A study of Navajo symbolism - Free History Ebooks

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4° A STUDY OF NAVAJO SYMBOLISMFig. 79. Fire god carrying fire stick and traveler'sbread.Fig. 78. Beganaskiddy, carrier of seeds, with his ceremonialcane and horns of power.bechai ceremony are those of the Ethkay-nahashi,or Spirit Givers. These are very rare andtheir whereabouts or the name of their owneris seldom disclosed to white people, as theyare said to possess the greatest magic poweraccredited to any medicine article used bv theNavajo. Father Berard Haile pictures thesemasks as being round with flattened bases, onewhite and the other yellow. Tied to the masksand lying around them are articles and smallmedicine bundles.Klah describes these Ethkav-nah-ashi masksas being round, of white buckskin, borderedby the red life line and crowned by twelveeagle tail feathers. A line of yellow cornpollen marks the chin, the necks are blue, andin sand paintings the bodies are white with ared outline. They wear no ornaments andcarry no bundles or symbols of power as they,in themselves, represent the essence of indestructiblespiritual life. Their gift to the patientor to the initiate is a portion of theirown bodies, which loss immediately replacesitself.Klah said, "They never become less powerful,they could give their substance all awayand still be there just the same." They are toopowerful, and have not been used because noone dares to use them.Some years ago Mr. Newcomb heard thatan aged woman living on the other side ofthe Carrizo Mountains had in her keeping somemedicine articles the Navajo referred to asEthkay-nah-ashi. Mary Wheelwright askedus to find her and see if these articles could
NAVAJO SYMBOLS IN SAND PAINTINGS AND RITUAL OBJECTS: NEWCOMB 41be obtained for the Museum of Navajo CeremonialArt. Taking Clyde Beahle as an interpreter,we drove as far as we could find aroad and then walked several miles to locatethe cluster of hogahns where she lived. Fora time she refused to talk to us or to answerour interpreter's questions. However, theywere very poor and when we offered hertwenty-five silver dollars, she admitted havinga large box filled with medicine articles; butno man must ever see or touch them untilthey were again being used by a medicineman. She explained that women were alwaysthe caretakers of these sacred things.I was permitted to enter the hogahn andsat quietly on the north side while she and herdaughter held a purification ceremony whichconcluded with the pollen blessing for thehogahn, herself, her daughter, and me. Thenshe opened a goat hide covered box and tookout some of the whitest and most beautifullytanned buckskins I had ever seen. Underthese were several bundles of medicine articlesrolled in clean unbleached sheeting and piecesof buckskin. As each article came to view,she blessed it with corn pollen and intonedthe correct prayer. The largest of these rollscontained twelve or more masks for use in theYehbechai ceremony.A bundle wrapped in several layers ofcoarse cloth and a final layer of white buckskinwas opened, and disclosed two maskswith the top eagle feathers turned down soas to completely conceal the faces. The oldwoman lifted them out of the box and heldthe feathers upright so I could see the masks,as she fed then) white and yellow corn meal,and blessed them with yellow corn pollen.Both masks were of beautiful soft, white buckskin,not hard and dried as many of the otherYehbechai masks I had seen. One was somewhatyellow from the dust of the yellow cornmeal which was scattered around its mouth.Both had wisps of red hair tied around theupper portion and both were marked withyellow pollen along the chins. Turquoise,white shell, stone pipes, decorated sticks andother small medicine articles lay under themasks. I was informed that these were thethings the Navajo called "Ethkay-nah-ashi."(Later I learned that all stored medicine articlesand properties which had been used bya medicine man now dead, could be referredto by that name.) Our interpreter learnedthat all this sacred collection had belonged tothe Laughing Doctor, Nah-cloi Hatahli, whowas said to be the greatest Yehbechai chanterand who was Klah's instructor. Also he wasthe one from whom Washington Matthewsobtained the material for his book, mentionedheretofore, entitled The Night Chant — ANavajo Ceremony.A tale that emphasizes the fear in whichthese Ethkay-nah-ashi masks are held, wastold to me by Haskie Wood of Crown Point.He said that when he was a young man thegovernment employed him as interpreter forSuperintendent Stacher at the Crown PointNavajo Agency. One fall a great many Navajosheep owners and farmers came to the agencyto complain that a certain man was bewitchingthe children and also causing sickness tospread among the sheep and cattle of all thosewho refused to pay him tribute in money,jewelry, or sheep.The superintendent called all the men ofthat district who had any knowledge of theseoccurrences to meet at the agency on a certainday. Then he sent his policemen to bring inthe man accused of witchcraft, and also tobring all of his magician paraphernalia. Whenall were in the assembly hall, with the superintendentand his interpreter behind the desk,and the accused man at its side, the box ofmagic articles was placed on a stool in frontof the desk.More than a hundred Navajo men and afew of the agency's white employees stoodin the main part of the room, and several wereasked to testify before the superintendent andthe assembled Navajos. When they had finishedtheir accusations, the prisoner was askedwhat he had to say in his own defense. Hesaid that he was not a wizard or "Chindi"person as his accusers claimed, but he didhave powerful magic bundles that would doanything he asked, and he had used these tofrighten his neighbors into giving him sheepand goats. He claimed that he had neverharmed any of the children, but every timeanyone was ill they blamed him.Then the superintendent asked some ofthe Navajo men to come up and open thebox but no one came, as all were afraid to
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Page 9 and 10: PART I: NAVAJO SYMBOLS IN SANDPAINT
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NOTES ON CORRESPONDING SYMBOLSI N V
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NOTES ON CORRESPONDING SYMBOLS: WHE
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to"Se to.£ £6|"2 5So Ey. cid 2
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Plate III. Antlered altar from Ch'a
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REFERENCES
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PRONUNCIATION la as in ah ay as in
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VOLUME XXIII complete, $9.25; bound
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MEMOIRS OF THE PEABODY MUSEUM{Quart
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VOLUME V, $9.00.Excavations at Kerm
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(Continued from inside back cover)P
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