Ceremonial of Hasjelti Dailjis and Mythical Sand Painting of the
J >> James Stevenson >> Ceremonial of Hasjelti Dailjis and Mythical Sand Painting of theby James Stevenson
Edition 1, (September 2006)
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION.
CONSTRUCTION OF THE MEDICINE LODGE.
FIRST DAY.
PERSONATORS OF THE GODS.
SECOND DAY.
DESCRIPTION OF THE SWEAT HOUSES.
SWEAT HOUSES AND MASKS.
PREPARATION OF THE SACRED REEDS (CIGARETTE) AND PRAYER STICKS.
THIRD DAY.
FIRST CEREMONY.
SECOND CEREMONY.
THIRD CEREMONY.
FOURTH CEREMONY.
FOURTH DAY.
FIRST CEREMONY.
SECOND CEREMONY.
THIRD CEREMONY.
FOURTH CEREMONY.
FIFTH CEREMONY.
SIXTH CEREMONY.
FIFTH DAY.
FIRST CEREMONY.
SECOND CEREMONY.
THIRD CEREMONY.
SIXTH DAY.
SEVENTH DAY.
EIGHTH DAY.
NINTH DAY.
FIRST CEREMONY.
SECOND CEREMONY.
SONG OF THE ETSETHLE.
PRAYER TO THE ETSETHLE.
CONCLUSION - THE DANCE.
MYTHS OF THE NAVAJO.
CREATION OF THE SUN.
HASJELTI AND HOSTJOGHON.
THE FLOATING LOGS.
NAIYENESGONY AND TOBAIDISCHINNI.
THE BROTHERS.
THE OLD MAN AND WOMAN OF THE FIRST WORLD.
ILLUSTRATIONS
FIG. 115. Exterior lodge.
FIG. 116. Interior lodge.
FIG. 117. Gaming ring.
FIG. 118. Sweat house.
PLATE CXII. A, Rainbow over eastern sweat house; B, Rainbow over western
sweat house
PLATE CXIII. Blanket rug and medicine tubes
PLATE CXIV. Blanket rug and medicine tubes
PLATE CXV. Masks: 1, Naiyenesyong; 2, 3, Tobaidischinne; 4, 5, Hasjelti;
6, Hostjoghon; 7, Hostjobokon; 8, Hostjoboard
PLATE CXVI. Blanket rug and medicine tubes
PLATE CXVII. 1, Pine boughs on sand bed; 2, Apache basket containing yucca
suds lined with corn pollen; 3, Basket of water surface covered with pine
needles
PLATE CXVIII. Blanket rug and medicine tubes and sticks
PLATE CXIX. Blanket rug and medicine tube
PLATE CXX. First sand painting
PLATE CXXI. Second sand painting
PLATE CXXII. Third sand painting
PLATE CXXIII. Fourth sand painting
INTRODUCTION.
During my visit to the Southwest, in the summer of 1885, it was my good
fortune to arrive at the Navajo Reservation a few days before the
commencement of a Navajo healing ceremonial. Learning of the preparation
for this, I decided to remain and observe the ceremony, which was to
continue nine days and nights. The occasion drew to the place some 1,200
Navajos. The scene of the assemblage was an extensive plateau near the
margin of Keam's Canyon, Arizona.
A variety of singular and interesting occurrences attended this great
event--mythologic rites, gambling, horse and foot racing, general
merriment, and curing the sick, the latter being the prime cause of the
gathering. A man of distinction in the tribe was threatened with loss of
vision from inflammation of the eyes, having looked upon certain masks
with an irreligious heart. He was rich and had many wealthy relations,
hence the elaborateness of the ceremony of healing. A celebrated theurgist
was solicited to officiate, but much anxiety was felt when it was learned
that his wife was pregnant. A superstition prevails among the Navajo that
a man must not look upon a sand painting when his wife is in a state of
gestation, as it would result in the loss of the life of the child. This
medicine man, however, came, feeling that he possessed ample power within
himself to avert such calamity by administering to the child immediately
after its birth a mixture in water of all the sands used in the painting.
