illustrated by the following incident: The writer once made a journey,
accompanied by two Navahoes, to Tsúskai[9] (Chusca Knoll), which is
supposed to be the home of the Tsiké Sas Nátlehi, or Maidens who Become
Bears. When the party got to the top of the ridge from which the knoll
rises, and about three hundred yards from the base of the knoll, the
Indians refused to go farther, saying they feared the divine ones who
dwelt in the knoll. The writer proceeded alone, and had much difficulty
in riding up the pathless hill, among loose rocks and fallen trees. On
the summit he found a little hollow among the rocks full of sand, and,
scraping into this, he discovered a number of hand-wrought stone and
shell beads, which had been put there as sacrifices. When he descended
from the knoll, he found the Indians awaiting him where he had left
them, and all set out together to retrace the rough mountain trail
down to Red Lake. In a little while, his horse becoming very lame, the
writer was obliged to dismount. "What has made your horse lame?" asked
the Indians. "He must have struck his leg against some of the fallen
trees when he was climbing the knoll," was the answer. "Think not
thus, foolish American," they said. "It was not the fallen trees
that wounded your horse. The digíni of the mountain have stricken
him because you went where you had no right to go. You are lucky if
nothing worse happens to you." Of course Indians had been up to the
top of the knoll, or the beads could not have been put there; but
they went only after preparatory prayer and only to deposit sacrifices.
87. Demonolatry.--There are writers who say that the Indians "worship
the Devil" and other malevolent powers; but it is not only learned
authors who speak thus. Jesus Alviso, a Mexican captive reared among
the Navahoes, said to the author in 1880: "Los Indios hacen figuras
de todos sus diablos, señor" ("The Indians make figures of all their
devils, sir"), and it was this hint which led to the discovery of
their dry-paintings. He called them devils; in this work they are
called gods. Perhaps other tribes worship personifications of evil,
but certainly the Navahoes do not. The gods who are supposed to love
and help men the most receive the greatest honor. The evil spirits are
not worshipped except, rumor says, by the witches. It would appear,
moreover, from the Origin Legend, that the worst of evil powers--the
alien gods--were long ago destroyed, and that only demons of minor
influence remain. The chief of witches, Estsán Natán, or Woman Chief,
has her home beneath the earth, in one of the lower worlds.
CEREMONIES.
88. A great number of ceremonies are practised by the Navaho
priests. Many of these are of nine days' duration; there are others
that last but a single day or a few hours. To learn one of the great
rites so as to become its hatáli (chanter, singer),[16] or priest,
is the work of many years, and no one knows more than one such rite
perfectly. The older priests know something of other rites, may assist
at them and sing songs at them, but are not competent to conduct
them. A priest of a great rite may know some of the lesser rites.
89. All the great ceremonies which the writer has witnessed among the
Navahoes are primarily for the healing of the sick; but the occasion is
always used to ask the gods for various temporal blessings, not only
for the sick person but for all,--the shaman, the relations of the
sick, and for the people in general. The invalid, for whose benefit
the rite is performed, defrays all the expenses of the ceremony,
which often amount in value to the sum of two hundred or three
hundred dollars. The Navahoes being a scattered and to some extent a
wandering people who do not build towns, they lack the organization
to have rites of a more public character, such as the village Indians
have.[184] Hence these healing ceremonies, in which the sick man and
his relations become hosts, are used as occasions for prayer for the
common weal, and as occasions in which large numbers may assemble to
witness interesting exhibitions and have the social enjoyments which
attend the gathering of a crowd.
90. Minor Ceremonies.--Among the minor ceremonies, besides those
for healing the sick, are those of planting, harvesting, building,
war, nubility, marriage, travel, and many other occasions in life. In
addition to these, there are ceremonies for special occasions, as for
bringing rain. During an unusually dry season a number of Navahoes
may subscribe together and raise a good fee for a priest to sing,
pray, sacrifice, and conduct a ceremony to bring rain.
