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When the wedding day arrived, we were late in getting started and so we missed the early morning rites when the hogan was blessed and the prayers for long life, happiness, and fertility had been sung over the young couple. There were the rites and prayers to banish all evil influences that might cause them trouble. Then they returned to the mother's hogan where the main part of the ceremony would take place. We arrived at midmorning and entered the hogan to find the young couple sitting with their backs to the west wall and dozens of friends and members of the two clans crowded into the room. The mother was nowhere to be seen as this family still adhered to the taboo that the bridegroom must never look his mother-in-law in the face on penalty of blindness. But we knew that she was in the nearby cookhouse where she could direct family procedure and observe all who came or went. We had interrupted the harangue of one of the bride's uncles, who had been appointed by her parents to deliver the wedding sermon. In other words, he was to expound the law as to the conduct and responsibilities of a married couple. After about an hour of instructions directed at the young couple, he turned his attention to the other young people in the room and to their parents. After a period of respectful silence, a messenger was sent to the cookhouse to tell the, that the speech was finished and it was time to bring the water and the mush. A younger sister came into the hogan carrying a large wedding basket filled with corn mush, the corn meal used for making this having been ground by this sister suing a cornstone and a metate. Following her came another girl with a bowl of water and a gourd dipper. Now the bride's father sprinkled a line of white pollen on top of the mush from east to west and then another from south to north. After this he placed lines of yellow pollen parallel to the white lines. White was for the groom and yellow was for the bride. Then he mixed the two colors of pollens and drew a circle around the edge of the bowl to indicate long life for both the bride and the groom. When the medicine man had finished blessing the mush and the water, both the basket of mush and the bowl of water were placed directly in front of the young couple. The groom, using his forefinger and thumb, took a large pinch of mush from the center of the basket and the bride's hand followed his in taking mush from the same place. This was repeated in taking pinches of mush from the south, the west, the north, and lastly from the east. The symbolism of this meant that she would follow his lead in all things. Then the basket was handed to her relatives who helped themselves to generous pinches, and then passed it to the guests, so it was sampled by everyone in the hogan and finally came back to the medicine man who ate the last fragments. While the basket was being passed around, The bride picked up the ladle and dipped it into the bowl of water to pour over the hands of the groom, then he did the same for her, indicating that they were willing to assist each other in all endeavors. There were no towels for drying their hands but a small amount of white corn meal was sifted over the groom's hands and yellow corn meal over the bride's. The empty mush basket, the water bowl, and the ladle were taken out by the two girls who had brought them, Then the groom and the bride gathered up armloads of gifts that had been brought to the hogan, and went to the home that awaited them. The medicine man in charge of the ceremony went with them, carrying the whirling-stick with which to start the first fire in the new house. With cliff rose cotton and pine splinters handy, the medicine man squatted by the central fire pit, deftly twirling the fire arrow and chanting hogan blessing songs. As soon as a spark caught in the tinder, he handed it to the bride to place under the wood in the fire pit, for this was her house and this was her fire, and the wood must not fail to burn.