As I have given but little time to the study of Navajo mythology, I can
but briefly mention such events as I witnessed, and record the myths only
so far as I was able to collect them hastily. I will first describe the
ceremony of Yebitchai and give then the myths (some complete and others
incomplete) explanatory of the gods and genii figuring in the Hasjelti
Dailjis (dance of Hasjelti) and in the nine days' ceremonial, and then
others independent of these. The ceremony is familiarly called among the
tribe, "Yebitchai," the word meaning the giant's uncle. The name was
originally given to the ceremonial to awe the children who, on the eighth
day of the ceremony, are initiated into some of its mysteries and then for
the first time are informed that the characters appearing in the ceremony
are not real gods, but only their representatives. There is good reason
for believing that their ideas in regard to the sand paintings were
obtained from the Pueblo tribes, who in the past had elaborated sand
paintings and whose work at present in connection with most of their
medicine ceremonies is of no mean order. The Mission Indians of southern
California also regard sand paintings as among the important features in
their medicine practices. While the figures of the mythical beings
represented by the Navajo are no doubt of their own conception, yet I
discovered that all their medicine tubes and offerings were similar to
those in use by the Zuni. Their presence among the Navajo can be readily
explained by the well known fact that it was the custom among Indians of
different tribes to barter and exchange medicine songs, ceremonies, and
the paraphernalia accompanying them. The Zuni and Tusayan claim that the
Navajo obtained the secrets of the Pueblo medicine by intruding upon their
ceremonials or capturing a pueblo, and that they appropriated whatever
suited their fancy.
[Illustration: Figure 115]
FIG. 115. Exterior lodge.
My explanation of the ceremonial described is by authority of the priest
doctor who managed the whole affair and who remained with me five days
after the ceremonial for this special purpose. Much persuasion was
required to induce him to stay, though he was most anxious that we should
make no mistake. He said:
My wife may suffer and I should be near her; a father's eyes
should be the first to look upon his child; it is like sunshine in
the father's heart; the father also watches his little one to see
the first signs of understanding, and observes the first steps of
his child, that too is a bright light in the father's heart, but
when the little one falls, it strikes the father's heart hard.
The features of this ceremonial which most surprise the white spectator
are its great elaborateness, the number of its participants and its
prolongation through many days for the purpose of restoring health to a
single member of the tribe.
CONSTRUCTION OF THE MEDICINE LODGE.
A rectangular parallelogram was marked off on the ground, and at each
corner was firmly planted a forked post extending 10 feet above the
surface, and on these were laid 4 horizontal beams, against which rested
poles thickly set at an angle of about 20 deg., while other poles were placed
horizontally across the beams forming a support for the covering. The
poles around the sides were planted more in an oval than a circle and
formed an interior space of about 35 by 30 feet in diameter. On the east
side of the lodge was an entrance supported by stakes and closed with a
buffalo robe, and the whole structure was then thickly covered first with
boughs, then with sand, giving it the appearance of a small earth mound.
[Illustration: Figure 116]
FIG. 116. Interior lodge.
FIRST DAY.
PERSONATORS OF THE GODS.
The theurgist or song-priest arrived at noon on the 12th of October, 1885.
Almost immediately after his arrival we boldly entered the medicine lodge,
accompanied by our interpreter, Navajo John, and pleaded our cause. The
stipulation of the medicine man was that we should make no mistakes and
thereby offend the gods, and to avoid mistakes we must hear all of his
songs and see all of his medicines, and he at once ordered some youths to
prepare a place for our tent near the lodge. During the afternoon of the
12th those who were to take part in the ceremonial received orders and
instructions from the song-priest. One man went to collect twigs with
which to make twelve rings, each 6 inches in diameter. These rings
represented gaming rings, which are not only used by the Navajo, but are
thought highly of by the genii of the rocks. (See Fig. 117.) Another man
gathered willows with which to make the emblem of the concentration of the
four winds. The square was made by dressed willows crossed and left
projecting at the corners each one inch beyond the next. The corners were
tied together with white cotton cord, and each corner was ornamented with
the under tail feather of the eagle. These articles were laid in a niche
behind the theurgist, whose permanent seat was on the west side of the
lodge facing east. The night ceremony commenced shortly after dark. All
those who were to participate were immediate friends and relatives of the
invalid excepting the theurgist or song-priest, he being the only one who
received direct compensation for his professional services. The cost of
such a ceremony is no inconsiderable item. Not only the exorbitant fee of
the theurgist must be paid, but the entire assemblage must be fed during
the nine days' ceremonial at the expense of the invalid, assisted by his
near relatives.
[Illustration: Figure 117]
FIG. 117. Gaming ring.
A bright fire burned in the lodge, and shortly after dark the invalid
appeared and sat upon a blanket, which was placed in front of the
song-priest. Previously, however, three men had prepared themselves to
personate the gods--Hasjelti, Hostjoghon, and Hostjobokon--and one to
personate the goddess, Hostjoboard. They left the lodge, carrying their
masks in their hands, went a short distance away and put on their masks.