91. Origin of Ceremonies.--The late Mr. A. M. Stephen of Arizona, who
for many years studied the rites and myths of both Mokis and Navahoes,
has often called the attention of the writer to the many resemblances
between the cults of these two tribes, who differ so much in other
respects, and he has suggested that the Navahoes may have borrowed
from the Mokis. This may be the case, for the Navahoes have, probably,
people of Moki descent among them, and they have had intercourse with
the Mokis, both peaceful and warlike, for a long time. But, throughout
all the Navaho legends so far collected, it is strongly indicated
that the Navaho cultus, where borrowed, came from cliff-dwellers, from
inhabitants of pueblos now deserted, and from wild tribes. The Mokis
figure but little in the Navaho rite-myths. The author is inclined
to believe that the Navahoes have not borrowed much directly from
the Mokis, but that both tribes have taken inspiration from common
sources. In radical points of symbolism, such as the sacred colors
and the ceremonial circuit, the Navaho and Moki rites differ widely.
92. Elements of Ceremonies.--In the ceremonies there are numerous
minor acts of such diverse character that they cannot be classified
and are not described in this work. They can be discussed better
in connection with the rites to which they belong. There are other
acts of minor importance, such as the ceremonial bath[10] [82]
and the administration of pollen,[11] which are considered in the
notes. But there are six elements of the worship which constitute
such important parts in all the great rites that brief descriptions
of them are presented in this introduction. These six are: Sacrifice,
painting, masquerade, dance, prayer, and song. The last has been
already discussed (par. 41 et seq.).
93. Sacrifices.--The sacrifices of the Navahoes are innocent and
bloodless. Their kindly gods are easily propitiated. Like their
worshippers, they are all fond of tobacco, and they prize a few
feathers and beads. Even the chief war god demands no smoking hearts
or blood of captives; a little painted cigarette is all he asks in
return for his favors. An extensive chapter might be written about
the sacrificial cigarettes and sticks which the Navahoes call ketán
(Englished, kethawn), but a short description of them must suffice
here. (See note 12.)
94. Cigarettes.--The cigarettes are usually made of the hollow
joints of the common reed (Phragmites communis), but other plants
are sometimes used. To form a cigarette, a piece of the reed is
cut off with a stone knife, the node being excluded; it is rubbed
with sandstone, so that the paint may adhere; it is painted with
some symbolical device; a wad of feathers is inserted into it to
keep the tobacco from falling out; it is filled with some kind of
native tobacco,[223] usually the Nicotiana attenuata, or dsi'lnato
of the Navahoes; it is sealed with moistened pollen and symbolically
lighted with a rock crystal, which is held up to the sky and touched
to the tip of the cigarette. After it has been prayed over it is
taken out and left for--i.e., sacrificed to--the god for whom it is
intended. The god, they say, recognizes it by its symbolic painting
and by the place where it is sacrificed. He picks it up, smells and
examines it. If he is satisfied that it is properly made and that it
is for him, he takes it and bestows on the supplicant the favors asked.
95. Sacrificial Sticks.--Besides the cigarettes, small sticks are
used as sacrifices to the gods. These are made from a variety of
woods,--different gods and different occasions requiring woods of
different sorts,--and they are painted in a variety of ways for the
same reasons. They are usually made in pairs, one for the male and
the other for the female. Celibacy is not practised by the Navaho
gods; every deity has its mate, and she must be propitiated as well
as he. The female is distinguished in some way from the male, and
this is usually done by cutting a small facet at the tip end of the
female stick (see fig. 23), to represent the square mask worn by one
who masquerades as a goddess in the ceremonies. He who appears as a
god wears a round cap-like mask (fig. 27), and the round cut end of
the stick sufficiently represents this.
96. Often the feathers of different kinds of birds are sacrificed
with the kethawns, either attached to the latter or separate; also
beads of stone or shell and various kinds of powdered vegetable and
mineral substances, including pollen,[11] which is the most sacred
substance employed by the Navaho priests.