Nowadays the principal importance of clan is that of limiting marriage choices: one may never marry within one's own clan nor that of one's father, although the latter is not considered as incestuous as it once was. The Navajos still look upon incest and the practice of witchcraft as the most repulsive of crimes and marriage within your own clan is thought of as incest. The traditional Navajo wedding ceremony is a complicated and colorful affair. To a great extent marriages are still arranged by a prescribed order of events. Once a boy becomes of marriageable age - usually in his late teens - his father begins to survey the local families in search of a suitable girl. Of course, nowadays the son has often already found the girl of his choice and, in any event, he is consulted on the choice of his father as are the rest of the adult members of the biological and sometimes the extended family. If the father knows of no family that has a suitable daughter of marriageable age, he might consult his relatives. Sometimes the entire matter is handled by the potential groom's maternal uncle. A maternal uncle is honored as a second father and traditionally he disciplined and taught his nephews. When the father or uncle has decided upon a girl to which there are no objections within the family group, a member of the boy's family is appointed to go to the prospective bride's family and ask for her hand in marriage. Once it has been decided who will act as the boy's emissary, the matter of dowry is discussed. In the old days a boy's family would offer up to twelve horses and several sheep, contributed by various members of the family and even by the boy himself. Nowadays it is more usual for jewelry or other goods, which may include livestock, to be offered. It is still not unusual for the prospective groom and bride to be strangers; in rare cases they may not have ever seen each other. When the emissary from the boy's family arrives at the girl's home he states his business to her mother, her father and perhaps to a maternal uncle. It is the duty of the emissary to overcome all objections to the boy that might crop up and to make the dowry offer. The mother of the girl usually has the final word as to whether the offer is accepted. She may, however, leave the decision up to the father or any other respected member of the family. The prospective bride is usually consulted in the matter today but she seldom was in the past. Once the bride's family decides to accept the marriage offer, a date is selected which is always an odd number of days five, seven, twenty-one or more away. Once the offer has been accepted and the date of the ceremony selected, the boy's representative thanks the family and returns home to make his report. The Bride's family notifies friends and relatives of the coming wedding. They in turn, give them gifts of food to help feed the expected guests. Then they usually build a separate hogan for the wedding and in which the bride and groom will reside. On the morning of the wedding the girl is bathed and dressed in her best clothing. The wedding feast is prepared and all is put in readiness for the guests. Meanwhile, the bridegroom is likewise undergoing a ritual cleansing and is dressed in his best clothing. His party leaves home so as to arrive at the bride's home at sundown. When they arrive they place the dowry livestock in the corral and / or give the bride's maternal uncle the dowry previously agreed upon. The bride's family inspects the dowry to see if it is as promised. In a rare case they might find the dowry wanting, then the wedding is immediately called off. The groom's party retires to the wedding hogan. When he enters the hogan, carrying his saddle, he proceeds "sunwise" south around the fire and takes his place in the rear opposite the entrance. The remainder of his party follows him in and they take their prescribed places to the north of the groom. Meanwhile the bride's mother is preparing unseasoned corn mush which she must cook in a clay pot. When it is ready she places it in a ceremonial woven basket. The other women of her family are getting the feast ready. A wicker jug is filled with water and a gourd ladle is placed beside it. A special dish of meat is prepared for the bridal couple also. Once the repast is ready, a master of ceremonies who may be a respected Singer or some favored member of the bride's family, carrying a bag of corn pollen and the jug of water, leads the bride's precession to the marriage hogan. The bride walks behind him, carrying the corn mush. Other members of her party follow her, carrying the food for the feast. The mother still usually remains behind. Mothers-in-law are not supposed to look upon their sons-in-law. This taboo what Lummis called the "mother-in-law joke" intrigues white people who have searched for a hidden significance that really doesn't exist. Navajo children, playing outside the hogan, will still warn a visiting grandmother that their father is approaching and she will take her leave. It would be considered bad manners for her to remain, just as it would be considered such if her son-in-law visited her hogan unannounced. Perhaps the only explanation for this custom is that given me by a Navajo friend who said, "It avoids a lot of trouble in the family." The bride's party enters the hogan and they take their prescribed places on the south. The bride places the basket of corn mush in front of the bridegroom and takes a seat to his right. The master of ceremonies puts the wicker jug in front of the bridal couple and gives the gourd ladle to the bride. He pours water into it and tells her to pour the water onto the groom's hands. After he has washed his hands, the bride gives him the ladle and he in turn pours water on her hands while she washes them. The