A study of Navajo symbolism - Free History Ebooks

54 A STUDY OF NAVAJO SYMBOLISMwith forms and they are never represented indry paintings. 13 There is some indication thatthe symbols, as portrayed here, outwardlyfollow accepted belief. That is, sa'ah na-yaiin one way can be conceived as being a distinctconcept having certain values and attributesas against the distinct values and attributesof bikeh xozq. However, these two arealways conceived of as being closely interrelatedand linked, 14 as indicated in the drawing.Because knowledge about these two conceptsor beings is so esoteric, no informationcould be gained in plates XII, 5, 11, and XI,8-10, as to what the individual symbols meant,except that as a composite they representedLong Life and Happiness, respectively.These picture writings are representative ofmany Navaho ceremonies. Some of the materialhere points to possible future orientationin field work, such as the curing of witchcraft.Father Berard believes that all the ceremoniesare inherently good, but that it is only theway in which they are used that makes themevil. 15 For example, any of the ceremonies forcuring may be diverted from their inherentgoodness, by placing a red dot at the ankleor wrists of the represented person, pointingthe red in the rainbow toward the individualinstead of away, or a number of other waysin order to witch a person. This is done toliterally make you a ghost, i.e., the GhostWay ritual. At the moment we are concernedwith the symbols and what they mean. It ishoped that the sketchy representation as toceremonial detail and the mere inferencesgiven in reference to the symbolism will besupplemented in future work.'Haile, personal communication, December, 1953.'Haile, 1947, p. 17.''Haile, personal communication, December, 1953.