Then Hasjelti and Hostjoghon returned to the lodge, and Hasjelti, amid
hoots, "hu-hoo-hu-huh!" placed the square which he carried over the
invalid's head, and Hostjoghon shook two eagle wands, one in each hand, on
each side of the invalid's head and body, then over his head, meanwhile
hooting in his peculiar way, "hu-u-u-u-uh!" He then followed Hasjelti out
of the lodge. The men representing Hostjobokon and Hostjoboard came in
alternately. Hostjobokon took one of the rings which had been made during
the afternoon, and now lay upon the blanket to the right of the invalid,
and placed it against the soles of the feet of the invalid, who was
sitting with knees drawn up, and then against his knees, palms, breast,
each scapula, and top of his head; then over his mouth. While touching the
different parts of the body the ring was held with both hands, but when
placed to the mouth of the invalid it was taken in the left hand. The ring
was made of a reed, the ends of which were secured by a long string
wrapped over the ring like a slipnoose. When the ring was placed over the
mouth of the invalid the string was pulled and the ring dropped and rolled
out of the lodge, the long tail of white cotton yarn, with eagle plume
attached to the end, extending far behind. Hoslgoboard repeated this
ceremony with a second ring, and so did Hostjobokon and Hostjoboard
alternately, until the twelve rings were disposed of. Three of the rings
were afterward taken to the east, three to the south, three to the west,
and three to the north, and deposited at the base of pinon trees. The
rings were placed over the invalid's mouth to give him strength, cause him
to talk with one tongue, and to have a good mind and heart. The other
portions of the body were touched with them for physical benefit. When the
rings had all been rolled out of the lodge Hasjelti entered, followed by
Hostjoghon. He passed the square (the concentrated winds) four times over
the head of the invalid during his hoots. Hostjoghon then waved his turkey
wands about the head and body of the invalid, and the first day's ceremony
was at an end.
SECOND DAY.
DESCRIPTION OF THE SWEAT HOUSES.
The construction of the first sweat house, or tachi, was begun at dawn.
Four of these houses were built on four consecutive mornings, each one
located about 400 feet distant from the great central medicine lodge,
toward the four cardinal points, and all facing to the east. The first one
built was east of the lodge. A description of the construction of this
particular one will answer for all, but the ceremonies differ in detail.
Four upright poles, forked at the upper ends, were placed at the four
cardinal points within an area designated as the base of the house, the
forked ends resting against each other, a circular excavation some 6 feet
in diameter and 1 foot in depth having first been made. Between the
uprights smaller poles were laid; on the poles pinon boughs, sage and
_Bigelovia Douglasii_ (a kind of sage brush) were placed as a thatch; all
being laid sufficiently compact to prevent the sand placed over the top
from sifting through. The doorway, on the east side of the house, was
about 2-1/2 feet high and 20 inches wide. Highly polished sticks (the same
as those employed in blanket weaving) were used to render the sand
covering of the structure smooth. The sweat houses to the east and west
had the rainbow painted over them. Those to the north and south were
devoid of such decoration, because the song priest seldom completes his
medicine in one ceremonial; and he chose to omit the songs which would be
required if the bow ornamented the north and south sweat houses. Under the
direction of the priest of the sweat house, who received instruction from
the song priest, three young men painted the rainbow, one the head and
body, another the skirt and legs, while the third painted the bow. The
head of this goddess was to the north, the bow extending over the
structure. The colors used were made from ground pigments sprinkled on
with the thumb and forefinger. Whenever a pinch of the dry paint was taken
from the pieces of bark which served as paint cups, the artist breathed
upon the hand before sprinkling the paint. This, however, had no religious
significance, but was merely to clear the finger and thumb of any
superfluous sand. The colors used in decoration were yellow, red, and
white from sandstones, black from charcoal, and a grayish blue, formed of
white sand and charcoal, with a very small quantity of yellow and red
sands. (See Fig. 118.) The decorators were carefully watched by the song
priest.
[Illustration: Figure 118]
FIG. 118. Sweat house.
Upon the completion of the rainbow the song priest returned to the
medicine lodge, but soon reappeared bearing a basket of twelve turkey
wands, and these he planted around the base of the sweat house on a line
of meal he had previously sprinkled. There was a fire some 20 feet from
the house, in which stones were heated. These stones were placed in the
sweat house on the south side, and upon them was thrown an armful of white
sage and _Bigelovia Douglasii_. A few pine boughs were laid by the side of
the stones for the invalid to sit upon. The entrance to the sweat house
was then covered with a black and white striped blanket upon which were
placed two large Coconino buckskins one upon the other, and upon them a
double piece of white cotton. The buckskins represented daylight, or the
twilight that comes just at the dawn of day. The invalid for whom this
ceremony was held took off all his clothing except the breech cloth, and
sat on the outside by the entrance of the sweat house amid the din of
rattle and song, the theurgist being the only one who had a rattle. The
invalid propelled himself into the house feet foremost, the covering of
the sweat house having been raised for this purpose. After entering it, he
rid himself of his breechcloth and the coverings were immediately dropped.