master of ceremonies then takes out his bag of corn pollen. The basket of mush is placed so that the termination of the weaving faces the east and the fire. He takes a pinch of pollen and sprinkles it from east to west over the mush, then from north to south. Next he makes a clockwise pollen circle around the basket. Turning to the guests, he asks if there are any objections to his turning the basket halfway around, which is symbolic of turning the minds of the bride and groom toward each other. After turning the basket, he tells the groom to take a pinch of the corn mush at the edge where the pollen ends at the East. The groom places the mush in his mouth and the bride does the same. Next, with the groom preceding, they take pollen from the South, the West and the North and finally from the center where the two lines of pollen cross, and eat it. When they have finished, the master of ceremonies tells everyone to start eating the wedding feast. The woven basket used in the ceremony is usually given to the groom's mother. When the feast has been consumed one of the visiting party makes a speech, thanking the bride's people for the food and for their reception and also for the gift of the fine daughter. Then the master of ceremonies or some other respected member of one of the families selected for that purpose instructs the bride and groom as to their required future conduct toward each other and their connubial duties. The latter is frank and uninhibited and of a nature that would prove most embarrassing to a white bridal couple were it given to them in the presence of friends and relatives. It is then suggested that the bride and groom stay in the hogan for four nights and four days, and the wedding party leaves. Pgs. 20-23
A. M. Stephen thus describes the wedding custom: "On the night set for the wedding both families and their friends meet at the hut of the bride's family. Here there are much feasting and singing, and the bride's family make return presents to the bridegroom's people, but not, of course, to the same amount. The women of the bride's family prepare corn meal porridge, which is poured into the basket. The bride's uncle then sprinkles the sacred blue pollen of the larkspur upon the porridge, forming a design. The bride has hitherto been lying beside her mother, concealed under a blanket, on the woman's side of the hogan (hut). After calling to her to come to him, her uncle seats her on the west side of the hut, and the bridegroom sits down before her, with his face toward hers, and the basket of porridge set between them. A gourd of water is then given to the bride, who pours some of it on the bridegroom's hands while he washes them, and he then performs a like office for her. With the first two fingers of the right hand he then takes a pinch of porridge, just where the line of pollen touches the circle of the east side. He eats this one pinch, and the bride dips with her fingers from the same place. He then takes in succession a pinch from the other places where the lines touch the circle and a final pinch from the center, the bride's fingers following his. The basket of porridge is then passed over to the younger guests, who speedily devour it with merry clamor, a custom analogous to dividing the bride's cake at a wedding The elder relatives of the couple now give them much good and weighty advice, and the marriage is complete." In Navaho ceremonies that I have witnessed the custom is somewhat different. The pollen is sprinkled and a pinch taken from each quarter and from the center by the shaman or medicine man and by him breathed upon and thrown to the corresponding cardinal points, N. W. S. E. and here, thus propitiating the powers of all the universe. Then, handing the bowl to the bride and bridegroom, they, in the presence of the assembled guests, begin at the point where the line touches the east, and each take a pinch of the porridge and eat it, the bride going one way and the bridegroom the other, until their fingers meet on the opposite side of the bowl. Then the marriage is complete, and the rest of the porridge is handed to the guests.
Mr. G. H. Pepper, of the American Museum of Natural History, New York, has seen a Navaho wedding ceremony conducted in a different manner from either of these described. On this occasion he learned that a little Indian girl was at the point of death, having been bitten by a rattlesnake while collecting pollen from growing corn. Pollen is the Navaho symbol of fertility, and its use in a marriage ceremony is naturally obvious. Although the child was so dangerously ill, Mr. Pepper says the marriage ceremony went on, regardless of her condition. A small amount of corn meal was taken and slightly moistened and then mixed together. This half dry, half wet meal was then sprinkled in four lines across the empty wedding basket, dividing it into four equal parts. At the end of each line a small ball of the meal was placed, as well as one in the center. This done, all was ready for the ceremony. The bridegroom, who up to this time had been outside the hogan with his friends, now came in and sat down. Then the mother of the bride brought to the groom a wicker or gourd bottle full of water, with which he advanced, and, as the bride held out her hands, he poured the water over while she washed them. This done, the bride took the water bottle and poured water over his hands. Now the couple sat down on the west side of the hogan, and in full view of all present. The bridegroom then took the wedding basket in his hands, holding it with the shipapu opening turned towards the east. Then, taking a small pinch of meal from the end of the line which terminated towards the east, he put it in the bride's mouth. The bride then took a pinch and fed the groom in like manner, after which groom and bride alternately took a pinch, each feeding it to the other, from each of the lines in succession, and finally from the center. This done, the ceremony was completed. In his preoccupation with the sick child Mr. Pepper does not remember whether the pinches of meal were taken from the lines beginning East and continuing North, West and South or the other way. It will be remembered that elsewhere I have called attention to the fact that as a rule the ceremonial circuit of the Indians of the Southwest is always East, North, West and South, which is describing a circle in the backward way from that generally followed by white men. Pgs. 36-37
