite the lack of written language, the Navajo expressions are picturesque. When they want to indicate that something happened in the spring, they often say; when a flock of ducks headed north...: If they wish to indicate that it took place in the fall, they tell of ducks headed south. Even words for naming a single object are picturesque. A cat is "Feet-make-no-noise"; a violin is "humming-wood"; a duck, "floating-by-its-own-power"; scissors, "iron-that-flashes-together."
Though it would seem impossible without a written language, the Navajos nevertheless have beautiful poetry which is handed down by word of mouth. Most of it deals with the origin of the Navajo tribe, the canniness of the coyote, the goodness of Navajo deities, the treachery of evil spirits, and related narratives and mythology. Navajo poetry is symbolic and full of sentiment. However, because of the Navajo's taciturnity it has received very little attention. Some of the traders and workers who have lived for years among the Navajos have gradually acquired some inkling and knowledge of their poetry, but few have attempted to write it. Pgs. 157-159
The Navajo squaws tend to be fat and short in stature compared with their men. The average Navajo is above five feet eight. They all have fine teeth and intelligent looking eyes. the men have narrow shoulders and hips, and their carriage is erect. They all have grim and severe countenances, but after you have won their confidence, they become friendly, joke and laugh, sometimes with a hysterical giggle. The traders who live among them report that the Navajos never fight among themselves. Ben Wetherill, who has grown up among them, once told me that he has seen them fight only twice. Of course, prior to the supervision of the Indians by the American Government, the Navajos warred upon neighboring Indian tribes, and they were considered the most ferocious fighters of their time. Although wars seldom break out among them these days, the Navajos still have natural antipathies for other tribes. Being nomadic, they are scorned by the so-called sedentary or pastoral Hopis, who make pottery, live in pueblos, and cultivate crops. The Navajos consider themselves superior to the Utes and Piutes, although the latter, too, are nomadic. Their contempt for these tribes finds expression in some of their legends. Sometimes,however, avoid the evils of inbreeding, Navajos take Piute wives. They firmly believe that the Cliff Dwellers became extinct because of close intermarriage among themselves.
White people are tempted to shed their clothes in the heat of the desert, but the Navajos are always well protected against the sun. the Navajo man wears one or even two brightly colored shirts, well buttoned at the neck and wrist; one or two pairs of jeans; and factory-made shoes or rust-colored moccasins made preferably of deerskin. His trousers are often covered by cowpunchers' chaps. He affects a wide-brimmed hat, but you can see his long hair done in a peculiar T-shaped loop at the nape of his neck with a band of cloth or strands of colored wool. Sometimes the men, especially the young ones, wear a colored handkerchief band around their foreheads instead of a hat. The men also wear jewelry:bead necklaces of varied patterns, and rings, bracelets, and earrings of silver and turquoise. Often their hat bands and leather belts are covered with silver pieces or multicolor beads strung into Indian designs. Most of the men appear clean shaven. What little hair grows on their faces they generally pull out by the roots. I can bear witness to this. One night I slept near a Navajo in one of our over-night camps. We had been very quietly lying on our horse blankets spread out on the sand when I noticed that my neighbor was a little jerky. So I began watching him carefully. He was placing his large hunting knife against a hair on his face and extracting it with a jerk. For some half-hour he proceeded systematically - first on one side of his face, then on the other.
