154. A description of the four great pictures drawn in these ceremonies
has been deferred until all might be described together. Their relations
to one another rendered this the most desirable course to pursue. The
preparation of the ground and of the colors, the application of the
sacred pollen, and some other matters have been already considered.
155. The men who do the greater part of the actual work of painting,
under the guidance of the chanter, have been initiated, but need not be
skilled medicine men or even aspirants to the craft of the shaman.
A certain ceremony of initiation has been performed on them four times,
each time during the course of a different dance, before they are
admitted into the lodge during the progress of the work or allowed to
assist in it. The medicine man receives a good present in horses for his
work; the assistants get nothing but their food. This, however, is
abundant. Three times a day the person for whose benefit the dance is
performed sends in enough mush, corn cake, soup, and roasted mutton to
satisfy to the utmost the appetites of all in the lodge. There are some
young men who live well all winter by going around the country from
dance to dance and assisting in the work of the lodge.
[Illustration:
Bureau of Ethnology
Fifth Annual Report Pl. XIV
THE DARK CIRCLE OF BRANCHES AT SUNRISE.]
156. The pictures are drawn according to an exact system. The shaman is
frequently seen correcting the workmen and making them erase and revise
their work. In certain well defined instances the artist is allowed to
indulge his individual fancy. This is the case with the gaudy
embroidered pouches which the gods carry at the waist. Within reasonable
bounds the artist may give his god just as handsome a pouch as he
wishes. Some parts of the figures, on the other hand, are measured by
palms and spans, and not a line of the sacred design can be varied.
Straight and parallel lines are drawn by aid of a tightened cord. The
mode of applying the colored powder is peculiar. The artist has his bark
trays laid on the sand where they are convenient of access. He takes a
small quantity of the powder in his closed palm and allows it to pass
out between his thumb and forefinger, while the former is moved across
the latter. When he makes a mistake he does not brush away the pigment.
He obliterates it by pouring sand on it, and then draws the corrected
design on the new surface. The forms of the gods do not appear as I have
represented them in the first coat of color. The naked figures of these
mythical beings are first completely and accurately drawn and then the
clothing is put on. Even in the pictures of the "Long-bodies"
(Plate XVII), which are drawn 9 feet in length, the naked body is first
made in its appropriate color--white for the east, blue for the south,
yellow for the west, and black for the north--and then the four red
shirts are painted on from thigh to axilla, as shown in the picture.
157. The drawings are, as a rule, begun as much towards the center as
the nature of the figure will permit, due regard being paid to the order
of precedence of the points of the compass, the figure in the east being
begun first, that in the south next, that in the west third in order,
and that in the north fourth. The periphery is finished last of all. The
reason for thus working from within outwards is that the men employed on
the picture disturb the smooth surface of the sand with their feet. If
they proceed in the order described they can smooth the sand as they
advance and need not cross the finished portions of the picture.
158. I have learned of seventeen great healing dances of the Navajo in
which pictures of this character are drawn. There are said to be, with
few exceptions--only one exception that I am positively aware of--four
pictures appropriate to each dance. Some of the dances are practiced
somewhat differently by different schools or orders among the medicine
men, and in these divers forms the pictures, although agreeing in
general design, vary somewhat in detail. Thus there are, on an average,
probably more than four designs, belonging to each of the seventeen
ceremonies, whose names I have obtained. If there were but four to each,
this would give us sixty-eight such paintings known to the medicine men
of the tribe, and thus we may form some conception of the great number
of these sacred pictures which they possess. But I have reason to
believe, from many things I have heard, that besides these seventeen
great nine days' ceremonies to which I refer, there are many minor
ceremonies, with their appropriate pictures; so that the number is
probably greater than that which I give.
159. These pictures, the medicine men aver, are transmitted from teacher
to pupil in each order and for each ceremony unaltered from year to year
and from generation to generation. That such is strictly the case I
cannot believe. There are no standard pictures on hand anywhere. No
permanent design for reference is ever in existence, and there is, so
far as I can learn, no final authority in the tribe to settle any
disputes that may arise. Few of these great ceremonies can be performed
in the summer months. Most of the figures are therefore carried over
from winter to winter in the memories of fallible men. But this much I
do credit, that any innovations which may creep into their work are
unintentional and that if changes occur they are wrought very slowly.
The shamans and their faithful followers believe, or profess to believe,
that the direst vengeance of the gods would visit them if these rites
were varied in the least in picture, prayer, song, or ceremonial. The
mere fact that there are different schools among the medicine men may be
regarded as an evidence that changes have occurred.
160. FIRST PICTURE. The picture of the first day (Plate XV) is said to
represent the visit of Dsilyi` Neyáni to the home of the snakes at
Qo¢estsò. (Paragraph 53.)
