A study of Navajo symbolism - Free History Ebooks

SKY SYMBOLS, STARS AND COMETSA land so dominated by the sky with itscontinuous changes of color and mood, itINis not surprising that almost all Navajo medicinemen of the older generation spent muchtime in the study of sky lore. From LaughingDoctor, who was the greatest Yehbechai chanterof whom we have record, and from Scarface,who was equally famed as chanter ofthe Male Mountain Chant, Klah learned awealth of sky and seasonal lore, a part ofwhich I was privileged to record.In nearly all Yehbechai, Shooting Chant,and Mountain Chant sand paintings we findthe white sky symbol placed in the east asthis is the color of the first rays of light afterthe darkness of night. Blue sky is given aposition in the south to represent mid-day;the yellow sky of sunset is placed in the west,and the black night sky in the north. Theshape of each of these sky symbols is rectangularor rhomboid, and each is outlined inits opposite color. When a triangle is addedto this symbol, it represents all the clouds thatmay move across the sky at this time of day(fig. 36). Quite frequently we find twelvefeathered medicine bundles attached to thetop of each sky or cloud symbol, and thesecan be interpreted as rays of magic power.Each medicine bundle is tipped with an arrowpoint or peak which indicates movement in acertain direction. On the white sky symbol,a raven and a yellow-shouldered blackbirdare often shown, because birds are consideredsky people. On this we also find the bluefigure of a mountain goat, which belongs tothe sky because its white fleece is symbolicof the soft white clouds of spring and earlysummer. Two yellow birds, the canary andthe flicker, belong to the blue sky of mid-day,and the bluebird and the pine-martin aresketched on the yellow evening sky. In allof these we find the parallelogram (or rhomboid)symbolizing a place where somethinglives.On the symbol of the night sky, we findpatterns of stars, the sun and the moon, theMilky Way sometimes referred to as the high-MFig. 36.Sky symbols.