97. Disposal of Kethawns.--The different ways in which kethawns are
deposited or sacrificed are as numerous as are their forms, materials,
and decorations, and each way has its special symbolism. Some are
laid in the branches of a tree, others among rocks, others at the
base of a cliff, others, again, at the root of a tree, and others
on level ground; a few are thrown away almost at random, but most of
them are laid down with care and with rigorous ceremonial form. All
that are laid with care are placed with their tips away from the
lodge, and each is destined to go toward some particular point of
the compass. When the bearer of the sacrifice leaves the lodge, he
proceeds in the direction of the place selected for the sacrifice;
when he has deposited it he turns to the right and takes a sunwise
direction in returning. He does not cross his outgoing trail; he must
not walk through an ant-hill; he must run both going and coming.[12]
98. Ceremonial Pictures.--The pictures accompanying the Navaho rites
are among the most transitory in the history of art. In previous
essays the author has called them dry-paintings. Similar works have
been observed among other tribes, both nomadic and sedentary, and the
observers have designated them as "sand-paintings," "sand-altars,"
etc. They are drawn in all the great rites, and even in some of
the lesser rites--those of only one day's duration--small but
handsome dry-paintings are sometimes made. They vary in size from
four to twelve feet in diameter. Sometimes the fire in the centre
of the medicine-lodge must be removed in order to accommodate
them. The groundwork is sand, which is conveyed in blankets into
the medicine-lodge, and spread out over the floor to the depth of
about three inches. It is smoothed with the broad oaken battens used
in weaving.
99. Before the sand is brought in, the pigments are ground to powder
and put on broad pieces of pine bark, which serve as trays--or
palettes, shall we say? The pigments are five in number,--white,
red, yellow, black, and gray. The white, red, and yellow are made
of sandstone. The black is made of powdered charcoal, with which a
little sandstone is mixed to facilitate the grinding and give weight
to the powder. The gray, made of black and white mixed in suitable
proportions, is intended to represent blue, is called blue by the
Navahoes, and, combined with the other colors, has the effect of blue
in the paintings. It will be spoken of as blue in the subsequent
descriptions. The Navahoes use indigo and a native bluish mineral
pigment to paint masks, kethawns, and other small objects; but for
the dry-paintings such a large quantity is needed that these would
be too expensive. To apply the colored powder, a pinch of it is taken
up between the thumb and first two fingers and allowed to fall slowly
on the sand, while the thumb is moved over the fingers.
100. To paint one of these large pictures may require the labor of
several men--a dozen sometimes--working from early morning till late
in the afternoon. The picture must be finished before dark, for it is
impracticable to work on it with such artificial lights as the Indians
can command. While the work is in progress the priest who conducts the
ceremonies does little more than direct and criticise. The operators
have received a certain initiation. They have seen the picture painted
before and are familiar with its details. If an error is made the
faulty part is not erased; sand is spread on it to obliterate it,
and the corrected drawing is made on the new deposit of sand. The
pictures are drawn according to exact and established rules. Some
parts are measured by palms and spans, and not a line of the sacred
designs may be varied in them. In drawing straight lines the colored
powder is poured over a tightened cord. But in a few cases the artist
is allowed to indulge his fancy, thus, in drawing the embroidered
pouches which the gods wear suspended at the waist (plate I.), the
limner may, within certain limits, give his god as handsome a pouch
as he wishes and embroider it to suit his notion. The naked forms
of the mythical characters are drawn first and then the clothing and
ornaments are laid on.
101. When the picture is finished a number of ceremonies (differing
somewhat in different rites) are performed over it. Pollen or
corn-meal may be placed on certain parts of the sacred figures,
and one of these substances may be scattered over it. Water or
medicinal infusions may be applied to it. At length the patient is
brought in and placed sitting on the picture. Moistening his palms,
the shaman or an assistant takes the colored dust from various parts
of the divine figures and applies it to similar parts of the subject's
body. Medicine is then usually administered in four draughts. When the
patient leaves, others in the lodge who are ill, or fancy themselves
ill, take dust on their palms from the picture and apply it to their
own persons. He who has headache takes dust from the head in the
picture and applies it to his own head. He who has sore feet takes
dust from the pictured feet. When all are done the picture is badly
marred; it is then totally obliterated,--the method and ceremony of
obliteration differing in different rites,--and the sand on which
it was drawn is taken out of the lodge and thrown away. The floor
on the lodge is swept, and the uninitiated, entering a moment later,
has no evidence of what has taken place.
102. Plate I. shows pictures of five different gods as they appear
separately in the dry-paintings. Figure 29 represents, in black, a
complete painting (the original of which was done in five different
colors) from the rite of the klédzi hatál, or the night chant. It
will be observed that some of the gods or yéi of plate I. are to be
seen in fig. 29.
