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Another
came and also had the form of a man, but he wore a hairy coat, lined with white
fur, that fell to his knees and was belted in at the waist. His name was First
Angry or Coyote. He said to the three: "You beleive that you were the first
persons. You are mistaken. I was living when you were formed." Pg. 3
7- Informants Note: Some medicine men claim that witchcraft came with First
Man and First Woman, others insist that devil conception or witchcraft originated
with the Coyote called First Angry. Pg. 3
Then First Man called another chief. "Come here, old man," he said.
When this being came, First Man said that he should be named ma'i, the coyote.
But the coyote got angry and said: " Such a name!" And he declared
that he would not have it; and that he would leave; but First Man called him
back and told him that he would also be known as Atse'hashke', First Angry.
After that the coyote felt better. He thought that the had a great name given
him, and he went happily away, for he was told that he would know all the happenings
on the face of the earth. Pg. 34
October
was called Gahnji, meaning Half-Winter-and -Half-Summer, and its star is Sontso-dohn-doh-zeedi,
meaning North-Star-Stands-There. Pg.59
The Coyote claimed one month which was October, and Begochiddy made a prayer
stick of Lukatso (bamboo), half yellow and half white, representing summer and
winter, and gave it to him in answer to his claim. October is the mixed-up or
changing month and is so known to all the Indians. Pgs. 65,66
One day soon thereafter, while the elders were having a ceremony for a boy and a girl who had both come of age, the people saw the sky swooping down. It seemed to want to embrace the earth. And they saw the earth likewise looming up as if to meet the sky. For a moment they came in contact. The sky touched the earth and the earth touched the sky. And just then, at exactly the spot where the sky and the earth had met, Ma'ii the Coyote sprung out of the ground. And Nahashch'id the Badger sprung out of the ground. It is our belief that Ma'ii the Coyote and Nahashch'id the Badger are children of the sky. Coyote came forth first, which leads us to suppose that he is Badger's older brother. Nahashch'id the Badger began sniffing around the top of the hole that led down to the lower world. He finally disappeared into it and was not seen again for a long time. Ma'ii the Coyote chose to stay among the Surface People.
One of
the most controversial characters among the Navajo is Coyote, prince of chaos,
who is also the most notable catalyst. Transformer, troublemaker, trickster,
deity Coyote is all of these, and more. He stole the stars laid out by First
Man and scattered them, willy nilly, across the heavens. Yet, from Coyote's
unruly behavior, changes came about that made life better. From Coyote's foolishness,
mortals gained wisdom, learned what, and what not, to do. Coyote, as the forerunner
of change, created ways of doing things so that customs new moral codes, ceremonies,
designs for living came into being. Coyote's selfish acts thus clarified the
boundaries of human and animal conduct. Acting as the wise fool, Coyote is able
to speak and act as others of the holy pantheon, due to inherent decorum, cannot.
His role was, and is, a large one. In the literary sense, he is a court jester,
moral chorus, and commentator. Indirectly, by unleashing chaos on the world.
Pgs. 21, 22
According to Navajo lore, it is not Coyote's unusual atomic structure that gives
him his regenerative gift (like Wily Coyote in the popular cartoon, he is virtually
impossible to kill), rather it is his ability to hide his vital parts from harm
by storing them in the tip of his tail. Coyote imparts a message which has a
positive value for mortal beings: how to protect oneself from physical danger.