[Illustration:
Bureau of Ethnology
Fifth Annual Report Pl. XV
FIRST DRY-PAINTING]
161. In the center of the picture was a circular concavity, about six
inches in diameter, intended to represent water, presumably the house of
water mentioned in the myth. In all the other pictures where water was
represented a small bowl was actually sunk in the ground and filled with
water, which water was afterwards sprinkled with powdered charcoal to
give the impression of a flat, dry surface. Why the bowl of water was
omitted in this picture I do not know, but a medicine man of a different
fraternity from that of the one who drew the picture informed me that
with men of his school the bowl filled with water was used in the snake
picture as well as in the others. Closely surrounding this central
depression are four parallelograms about four inches by ten inches in
the original pictures. The half nearer the center is red; the outer half
is blue; they are bordered with narrow lines of white. The same figures
are repeated in other paintings. They appear in this drawing, and
frequently in others, as something on which the gods seem to stand. They
are the ca`bitlòl, or rafts of sunbeam, the favorite vessels on which
the divine ones navigate the upper deep. In the Navajo myths, when a god
has a particularly long and speedy journey to make, he takes two
sunbeams and, placing them side by side, is borne off in a twinkling
whither he wills. Red is the color proper to sunlight in their
symbolism, but the red and blue together represent sunbeams in the
morning and evening skies when they show an alternation of blue and red.
It will be seen later that the sunbeam shafts, the halo, and the rainbow
are represented by the same colors. In form, however, the halo is
circular, and the rainbow is distinguished by its curvature, and it is
usually anthropomorphic, while the sunbeam and the halo are not.
External to these sunbeam rafts, and represented as standing on them,
are the figures of eight serpents, two white ones in the east, two blue
ones in the south, two yellow ones in the west, and two black ones in
the north. These snakes cross one another (in pairs) so as to form four
figures like the letter +X+. In drawing these +X+'s the snake which
appears to be beneath is made first complete in every respect, and then
the other snake is drawn over it in conformity with their realistic laws
of art before referred to. The neck, in all cases, is blue, crossed with
four bands of red. The necks of the gods in all the pictures, it will be
observed, are made thus, but the bars in the manlike figures run
transversely, while those in the snake-like run diagonally. Three rows
of +V+-shaped figures, four in each row, are seen on the backs of the
snakes; these are simply to represent mottlings. Outside of these eight
snakes are four more of much greater length; they form a frame or
boundary to the picture, except in the west, where the mountain of
Dsilyà -içÃn lies beyond them. There is a white snake in the east, lying
from north to south and bounding the picture in the east; a blue snake,
of similar size and shape, in the south; a yellow one in the west, and a
black one in the north. They seem as if following one another around the
picture in the direction of the sun's apparent course, the head of the
east snake approximating the tail of the south snake, and so on.
162. In the northeast is seen the yay, Niltci, who accompanied the
Navajo prophet to the home of the snakes. In the extreme west is a black
circular figure representing the mountain of Dsilyà -içÃn. In the
original picture the mountain was in relief--which I have not attempted
to represent--a little mound of about ten or twelve inches high. The
description of the mountain given in the myth is duly symbolized in the
picture, the halo added. The green spot in the center is designed to
represent a twig of spruce which was stuck in the mound of sand to
indicate the spruce tree door. From the summit of the mountain to the
middle of the central waters is drawn a wide line in corn meal, with
four footprints, depicted at intervals, in the same material. This
represents the track of a bear. Immediately south of this track is the
figure of an animal drawn in gray pigment. This is the grizzly himself,
which here, I have reason to believe, is used as a symbol of the Navajo
prophet. The bear, in the sacred language of the shamans, is
appropriately called Dsilyi` Neyáni, since he is truly reared within the
mountains. His track, being represented by a streak of meal, has
reference to the same thing as the name akáninili and the practice of
the couriers (paragraph 102), who are dressed to represent the prophet,
throwing corn meal in front of them when they travel.
163. The SECOND PICTURE is said to be a representation of the painting,
which the prophet saw in the home of the bears in the Carrizo Mountains
(paragraph 40). In the center of this figure is the bowl of water
covered with black powder, to which I referred before. The edge of the
bowl is adorned with sunbeams, and external to it are the four
ca`bitlol, or sunbeam rafts, on which seem to stand four gods, or yays.
