A study of Navajo symbolism - Free History Ebooks

A STUDY OF NAVAJO SYMBOLISMThe witch tries to get his powerfour shields.through these shields, but he cannot penetratethem. This shield is of four verses, just likeceremony II, 21 and 22.4. Monster Slayer. This is the First WarTwin who has flints covering him like clothes.Beneath him are the colors of the flints. ThisFirst War Twin's first name represents theSun (i.e., he is the child of the Sun). Theblack color makes it possible to remember thename and which god goes with the stanza.5. Born for Water. This is the Second WarTwin's name.6. Changing Grandchild. This is the FirstWar Twin.7. Raised in the Ground. The Second WarTwin got his name from being raised in theground on top of the mountain.8. Black Flint. This is the black flint thatthe First Twin, Monster Slayer, wears.9. Blue Flint. This is the blue flint thatBorn for Water wears.10. Yellow Flint. This is the yellow flintChanging Grandchild wears.11. White Flint. This is the white flintRaised in the Ground wears.Plate VIII: Blessing Way.Many singers have been making MountainSoil Medicine. They do the ceremony wrongand these singers cannot fix them correctly.Mirage Rock horses and sheep are in it. 32 You82This Mountain Medicine or Mountain Soil, wasgathered from the six Navaho sacred mountains withthe correct prayers and songs. The informant receivedsome of this medicine, along with a BlessingWay story, which he claimed to be six hundred vearsold, with the completion of his apprenticeship. Thebag of Mountain Medicine protects vour propertyand helps to hold onto it — even your wife. It alsokeeps your land moist and helps you gain everythingyou want. The bag gained more power because ithad been owned by powerful singers.M For a number of years, a controversial questionhas been the exact boundary of Navaho country, accordingto the four sacred mountains. There existgood reasons for this confusion, besides those givenby Sleight, 1051, in that many of the Navaho do notknow and that there are many interchangeable names.On ten different occasions lists of from four to elevensacred mountains were gained by the author. Allversions agreed on Mount Tavlor and San FranciscoPeak or Mountains. Some disagreement occurredabout the northern mountain. Two designated it asNavaho Mountain, while the rest used interchangeablyBig Sheep Mountain or San Juan Mountains.should never say a bad word while you havethis medicine for it is like saying a bad wordagainst your medicine. If you should dropyour bag you would go to "c'j-di-" in a fewdays. But if you had this ceremony to usewhen you dropped it, you would be all right."Live longer, deathless forever; happiness andpeaceful." You can also use this ceremony inother ways — if you were to suffer on amountain or to be hurt on the top of a mountain,this ceremony could be used.1. sisna-zini. This mountain is PeladoPeak: 33 "Black Mountain, black; Black Mountain,blue; Black Mountain, yellow; BlackMountain, white." 8* Beneath the mountainare the four colors which are within themountain and all the others do not count (i.e.,the other twelve). These colors also representthe stanzas.2. co-zit. This mountain is Mount Taylor:"Blue Mountain, black; Blue Mountain, blue;Blue Mountain, yellow; Blue Mountain, white."3. do-ko'osli-d. This is San FranciscoPeak: "Yellow Mountain, black; YellowMountain, blue; Yellow Mountain, yellow;Yellow Mountain, white."4. dibenca. This is Hesperus Peak: "WhiteMountain, black; White Mountain, blue;White Mountain, yellow; White Mountain,white."All four mountains are actually black, butwithin each there are other colors so that theFather Berard Haile, 1938b, p. 42, points out thatwhile Matthews and the Franciscan Fathers identifiedthe northern mountain with the San Juan, he believesthis to be Hesperus Peak. My informants, while usingthe name Black Belt Mountain or sisna-zini for theeastern mountain, identified this mountain as PeladoPeak. Father Berard, 1938b, p. 66, identified this asBlanca Peak, while Sleight, 195 1, p. 394, believes theeastern mountain to be Pelado. It may be of interestto mention the drawing of the six sacred mountainsin plate XI. Sisna-zini, as most authors have interpretedit, has a horizontal black belt through its center, plusits being a pointed mountain. This is of interest sincethe photographs of the Jemez Range, in which PeladoPeak is found (Sleight, 1951, p. 391), is an elongated,rather level, range of mountains.31The usual color order of the holy mountains iswhite, blue, yellow and black. Matthews suggested,and Reichard, 1950, p. 221 agreed, that the sequenceof white, blue, yellow and black have to do withgood, while black, blue, yellow and white occurwhere there is danger. Reichard, pp. 221-40, goesinto all the varying color sequences and their ramifications.