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The Navajo. The Dineh: The People. Prepared by Rebecca Baird. When and where the religion was established:.
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The Navajo The Dineh: The People Prepared by Rebecca Baird
When and where the religion was established: • The Dineh, or "The People," as the Navajo call themselves, migrated to the Southwest from the North around the 15th century. They were first noticed by other peoples between the 14th and 15th century, between the Champa and upper San Juan rivers. • The Spaniards brought sheep and horses which the Navajo adapted to their nomadic lifestyle. It is thought that the Navajo originally consisted of four clans and today has expanded to include over 60.
Number of adherents: • There are more than 210,000 Navajo today, but not all practice the traditional Navajo way of life. • Most adherents live in the Four Corners area.
Dzil Na’oodilij Dzil Na'oodilii (El Huerfano Mesa ) is considered to be the "lungs" of Navajo country. It is also the home of Yódí'ashkii (Goods of Value Boy), and Yódí at ééd (Goods of Value Girl), and one of the homes of 'Altsé Hastiin (First Man), and 'Altsé 'Asdzáá (First Woman). In the beginning DzilNa'oodilii was decorated with pollen, rugs, hides, cloth, and Male Rain for the coming of a special child (Changing Woman).
Shiprock Peak • A long time ago the Diné were hard pressed by their enemies. One night their medicine men prayed for their deliverance, having their prayers heard by the Gods. They caused the ground to rise, lifting the Diné, and moved the ground like a great wave into the east away from their enemies. It settled where Shiprock Peak now stands. These Navajos then lived on the top of this new mountain, only coming down to plant their fields and to get water.
The Hogan: Place of Life, Place of Ceremonies • The performance of the Blessing Way ceremony would take place within a hogan, a lodge used to symbolize the universe, where a fire representing the sun is located in the middle. The diviner marks out four posts with cornmeal by moving within the hogan in a clockwise fashion. In this way, the four posts become symbolic of the four cardinal points within the hogan as that of the universe.
The Hogan: Place of Healing • Holy Way diviners aim to cure the sick person through song, prayer, and drama by placing the individual in the middle of the hogan in order to identify them with Hozho as expressed by the deities.
Hogan Healing Ceremonies • Inside the hogan, the patient undergoes curative rites administered by those of a hand-trembler for those whose disease origins are not known. The hand-trembler diagnoses the further medicine rites that will be used to restore harmony to the particular patient. The hand-trembler feels his hand over the patient's body in order to decipher the nature of the disease.
Hogans and Sandpaintings • The ritual of an Holy Way Healing Ceremonies, if it is chosen as a treatment, carries the symbolism of sandpaintings made in the first day of the ceremony as models of the cosmos in order to gather the universal power of motivating forces.
Influential practitioners: • The CodeTalkers of World War II
Growth of the Religion • Causes: After the Long Walk • Effects: Changes from influence of other cultures, yet resurgence in general practices
Holy Days • Every day is a holy day to the Navajo. There is no “Sunday” equivalent to Christian tradition. • Holy events take place all year long. • Ghost Ways and Healing Ways usually take place in the season when thunder sleeps (Winter).
Holy work: • There is no holy work. • The holy works are preserved in the sand paintings and ceremonies of the haatalli (medicine men and women). • The legends of the holy people are preserved in oral tradition and in the enactment of ceremonies.
Ecclesiastical law? • One who is Navajo lives by the Navajo Way. • The Navajo do not punish wrong doers, but work to bring the people in harmony with the Blessing Way. • They believe evil/wrong is done if one is out of harmony (hozro).
Clergy • Hand-tremblers • Crystal-gazers • Singers
Function of Clergy • Both men and women may be hand-tremblers, crystal gazers, and singers, but most singers are male. • Hand-tremblers and crystal gazers determine how the patient is out of hozro. • Singers perform the ceremony to bring one into hozro again.
Rites/Rituals/Ceremonies • Communion with God(s)/holy ones • birth • rites of passage/puberty rites • baptism • marriage rites • death rites
Communion with God(s)/holy ones • The diyindiné, generally translated as Holy People, are the beings whose actions are recounted in the stories and myths that are the basis for the Navajo ceremonials [Diné binahagha'] and who are pictured in the sandpaintings ['iikááh].
The Navajo Pantheon • The core group of the Holy People contains First Man [Á tsé hastiin], First Woman [Á tsé asdz ], Coyote [M 'ii], otherwise known as "first scolder" [Á tsé hashké], First Boy [Á tsé ashkii] and First Girl [Á tsé at'ééd], Talking God [Haashch'éé ti'í] Calling God [Hashch'éoghan], and Changing Woman.
Changing Woman • Changing Woman is seen as the source for all good in the Navajo world. • She is almost an earth mother figure and represents the cyclical path of the seasons [nináhágháhígíí], birth (spring [daan d go]), maturing (summer [sh sh go]), growing old (fall ['ak'eed]) and dying (winter [haigo]), only to be reborn again in the spring [daan d go].
The “Good” Afterlife • The goal of the earth-surface people, by aiming for knowledge gained over a long and happy lifetime is to join the diyinii (the holy people) at the end of their lives.