164. The divine forms are shaped alike but colored differently. They lie
with heads extended outward, one to each of the four cardinal points of
the compass, the faces looking forward, the arms half extended on either
side, with the hands raised to a level with the shoulders. They wear
around their loins skirts of red sunlight, adorned with sunbeams. They
have ear pendants, bracelets, and armlets, blue and red (of turquoise
and coral), the prehistoric and emblematic jewels of the Navajo. Their
forearms and legs are black, showing in each a zigzag mark to represent
lightning on the surface of the black rain clouds. In the north god
these colors are, for artistic reasons, reversed. Each bears, attached
to his right hand with a string, a rattle, a charm, and a basket. The
rattle is of the shape of those used by the medicine men in this
particular dance, made of raw hide and painted to symbolize the rain
cloud and lightning. The left hand is empty; but beside each one is a
highly conventionalized picture of a plant. The left hand remains empty,
as it were, to grasp this plant, to indicate that the plant at the left
hand belongs to the god whose corresponding hand is unoccupied and
extended towards it. The proprietorship of each god in his own
particular plant is further indicated by making the plant the same color
as the god. The body of the eastern god is white; so is the stalk of
corn at his left, in the southeast. The body of the southern god is
blue; so is the beanstalk beside him, in the southwest. The body of the
western god is yellow; so is his pumpkin vine, in the northwest. The
body of the north god is black; so is the tobacco plant, which is under
his special protection, in the northeast.
165. Each of the four sacred plants is represented as growing from five
white roots in the central waters and spreading outwards to the
periphery of the picture. The gods form one cross whose limbs are
directed to the four cardinal points; the plants form another cross
having a common center with the first named cross, but whose limbs
extend to the intermediate points of the compass.
166. On the head of each yay is an eagle plume lying horizontally and
pointing to the right. A similar arrangement of four plumes, all
pointing in one direction (contrary to the sun's apparent course), may
be observed on the baskets carried by the gods.
[Illustration:
Bureau of Ethnology
Fifth Annual Report Pl. XVI
SECOND DRY PAINTING]
167. The gods are represented with beautiful embroidered pouches, each
of a different pattern. In old days the most beautiful things in art the
Navajo knew of were the porcupine quill embroideries of the northern
races. The art of garnishing with quills, and later with beads, seems
never to have been practiced to any extent by the Navajo women. They
obtained embroideries of the Ute and other northern tribes, and their
ancient legends abound in allusions to the great esteem in which they
held them. (See, for instance, paragraphs 32, 34.) Hence, to represent
the grandeur and potency of their gods, they adorn them with these
beautiful and much coveted articles.
168. Surrounding the picture on about three-fourths of its circumference
is the anthropomorphic rainbow or rainbow deity. It consists of two long
stripes, each about two inches wide in the original picture, one of
blue, one of red, bordered and separated by narrow lines of white. At
the southeastern end of the bow is a representation of the body below
the waist, such as the other gods have, consisting of pouch, skirt,
legs, and feet. At the northeastern end we have head, neck, and arms.
The head of the rainbow is rectangular, while the heads of the other
forms in this picture are round. In the pictures of the YÃ ybichy dance
we frequently observe the same difference in the heads. Some are
rectangular, some are round; the former are females, the latter males;
and whenever any of these gods are represented, by characters, in a
dance, those who enact the females wear square stiff masks, like our
dominoes, while those who enact the males wear roundish, baglike masks,
of soft skin, that completely envelop the head. The rainbow god in all
these pictures wears the rectangular mask. Iris, therefore, is with the
Navajo as well as with the Greeks a goddess.
169. All the other gods bear something in their hands, while the hands
of the rainbow are empty. This is not without intention. When the person
for whose benefit the rites are performed is brought in to be prayed and
sung over, the sacred potion is brewed in a bowl, which is placed on the
outstretched hands of the rainbow while the ceremony is in progress and
only taken from these hands when the draught is to be administered.
Therefore the hands are disengaged, that they may hold the gourd and its
contents when the time comes (paragraph 106).
170. In the east, where the picture is not inclosed by the rainbow, we
see the forms of two birds standing with wings outstretched, facing one
another, their beaks close together. These represent certain birds of
blue plumage called by the Navajo çòli (_Sialia arctica_). This bluebird
is of the color of the south and of the upper regions. He is the herald
of the morning. His call of "çòli çòli" is the first that is heard when
the gray dawn approaches. Therefore is he sacred, and his feathers form
a component part of nearly all the plume sticks used in the worship of
this people. Two bluebirds, it is said, stand guard at the door of the
house wherein these gods dwell; hence they are represented in the east
of the picture.
171. Here is an appropriate occasion to speak of a part of Navajo
symbolism in color to which reference has already several times been
made. In the majority of cases the east is represented by white, the
south by blue, the west by yellow, the north by black; the upper world
by blue and the lower by a mixture of white and black in spots. The
colors of the south and west seem to be permanent: the south is always
blue and the west is always yellow, as far as I can learn; but the
colors of the east and north are interchangeable. The cases are rare
where white is assigned to the north and black to the east; but such
cases occur, and perhaps in each instance merit special study. Again,
black represents the male and blue the female.