The Navajo woman also protects herself against the sun and heat by wearing plenty of clothes. Her waist or jacket is made of bright well-lined velveteen, usually of a deep green color. Under each arm it has ventilation holes which look like tears to one unfamiliar with the Navajo design. It is made of one piece of cloth, plus the sleeves. A hole for the head is cut in the center of the material. Hence when the squaw is wearing one of these velvety shirts, you find that the nap in the front and the back runs in opposite directions. She wears several voluminous calico skirts, one on top of the other. The newest skirt is the topmost for a celebration, while the oldest comes to the surface when she is working in the field or doing housework. Thus her wardrobe is always with her. As a matter of fact she has no other place to keep it, for her house consists of but one room without cabinets or closets. The color of her tremendous pleated skirt is generally brown, but is is decorated at intervals with a few colored ribbons encircling its entire lower third. You may wonder how she makes all the pleats fall in place. That was the question I once asked a squaw who had made a Navajo skirt for my wife. Since it was brand new and had never been ironed, the pleats stuck out like a blown-up balloon. In answer to my query, the squaw moistened the skirt in a pool of rain water, wrung it out, and let it dry in the sun on a piece of sandstone. When it had thoroughly dried, its million pleats were all in place. The hard twisting she had given the skirt when she was wringing the water from it had done the trick. The Navajo woman wears rust-colored deerskin moccasins. Her legs from ankle to knee are wrapped in unbleached muslin. Her hair is done up like the man's, but more loosely and without headgear. However, if she has a blanket around her shoulders, she will usually pull it over her head. Though her ears are pierced, she does not always wear earrings. She has silver necklace, turquoise bracelets, rings and belts galore. Even her buttons are made of silver or American coins pounded into varied designs. As you approach her, she hangs her head in apparent modesty. Her eyes are usually large and brown and her teeth shiny. As a rule she will not talk to you unless she knows you very well.
As I have noted in preceding chapters, it is hard to get snapshots of these picturesque people. They will turn their backs just as the camera clicks. the younger women cover their faces or even run away. If a Navajo mother sees a white man with a camera, she will immediately run to hide her children. If she has a baby in the cradle, she will turn it around so that its face will not be visible. The Navajos fear any graphic representation of their persons. It splits one's personality. It duplicates him. If the duplicate (the picture) is lost or destroyed, the original (the person) will come to pretty much the same end:a curse of misfortune may fall upon him, or he may be haunted by a ghost that will enter his body. This fear is gradually disappearing. A few of them, when they feel a bond of friendship between themselves and a white man, will gracefully submit to the ordeal, even though they may have to take a treatment later to keep their children safe from the evil consequences. Still others are willing to take chances and be kodaked for a price. Pgs. 162-165
The Navajo fecundity is tremendous. The tribe has enlarged despite the white man's animosity and harshness of Nature. One reason is that the vast expanse of their country and their Nomadic way of life have prevented the overcrowding which is lethal to primitive people in the event of epidemics. Most other Indian tribes have decreased in size, some to the point of extinction, because they have no immunity to the white man's diseases, or because they could not withstand the encroachment of his civilization, with its "fire water" and its restrictions. In some places the Indians have been shoved off the more fertile land, where they were assured of water and game, into arid rocky regions where they were assured of water and game, into arid rocky regions where mere existence is too hard a problem for even the white man with his modern equipment to solve.
Although by nature nomadic, the Navajo has been adaptable to the extent of carrying on a limited agriculture, especially in the valley of the interesting San Juan River. He has learned to adjust his planting to the little rain his country receives. When there is no irrigating water, he plants his corn seeds eighteen inches deep and several feet apart in order to utilize every drop of rain that may fall. The Navajo does little hunting, since there is now almost no game in the country. He used to hunt deer, elk and antelope, but these animals are now practically extinct on the reservation. Occasionally he catches a rabbit or a prairie dog. bows and arrows, which in centuries past were commonly used both in hunting and in warfare, are rarely seen nowadays. Only once did I ever see a Navajo using the boomerang, known as rabbit-stick, although this implement is of common use among the Hopis. He chased the rabbit on horseback and threw the stick, breaking the animals legs. It is impossible that this weapon was introduced to our continent by the wandering Polynesians from other lands or vice versa. Pgs. 166-167
The Navajos still adhere a great deal to their old barter system, although with the introduction of American coin they have gradually learned the value of money, although with the introduction of American coin they have gradually learned the value of money, preferring silver to other types of exchange. When they need money, they frequently pawn their jewelry at the trading posts. Begging is unknown among them. They help the needy and ignore the idlers. The Navajo is not a very good business man, though he is shrewd. If he opens a store, he is sure to go broke within eight months. Having devoted most of his time for centuries to ceremonies in which he offers sacrifices to propriate his gods, the Navajo has developed the spirit of giving and sacrificing for his fellow tribesmen also. He will not turn away a relative. He will spend hundreds of his sheep on medicine dances to cure a friend or relative, if necessary. If he thinks you need something, he will give it to you. He is more devoted to his family and clan members than to his earthly goods.
