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Lorraine Black's infectious laugh belies the serious magic her hands conjure up when weaving a basket. Unprecedented in her ideas, Lorraine's baskets are innovative and beautiful. Many of them make good use of texture through over-stitching and the addition of objects such as flint arrowheads.
The third daughter of Mary Holiday Black, Lorraine grew up in the family tradition of basket weaving. She began by harvesting young stalks of sumac in the springtime, from where it grows along water ways. She learned how to prepare it for weaving by splitting the willow shoots into three thin strips using teeth and fingers, removing the core, and then rubbing away the bark with buckskin. Her hands soon knew the cuts and sores created by handling the sumac, her cuts stained by the colors of the dyes.
After the intensive work of harvesting and processing is complete, then comes the challenge of beginning a basket. This requires holding together two layers of either three or five rods of unsplit willow, coiling them, and binding them together by interweaving the sumac strips. It is a challenge for the most skillful hands.
Learning to weave ceremonial baskets at about age thirteen, Lorraine continued in the art, quickly transcending traditional designs with new concepts in both design and color.
Now the mother of two young sons, Sebastian and Deon, Lorraine presently makes her home in a small town in Southeastern Utah. Still, her roots extend to Monument Valley, the place of her upbringing. Her art is influenced by her birthplace and her heritage from the Bitterwater and Folded Arm Clans.
Holding one of Lorraine's baskets, with its bright colors and intricate designs, you can almost hear her childlike laughter transcend the coils and spill into the room.
As previously noted, Chanter D explained that Black God's face represents the whole universe, the whole sky; because Dilyehe is so minute in comparison to the entire sky, this constellation is often not visible on Black God's mask. Night is associated with Black God, and Black God chose Dilyehe to represent all the constellations (at the time of Creation) on the left temple of his mask because Dilyehe is so neat and fine. It is reasonable that the Pleiades would be chosen to represent all the constellations not only because it is such a compact open cluster of stars lending itself to depiction in a small space, but also because it is the most highly ordered of all the Navajo constellations, epitomizing the Navajo emphasis of order and balance. This distinctive cluster is probably the most easily recognizable of the Navajo constellations; its form permits the instant visual recognition for Black God's mask with its microcosmic representation of the Navajo heavens. Because Haashch'eehzhini, or Black God, is the supernatural most closely associated with constellations (no other Navajo supernatural wears a constellation on his mask), it will be helpful to discuss this diyin dine'e at this point. Black God is also known as Fire God; although not all accounts credit him with stellar creation, all accounts do attribute to him the fire and the light found in stars. As recounted previously, according to Beadway Singer who worked with Haile, the creator group turned the sky over to Black God when he moved Dilyehe at will, thus demonstrating to the creator group that he had the power to beautify the "dark upper" (the sky) by placing stars in ordered patterns. In The Night Chant, A Navajo Ceremony, Washington Matthews explained that while there are several Black Gods, it is convenient to speak of this deity in the singular. Most of these supernaturals dwell in Tse'nihoailyil (Rock-with-Dark-Place-in-Middle) near Tse'gihi, north of the San Juan River. Harry Walters described Black God as moody; because he lacks a sense of humor, he does not tolerate teasing. Black God travels around, passing himself off as poor so that people will give him things; he is greedy and he is a trickster. Matthews described Black God as "reserved and exclusive," a supernatural who does not associate freely with other supernaturals. Nor do other supernaturals visit him. He is the owner of all fire because he invented the tool for producing fire (i.e., the fire drill) and was the first to produce fire.
The Black God Impersonator dresses in black shirt, breechcloth, blanket, and moccasins with a foxskin collar. Traditionally, he wore white shell necklaces, but by the turn of the century when Matthews was writing, the Impersonator was wearing coral, turquoise, and other materials as well. Black God wears no kilt. His legs are painted black; each leg is marked inback with a line of white, which extends from the top of the heel to the top of the thigh. He carries a fire drill, wood and tinder, a faggot, and a bundle of corn cakes. The Black God Impersonator is so unprepossessing that an untrainded eye may not even recognize him as a supernatural. Mary Cabot Wheelwright described Black God at a Nightway that Tl'aii was conducting:
There was a long pause and then at the end of the vista a strange little figure appeared. He had rough hair and was dressed in sackcloth, and as he approached he acted like a jester, hesitating, sitting down, scratching himself at intervals, In one hand he carried a little torch made of bound-up bark, in which form the Navajo carried fire when traveling. In the other hand he carried a string with four little doughnut-like cakes strung on it. The people laughed at him, but finally Tl'aii called to him to come and he ran up toward Tl'aii and the patient. To my amazement the patient thereupon dropped down on his face to the earth, while this strange little figure walked over him, and I realized that he was the Fire God (Black God) in strange guise.
When I myself saw a Black God Impersonator in December 1987, I was amazed by his disheveled look, which is so different form the well-dressed appearance of other Navajo Holy People. He wore a baglike mask with a shock of red yarn hair; his facial features were delineated only with eide white circles and curving lines. Surprisingly, Dilyehe did not appear on his mask. He wore a fox-fur collar and his body was covered by a ragged dark gray blanket pinned together at the front. His shirt-sleeved arms protruded through holes cut into the blanket. He wore pants under his blanket an on his feet were old army boots. In his hands he carried the requisite torch and corn cakes. Haile described the features of this mask as follows: to indicate that Black God is is charge of the months and seasons, the mouth on the mask is a full moon, while the forehead bears a crescent moon. Dilyehe is on the left temple. The Black God Impersonator does not appear at every performance of the Nightway. Matthews called the variety of the ceremonial in which hea appears to'nastsihego hatal. When the Impersonator is to appear, a sandpainting of Black God is produced on the ninth day. This large painting has a figure of Monster Slayer in the center and the figure of a Black God with his torch and bundle of corn-cakes on each of the four stars. This painting remains on the floor of the hogan until the Black God Impersonator arrives in the evening. The Black God Impersonator comes to the hogan early in the morning of the ninth day of the ceremonial, which takes place in its full form only in winter. He then proceeds to a point some distance east of the hogan. At sunrise he begins his slow day-long journey back to the hogan; this journey takes so long because he walks a few paces, lights his faggot with his fire drill, then lies down with his back to the fire - a favorite position of his, according to the sacred stories - and pretends to sleep and make camp. He rises a moment later to extinguish his fire and husband his faggot, which must last until he can deposit it as a sacrifice in the hogan in the evening. The Black God Impersonator is not seen very often in Nightway performances. Harry Walters has seen this branch once in fourteen years.
Black God, feared even by Coyote but sometimes paired with him, is still another manifestation of Sun as Darkness or Sky. Outstanding in the drawing of Night is the Milky Way; the same symbol is painted on Black God's breast and arms. The offering acceptable to Black God in the War Ceremony was a tobacco pouch closely resembling Sun's. A prayerstick offering was presented to Black God, but after he had accepted it, he taught the people not to duplicate it but to make the rattlestick substitute-an exact duplication of the circumstances in which Sun gave his arrow to Earth People. If Night or Sky is a phase of Sun, if Black God's picture is a representation of Night Sky and Black God behaves like Sun, then Black God is a manifestation of Sun representing control of fire, flame, and heat.
Black God (xa'ctce'cjini') (P) is the Navaho fire god. He represents the being in control of fire and fire making rather than fire itself. He is black in impersonation and sandpainting. Black Body was his counterpart in the fourth world. When the gods came, and tried by gestures to indicate that the people were to be changed into a semblance of the gods, the creatures did not understand. On the fourth day Black Body explained in their own language the plan the gods had in mind. According to the War Ceremony legend, Black God came into being with the earth. The Wheelwright story has him in the first world as the offspring of Fire (male) and Comet (female)
Black Body of the fourth world, who apparently did not differ much, if at all, from Black God, was of great help during the emergence to this world
As the reed containing the creatures of the fourth world and all their possessions grew, it swayed, and there was fear lest it topple into the water. Black Body blew through the hole at the top and caused a heavy dark cloud to form around the top of the reed to keep it steady. He repeated the maneuver until finally he, as top man, was able to pin it fast to the sky by means of the head feathers he wore (Matthews 1897, pp.68-9, 75, 246; 1902, pp. 26, 29; Wheelwright 1942, p. 39, Set II, 3; Haile 1938b, p. 185).
In contrast to Sun, Monster Slayer, and Talking God, Black God is phlegmatic. He is sometimes represented as very old; he is quite modest and cannot be tempted with goods, for he uses practically nothing, but he is very exacting about the modest demands he makes. If his advanced age is not mentioned, it is agreed that he is slow-moving and, when he is summoned, considerable time is allowed for him to come from his home, which is far from those of the other gods. Stephen says that Black God lives at the east and brings evil to man; near him Big God and Big Snake live together. Black God rarely accepts invitations, and other gods do not visit him often.
When the Stricken Twins had returned from their raid on Awatobi, the gods arranged a grand assembly and were careful to send their fastest couriers to the Black Gods to tell them to hurry, for they live far away and travel slowly. They stop often to make a fire and lie down before it to rest, then advance a short distance, where they repeat the same thing.
On this occasion they did not arrive until sundown of the fourth day after they had been invited, time enough for all the other Holy Ones to have prepared themselves and to have waited. This delayed approach is symbolized by a whole day's performance in one form of the Night Chant.
The same behavior is recorded in the myth of the War Ceremony, where Black God is depicted as old and helpless. His casual habit of resting as if a war party were not excited and hurried is depicted with great literary skill, for in this case the Navaho themselves manifested the emotions white people feel about delay in a crisis, an attitude quite unusual for them (cp. Child-of-the-water). The pent-up emotions were expressed by the concern of the warriors over Black God's physical comfort; they thought he was lost, that he might freeze, that he could not see well, that he was hungry. The reason for all his delays were ritualistic, as the warriors eventually learned.
His casualness was a demonstration of fearlessness. No-where does Black God display spiritual weakness; his physical weakness was a blind to mislead the impulsive. When Big God appeared, everyone fled except The Twins, Talking God, and Black God. Black God alone was unafraid because he controlled fire, a power greater than lightning.
And even as he is fearless, so is he feared, for though he is slow to help, he is quick to anger. When Coyote showed the picture of the sun he had made, Black God said in anger, "gwa'," and tore it up, whereupon Coyote ran off. In certain exploits, however, the two collaborated; Black God aided Coyote in stealing Water Monster's children. Coyote kept entering the assembly of gods for co, although he was told by Monster Slayer to stay out; at length Black God was sent to expel him (Haile 1938b, pp. 184-95 ; Stephen ms.; Goddard, p. 136; Matthews 1897, pp. 169, 219; 1902, pp. 26-8, 201, 260-1; Reichard 1944d, p. 41; Shooting Chant Evil ms.; Newcomb-Reichard, p.27).
Various incidents explain the fire rites. The fire drill, a treasured item of the medicine bundle, is Black God's symbol, although the explanations differ. Since he overcame an evil or enemy, its power removes evil.
When the gods began to relent about the Stricken Twins, the Hunchback gods slew a mountain sheep for them; Monster Slayer skinned and butchered it and, with his burning brand, Black God lighted a fire so they could roast it.
The fire made by Changing-bear-maiden, by means of which she sweated out the arrows which the Spider and Swallow People had shot into her, was called Black God's fire and represents his power and her restoration in the Endurance Chant; the meaning is the same for the fire made when Dwarf Boy was sung over.
As Talking God and Wind conducted co on a tour of the gods' homes, Black God laid his firebrand down when they stopped for a rest at Spotted Earth. He did not remember it until arriving at a place some distance away called Where-the-god-sits-up-high. He then asked his companions what to do about it, and Talking God advised, "We may as well leave it. We can use it in the future. Perhaps in the days to come great misfortunes, like war and pestilence, may come to men. Then you can go back to your brand, light four fires from it, one in each cardinal direction, and burn up the world." Black God's fire still exists as a burning coalbank. Thus casually the Navaho gods contemplate world cataclysm.
Black God appears in the chants quite frequently in one form or another. As the head chanter of the Night Chant According-to-collected-waters, his services are of major importance and a large offering is made to him because the largest share of booty taken from Awatobi by the Stricken Twins was given him. He holds a prominent position in the War Ceremony, where his prayerstick is described in detail; he is the leader of the elaborate rites of 'killing the ghost,' 'the blackening,' and the painting of Child-of-the-water and his impersonator. Goddard refers to Black God as originating the body paint of The Twins in Sun's house, a description that agrees with the one given in the War Ceremony, where he is also in charge of the pot drum (Matthews 1902, pp.27, 209, 242, 260; Reichard, Endurance Chant ms.; Haile 1938b, pp. 185-95, 215, 237; Goddard, p. 156).
In the first world Black God worked with First Man against the four owners of the world, beginning by angrily throwing his fire about, but without much effect. When, however, First Man suggested trying ritual instead of force, he accepted an offering of a tobacco pouch and things improved.
In the second world Black God opposed be'yotcidi, who made some twins over into 'alke'na'a'ci'. He closed up the hole from the second world by blowing. In the fourth world Coyote stole fire from Black God. Black God provided the stars, sun, moon, and all the light for the fourth world. He claimed that the Seven Stars were at his feet, knees, hips, back, shoulders, and on his face. Those on his face show in the sandpainting.
Although Black God is depicted as a bachelor, his son is mentioned as a helper in the Night Chant.
Black God, although mentioned less frequently than gods such as xa'ctce'oyan, stands out clearly as an individualist, fearless and feared, one whose chief duty is to control fire, One who has important ceremonial duties.
Black God is associated with Gila Monster by behavior, offering, and even by the way he accepts his offering (Stephen, pp. 91-3; Wheelwright 1942, pp.41-3, 54-6, 62, Set II, 3; Matthews 1902, p. 196 ; Haile 1943a, pp. 66, 172).
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).