172. The THIRD PICTURE commemorates the visit of Dsilyi` Neyáni to
Ãaçò`-behogan, or "Lodge of Dew" (paragraph 56). To indicate the great
height of the Bitsès-ninéz the figures are twice the length of any in
the other pictures, except the rainbows, and each is clothed in four
garments, one above the other, for no one garment, they say, can be made
long enough to cover such giant forms. Their heads all point to the
east, instead of pointing in different directions, as in the other
pictures. The Navajo relate, as already told (paragraph 56), that this
is in obedience to a divine mandate; but probably there is a more
practical reason, which is this: if they had the cruciform arrangement
there would not be room on, the floor of the lodge for the figures and
at the same time for the shaman, assistants, and spectators. Economy of
space is essential; but, although drawn nearly parallel to one another,
the proper order of the cardinal points is not lost sight of. The form
immediately north of the center of the picture is done first, in white,
and represents the east. That immediately next to it on the south comes
second in order, is painted in blue, and represents the south. The one
next below that is in yellow, and depicts the goddess who stood in the
west of the House of Dew-Drops. The figure in the extreme north is drawn
last of all, in black, and belongs to the north. As I have stated
before, these bodies are first made naked and afterwards clothed. The
exposed chests, arms, and thighs display the colors of which the entire
bodies were originally composed. The glòï (weasel, _Putorius_) is sacred
to these goddesses. Two of these creatures are shown in the east,
guarding the entrance to the lodge. The appendages at the sides of the
heads of the goddesses represent the glòï-bitcà , or headdresses of glòï
skins of different colors which these mythic personages are said to
wear. Each one bears attached to her right hand a rattle and a charm, or
plume stick, such as the gods in the second picture carry; but, instead
of the basket shown before, we see a conventionalized representation of
a branch of choke cherry in blossom; this consists of five diverging
stems in blue, five roots, and five cruciform blossoms in white. The
choke cherry is a sacred tree, a mountain plant; its wood is used in
making certain sacrificial plume sticks and certain implements of the
dance; it is often mentioned in the songs of this particular rite. Some
other adjuncts of this picture--the red robes embroidered with sunbeams,
the arms and legs clothed with clouds and lightning, the pendants from
the arms, the blue and red armlets, bracelets, and garters--have already
been described when speaking of the second picture. The object in the
left hand is a wand of spruce.
[Illustration:
Bureau of Ethnology
Fifth Annual Report Pl. XVII
THIRD DRY-PAINTING]
173. The rainbow which incloses the picture on three sides is not the
anthropomorphic rainbow. It has no head, neck, arms, or lower
extremities. Five white eagle plumes adorn its southeastern extremity.
Five tail plumes of some blue bird decorate the bend in the southwest.
The plumes of the red shafted flicker (_Colaptes auratus_ var.
_mexicanus_) are near the bend in the northwest and the tail of the
magpie terminates the northeastern extremity. Throughout the myth, it
will be remembered, not only is the House of Dew-Drops spoken of as
adorned with hangings and festoons of rainbows, but many of the holy
dwellings are thus embellished.
174. The FOURTH PICTURE represents the kátso-yisçà n, or great plumed
arrows. These arrows are the especial great mystery, the potent healing
charm of this dance. The picture is supposed to be a fac simile of a
representation of these weapons, shown to the prophet when he visited
the abode of the Tsilkè-¢igini, or young men gods, where he first saw
the arrows (paragraph 47). There are eight arrows. Four are in the
center, lying parallel to one another--two pointing east and two others,
alternate, pointing west. The picture is bordered by the other four,
which have the same relative positions and directions as the bounding
serpents in the first picture. The shafts are all of the same white
tint, no attention being paid to the colors of the cardinal points; yet
in drawing and erasing the picture the cardinal points are duly honored.
Among the central arrows, the second from the top, or north margin of
the design, is that of the east; it is drawn and erased first. The next
below it is the arrow of the south; the third is that of the west. The
one on top belongs to the north; it is drawn and erased last. The heads
are painted red to represent the red stone points used; the fringed
margins show the irregularities of their edges. The plumes at the butt
are indicated, as are also the strings by which the plumes are tied on
and the notches to receive the bowstring.
175. The ground of this picture is crossed with nebulous black streaks.
These were originally present in all the pictures. I have omitted them
in all but this, lest they might obscure the details of the reduced
copies. It has been explained to me (although in the myth it is
expressly stated only in one case, paragraph 40) that all these pictures
were drawn by the gods upon the clouds and thus were shown to the Navajo
prophet. Men cannot paint on the clouds, but according to the divine
mandate they do the best they can on sand, and then sprinkle the sand
with charcoal, in the manner indicated, to represent the cloudy scrolls
whereon the primal designs of the celestial artists were painted.