The Navajo is very tenacious and, when he encounters difficulty, most ingenious. He must be steadfast and unremitting to reap a harvest from his arid environment. In this respect the Navajo is something like the Hollander. The Hollander has developed tenacity of character because of the overabundance of water which presents constant hardships, while the Navajo must constantly overcome the grievances and setbacks created by the lack of water. The Navajo will never just sit down and say nothing can be done; he will always seek some new solution. Though he may look surly or morose, he can always see the humorous side of things. The Navajo can laugh even at himself. Since he has many gods, each of whom is endowed with different powers and abilities, the Navajo is lenient with his friends who, after all, are mere mortals and can therefore easily err or fail to come up to his expectations. The Navajo is perhaps the only member of the human family who will not ridicule others. It is only since white people have educated him in Government schools that he has learned to ridicule the white man and make nasty remarks in the presence of others.
The Navajo does not take offense easily. This is partly due to his religion and partly to his nomadic way of life. In emergencies he has to depend solely on a few neighbors who are most likely to live many miles away. Transportation is by foot, mule, or horseback, over treacherous trails and through deep canyons. For these reasons he has learned to value his neighbor highly. He knows how to give as well as receive. When he meets a stranger, he will not smile; but if he knows a white man, a handshake is a "must." This particular custom he had borrowed wholeheartedly from the white man. I have often seen Navajos shaking hands among themselves. They are especially eager to shake the hand of a medicine man or an important person of their own tribe. Apparently they feel that it imparts something spiritual, just as the touch of a priest is considered a blessing among certain white people. On one occasion I saw a group who had come to witness a sand-painting ardently shake the hand of a medicine man's married daughter. Her father had been unable to attend, but they obviously believed that his daughter's handclasp possessed great efficacy. On the other hand, I have seen good friends who, when they encountered each other, gave no sign of recognition or greeting. At first this seemed very strange to me. Later, as I saw it happen again and again, I gave a great deal of thought to it. I sensed that this was a form of greeting in which one shows respect for the other by a moment of silence - a tribute we white people pay only after a person is dead. We publicly stand and bow our heads in silence for a man for whom we may not have had a single word of praise when he was living and would have appreciated our encouragement. Navajos honor and respect their living friends, but run away from the dead, leaving them to the care of a medicine man.
On my first visit to Rainbow Bridge I was riding in the company of two Navajos. We met two other Navajos coming toward us. When we were practically face to face, all four brought their horses to a sudden standstill, each pair motionless, staring into the far distance over the other couple's shoulders. They appeared stern. This lasted a minute. I was in a quandary and wondered if something were wrong. Then all of a sudden they began conversing in a friendly manner, to the point of hilarity. What a fine way of meeting your friend, showing respect by silence, instead of shouting and disturbing each other with meaningless words. In the wide open spaces, with the painted picturesque mesas as a background, the Navajo feels humble. The Navajo has contempt for anyone who loses his temper. He considers it disgraceful. When there is an argument, the council settles it. If he is treated as an equal by the white man, he is the most friendly person, but as John Wetherill used to say: "If you treat the Navajo with contempt, you will get it in the neck." Pgs. 171-173
Navajo society is matriarchal in contrast to our European system. The wife is supreme in the family, and the most important deities in the Navajo religion are females. Members of the family are known by her name, not her husbands. All property (except horses and saddles, which the husband usually owns) belongs to her. She supervises and directs family affairs. When she sells a sheep from the flock or a rug which she has woven, she uses the money so obtained in any way she pleases. In the days when the Navajo men went to war on other tribes, their women folk stayed with the children and whatever property they had. Although the men no longer go to that kind of war, they are very busy making war on disease and evil by means of their ceremonials; so they still leave a large part of the minor work and property with the women. Pg. 176
A maiden becomes a wife after a very simple ceremony. The young brave sends a close relative, usually an uncle, as intermediary to the girl's parents with an offer of gifts consisting usually of horses. If acceptable, toward evening of a set date the bridegroom appears at the girl's home, where many guests have gathered to participate in the feast. During the day, his parents have brought the horses and other gifts to the girl's home. Meanwhile the girl's parents have been busily engaged in the preparation of dinner for the wedding party. At the appointed hour the bridegroom enters the hogan first. Then follows the bride led by her father. Bride and groom sit on a blanket at the northwest side of the building. the bride's father sits or crouches nearby to wait on them. Before them is a basketful of plain corn gruel and a small jar of water with a gourd ladle. The relatives and friends file in next and sit on each side. When everyone is inside, the bride's father makes a cross over the top of the gruel by dropping white corn pollen from east to west and from south to north. Then he makes a circle around the whole from the east.
First the bride dips the ladle and pours water over the groom's hands; then the groom does the same thing for the bride. After they have washed their hands, the man dips his finger in the gruel where the line of pollen touches the circle at the east and eats a pinch of the gruel. The bride follows his example. Taking turns, both bride and groom continue eating pinches from different places - to the south, west, and north - where the pollen touches the circle. The wedding ceremony over, all present join in the feasting. The parents and other elders give advice for a happy married life. If a couple has been married for some time and things have not been going well and the wife wishes to divorce her husband, all she has to do, figuratively speaking, is to place his saddle outside the hogan. When he returns and sees it there, all he can do is to take it and walk away. He knows he is no longer wanted. But if the man wants a divorce all he can do is to leave home, as the children and practically all property belong to the wife.
However, the liberty and authority with which the Navajo woman is endowed bring her heavy responsibilities. She is busy before sunrise and her hard work does not end at sundown. She cannot phone for groceries to be delivered at he door every day. Every morning she bakes fresh bread of cornmeal or white flour which she has to get from the trading post. That usually means a long horseback ride there and back. She occasionally prepares her dough from yucca pods which have been chewed into a soft mass by the entire family the night before. she throws a chunk of dough from one hand to the other until the flaps are about two palm's width in size. then she fries her bread in grease of bakes it directly over live coals. the bread made from meal or flour is delicious, as I well know from experience.
The Navajo woman rears a large number of babies without benefit of our modern paraphernalia - bassinet, bathinet, dropside crib, bottle sterilizer, electric milk warmer, baby buggy, Taylor tot, and so forth. She builds an awetsal (baby bed) of wooden boards to which she straps her infant with leather laces. This she carries on her back or across her lap when she is in the saddle. When she leaves her papoose alone, she knows he is firmly tied in the cradle and that there is no fear of his being smothered or strangled by bedding. If she wishes, she can stand her cradle against a wall or tree while she attends to family chores. She can even hang it from a tree if she finds it more convenient. She has no diaper problem, for she dresses her baby in pair of pants which consists of two legs connected only with a string, belt, or band a the waistline and without any crotch or seat. Of course, tying the baby's head to a board makes it flat on the back - brachycephalic. The Navajo woman assigns the care of the sheep - which belong to her personally - to her children when they are very young. I met boys and girls of five or six years of age in complete charge of large flocks. They would never answer my questions. But soon I discovered that, like our own children, they also have a sweet tooth, relishing with evident gusto the pieces of candy offered them.
