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
Naiyenesgony drew so close to the invalid that their faces almost
touched and pointed his celt toward the invalid. Tobaidischinni then
approached and in the same manner pointed the sticks toward him, after
which he was approached by Ahsonnutli with her bow and arrows. This was
repeated on the south, west, and north sides of the invalid; each time
the invalid partially turned his arm, shoulder, and back to sprinkle
meal upon the gods. The gods then rushed to the entrance of the medicine
lodge repeating the ceremony there, when they hurried to the south side
of the lodge (the invalid having returned to the lodge; the buffalo robe
was carried in by an attendant). The gods went from the south side of
the lodge to the west and then to the north performing the same
ceremony. As the invalid had spent many days in the lodge and the
disease at each day’s ceremony exuded from his body, it was deemed
necessary that these gods should go to the four points of the compass
and draw the disease from the lodge. When they entered the lodge the
buffalo robe had been spread in front of the song-priest with its head
north. Upon this robe each god knelt on his left knee, Naiyenesgony on
the north end of the robe, Ahsonnutli on the south end, and
Tobaidischinni between them, all facing east. The song-priest, followed
by the invalid, advanced to the front of the line carrying the basket
containing the medicine tubes. He sprinkled Naiyenesgony with corn
pollen, passing it up the right arm over the head and down the left arm
to the hand. He placed the black tube in the palm, of the left hand of
the god, the priest chanting all the while a prayer. The red tube was
given with the same ceremony to Tobaidischinni, and the blue tube with
the same ceremony to Ahsonnutli. The quiver was removed from Ahsonnutli
before she knelt. The song-priest, kneeling in front of Naiyenesgony,
repeated a long litany with responses by the invalid, when the gods left
the lodge led by Naiyenesgony who deposited his tube and stick in a
piñon tree, Tobaidischinni depositing his in a cedar tree, and
Ahsonnutli hers in the heart of a shrub.
SECOND CEREMONY.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account