The song continued 5 minutes, when all stopped for a moment and then
recommenced.
[Illustration]
RAINBOW OVER SWEAT HOUSE.
During the song the theurgist mixed various herbs in a gourd over which he
poured water. After chanting some twenty minutes he advanced to the
entrance of the house, taking the medicine gourd with him, and, after
pouring some of its contents on the heated stones, took his seat and
joined in the chanting. After another twenty minutes Hasjelti and
Hostjoghon appeared. A Navajo blanket had previously been placed on the
ground at the south side of the entrance. Hasjelti lifted the coverings
from the entrance, and the patient, having first donned his breech cloth,
came out and sat on the blanket. Hasjelti rubbed the invalid with the horn
of a mountain sheep held in the left hand, and in the right hand a piece
of hide, about 10 inches long and 4 wide, from between the eyes of the
sheep. The hide was held flatly against the palm of the hand, and in this
way the god rubbed the breast of the invalid, while he rubbed his back
with the horn, occasionally alternating his hands. Hostjoghon put the
invalid through the same manipulation. The gods then gave him drink four
times from the gourd containing medicine water composed of finely-chopped
herbs and water, they having first taken a draught of the mixture. The
soles of the feet, palms, breast, back, shoulders, and top of the head of
the invalid were touched with medicine water, and the gods suddenly
disappeared. The patient arose and bathed himself with the remainder of
the medicine water and put on his clothing. The coverings of the entrance,
which were gifts to the song priest from the invalid, were gathered
together by the song priest and carried by an attendant to the medicine
lodge. An attendant erased the rainbow by sweeping his hand from the feet
to the head, drawing the sands with him, which were gathered into a
blanket and carried to the north and deposited at the base of a pinon
tree. The song priest placed the wands in a basket, and thus, preceded by
the invalid, carried them in both hands to the medicine lodge singing a
low chant. The sweat house was not carelessly torn down, but was taken
down after a prescribed form. Four men commenced at the sides toward the
cardinal points, and with both hands scraped the sand from the boughs.
When this was all removed the boughs were carefully gathered and conveyed
to a pinon tree some 50 feet distant and fastened horizontally in its
branches about 2 feet above the ground. The heated stones from the
interior of the sweat house were laid on the boughs; the upright logs
which formed the frame work of the house were carried to a pinon tree, a
few feet from the tree in which the boughs and heated stones were placed,
and arranged crosswise in the tree, and on these logs corn meal was
sprinkled and on the meal a medicine tube (cigarette) was deposited. The
tube was about 2 inches long and one third of an inch in diameter, and it
contained a ball composed of down from several varieties of small birds,
sacred tobacco, and corn pollen. It was an offering to Hasjelti. Meal was
sprinkled on the tube. The ground on which the house had stood was
smoothed over, the ashes from the fire carefully swept away, and thus all
traces of the ceremony were removed. The invalid upon entering the lodge
took his seat on the west side facing east. The song priest continued his
chant. He took from the meal bag some sacred meal and placed it to the
soles of the feet of the invalid and on his palms, knees, breast, back,
shoulders, and head. At the conclusion of this ceremony all indulged in a
rest for an hour or more. The bark cups which contained the colored sands
for decorating were placed in the medicine lodge north of the door.
SWEAT HOUSES AND MASKS.
The deer skins which hang over the entrance of the sweat houses (a
different skin being used for each sweat house) must be from animals which
have been killed by being smothered. The deer is run down and secured by
ropes or otherwise. Corn pollen is then put into the mouth of the deer and
the hands are held over the mouth and nostrils until life is extinct. The
animal now being placed upon his back, a line is drawn with corn pollen,
over the mouth, down the breast and belly to the tail. The line is then
drawn from the right hoof to the right foreleg to the breast line. The
same is done on the left fore leg and the two hind legs. The knife is then
passed over this line and the deer is flayed. Skins procured in this way
are worth, among the Navajo, $50 each. Masks are made of skins prepared in
the same manner. If made of skins of deer that have been shot the wearer
would die of fever.