103. The medicine-men declare that these pictures have been transmitted
from teacher to pupil, unchanged in all the years since they were
revealed to the prophets of the rites. There are good reasons for
believing that this is not strictly true: the majority of the great
ceremonies may be performed only during the coldest part of the
year,--the months when the snakes are dormant. No permanent copies
of the pictures were ever preserved until the author painted them;
they were carried from season to season in the memories of men,
and there was no final authority in the tribe to settle questions
of correctness. But it is probable that changes, if they occurred,
were unintentional and wrought slowly. After the writer made copies
of these pictures, and it became known to the medicine-men that he
had copies in his possession, it was not uncommon for the shamans,
pending the performance of a ceremony, to bring young men who were
to assist in the lodge, ask to see the paintings, and lecture on them
to their pupils, pointing out the various important points, and thus,
no doubt, saving mistakes and corrections in the medicine-lodge. The
water-color copies were always (as the shamans knew) kept hidden at
the forbidden season, and never shown to the uninitiated of the tribe.
104. Masquerade.--In the rites, men appear representing gods or other
mythic characters. Sometimes such representations are effected by
means of paint and equipment only, as in the case of the akáninili, or
messenger of the mountain chant,[314] who is dressed to represent the
prophet Dsi'lyi Neyáni as he appeared after the Butterfly Goddess had
transformed him; but on other occasions masks are added to the dress,
as in the rites of the night chant. In this there are twenty-one
masks,[267] made of sacred buckskin,[13] for representatives of the
gods to wear, besides a mask of yucca leaves[14] trimmed with spruce
twigs (fig. 26), which the patient wears on one occasion. The buckskin
masks, without plumes or collars, are kept in a sack by the shaman,
and he carries them on horseback to the place where the rites are
to be performed; there they are freshly painted, and the collars and
plumes are added just before they are to be used in the ceremony.
105. Plates IV. and VII. show the masks as they are actually worn,
and exhibit men as they are dressed and painted to represent the War
Gods. In plate I. we get representations of these masks as they are
depicted in the dry-paintings. Fig. 27 shows the mask of Hastséyalti,
the Talking God, as it appears when all is ready for the dance, with
plume and collar of fresh spruce twigs applied. Fig. 28 depicts the
mask of a yébaad, or female yéi. The female masks cover only the face,
leaving the hair free. The male masks (fig. 27) cover the entire head,
concealing the hair.
106. When a man is dressed in his godly costume he does not speak;
he only makes motions and utters a peculiar cry,--each god has his own
special cry,--and he may perform acts on the patient with his special
weapon or talisman. The masquerader, they say, is, for the time being,
no longer a Navaho, but a god, and a prayer to him is a prayer to
a god. When he enters the lodge and sits down before the sick man,
the latter hands him his sacrifice and prays to him devoutly, well
knowing that it may be his own uncle or cousin, disguised in the
panoply of divinity, who receives the sacrifice.
107. Dance.--It has been customary with travellers to speak of Indian
ceremonials as dances. This is chiefly for the reason that the dance
most attracts the attention of white men, and the other portions
of the work are likely to pass unheeded. Dancing is rarely the most
important element of an Indian ceremonial, and among the Navahoes it is
always a minor element. In some of the lesser rites it does not occur
at all. In the nine days' ceremony of the mountain chant it occurs
only on the last night, and then forms but a part of the show,--rude
dramatic performances and feats of legerdemain (see fig. 30) occupying
about an equal time until the entertainment ends, soon after dawn. In
the nine days' ceremony of the night chant, dancing as a part of the
ceremony is confined to the last night, although undress rehearsals
of the dance take place after sunset for a few days before.
108. These dances of the Navaho, although accompanied with religious
symbolism, and performed often by men wearing sacred costumes,
are undoubtedly intended largely to entertain the spectators. While
but a few people may be present during the first eight or nine days
of a great ceremony, a large crowd always gathers to witness the
performances of the last night, and many people stay up all night
to do this. On the last night of the mountain chant the dances
are picturesque and various. Many of them are borrowed from other
rites. They have been described by the author in a previous work. On
the last night of the night chant the dance and song vary but little,
and to the ordinary observer may seem not to vary at all. Yet the
spectators who come to the mountain chant are not more wakeful and
watchful than those who come to the night chant. The dancing is always
rhythmical and well-timed. Figures are often introduced like those
of our quadrilles; but no round dances, like our waltz or polka,
have been observed--the rough ground is not suited for such. The
dancers and the drummers practise long in private before coming to
the public exhibition.
