A study of Navajo symbolism - Free History Ebooks

9° A STUDY OF NAVAJO SYMBOLISMBEAR CONSTELLATION OF SEVEN STARSThe Navajo gourd and skin rattles are decoratedwith the Great Bear Constellation. Thehibernation of bears during the winter, andtheir survival through apparent death, hascaused the Bear Constellation keeping watchto become a universal symbol. The Greekshad November ceremonies when the sevenstars were highest, and all over North America,Indians believed the abode of bliss to be amongthe stars of the Great Bear.In the Taoist heaven the Bear Constellationthe throne of Shang Ti, the supreme deity.isThese stars are in China associated with longevityand wealth, and there is a ceremony inwhich a rice measure (rice being the staff oflife, the rice measure is naturally the measureof life) is given to the Mother of the Measure,or Queen of Heaven, who dwells among thestars of the Bear Constellation. The Chinesewords for measure and constellation are muchalike. Goette (p. 149) describes the greenjade Kuei tablet, offered by the Emperor ofChina at the Altar of the East outside Peipingon the morning of the Spring Equinox, whichwas incised with a conventional representationof the seven stars of the Great Bear constellation.Among the Ainu of Japan, the bear isthe particular intermediary between men andtheir God, who is equated with the NorthStar, and to whom they sacrifice the bear.RITUAL SIMILARITIES BETWEEN NAVAJO CONCEPTS AND OTHERSIn a Navajo ceremony, pebbles are takenfrom the nest of the Rock Wren, painted withsymbols, used in ritual, and then returned tothe birds' nest. MacCurdy (vol. II, p. 6) describespebbles of the Azilian culture, gatheredat Mas d'Azil in the Ariege, on whichdesigns, stylistically similar to Spanish petroglyphsfrom Estremadura and Andalusia, hadbeen painted in red ocher. Levy (pp. 46-48)mentions the relation of these prehistoric designson painted pebbles to the decoration ofsymbolic churingas among present day Australianaborigines.The Bull-Roarer, which is a special implementof the churinga type used in Australiatoday to produce the voice of divinity, is likewiseparalleled among prehistoric Magdalenianobjects. Bayley (vol. I, pp. 85-86) quotesProfessor Haddon's opinion that it is perhaps"the most ancient, widely-spread, and sacredreligious symbol in the world. It is used inmany parts of the world, and the Navajo employit in many ceremonies to banish evil.A CIRCLE WITH A CENTRAL SPOT in it OCCUTSfrequently among the painted pebbles fromMas d'Azil (MacCurdy, vol. II, p. 218). Thisis the original symbol for the sun (great male).It is also used as a symbol for the universe inIndia; and similarly in Masonry.The symbolism of mandala, the Sanskritword for magic circle, according to Jung inthe Integration of Personality "embraces allconcentrically arranged figures, round orsquare, all having a centre; all radial or sphericalarrangements."The Incas and Aztecs took possession ofland by hurling a stone or arrow to thecardinal points, according to Brinton (p. 69).In the Navajo Fire Dance in the MountainChant, the Medicine man throws a burningbrand in the four directions before the racingof the "whitened men" around the big fire.The sunwise swastika is in India sacred tothe male Ganesh, god of prosperity, while thecounter-sunwise female swastika, sacred toKali, typifying the course of the sun belowthe earth from west to east, symbolizes darkness,death, and destruction, according tod'Alviella (p. 68). Similarly the Navajo sunwiseswastika symbol is also beneficent, whilethe counter-sunwise swastika is used only inrites to banish evil.The crescent used in Navajo necklaces(fig. 5) is an ancient Mediterranean protectivesymbol against the "evil eye," brought tothe Southwest by the Spaniards. To theNavajo, the crescent is a fertility and protectivesymbol, and is similar to the Yoni, thefemale fertility symbol of India. The roundbeads of the Navajo necklace are seeds. Theflowers are representations of squash blossoms,considered to be another symbol of fertility.