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. Pgs. 177-178
The dimensions of a basket often exceed twelve to fourteen inches in diameter, and are usually a fraction more than three inches in depth. As a material, the twigs of sumac (ki, or chilchin) are used. A triple incision is made into the butt end of the twig, one part of which is held between the teeth while the other two are torn off with the fingers. Each part is then scraped clean of its bark with a knife of piece of tin, and the twigs to be dyed are laid aside in a heap, while the natural color of the twig furnishes the lighter shades of the designs. The dyes used are identical with those used for coloring wool, though, obviously, the mordant of boiled sumac leaves (ki) becomes superfluous. Cedar ashes supposedly add luster to the color and contribute to its adhesive quality. Black was obtained from surface coal (lejin), added to boiling sumac leaves (ki), or from a sulfurous rock (tsekho), slightly roasted (ilt'es) with pine gum or rosin (je'). When ready this was added to the boiling twigs giving them a lustrous black color similar to charcoal (t'esh nahalin). The root of juniper (gad behetl'ol) and mountain mahogany (tseesdasi behetlol) are boiled together, after which the ground bark of alder (kish yikago) is added to obtain a pale red, into which the twigs are immersed. At times the joint fir (tlo' azehi, Ephedra trifurcata) is substituted for alder bark, while cedar ashes add luster to the color.
Blue was frequently obtained with indigo, though a native blue is also prepared from a bluish clay or ocher called adishtl'ish, which is pulverized and mixed with water. Various shades of yellow are obtained with plants like Bigelovia (kiltsoi), the sneeze weed (naeeshja ilkhei, Helenium hoopesii), or the sorrel (jat'ini), the flowers of which are crumpled and boiled, with cedar ashes thrown in.
The dyeing done, the twigs, both colored and uncolored, are placed in water to render them moist and pliable. The butt ends of the first twigs are wound around a small stick known as the bottom of the basket, and secured there with yucca. An awl, made of deer-bone (bi' bikhetsin), is now used in sewing the basket for which an iron awl is found impractible. The sewing is always done sunrise, or from left to right, giving the basket the shape of a helical coil when finished. Much deftness and constant application are required to obtain a close weave which will hold water after a few minutes moistening, while baskets of inferior quality require moistening much longer. The designs are, of course, woven with the colored twigs. Yellow and blue, however, are now rarely used, and the usual pattern is a band three to six inches wide, woven with zigzag edges in black with a line of red running through the center, and set, as it were, on a light background made of the natural color of the twig. Or, this band is sometimes displaced by a set of four or more square figures woven at intervals, with a colored circle entwining the lower part of each square. The colors in this and the first pattern might be increased to two or more according to taste. Both patterns are designated as tsa', basket, without reference to their designs. Of the two extinct patterns, the tsa' netse', or coiled basket, presented a design of vari-colored coils following each other, while the tsa' hokhani, or basket of enclosures, presented a set of four triangles whose apices rested on the center or bottom of the basket. From the base of each of these triangles three squares, increasing in width, extended to the rim of the basket, giving the whole design a shape similar to the Maltese Cross. While no special rules were laid down with regard to the blending of colors, or the number of figures and circles in a design, it was essential that every design be broken or intersected by a line of uncolored twigs. In baskets with circular designs this was comparatively easy, but in the tsa' hokhani, or basket of enclosures, it was found necessary to intersect one set of squares in order to make this line quite apparent. It was therefore called qaatqin (qatqin), the way out, or chohot'i, the line leading out, and was prescribed lest the sewer, in bending all her energies and applications upon her work, enclose herself and thus lose her sight and mind. A parallel is found in overdoing weaving, singing, in amassing fortune, or in the opening left in the figure of the queue and bow. This intersection always runs in a radial line with the close of the seam on the imbricated rim of each basket, which in turn serves as a guide in the directional assignment, as the close always faces eastward. Hence the singer always looks or feels for the closed rim, designated as bida' astl'o, where the rim is woven (instead of sewed). The details involved in mending this rim, as well as the taboo placed upon the wearing of a basket as a headgear, the legends of the origin of the basket, and relative subjects, are beyond the scope of the present work. Suffice to say, that the basket is made exclusively for ceremonial use, and is an integral part of every rite, as none is holy (diyin) without it.
