Despite the ceremonies which have been performed, it frequently happens
that malign influences affect the new dwelling. The inmates suffer from
toothache, or sore eyes, or have bad dreams, or ghosts are heard in the
night. Then the house ceremony is repeated. If after this the conditions
still prevail and threatening omens are noted, an effort is made to
ascertain the cause. Perhaps the husband recalls an occasion when he
was remiss in some religious duty, or the wife may remember having
seen accidentally an unmasked dancer, or they may be convinced that a
sorcerer, a _¢ĭlkúji_, is practicing his evil art. Such malign
influences must be due to some definite cause, and it must be found.
Then, if the cause be grave, resort must be had to a very elaborate
ceremony, the dance of the _Yébĭtcai_.
For the observance of this ceremony it is usual to construct a flat-roof
hut called _iyá¢askuni_, meaning, literally, “under the flat.” The roof
is nearly square as well as flat, and the edifice, with its spreading
base, suggests a truncated pyramid; but as it is roughly covered with
earth heaped over the entire structure it is externally little more than
a shapeless mound. Plate LXXXIX is an exterior view of one of these
special hogáns, which is also shown in plan in figure 241.
[Illustration: Fig. 241--Ground plan of Yébĭtcai house]
When it has been decided to build an _iyá¢askuni_ all the young men of
the neighborhood join in the labor while some of the older men direct
them in the prescribed methods. The procedure is much the same as that
employed in building the regular hogán, but larger timbers are required.
Any kind of timber growing in the vicinity is used; but as groves of
piñon and juniper are most abundant in the Navaho country, these are
the kinds usually employed. The stunted, twisted trunks of these trees
make it a matter of some difficulty to find the necessary timbers of
sufficient size, for they must be at least a foot in diameter. When
found, the trees are cut down and carried to the site selected, which
must have fairly level surroundings, free from dense wood and
underbrush, so as to afford a clear space for the ceremonial processions
and dances. Four heavy posts are necessary--“legs,” the Navaho call
them--and these must be trimmed so as to leave a strong fork at the top
of each at least 6 feet from the ground when set upright. Four others,
for the horizontal roof-beams, must be 10 feet long, but without forks;
and two more, the straightest and longest, are necessary for the doorway
passage. These ten timbers are called _tsá¢i_, the same term that is
applied to the five main timbers of the ordinary hogán.
The four posts are set firmly in the ground in shallow holes at
distances apart corresponding to the length of the main roof-beams,
and so arranged as to describe a square, the sides of which face the
cardinal points. The prescribed position of the doorway is the center
of the eastern side, and it must face the east exactly. The post at
the southeastern corner is the first to be set, then the one at the
southwestern corner, with the forks arranged on the same line. The
northwestern post is then set, and finally the one at the northeastern
corner, and the forks of the last two are also placed on the same line.
In the ground plan (figure 241) the posts are numbered in the order in
which they are set up. This sequence is not always strictly followed,
but the old men say that this is the proper way.
The beam for the southern side of the roof is next lifted into place and
laid so as to rest in the forks of the two posts on that side, with the
ends projecting a little beyond them. The beam on the northern side is
similarly placed, and the western and the eastern beams are next laid
so that their ends rest upon the ends of the beams already in place.
Another timber is then placed parallel with the eastern beam, as shown
on the plan. This forms the western side of the smoke-hole and also
a support for the smaller roof-timbers to rest upon. Sometimes an
additional timber is laid across for this purpose between the one last
named and the next beam. The two timbers for the sides of the doorway
passage are then placed in position about 3 feet apart and leaning
against the eastern roof-beam. The butt ends rest upon the ground, and
the space between them should be in the center of the eastern side.
All the main posts and beams are stripped of bark, the rough knobs and
protuberances are hewn off, and they are finished according to the skill
of the builders or the exactions of the old men who superintend the
construction.
While this work is in progress a great number of smaller and less
shapely timbers are procured for the sides and roof. To determine a
pitch for the sloping sides all the workers arrange themselves so as to
encompass the square frame, and a few of the longest of the irregular
timbers are placed here and there around it, leaning against the beams.
They are roughly aligned, and some attempt is made to have the sides of
the same slope. The floor area thus determined, the outer edge of which
would fall 4 to 6 feet outside the posts, is then lightly dug over to
remove all irregularities, and is made as level as possible.
As in the ordinary hogán, the upright posts of the door-frame are set
near the lower ends of the doorway timbers, and the roof and sides of
the doorway are covered in when the sides of the hut are inclosed, which
is the next step in the construction. Small tree trunks and timbers are
placed closely around the excavated floor area, with their upper ends
leaning against the roof beams. They are not set very regularly and
boughs are often used to fill the larger crevices, while the corners are
turned in a clumsy manner, with the tops of the timbers overlapping
each other, while the butts diverge in a haphazard curve.