Pg. 45
"I know you are mad at me because of the way I've behaved, but I will be
the one to call for rain. And even if you do not like me, you will still need
me for many things." Pg. 91
And it happened that Coyote did not like the new name given to him by First
Man: First Angry. So he tried to steal the name of a mountain and then The People
named him He Who Moves Everything That Grows. For a while, he was content. Coyote
started raising a fuss again; this time he wanted more duties. So First Man
gave him control of wind, rain, and a part of childbirth, and for a while he
was content. Pg. 92
Coyote: Coyote is the inimitable trickster common to legend in most Native American
tribes. Both sacred and profane, Coyote gives birth to mischief and promise,
he is a deciever, but also a deliverer of good. Through his actions, change
becomes possible; and change, through good and bad, brings newness and breaks
conformity. Pg. 192
If Coyote
crosses your path, turn back and do not continue your journey. Something terrible
will happen to you you will have an accident be hurt or killed. Pg. 53
Don't bother a coyote that takes the first-born goat or lamb. It is his keeps
order in the world. If he is given the first-born freely, he hopefully will
leave the rest in peace. Pg. 55
While they were making the sheep, Coyote wanted to make a sheep too. They said no but finally they gave him some mud because they were afraid of him. He knew Sorcery. Then Coyote tried but he couldn't roll it out right. He tried four times but failed. Then he put the mud in his mouth and swallowed it. "That's what I'll do to any sheep I find," he said. Pg. 21
Throughout
Navajo mythology, Mah-ih the Coyote, is a figure of central importance. In the
last part of the myth of the Great Star Chant, when the sacred company are journeying
for power, they go first to Coyote. It is Coyote, the manifestation of animal
vitality, who separated Younger Brother from his family and caused him to go
to the sky where he learned Star wisdom and finally became one of the Holy People
through a long process of testing and instruction. Mah-ih was one of the first
powers to emerge in the beginning of things. In the black world, the first and
lowest in the order of creation, he brought fire to men. Characteristically,
he stole it from the Fire God. Later in the creation myth Coyote endangered
the world by stealing the child of Teoltsodi, the water monster. As the avenging
floods rose, the people were forced to climb to safety in the present white
world through a long hollow reed. But the waters followed and would have flooded
this world as well if Coyote's trickery had not been found out. He was forced
to give back the child and the floods receded. Though Coyote is tricky, his
power is great.
In the Emergence Myth collected by Father Berard (Navajo Religion Series, Vol.,
III) he curbs the sun and understands the process of creation. He has much of
the quality of Prometheus, or of Maui in New Zealand mythology. Like Loki, he
is mischievous but useful. He bears a striking resemblance to the fox spirit
of Japan and Korea and, in fact, the fox figure in mythology and folklore all
across the Old World. Everywhere he is tricky, troublesome, hard to control,
but, sometimes, helpful to man. Every conception of his character combines mischief
and rebellion with wisdom. In the Navajo Etsosi, or Feather Myth, he symbolizes
uninhibited lust in the lower world, but becomes more controlled and useful
when he emerges into the present world and is given control of rain. It is characteristic
of Navajo myths that when the stories leave the magic period of creation and
a hero is chosen and trained to be the transmitter of ceremonial knowledge and
power, Coyote has a special role in this training. He is there to act as frustrator
and goad to the hero if the latter shows signs of weakness or vacillation. Mah-ih
can triumph over the strong, but when he is vain, arrogant, greedy, libidinous,
he is foiled, often killed. But he comes to life again, irrepressible, and unchanged.
As the Great Star tells the hero in the Star Myth, we must accept the fact that
there will always be different kinds of people in the world, and among them
there will always be Coyote People. Coyote often represents the power of sex
in its trouble-making ungovernable aspect. Pgs. 102-103
The Coyote
now said: "Give me some dirt out of which you are making mountains!"
But they refused, saying: "You are not clever enough to make mountains."
He said: "Yes, I am clever enough." He asked this four times, and
finally the gods gave him some of the earth which was left after making so many
kinds of mountains, and the Coyote took it and made a peak in the south and
decorated it with aloe. He said: "This will be called my mountain."
It took shape of his paws and it has that shape now, and is called Pagosa Peak.
Pg. 65
While the gods were gone on the journey to the cave, the Coyote made some little
coyotes of his own, a white one from the east, a yellow one from the west which
was female, a blue one from the south which was a male, and a black coyote from
the north which was a female, and each pair stood nose to nose; and he also
made a dog which stood with the female black coyote. The names of these coyotes
were: the east, Ki-othkath-tee-ni-gosai, which means Turning-in-the-Daybreak;
west, Nahotsoi-nah-go-sai, which means Turning-in-the-Afterglow; south, Cahdidoth-dani-gosai,
which means Turning-in-the-Darkness; and the name of the dog was Dobinny-des-daha,
or Trailing Dog. Etsay-hashkeh also made some crazy coyotes. If one of these
should bite a human being, he would probably go mad. And also he made some mad
dogs whose bites would bring madness. Etsay-hashkeh made these creatures because
he did not know how to behave, and no one was there to know what he was doing.