The strength and elasticity of the Navaho basket renders it serviceable as a drum, in other words, it is turned down and beaten with the drumstick. Should it be turned up again before the close of the ceremony, it indicates that the singer has suspended the continuation of the ceremony. The basket is also used as a receptacle for the rattles, prayersticks, stones, herbs, medicines, and like ceremonial paraphernalia. The ceremonial bath is administered in the basket. The mask of the Fringed Mouth (zahodolzhai) is supported on a basket from which the bottom has been cut out. At the marriage ceremony a new basket is required in which to serve the porridge. As it is frequently impossible for the couple to consume its contents, the basket is passed around to the visiting guests. Whosoever consumes the final portion of the porridge also takes possession of the basket, wherefore baskets thus obtained are designated as tsa' na'obani, or the basket which was won. It is otherwise referred to as danakhan bi'odani, the basket from which they eat the porridge. The so-called wedding basket is therefore unknown. In the early days baskets were woven of yucca braid. The pith of the yucca leaf was extracted and dyed in the same manner as sumac twigs today. It was also permissible to use the designs of the basket in the decoration of the uppers for moccasins made of yucca. The remnants of twigs used for baskets are employed in constructing the so called owls (naeshja). Pgs. 291-296
Even such everyday tasks as weaving must be done only in moderation. Many women will not weave more than about two hours at a stretch; in the old days unmarried girls were not allowed to weave for fear they would overdo, and there is a folk rite for curing the results of excess in this activity. Closely related is the fear of completely finishing anything: as a "spirit outlet," the basket maker leaves an opening in the design. Pgs. 225-226
According to Washington Matthews the Navahoes have many legends with which baskets are connected. Here is a description of the first baby baskets ever made. Surely none but a poetic and imaginative people could ever have conceived so wonderful a basket. Their gods of war were born of two women, one fathered by the sun, the other by a waterfall, and when they were born they were placed in baby baskets both alike as follows: The foot-rests and the back battens were made of sunbeam, the hoods of rainbow, the side-strings of sheet lightning, and the lacing strings of zigzag lightning. One child they covered with the black cloud, and the other with the female rain.
Another form of this story says that the boy born first was wrapped in black cloud. A rainbow was used for the hood of his basket and studded with stars. The back of the frame was perihelion, with the bright spot at its bottom shining at the lowest point. Zigzag lightning was laid in each side and straight lightning down the middle in front. Niltsatlol (sunbeams shining on a distant rainstorm) formed the fringe in front where Indians now put strips of buckskin. The carry-straps were sunbeams. Pg. 23
In many Indian ceremonies baskets play a most important part. For nine days these ceremonies last, the first day being devoted to the building and dedication of a medicine hogan and a sweat house. Around this sweat house wands of turkey feathers were placed, which were brought hither in one of these sacred baskets; and when the sweating process was over the wands were collected, placed in the basket and removed to the medicine hogan. On the fourth day two of these baskets figured prominently in the ceremonies. A medicine basket containing amole root and water was placed in front of a circle made of sand and covered with pine boughs. A second basket contained water and a quantity of pine needles sufficiently thick to form a dry surface, and on the top of these needles a number of valuable necklaces of coral, turquoise and silver were placed. A square was formed on the edge of the basket with four of the turkey wands before mentioned. The song priest with rattle led several priests in singing. The invalid sat to the northeast of the circle, a breech cloth his only apparel. During the chanting an attendant made suds by macerating the amole and beating it up and down in the water. The basket remained in position; the man stooped over it, facing north; his position allowed the sunbeams which came through the fire opening to fall upon the suds. When the basket was a mass of white froth the attendant washed the suds from his hands by pouring water from a Paiuti basket water-bottle (Fig. 20) over them, after which the song priest came forward and with corn pollen drew a cross over the suds, which stood firm like the beaten whites of eggs, the arms of the cross pointing to the cardinal points. A circle of the pollen was then made around the edge of the suds." This crossing and circling of the basket of suds with the pollen is supposed to give them additional power in restoring the invalid to health. The invalid now knelt upon the pinion boughs in the center of the same circle. "A handful of the suds was placed on his bead. The basket was now placed near to him, and he bathed his head thoroughly ; the maker of the suds afterwards assisted him in bathing the entire body with the suds, and pieces of yucca were rubbed upon the body. The chant continued through the ceremony and closed just as the remainder of the suds was emptied by the attendant over the invalid's head. The song priest collected the four wands from the second basket, and an attendant gathered the necklaces; a second attendant placed the basket before the invalid, who was now sitting in the center of the circle, and the first attendant assisted him in bathing the entire body with this mixture; the body was quite covered with the pine needles, which had become very soft from soaking. The invalid then returned to his former position at the left of the song priest, and the pine needles of the yucca,or amole, together with the sands, were carried out and deposited at the foot of a pinion tree. The body of the invalid was dried by rubbing with meal." This taking out of the sands, pine needles, etc., used in the ceremony was supposed to take away so much of the disease that had been washed from the invalid.
Later in the day at another most elaborate ceremony baskets filled with food are placed in a circle around a fire in the medicine lodge. One of the priests takes a pinch of food from each basket, and places it in another basket. This is then prayed over, smoked over and thus made a powerful medicine by the song-priest. After the priest has gone through several performances with it, the invalid dips his three first fingers into the mixture, puts them in his mouth, and loudly sucks in the air. This is repeated four times. Then all the attendants do likewise, with a prayer for rain, good crops, health and riches. This food is afterwards dried by the chief medicine man, made into a powder, and is one of his most potent medicines. On the sixth day a great sand painting is made in the medicine lodge, and the invalid, as he enters, is required to take the sacred medicine basket, which is now filled with sacred meal, and sprinkle the painting with it. The chief figures of the painting were the goddesses of the rainbow, whose favor it was desired he should gain. Again and again in the ceremonies these sacred baskets are used, and on the ninth day in the concluding dance the invalid takes it full of sacred meal and sprinkles all the dancers. The full description of this wonderful series of ceremonies is found in the Eighth Annual Report of the U. S. Bureau of Ethnology.
If the margin is worn through or torn, the basket is unfit for sacred use. The basket is one of the perquisites of the shaman when the rites are done; but he, in turn, must give it away, and must he careful never to eat out of it. Notwithstanding its sacred uses, food may be served in it by any other person than the shaman who has used it ceremonially. Fig. 29 shows the other form of Navaho sacred basket. It is also made of aromatic sumac, and is used in the rites to hold sacred meal. The crosses are said to represent clouds, heavy with rain, and would indicate that this basketry design may have had its origin in its use during ceremonies intended to bring the rain. Another important ceremony of the Navahoes in which this basket figures is that of marriage. Another interesting thing about this Navaho wedding basket it is well to notice, and that is that the finishing off of the last coil of the basketry always comes directly opposite to the Shipapu opening. This is for the purpose of enabling those who use the basket at night to determine where the Shipapu opening is, so that they may hold the basket in the proper ceremonial way, which requires that the Shipapu opening shall always be turned towards the East. This finishing off place on the rim of the basket is called by the Navahoes the a-tha-at-lo. According to Matthews, the sacred basket used in all these ceremonials has another important function to perform. It is used as a drum. He says: "In none of the ancient Navaho rites is a regular drum or tomtom employed. The inverted basket serves the purpose of one, and the way in which it is used for this simple object is rendered devious and difficult by ceremonious observances." Then over a page of description is required to tell how the shamans proceed when they "turn down the basket" to make a drum of it at the beginning of the songs, and "turn up the basket" at the close. Everything is done with elaborate ceremony. "There are songs for turning up and turning down the basket, and there are certain words in these songs at which the shaman prepares to turn up the basket by putting his hand under its eastern rim, and other words at which he does the turning. For four nights, when the basket is turned down, the eastern part is laid on the outstretched blanket first, and it is inverted toward the west. On the fifth night it is inverted in the opposite direction. When it is turned up, it is always lifted first at the eastern edge. As it is raised an imaginary something is blown toward the east, in the direction of the smoke-hole of the lodge, and when it is completely turned up hands are waved in the same direction, to drive out the evil influences which the sacred songs have collected and imprisoned under the basket."
Even in the making of this sacred basket many ceremonial requirements must be heeded. In forming the helical coil, the fabricator must always put the butt end of the twig toward the center of the basket and the tip end toward the periphery, in accordance with the ceremonial laws governing the disposition of butts and tips. Pgs. 33-37
By 1973 there were over 100 basket weavers on and off the reservation, and 125 potters in Chinle Agency alone. At least in part, commercialization stimulated the revival of these crafts. . . . . In the Oljeto area, basketweavers began producing baskets with yei figures woven into their designs. While such baskets could not be used in religious ceremonies, they found a ready market with non-Indians. Pg. 252
The Navajo wedding basket also reflects many values of traditional life and so often contains all six sacred mountains, including Huerfano and Gobernador Knob, though the size of the basket may determine the number of mountains in the design. The center spot in the basket represents the beginning of this world, where the Navajo people emerged from a reed. This is where the spirit of the basket lives. The white part around the center is the earth, the black symbolizing the sacred mountains upon which are found water bowls. Above them are clouds of different colors. The white and black ones represent the making of rain. A red section next to the mountains stands for the sun's rays that make things grow. Pg. 19
The basket for the emetic in the first War Ceremony was of crystal.
An indispensable requirement of a chant is the basket; at least one is believed
to represent whiteshell. All the precious stones are mythical basket materials.
Frequently the basket is of one stone with a contrasting rim - whiteshell rimmed
with turquoise or the reverse; abalone rimmed with redstone or the reverse,
jet with an abalone rim or the reverse.
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The fibers of baskets used to be of yucca. Baskets are not used much secularly but have a prescribed place in ceremonies.
They are often called "wedding" baskets because one holds the ceremonial
mush which the bride and groom eat alternatingly. The function of the basket
in curing ceremonies is perhaps greater, but not as well known. When preparations
for a ceremony are made, one of the questions asked is, "How many baskets
must be provided?" They become consequently an important item of trade.
Their manufacture is surrounded with such a number of taboos difficult to keep
that Navajo rarely make them, preferring to trade them from their neighbors,
the Ute and Paiute, who have not the prescribed taboos.
Another form of purification is the yucca bath. The "one-sung-over"
bathes from head to foot in the yucca suds which fill a ceremonial basket. He
is careful to stand within the limits of a platform made of sand from the cornfield
which has been carefully spread. On it special places are designated for the
basket and for the patient's knees and hands, for he kneels to get his hair
in the basket. The water which drains off of him must fall on the sand. When
all is over, this may be gathered up like a blotter and the evils may be carried
out and dissipated.
An indispensable requirement of a chant is the basket; at least one is believed to represent whiteshell. All the precious stones are mythical basket materials. Frequently the basket is of one stone with a contrasting rim - whiteshell rimmed with turquoise or the reverse; abalone rimmed with redstone or the reverse, jet with an abalone rim or the reverse.
The basket for the emetic in the first War Ceremony was of crystal.
Basket (tsa') has already been extensively treated. There are, however, certain points that have not been stressed; one concerns the number of baskets necessary to a ceremony-the discussions often imply that there is only one (Ch. 14). A part of the agreement between chanter and sponsor is the provision of the baskets, as important as the payment to the singer. When the chant is over, some baskets are presented to the chanter or some other participant in the ceremony; borrowed baskets are returned to the owner, who may be the chanter or almost anyone who can provide them. Certain taboos, some very strict, attach to the basket. Nowadays it has become an article of trade, procurable at a trading post. Baskets so bought may be considered neutral, having no restrictions and no evil attached to them; the ceremony gives them blessing value.
Because of the 'drawing power' of the earth, sacred objects should not touch the ground; consequently, ceremonial properties-War Ceremony rattlestick, prayersticks, hoops, bundle equipment-must be placed on or in something; it is often a basket, especially for assembled bundle equipment.
I had to provide five baskets for the Shooting Chant Prayerstick branch. I paid for four and borrowed one from RP, the chanter. One was used for the layout of branch symbol prayersticks during their preparation and for the subsequent bundle equipment layout, one for the emetic, one for the drum, one for the bath, and one for the ceremonial mush. After the bath the chanter put his bundle layout in the basket that had been used for the bath. Every ceremony undoubtedly has similar requirements; some have more, some fewer.
The basket represents jewels and therefore the potentiality of wealth, with its provision for proper offerings. Baskets are often thought of as consisting of one of the precious stones, rimmed with a contrasting jewel (Ch. 12); such baskets are prescribed for the Hail Chant. In addition, one of Heat and one of Mirage (aragonite) are required. The War Ceremony emetic was prepared and the unseasoned mush was served in a rock-crystal basket. Since the mush was inexhaustible, there is a relation between the rock-crystal basket and the yellow bowl.
The Flint Chant baskets represent jewels; the plants put into them ceremonially became meat which, with other plants eaten by rare game, became gruel (Kluckhohn-Wyman, pp. 44, 60; Matthews 1894b, pp. 202-8; 1897, p. 211, 5n; Haile 1938b, pp. 33, 105, 207, 243; 1943a, pp.15, 184, 190; Goddard, pp. 142, 164; Reichard 1944d, p.49; Shooting Chant ms.; Tschopik, pp. 257-62).
Basket drum was described by Matthews and Kluckhohn-Wyman (Matthews 1894b; 1902, pp.59-63, 163, 165; Kluckhohn-Wyman, p.44; Haile 1938b, pp.33, 243).
2. A word might be said regarding the symbolism attached to the design of Navajo wedding trays, for it is one of the few southwestern basketry decorations which probably has meaning. One very simple interpretation is that the inner black steps represent the underworld; the red band is the earth and life; and the outer black steps stand for the upper world. Fishler recites the following interpretation which he obtained from one of his Navajo informants. The center spot (often a tiny opening) in the basket "represents the beginning of this earth as the Navajo merged from the cane"; the white around this is the earth. Stepped black designs represent the mountains, boundaries of Navajo lands; water bags and rainbows are draped on the mountains, clouds also rise from thm. All the white in the basket represents dawn, all red the sun's rays, and all black the clouds, said the informant. Fishler adds much symbolism relative to numbers of coils; he then tells how Navajo legend relates that this wedding basket design was given to this tribe by White Shell Woman, and Thunder taught them to weave the water jar and carrying basket. The braided rim is explained by the Navajo in terms of this legend: A Navajo woman was weaving under a juniper tree, trying to think of finishing the rim in some manner different from that of the regular stitch. A god tore a small sprig from the tree and tossed it into her basket. Immediately she thought of the braided rim. (Indian Baskets of the Southwest Clara Lee Tanner (1983)).
3. The basket is viewed as a map, through which the Navajo people chart their lives. The central spot in the basket represents the sipapu, where the Navajo people emerged from the prior world through a reed. As the people emerged, all was white. The inner coils of the basket are white to represent this lightness, or birth. As you travel outward on the coils you begin to encounter more and more black. The black represents darkness, struggle and pain; the darker side of life. As you make your way through the darkness you eventually reach the red bands, which represent marriage; the mixing of your blood with your spouse and the creation of family. The red is pure. During this time there is no darkness. Traveling out of the familial bands you encounter more darkness, however, the darkness is interspersed with white light. The light represents increasing enlightenment, which expands until you enter the all white banding of the outer rim. This banding represents the spirit world, where there is no darkness. The line from the center of the basket to the outer rim is there to remind you that no matter how much darkness you encounter in your world, there is always a pathway to the light. (As told to Steven P. Simpson by an informant, 1993).