While the Navajo children tend the sheep and goats and the women run the affairs of the hogan, the men are busy - as busy as deliberate, thoughtful persons can be - planning, rehearsing, or practicing the frequent and elaborate ceremonies carried on for the propitiation of their ancient gods. In theses ceremonies the man has the complete co-operation of the woman, without whose help he could not feel carefree to feast on such occasions. However, despite her high standing in the family, the Navajo woman is only a silent partner when it comes to ceremonies. She has no part in them. She does not dance or sing. The unmarried girls do participate in the Squaw Dance, but it is the only one and it is of recent origin. All ceremonies are largely of medico-religious significance. They are complicated and consume nearly all the thought and time of the men of the tribe. That is why a large part of the work is left to the women and children. However, the men do look after the cattle and horses and perform the most difficult tasks. And - they have no interference form their mother-in-laws, called do-yo-ini or she-may-not-be-seen. according to Navajo tradition, if a mother-in-law speaks directly to her son-in-law, she will become blind. she must convey her messages or desires to him through a third party. If it becomes absolutely necessary for her to speak to him, they will have to sit back to back, far apart, with a third person who stands midway between the two and relays the messages back and forth. She may, however, visit he daughter occasionally when her son-in-law is absent from home.
The family usually eats quietly, sitting in a circle on the sand around a pail of stew. There is no talking. Everyone reaches into the vessel and picks out what he or she likes best. It is a very happy sight to watch. Their food consists mainly of corn and lamb They will eat horse or mule meat only when they have no other food. The Navajos are smokers, and all of them like coffee - an acquired taste. As a matter of fact, they usually begin drinking coffee at the age of two years, or as soon as they are weaned. At that early age they are also given watermelon and beans. Only the fittest among the children survive, but the boys who do reach their maturity usually become good-looking men.
The Navajos are clean in spite of the sand and dust that covers everything. Though they spit anywhere and everywhere, the act is not considered unsanitary or obnoxious, for they believe that saliva has a curative value. They wash their hair frequently despite the lack of water. they take steam or sweat baths, though these are partially religious rites and are taken primarily for the sake of health. They must be taken according to a set of rules, accompanies by a chant, in sweat houses, which are half domed structures built of rough-hewn beams and covered with mud. The only opening is the small entrance that always faces east. These bathhouses are so small that I could not stand up in any one of them. A few rocks or stones are heated over a fire outside and are then carried into the sweat house with the aid of two sticks of wood which are used as tongs. the entrance is closed by hanging a blanket over it. Water, sometimes mixed with herbs, is poured over the hot rocks, giving off a fragrant steam. After certain prescribed acts and considerable sweating, the naked bather emerges to be dashed with cold water or, if the house is in the vicinity of a creek, to run from the hot vapor bath into the cold water. In the winter he is rubbed with snow. This not only keeps him clean and physically fit, but also rids his body of evil spirits.
Gradually I learned that there are no villages or towns on the reservation. The only time you find Navajos together in large groups is during one of their ceremonies. Families travel many days to participate in these. In addition to his aversion for community dwelling, the Navajo settles in one spot for no more than six months, if that long. He moves his family, his cattle, and his other belongings up and down the mesa land. This is especially true of the Indians in the western section of the reservation. The Navajo spends the summer season on the lowlands, living in the chahao, a temporary shelter loosely built of shrubbery. In winter he lives on the highlands in a permanent hogan solidly built of juniper logs and covered with sand-mud. Since the entrances always face east, Navajo dwellings serve as compasses, and one need never worry about getting lost when a hogan is in sight. These one-room windowless houses, with a smoke hole through which the family hopes the smoke will escape, give protection against snow and cold, not uncommon in this desert country at altitudes of six to nine thousand feet.
