A study of Navajo symbolism - Free History Ebooks

PREFACEbyMary C. WheelwrightI HAVE known Mrs. Franc J. Newcombfor twenty years and am so thankful thatshe has been persuaded to put down her intimateknowledge of the sand paintings, theirsymbols, meaning, and the ritual connectedwith them.She came from Wisconsin to the NavajoCountry in 1914, living at Fort Defiance as ateacher, and after her marriage, coming to atrading post (Nava, now called Newcomb,New Mexico) 65 miles north of Gallup on theroad to Shiprock, New Mexico. In those daysthere were no surfaced roads — in rainyweather the roads were nearly impassable —and her life was definitely of pioneer quality.On a camping trip in 1920 I stayed at theNava trading post, having just seen my firstNavajo ceremony, and I asked many questionsand found both Air. and Mrs. Newcomb reallyinterested in the Indians' ceremonies whichwas most unusual, as few traders at that timetook any interest in them. They were veryfond of Hasteen Klah, one of the most respectedof the medicine men, who lived nearbyand who was also fond of the Newcombs. Iurged Mrs. Newcomb to make a study of theIndian religion as she could draw well andhad such a wonderful opportunity throughKlah's friendship to understand and possiblyrecord the religion, which had never beendone except by Washington Matthewstwenty-five years before. He was an Armydoctor situated on the Reservation and duringseven years made a superb record of one ceremony,the Night Chant or Yehbechai, amongothers. But through Klah we found that therewere at least eight major ceremonies practisedby the Navajo people.Klah was, fortunately, willing to answerquestions and finally invited Mrs. Newcombto see a ceremony, at which time he gave aBlessing Chant over her. She felt, as I did,that there was an enormous amount to learnand respected Klah's integrity and fineness, sowas willing to obey his condition of recording;that is, that she should memorize thepaintings but never take notes or draw at theceremonies. She was particularly interested inrecording the paintings, and later, when weworked together, we divided the task so thatI recorded the ritual and myth. At first it wasall we could do to put down what we saw,but gradually during many years and dealingwith the many medicine men recommendedto us by Klah, the idea of the meaning of itall came to us both, and I urged her to opento others her unique knowledge acquiredthrough thirty-five years. Others have studiedcarefully the racial and social Navajo systemof life, but no one has lived with the Navajosand studied their painted symbols as has Mrs.Newcomb. Meeting so many medicine men,she, through her knowledge, made them realizethat she was qualified to obtain what informationthey could give her.When a noted medicine man died, and hisrelatives realized that they were not sure ofdetails of the paintings, they asked Mrs. Newcombto help them. Only last year she foundat a Mountain Chant ceremony that the medicineman was using a painting that she hadhelped to recreate, and he spoke of the factto her.During my efforts to record the ritual andmyths I began to be fascinated with the fundamentalsimilarity of these to the myths inother religions over the world. During mytravels and reading I had noted these, so inPart III of this book I have added my contributionextending the scope of this study toinclude wider horizons.I have not attempted any complete study ofthese universal symbols, but felt it would beuseful to publish them here, suggesting andhoping that others will be inspired to carrythis study further, for in my opinion theypoint to a common source.