109. Prayer.--In a paper entitled "The Prayer of a Navaho Shaman,"[315]
the author has published a long composition, called a prayer by the
man from whom he received it, which is a simple narrative and does
not contain a word of supplication. This is the only prayer of such
character obtained from a Navaho. Many other long prayers have been
recorded, all of which are formed on a common plan. The name of a god
is mentioned, and some flattering attributes are given to him. If
it is a god such as Hastséyalti, of which there are more than one
of the same name, his residence is mentioned. He is informed that
sacrifices have been prepared for him. He is asked to remove the
spell of disease. Immediately he is assured that it is removed. Then
he is asked to bestow various blessings on the supplicant and all his
kindred and people. The prayer is given out, one sentence at a time, by
the shaman, and the patient repeats it after him, sentence by sentence.
110. These prayers, repeated by two voices, sound much like litanies,
and all end with an expression (hozóna hastlé) analogous to the amen
of Christian prayers, four times repeated; yet the Navaho prayers
show in their spirit no indication of the influence of Christian
teaching. They are purely pagan compositions. The only evidence of any
modern influence they present is the occasional inclusion of a request
for increase of wealth in the shape of horses and sheep. A typical
Navaho prayer from the rites of klédzi hatál is given in note 288.
111. Besides these long prayers, repeated by two persons, the shamans
have many monologue prayers; there are prayers silent and vocal,
formulated and extempore, used by both priest and layman; and there
are short devotional sayings which may be classed as benedictions
and ejaculations.
THE LEGENDS.
112. Of the many lengthy myths and legends obtained by the author
from the Navahoes, three have been selected for publication in this
volume. The first is the Origin Legend of the tribe; the other two
are incomplete rite-myths, i.e., rite-myths told by men who were not
priests of the associated rites.
113. Versions.--As might be expected among an unlettered people,
thinly scattered over a wide territory, the legends of the Navahoes
have many variants. No two men will tell the same tale exactly alike,
and each story-teller will probably maintain that his own version is
the only reliable one. Variations of the Origin Legend, which is the
property of the tribe at large, and, unlike the rite-myths, is not
in the keeping of any especial order or priesthood, are particularly
numerous; but even in the rite-myths, as told by priests of the
rites, versions may be found. Notwithstanding these varieties, the
tale-tellers agree substantially in the more important matters. Of
the two rite-myths given in this work, only one version of each was
procured; but several versions of the Origin Legend, complete or
partial, were recorded. The one here published was selected as being
the most complete, extensive, and consistent of all. Other versions
often supplement it. The narrators sometimes acknowledged that they
had forgotten episodes which others had remembered and detailed. The
learned old shaman, Hatáli Nez, forgot to tell how the stars were
made; while a younger and less erudite person, Jake the silversmith,
related a fair version of this episode, which came also from other
sources to the writer. Jake's version of the Legend, which has
already been published, is designated in the notes as Version B;[306]
that of old Torlino, a priest of the hozóni hatál, is designated
as Version A. Other versions are alluded to, but not designated by
letter or number. Some fragmentary versions by other authors[291]
[300] have been published, but these are not quoted in the notes.
114. Origin Legend.--The Origin Legend divides itself into four very
distinct parts or chapters, which are named: I. The Story of the
Emergence; II. Early Events in the Fifth World; III. The War Gods;
IV. The Growth of the Navaho Nation. The name of the first part is
that given to it by the Navaho story-tellers. The names of the other
parts are supplied by the author. The first part, The Story of the
Emergence, ends when it is related that the people came out from the
fourth world to the surface of this, the fifth world.[15]
115. Rite-myths.--By a rite-myth is meant a myth which accounts
for the work of a ceremony, for its origin, for its introduction
among the Navahoes, or for all these things combined. The Navahoes
celebrate long and costly ceremonies, many of which are of nine days'
duration. Each ceremony has connected with it one or more myths,
or legends which may not be altogether mythical.