Eighth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology: to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1886-1887, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1891
History
Eighth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology: to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1886-1887, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1891
Navajo Indians -- Rites and ceremonies; Pueblo Indians -- Antiquities; Pueblo architecture
When all the evergreen had been removed the personators of the gods
exclaimed, “Now, my people, we have killed all enemies!” and immediately
left the lodge. The song priest placed a small wreath of the pine on the
sick man’s head, and holding in his left hand a bunch of eagle plumes,
and in his right hand a rattle, he sang the ten songs and prayers,
assisted by the choir, that were given by Naiyenesgony and
Tobaidischinni to the Navajo to bring health and good fortune. After the
pine-bough wreaths had been separated the bits of yucca-strings were
picked up by the attendant and handed to Naiyenesgony, who held them
over the sick man’s head, after which the bits were again divided with
the knife. After the ten songs and prayers had been chanted the invalid
left the rug and sat a little to the northeast, of it, with his knees
drawn up. The song priest placed two live coals in front of the invalid
and sprinkled chopped herbs on the coals, the fumes of which the invalid
inhaled. The pines were carried off and placed in the shade of a pine
tree, that the disease might not leave the pine and return to the
invalid.[2]
[Footnote 2: Continency must be observed by the personators of the
gods until all paint is removed from their bodies.]
FOURTH CEREMONY.
The personators of Hasjelti and Hostjoghon adorned themselves for the
ceremony. Hasjelti wore ordinary clothing and a red scarf, with a silver
belt around the waist. Hostjoghon’s body was painted white, and he wore
a red woolen scarf around the loins, caught on with a silver belt. A
rug, composed of a blanket and a piece of white cotton, was spread in
front of the song priest, and the masks of Hasjelti and Hostjoghon
placed thereon. (See Pl. CXV, 4, 5, 6.)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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