The roof is laid with smaller timbers, the longest resting on the
smoke-hole timber and the western beam, while the shorter pieces span
the smaller interval from the former timber to the eastern beam. The
arrangement of the smoke exit differs from that of the ordinary hogán.
In the latter an open space is left between the doorway timbers at their
upper ends; in the _iyá¢askuni_ the doorway roof is continued up to the
eastern beam, which forms the eastern side of the smoke hole. This hole
is in the main roof, in line with the doorway but just beyond the ends
of its timbers, and it is usually about 3 feet square. Figure 242
is an interior view of the frame, looking outward. The structure is
finished like the hogáns; the frame is covered by heavy layers of cedar
or juniper bark over the sides and roof, and finally with a deep
covering of earth packed firmly over the whole exterior. The door frame
is usually about 4 feet high and 2-1/2 feet wide; the roof is about 7
feet high in the interior, and the floor area measures roughly 20 feet
square, with the four posts standing about 5 feet from the base of the
sides. Figure 243 shows some actual measurements.
[Illustration: Fig. 242--Framework of Yébĭtcai house]
While the _Yébĭtcai_ ceremony is in progress the hut is occupied by the
_qaçál‘i_ and his assistants and by the young men who assume the sacred
masks and personate the various deities in the nightly dances. In the
mornings the _qaçál‘i_ sits under the western side of the hut and
directs the young men in the process of sand painting, the making of
curious sand mosaics delineating mythologic subjects. The materials used
are dry sand, charcoal, and powdered ochers of different colors, which
are poured from the hand between the thumb and fingers. Without the use
of a brush or other implement the trickling stream is guided to form
intricate designs. These designs are made directly on the earthen floor
in a zone about 3 feet wide and extending nearly the entire length of
the hut from north to south. This zone, called the _iká‘_, is made in
front of the _qaçál‘i_, and between him and the fire, which is reduced
to small dimensions to enable him to work close under the opening in
the roof. During the process the door is closed with the usual hanging
blanket, and to increase the light from above a buckskin or white cloth
is sometimes suspended as a reflector on a light frame of boughs erected
on the roof on the western side of the smoke hole.
[Illustration: Fig. 243--Diagram showing measurements of Yébĭtcai
house]
The mask recess, which is found in all the larger hogáns, is always made
in the middle of the western side of the _iyá¢askuni_. It is usually
somewhat wider and deeper than in the ordinary dwelling. The bundles
containing the masks and other paraphernalia to be used in the ceremony
are placed in the recess by the _qaçál‘i_, who then fastens a skin or
cloth across it. The upper edge at a height of about 3 feet from the
floor is fastened with strings to the sloping timbers. The lower edge is
held by small pegs driven into the edge of the bench-like ledge of earth
which marks the limits of the floor. When he needs them the _qaçál‘i_
reaches behind the curtain for the paraphernalia he has previously
prepared and deposited there. The masks must never be seen except when
worn by the dancers, nor are the fetiches exposed except when certain
rites demand their display.
This recess is called by the Navaho _djĭc bĭnasklá_, literally “mask
recess.” Besides its practical use it has a mythic significance, as
it indicates the position occupied by First-man, who sat there with
Qastcéyalçi (Dawn) and Qastcéqoġan (Twilight) on either hand, in the
house where the Corn people were made. They also occupied similar
positions in the house in which they made the celestial bodies, and
also in the first _iyá¢askuni_, which was made by them to celebrate
the occurrence of the first menstruation of Estsánatlehi.
No special veneration attaches to the _iyá¢askuni_ except when a
ceremony is in progress. At that time it is devoted exclusively to the
_qaçál‘i_ and the other actors in the rites, and it is then known as
_qaçál‘ biqoġan_, the song house. Perhaps the family for whose benefit
it was first used may have contributed the larger share of the food for
the workers who constructed it, but it is not held to be the exclusive
property of any one person; it is for the use of the neighborhood. In
the summer time, during which season no important rites are celebrated,
the women often erect their vertical looms there and use it as a
workroom. Some of the neighbors may find it convenient to occupy it
temporarily, or when some occasion brings an influx of visitors they
adjourn to the flat-roof house, if there be one near, to smoke and
gamble and sleep there. But it is rarely used as a dwelling in winter,
as it would have to be vacated whenever one of the neighbors wished to
have a ceremony performed. Moreover, owing to its large size, it would
be more difficult to keep warm than the more compact hogán.