And though Begochiddy knew what the Coyote was doing he was willing that these
animals should be made. Pg. 105
The Coyote, Etsay-hashkeh, said: "I will take some of the last people made,
Anlthtahn-nah-olyah, and a dog, and we will go north." So he went north
with a man, a woman, and two dogs. And these people never came back. They are
now called Dinneh-nahoo-lonai (Eskimo). Pg. 108
Coyote is present here as the eternal trickster and trouble-causer. But his mischief has a dual effect. It brings the dangerous and negative reaction of the flood, but also, because of the flood, forces the people up into a more complex and promising world. Pg. 60
Coyote, exponent of irresponsibility and lack of direction, seems to be an uncontrolled aspect of either Sun himself or his child. Coyote, as a child of Sky, represents lust on earth, matching Sun's promiscuity as a celestial being. Coyote, however, observes no rules. Sun, though reluctant and protesting, assumes responsibility for his children; Coyote sates his desire and leaves confusion or worse behind him. Any good that Coyote accomplished is fortuitous; Sun's good deeds, though forced, result in control. Coyote does all the daring things Sun would like to do - in fact, once did; Sun secretly gloats over them, but of necessity appears to disapprove.
In Coyote many aspects of evil power are embodied - he is active, with unlimited ability to interfere with people's affairs; his potentiality for turning up unexpectedly is enormous. He has a life principle that may be laid aside, so that any injury done to his body affects his life only temporarily and he may even recover from apparent death. He possesses an incredible fund of evil knowledge which man must match and, as he may appear in any form, he is the werewolf of Navajo witchcraft.
Coyote was allied with the First Pair as Crow was with Turkey Buzzard, in the capacity of spy. As First Man and First Woman went to their permanent home in the Northeast, where evil and danger originate, First woman threatened, "When I think, something bad will happen. People will become ill. Coyote will know (and presumably carry out) all my thoughts."
Some evils, fortunately few, the residue of unbelievable cruelty, refused to submit to any kind of control.
Then there
was a day when Coyote was very hungry indeed and stole some young green corn
out of the patch which belonged to Horned Toad. Horned Toad saw him doing this,
and he told Coyote he liked people to ask him for his corn and not to steal
it. Coyote just laughed at the little toad, and said he'd like some more corn.
Horned Toad cooked some for him three times, but when Coyote asked for corn
the fourth time Horned Toad was tired of his begging and refused. Coyote just
swallowed Horned Toad, and then walked all around the cornfield telling the
birds he met that it was his cornfield. After a while he went to the shelter
of Horned Toad and went to sleep. Soon after this Horned Toad got his strength
back and began to stir about in Coyote's stomach. Coyote thought the young green
corn was giving him a stomach ache. But when Horned Toad mad a loud hissing
noise inside Coyote he waked up and was frightened. He thought that this was
the noise spirits made when someone was going to die. But Horned Toad began
to laugh and laugh and to call out to Coyote. "Where am I, where am I? It is
very dark in here," he said.
"Ouch, that's my stomach. Stop hurting me," Coyote called back.
"Now I know you are sorry you ate my young green corn. Where am I now?" sang
out Horned Toad, giving Coyote another kick.
"Stop hurting me and come out. The place where you are now is in my bowels,"said
Coyote.
"Where am I now?" yelled Horned Toad as he kept crawling along.
"Get out of there. That's my windpipe," said Coyote, feeling almost choked.
But by this time Horned Toad was in Coyote's heart, and he just cut a cross
on it, and Coyote jumped four times into the air and fell back dead. Then Horned
Toad crawled out of the anus of Coyote and went back to his work in the field.
Pg. 48, 49.
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.
__
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).
