[Illustration: _Yebichai_ Dancers - Navaho]
_Yebichai_ Dancers - Navaho
_From Copyright Photograph 1906 by E.S. Curtis_
The Navaho marriage ceremony is always held at the home of the girl. When
a young man wishes to marry the maid of his choice, he makes his desire
known to his parents, when the father goes to the girl's parents and
explains that his son would like to marry their daughter. The girl is then
consulted, and if she be willing to marry the young man, the parents of
the two open negotiations. A popular, pretty girl commands a considerably
higher price than a plain one, though few are married for a smaller bonus
than fourteen ponies and a silver belt. Horses, saddles, cattle, sheep and
goats, and turquoise-studded silver ornaments are the usual media of
exchange in matrimonial bargains. The arrangement of compensatory details,
particularly the date of delivery of the articles for payment, often
requires a considerable period of time and no little controversy. When
finally completed, the date is set for the wedding, which takes place
always at night.
The girl's mother fills a wedding basket with corn-meal mush, which
figures prominently in the ceremony. About nine o'clock in the evening the
wedding party assembles. Anyone may attend, and usually a goodly number is
present. The young man and his bride take seats on the western side of the
hogan, facing the doorway. On their right the male spectators sit in rows;
on their left, the women. The girl's mother, however, does not enter, for
a mother-in-law, even in the making, must not look upon her newly acquired
son, nor he upon her, then or thereafter. To do so would occasion
blindness, and general ill luck to either one or both parties.
The basket of mush and two wicker bottles of water are brought in and
placed before the couple, the bearer being careful to see that the side of
the basket on which the top coil terminates is toward the east. The girl's
father then steps forward, and from his pouch of _taditin_, or sacred
pollen, sifts several pinches on the basket of mush. Beginning at the end
of the coil on the eastern rim, he sifts straight across and back, then
follows the rim with the pollen around to the south side, sifts across and
back, and then drops a little in the centre. That done, the bride pours a
small quantity of water from the wicker bottle upon the young man's hands.
He washes and pours a little upon hers. Then from the side of the basket
toward the east he dips out a little mush with two fingers and eats. The
girl follows, dipping from the same place. This act is repeated at the
three remaining sides--the south, west, and north,--and then the basket is
passed to the assemblage, who finish eating its contents. The empty basket
becomes the property of the young man's mother, who retains it as a sort
of certificate of marriage. The washing of hands and the dipping of mush
from the same spot is a pledge that the girl will follow in her husband's
footsteps--doing as he does.
When the ceremony is concluded, a supper is provided for all. General
conversation and levity while away the hours, the talk consisting
principally, however, of sage advice from relatives to both husband and
wife as to how they should conduct themselves in future. At dawn the party
disperses, the young man taking his bride with him.
[Illustration: Mescal Harvest - Apache]