Navajo Blessing for a Newborn • "Today, we are blessed with a beautiful baby • May his feet be to the eastmay his right hand be to the southmay his head be to the westmay his left hand be to the north • May he walk and dwell on Mother Earth peacefullyMay he be blessed with precious, variegated stonesMay he be blessed with fat sheep in variationMay he be blessed with respectful relatives and friends • May he be blessed with the essence of life in old ageMay he be blessed with the source of happiness in beautyWe ask all these blessings with reverence and holiness • My Mother the EarthMy Father the SkyMy Sister the Sun • All is PeaceAll is BeautyAll is HappinessAll is Harmony“ • Source: navajo-coop.org
Yeibichai During the Nightway ceremony, a team will be composed of fourteendancers: the leader Yeibichai - the Talking God, sixmale dancers, six women dancers, and finally, theWater Sprinkler - the God of Precipitated Waters. Onthe final night, teams of dancers appear in public inwhat is referred to as the Yeibichai Dance until justbefore dawn. The ceremony ends with the chanting ofthe "Bluebird Song" which celebrates the happinessand the peace that the bluebird symbolizes.
Whirling Log Rug from Sand Painting Mrs. Sam Maurelito, weaver, after Hosteen Klah, Dineh healer, Whirling Log Ceremony Sand Painting ca. Navajo nation, 1925. tapestry taken from sacred sand painting. Native American.
Spider Woman and Weaving • Spider Woman taught Navajo ancestors of long ago the art of weaving upon a loom. Her husband, Spider Man, made the first loom, using sky and earth cords for the cross poles, sun rays for the warp sticks, rock crystal and sheet lightning for the herarlds, and a sun halo for the batten. The comb was made of a white shell. • Spider Woman lives on Spider Rock in Navajo lore.
Rug Weaving Circa 1920 From the Tom O. and H. Lucille Kimball Indian Collection.
The Swastika Many people have commented on the swastika in Navajo artwork, specifically in carvings, in blanket designs, and in sand paintings. It is the result of basket weaving where the ends of a simple cross design are turned either to the right or left, depending on the direction of the weaving, to form a swastika. Its meanings are as diverse as its worldwide origins. For the Navajo, the symbol is known as the Whirling Log.
Yei Yei depicted in a contemporary navajo rug. Source:Verkamps.com
The Four Sacred Stones • turquoise • white shell • abalone shell • black jet
Turquoise (Doot kl'izhii) • Turquoise is considered one of the four sacred stones of the Navajo. For centuries they have regarded it as a valuable talisman and take pride in its possession. Sheepherders have carried a turquoise fetish to insure fertility of the sheep, hunters to insure success in the hunt, and warriors to insure victory and a safe return.
Powers of Turquoise • Traditionally a bead of turquoise was fastened to a lock of hair to protect the Navajo from being struck by lightning and believed to be a safeguard against snake bite. Every household would have a buckskin pouch of herbs, turquoise and shell to add protection against any unexpected event or catastrophe.
Four Sacred Colors • The white [ igai] light of Dawn [hayíí k ] in the east [ha'a'aah], • The blue [doot 'izh] light of midday ['a ní'ní' ] in the south [shádi'ááh], • The yellow [ itso] light of twilight [nahootsoii] in the west ['e'e'aah], • The black [ izhin] of Night [t 'éé'] in the north [náhook
Birth • Blessing Way Ceremonies are typically used for pregnant women, at weddings, and for girl's puberty rites.
Cradle Board Use and Blessing • Many Navajos still use a traditional cradle board to keep their babies safe and protected. Made with cottonwood, pine or cedar laced together with thin strips of leather, the Cradle Board feature a wide, wooden hoop over the baby's head that protects the child. Navajos believe the flat boards will give the baby a strong, straight back, and that a soft supporting pad will help the infant form a nice rounded head. The Cradle Board is blessed with corn pollen, prayers, songs and good thoughts for the baby. • Source: native-american-art.org
Evil Way Ceremonies • Evil Way (Ghost Way) ceremonies involve purification rituals such as those of exorcism in order to realign the harmony of universal forces. In these types of exorcisms, the "ghostway" is usually incorporated as a way to restore a sick person to Hozho by rescuing them from the malevolent forces of ghosts.
Rites of passage/puberty rites • The Navajo celebrate a girl’s turning thirteen or her first and second menses with a huge ceremony: • The kinaalda.
Kinaaldi • In the Blessing Way ceremony of the girl's puberty, sacred matter of cornmeal or cornpollen is applied to the body for blessing, signifying the changing of girl into woman--one of beauty, symbolic regeneration, and rejuvenation.
Changing Woman’s Ceremony • The Kinaaldi Ceremony was first performed by Changing Woman who is one of the most important of the Navajo Holy People. Changing Woman represents the earth and as such is the source for all life and its sustenance on the earth.
Modeling Changing Woman • Many young Navaho girls are painted with a white clay mixture on different parts of her body and costume. The painting and costume of shells and other ornaments depicting Changing Woman are like a mask enabling her to stand out from the others, to aid in her walk through womanhood.