In the evening the family gathers around the open fire in the center of the hogan. The fire produces little light and much smoke, and since there is no other illumination, the Navajo cannot occupy himself with anything that requires good lighting. It is impossible to read by the firelight, and , of course, unless he has been educated in the American schools, the Navajo cannot read. So he entertains himself and his family with stories, legends, and myths. They are told quietly, with naive gestures and picture-words; and the narratives are colored with his belief in gods, spirits and chindi (ghosts). The Navajos have no Shakespeare, Virgil, or Homer, but much of their poetry is truly beautiful. They have no Bach, Beethoven, or Mozart, but they chant single verses with fiery zeal and poetic expression. They have no Crusaders, Knights of the Round Table, or Daniel Boone, but they have god heroes who have slain fantastic monsters and giants and who even today protect the Navajo against evil spirits and the evil eye, and help him when he is in difficulty.
If anyone is about to die, the family moves out of the hogan, leaving the patient to the medicine men. The Navajo believes that the hogan becomes haunted when a human being dies in it. Therefore the family or the medicine men try to get the dying patient out of the building before it is too late to save the home for future use. I have seen a number of abandoned hogans, their doorways blocked with stones and special holes knocked out in the north sides through which the corpses were carried out by medicine men for burial. Sometimes instead of just abandoning the hogan, they burn and level it. This indirectly serves as a prophylactic measure. Other traditional practices are even more effective barriers to epidemics. For instance, they break all the earthenware and cut up the household blankets so they may never be used again. Near the grave of the dead man they kill his best riding animal, after decorating him with his saddle and all of his trappings. Practically everything that may have come in contact with the sick person is destroyed to keep his chindi, or in our language the infecting bacteria, from harming others.
When a Navajo gets sick, his family and friends literally run away, leaving him to the ministrations of the medicine men. In the event that the sick person has a contagious disease, this custom provides a pretty thorough quarantine. the medicine men, by the way, are supposed to possess the power of keeping chindi away from themselves while they are freeing the patient from them.... The Navajos have no undertakers and no coffins.
Always situated near a spring or waterhole, the hogan is hectagonal in shape - almost circular, in fact. Juniper logs, graduated in length and diameter, are placed parallel on top of each other, so that, as the walls rise, the room grows smaller near the top. There is no furniture - only a sheepskin to sit on and, perhaps, a few plain cooking utensils, including the highly prized coffee pot. The hogan is the center of family life, and the Navajo spends most of is time there, even though it is such a simple structure and contains little. He is anxious that his hogan and his family be unmolested by men or evil spirits. He hopes that his wife and all of his children will have enough to eat. He prays that his hogan will not be visited by sickness or "enemy ancestors." To make sure that all his desires and hopes will be realized in his hogan, he prays and performs ceremonies before he moves into it. Unfortunately, the ceremony of hogan dedication is no longer faithfully practiced by every Navajo. The manner of building and the dedication ceremony demonstrate how friendly, deeply religious, poetic, and playfully humorous the Navajo is. All neighbors and friends voluntarily participate in the building, so that it is finished in one day and is ready for the dedication before sunset. The wife sweeps out the new hogan while her husband builds the first fire in the middle of the floor directly under the smoke hole. She goes out of the building, pours white cornmeal into a basket, and hands it to her husband, who then enters the hogan and, in a certain prescribed order, silently rubs a handful of the dry meal on the five principle timbers which form the frame. Then, with a sweeping motion from left to right, he sprinkles the meal around the outer circumference of the floor, saying in low measured tones:
May it be delightful, my house,
From my head my it be delightful,
To my feet may it be delightful,
Where I lie may it be delightful.
All above me may it be delightful,
All around me may it be delightful."
He next flings a little of the cornmeal into the burning fire, saying: "May it be delightful and well, my fire." Then he tosses a few handfuls up through the smoke hole, saying:
May it be delightful, Sun, my Mother's ancestor,
May it be delightful as I walk around my house.
He sprinkles a few more handfuls on the fire, saying in a subdued voice:
May it be delightful, my fire,
May it be delightful for my children,
may all be well,
May it be delightful w