Buckskin over the entrance to an eastern sweat house denotes dawn; over a
southern, denotes red of morning; over a western, sunset; over a northern,
night.
PREPARATION OF THE SACRED REEDS (CIGARETTE) AND PRAYER STICKS.
Before noon two sheepskins were spread one upon the other before the
song-priest. Upon these was laid a blanket, and on the blanket pieces of
cotton. These rugs extended north and south. The theurgist then produced a
large medicine bag, from which a reed was selected. The reed was rubbed
with a polishing stone, or, more accurately speaking, the polishing stone
was rubbed with the reed, as the reed was held in the right hand and
rubbed against the stone, which was held in the left. It was then rubbed
with finely broken native tobacco, and afterwards was divided into four
pieces, the length of each piece being equal to the width of the first
three fingers. The reeds were cut with a stone knife some 3-1/2 inches
long. An attendant then colored the tubes. The first reed was painted
blue, the second black, the third blue, and the fourth black. Through all
these, slender sticks of yucca had been run to serve as handles while
painting the tubes and also to support the tubes while the paint was
drying. The attendant who cut the reeds sat left of the song-priest,
facing east; a stone containing the paints was placed to the north of the
rug; and upon the end of the stone next to himself the reed-cutter
deposited a bit of finely broken tobacco. In cutting the reeds
occasionally a bit splintered off; these scraps were placed by the side of
the tobacco on the northeast end of the rug.
[Illustration]
The attendant who colored the reeds sat facing west; and as each reed was
colored it was placed on the rug, the yucca end being laid on a slender
stick which ran horizontally. The first reed painted was laid to the
north. Three dots were put upon each blue reed to represent eyes and
mouth; two lines encircled the black reeds. Four bits of soiled cotton
cloth were deposited in line on the east of the rug. The three attendants
under the direction of the song-priest took from the medicine bag, first
two feathers from the Arctic blue bird (_Sialia arctica_), which he placed
west of the bit of cloth that lay at the north end of the rug; he placed
two more of the same feathers below the second piece of cloth; two under
the third, and two below the fourth, their tips pointing east. Then upon
each of these feathers he placed an under tail-feather of the eagle. The
first one was laid on the two feathers at the north end of the rug; again
an under tail-feather of the turkey was placed on each pile, beginning
with that of the north. Then upon each of these was placed a hair from the
beard of the turkey, and to each was added a thread of cotton yarn. During
the arrangement of the feathers the tube decorator first selected four
bits of black archaic beads, placing a piece on each bit of cloth; then
four tiny pieces of white shell beads were laid on the cloths; next four
pieces of abalone shell and four pieces of turquois.
In placing the beads he also began at the north end of the rug. An aged
attendant, under the direction of the song-priest, plucked downy feathers
from several humming-birds and mixed them together into four little balls
one-fourth of an inch in diameter and placed them in line running north
and south, and south of the line of plume piles. He sprinkled a bit of
corn pollen upon each ball; he then placed what the Navajo term a
night-owl feather under the balls with its tip pointing to the northeast.
(See Pl. CXIII). The young man facing west then filled the colored reeds,
beginning with the one on the north end. He put into the hollow reed,
first, one of the feather balls, forcing it into the reed with the quill
end of the night-owl feather. (A night-owl feather is always used for
filling the reeds after the corn is ripe to insure a warm winter; in the
spring a plume from the chaparral cock, _Geococcyx californianus_, is used
instead to bring rain). Then a bit of native tobacco was put in. When the
reed was thus far completed it was passed to the decorator, who had before
him a tiny earthen bowl of water, a crystal, and a small pouch of corn
pollen. Holding the crystal in the sunbeam which penetrated through the
fire opening in the roof, he thus lighted the cigarettes which were to be
offered to the gods. The forefinger was dipped into the bowl of water and
then into the corn pollen, and the pollen that adhered to the finger was
placed to the top of the tube. After the four tubes were finished they
were placed on the pieces of cloth, not, however, until a bit of pollen
had been sprinkled on the beads which lay on the cloth. The pollen end of
the tube pointed to the east. The four bunches of feathers were then laid
on the tubes. The song-priest rolled up each cloth and holding the four
parcels with both hands he placed them horizontally across the soles of
the feet, knees, palms, breast, back, shoulders, head, and across the
mouth of the invalid, and the invalid drew a breath as the parcel touched
his lips. He sat to the north of the rug facing east. The sick man then
received the parcels from the song-priest and held them so that the ends
projected from between the thumbs and forefingers, and repeated a prayer
after the theurgist, who sat facing the invalid. The prayer ran thus: