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Four Sacred Plants are assigned to the cardinal points, and amongst the Navajos Maize is the plant of the North, Beans of the east. This means that both are male and as both are grown for edible seeds, recognition of the physiological function of the male was probably involved in the selection. This is entirely possible since the convention could have been established only very late, after settlement in America. Squash, for the Navajos, is the plant of the South, which is fitting since its fruit is called "eight-sided" and the eight-sided earth (an alternative to the square earth, taking account of the diagonal directions) is female. Also the stalk is angled in sections, a feature deliberately exaggerated when the plant is depicted in sand paintings, and crooked things are female. Tobacco, which the Navajos put on the west, is female because it is used to make smoke which is blown out with the breath, and that is female. Below the Plants are white roots, the significance being that these plants still have their roots in the lower world.
First Man
called the people together. He brought forth the white corn which had been formed
with him. First Woman brought the yellow corn. They laid the perfect ears side
by side; then they asked one person from among the many to come and help them.
The Turkey stepped forward. They asked him where he had come from, and he said
that he had come from the Gray Mountain. He danced back and forth four times,
then he shook his feather coat and there dropped from his clothing four kernels
of corn, one gray, one blue, one black, and one red. Another person was asked
to help in the plan of the planting. The big snake came forward. He likewise
brought forth four seeds, the pumpkin, the watermelon, the cantaloupe, and the
muskmelon. His plants all crawl on the ground. Pg. 6
7- Informant's note: Rarely is much white or yellow corn planted at one time
because it is the most sacred. Pg. 103
Corn Boy, Corn Girl, Cornmeal Carrier: Corn is the most sacred of all Native American plants. Originally, it came from native grasses of Mexico and Guatemala and was brought to Turtle Island by Mexican Indians and Carib people. Standing straight and tall, corn resembles human beings standing in rows. White corn is thought, by the Navajo, to be male, yellow corn is female. Round-headed corn symbols are men, square-headed are female. Food made from corn especially cornmeal is symbolic of the goodness of Mother Earth and Father Sky. Corn Pollen is used in many blessing ceremonies, as is cornmeal. Strings of hardened corn kernels are made into necklaces. Corn, as Jay de Groat has put it, is "Mother Earth's workmanship." Pg. 191
Harry Walters explained that corn is a metaphor for human life because both of through the same stages of life. Both corn and humans reach a stage of fruition when they blossom: the corn bursts forth with pollen while humans also achieve a peak of development associated with sa'a naghai bik'e hozho. Harry Walters (personal communication, 1990) described this state of being: "Every time he talks, thinks, or acts, he does so in radiance, in a state of wisdom and perfect harmony." Just as the corn disseminates its pollen for the continuation of corn plants, so too humans have been entrusted with sacred responsibility to disseminate their knowledge for the benefit and continuation of future generations. Because both corn and humans need nurturance from the four directions (four cardinal light phenomena) in order to reach old age, both possess knowledge from the four directions; it is this knowledge that they take into their beings and then have a responsibility to return to those that come after them.
Corn, the symbol of food, fertility, and life itself, is of major importance. "Corn is more than human; it is divine; it (is) connected with the highest ethical ideals." Pgs. 375-76
The old
sunwise and other ceremonial ways of planting have almost disappeared, but most
Navahos still use the Indian method of planting corn in hills rather than in
rows. Planting dates are determined by various means at Navaho Mountain,
for instance, by the position of the Pleiades and simple folk rites continue
to be a basic part of agriculture. Pg. 30
Many ritual practices are an everyday adjunct of agriculture. Seeds are mixed
with ground "mirage stone" and treated in a variety of other ways.
To prevent early frosts, stones from the sweathouses are planted in the fields
or at the base of fruit trees. If the crop is being damaged by wind, the wind
is called by its secret name and asked to leave the corn alone. Cutworms are
placed on fragments of pottery, sprinkled with pollen, and given other "magical"
treatment. When the harvest is stored, a stalk of corn having two ears is placed
in the bottom of the storage pit to ensure a healthy crop for the next year.
At intervals while the corn is growing the farmer should go to his field, walk
around and through it in a special way, singing the appropriate song. Not every
Navaho farmer follows every one of these of the hundreds of other negative or
positive agricultural folk rites which could be mentioned, but the writers have
not known any Navaho families who do not observe some simple rituals. Pg. 143-144
From the Puebloans they gained their first knowledge of corn and soon learned to grind it and use the meal for food and for ceremonial purposes. In order to save the best corn for themselves the owners created a taboo that the Navajos must not touch any ears except the two small ones that grew at the very top of the cornstalk, and these were likely to be small nubbins. The other, larger ears were said to belong to the gods. Pg. XXII
A Navajo from Coalmine stated that "cased" squirrelskins were also sometimes used as containers for ceremonial materials. Bags of this type were made by both men and women and were used for storing sacred materials such as the seed corn to be planted ritually first in the center of the field.
Parched corn has been mentioned as an effective absorptive device. Cake [sweetened cornbread baked in a pit oven] is a treat of the Girl's Ceremony and the Flint Chant; in both it is an offering to Sun.
Farm songs belong to the entire tribe and are sung for the planting and maturation events rather than for a particular ceremony. The initial song refers to seed planting; it describes the place for planting, the seed, and offerings made to the seed [or perhaps to the earth]. The verbs are first in the form "I wish it to be...." and change later to 'It is becoming....' The second song repeats the sentiments of the first, but in the form 'It has become so.'
The songs of the second interval refer to the sprouting of the corn in terms corresponding with those of the first interval. Time is allowed for growth, then song indicates the appearance of tiny blades above the ground, another the fresh yellow-green appearance of the field; another celebrates the normal growth of the corn; a song states that the 'corn loves me' and is therefore doing well under my hand; another, that the leaves are large enough to touch one another when the wind blows; still another, that some plants are large and cast uniform shadows over the field, that red silk has appeared, that pollen has formed. Subsequent songs refer to the harvested ears, emphasizing the crackling sound made when the fully developed stalks are pulled. There are songs to describe the plucking of the ears and the piling of bundles gathered and dumped in the center of the field. The next song describes the extension of the piles of corn -'It increases by spreading'; another summarizes by describing the harvest as a whole. The pattern does not change for the husking, which is again described by sound--'now from my hands it gives forth a sound' - or for the drying, which completes the harvest.
Several
versions ascribe human beings to a supernatural transformation of corn which
existed primordially with First Man. Sun was said to be corn's father, Lightning
its mother. According to one version, the results of the transformation were
persons called First Man and First Woman, who are also referred to as `our ancestors.'
From this account we may conclude that First man and first woman not only had
corn in the early worlds but also were corn and came to symbolize transformation
into human form. One origin is attributed to the transformation of turquoise
and whiteshell images by deific ceremonial. Since, however, the jewels were
laid beside corn ears, the significance is in the association between corn and
precious stones rather than in the gems themselves. According to Navajo interpretation,
the two would be the `the same'.
However, in contrast to the numerous etiologies of corn, accounts of the origin
of particular plants are few. In some myths corn is considered primeval, for
First Man had some in the first world. Other myths account for it as the gift
of a god or a neighboring people. Whatever its origin, its value is constantly
emphasized. According to one myth, Talking God gave corn to Whiteshell Woman
and her sister, Turquoise Woman, saying, "There is no better thing than
this in the world, for it is the gift of life." Later, when he visited
them again and they told him they still had it, he said, "That is good,
for corn is your symbol of fertility and life."
The hunting animals carried packs of corn on their backs, for they had charge
of the corn-growing rite of the Fire Dance.
The complementation of corn by game is brought out by Talking God, who, in the
myth of the Night Chant, instructs the her: "Never give corn to eat of
its own substance. If you give it, corn will thereafter ever eat corn until
all the land is destroyed. Then men will starve and have to eat one another,
and thus destroy their own race. Give corn flesh to eat. For like reasons corn
must be fed to the masks in the ceremonies. Should meat be fed to them, men
would, thereafter, eat men." The masks of sacred buckskin represent game
animals. According to tradition punishment was inevitable if the injunction
was disobeyed.
Once, many years ago, when the ceremony of the corn was taking place and a young
virgin was grinding meat to feed the corn, a wicked woman went out from the
lodge and fed corn to the corn hanging on the poles of the drying frame. That
year the people starved and men ate the flesh of other men.
Corn (na'da'), in myth and ritual at least, is reaffirmed as belonging to the
Navaho from time immemorial and there is probably no rite or ceremony in which
corn does not function in some form or other. The feeling about corn is expressed:
"Corn is more than human, it is divine; it was connected with the highest
ethical ideals."
When Talking God gave corn to the lonely sisters of the Eagle Chant legend,
he directed that they should never give it away. "Because," he explained,
"there is no better thing in the world, for it is the gift of life."
Later, when through ritualistic instruction their lot had improved, he said
again, "Corn is your symbol of fertility and life."
Of the many representative references that might be given, a few follow: Hill
1938, pp. 20-95; Newcomb 1940b, pp.51, 71, 73, 76; Matthews 1897, pp. 137, 140,
183; 1902, pp.27, 29,106, 187-93; Haile 1938b, pp. 87, 191, 231; 1943a, pp.
162, 313, 174n; Reichard 1939, pp. 27, 30, 34, PI. IV-VII; 1944d, pp. 19, 81,
91, 113, 135; Shooting Chant ms.; Sapir-Hoijer, p. 31; Goddard, p. 174; Wheelwright
1942, p. 122, Set I, 1-4; II, 2; III, 1-4.
Corn meal (na'da'ka'n) is one of the commonest forms of corn in ceremony. It
is coarsely ground, white for a man, yellow for a woman, mixed if there is a
patient of each sex. Sometimes it must be ground by a virgin or at some particular
place or time in the ritual cycle. It is invariably used for the hogan blessing,
for sandpainting sprinkling, and as a drier after the bath in all the rites
I have seen, Evil as well as Holy. Often it serves as a substitute for pollen,
since corn meal is plentiful and pollen is scarce. It usually denotes the same
thing, life and success along the road, exemplified by footprints laid in corn
meal.
With Big Fly's help, people overcome by Spider Man heaped corn pollen and white
corn meal on Spider Man until he could no longer move. Big Fly took some of
these substances for future rituals.
The corn-meal drier of the Night Chant bath was said to stand for the patient's
body and blood (Haile 1938b, pp. 180-3; Sapir-Hoijer, p. 251).
Corn smut (da 'a' tca'n, 'corn excrement') was the paint for the black hail
spots of the Shooting Chant figure painting.
Hill describes cooked corn smut as a food. The eater applied some to his feet
with the formula, "We are going to have much rain and large crops, but
hail will not ruin the crops."
Corn smut was a part of the Feather Chant blackening.
Cornsmut Man was one of the Eagle Chant characters; he blackened himself with
corn smut before starting to catch eagles (Hill 1938, p. 46; Newcomb 1940b,
pp. 63, 65).
Alice Williams, Silas Claw, Stella Claw, Datso Bitsi, and the Tso family are active Navajo potters. They use their pottery for cooking, ceremonies, pipes, and drums, and do not consider it an art form. Public acceptance is not a motivation; in fact, the Navajo makes every effort to maintain privacy and anonymity. However, the Navajo are a large group and that leaves ample opportunity for exception to this social custom. Pg. 182
Unlike most of the neighboring Indian tribes, the Navaho are not conspicuous as potters and make a very rude and inartistic kind of pottery, which in every respect is vastly inferior to that of the Pueblo. Their traditions, however, point to a time in which pottery is said to have been in nowise inferior to that of the Pueblo with whom they lived. With the exception of cooking pots other fabrics, such as waterpots, waterbags or bottles, bowls and earthen spoons or dippers, were all beautifully decorated with figures of birds, rainbows, deer, antelope, rabbits, ducks, cloud effect (kos ishchin), or any figure not tabooed, as snakes, lightning, bear, badger, hawks, and the divinities.
As in the decoration of the basket, so also the decorative line encircling the body of the pot was left open for the reason that the potter, like the basket weaver, supposedly encircled herself with this decoration and, lest she trifle with her life, must not close this circle about her, but leave an exit for herself. The early waterpots were shaped much like the wicker bottle, with two loops or eyelets on the sides, and were similarly carried on the back. One side of the rounded body of the pot was made flat so that in carrying it might rest better. These waterpots have now entirely disappeared, though the legends speak of the white, blue, yellow and dark waterpots for conveying the sacred waters of the cardinal points.
The water bottle was provided with a loop, or finger handle, near the neck, so that it might be conveniently grasped in pouring out its contents. They were shaped much like an ordinary pitcher, omitting the spout and handle, and with a narrower neck than that of the waterpot. Later they were entirely abandoned and displaced by bottles purchased from the Hopi and other tribes whose fabrics, though slightly differing from the Navaho ware, were found just as serviceable. Of these many were provided with an additional loop near the bottom of the bottle so that it might easily be suspended from a cord and carried in traveling. Some maintain that the Navaho never made water bottles but always purchased them from the Pueblo. Early history and tradition, however, discredit this strongly, though at present Navaho made water bottles are very scarce.
Earthen spoons or dippers were in shape like the gourd ladle, and were, like it, used for the purpose of dipping out liquids. The bowl would seem to have been a substitute for the basket at the home. Its name, letsa', earthen basket, indicates both its shape and purpose. While all of these were ornamented with beautiful figures, the asa', pot, was completely devoid of ornamentation since it was used for cooking purposes, and in the preparation and boiling of dyes or medicines. No particular care was taken to form them shapely, and though made in different sizes, all were made after the same pattern with rounded bottoms, a hardly perceptible neck, and a slightly flaring rim. A serpentine line, or a few scallops along the outside rim, in addition to depressions made into the body of the pot with the finger or a stick, were the only decorative features about these pots, which in substance remain unchanged to this day.
The crucibles now in use by the silversmiths of the tribe are in effect cooking pots in miniature, and are provided with one to three spouts at the rim for pouring the molten silver into the matrix. The ceremonial pipes are conical in shape, and stemless, as the smoke is drawn through a small hole provided in the bottom of the pipe. This comparatively small variety of pottery made by the Navaho, and their apparent indifference to the art, finds a ready explanation in the great facility with which more shapely and serviceable pottery could be obtained from the neighboring Pueblo Indians. More recently, too, brass, tin and enameled wares promptly found favor with them as far superior to, and less difficult to acquire, than the native or extra-tribal pottery, so that comparatively little earthenware is used at present.
Pottery making is a woman's industry, and to-day the Navaho potter may still be found among the older women of the tribe. As the molding and drying process require a large amount of attention and care some unoccupied hogan, or other secluded place, is selected, where the potter might be undisturbed. As a material for most earthenware, a very sticky mud and white clay are used, which may be found almost everywhere, while for the pots a bluish clay, which in certain localities may easily be dug out, is preferred, and from its use in making pots is known as pot material. Small pieces of broken pottery, with which the Navaho country is in places fairly strewn, are crushed and ground to a fine sand, and added to the clay. The whole is then mixed with water and thoroughly stirred until a stiff mud of equal consistency throughout is obtained. A lump of this mud is then taken between the hands and rolled out into long, slender pieces, or ropes; this done, a flat, round cake of the desired circumference is made of a lump of the mud, and serves as the bottom of the pot around which one of the rolls of mud is wound and made fast by pressing and gently kneading with the fingers. A vessel containing water is kept near by into which the fingers are occasionally dipped to prevent the mud from clinging to them, as also to prevent the finished work from drying too rapidly. Another roll is added and fastened in the same way, by which process the potter is enabled to give the pot the desired shape and size.
The molding completed, the whole is then thoroughly smoothened by rubbing the exterior with a corncob, while the back of a gourd dipper is used in smoothening the interior surface of the pot. When still moist small indentations are made in the body of the pot with the thumb or a small stick, and such scallops made around the rim as strike the fancy of the potter, who at times substitutes a narrow serpentine line made of thin strips of mud. No other decoration is added. The whole is then covered with a coating of gum to further its density, after which the pot is placed over a slow fire, made of sheep or cow dung, and allowed to remain there for several hours until thoroughly baked, after which it is ready for use.
After baking, the pottery (excepting cooking utensils) was decorated with colored figures, the color being applied with a brush of yucca fiber, and prepared from black, red, yellow and white clays or earths, mixed with water. This, however, has long since been discontinued as too tedious. The cooking pot is still largely in use, both for domestic and ceremonial purposes. In the well known war dance the pot is quickly converted into a drum by stretching a piece of goat-, sheep- or buckskin across the mouth of the pot and securing it just below the flaring rim. This is tapped with a small round stick producing a dull sound which is kept up incessantly during the entire dance The earthen pot is also required in the preparation of medicines productive of emesis in the course of some ceremonies. Pgs. 285-289
The underlying explanation is that the harmful sounds of the slain monsters were beaten into the earth and the War Ceremony compensates the earth for the evils left over from prehistoric times. To make it successful, the enemy is sung and beaten into the earth. Beating the pot drum is beating the face of the enemy. With each beat of the stick on the pot drum the minds of enemy ghosts are drawn down toward the earth.
When the pot drum was prepared for the War Ceremony, the jewels stood for the
'floor of the drum's home,' into which the sounds were pounded.
