The Mountain Chant, A Navajo Ceremony: Fifth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1883-84, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1887, pages 379-468Matthews, Washington
Religion
The Mountain Chant, A Navajo Ceremony: Fifth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1883-84, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1887, pages 379-468
Matthews, Washington
Mountainway (Navajo rite); Navajo Indians -- Rites and ceremonies
They sewed up the mouth, left the eyeholes open, stuffed the skin with
hay, and hung it in a tree to dry, where it would not get smoky or
dusty. They cut places in the neck through which the hunter might see.
The skin of the doe which the younger brother had killed some time
before, and which had been tanned in the mean time, they painted red and
gray, to make it look like the skin of an antelope. They prepared two
short sticks, about the length of the forearm; these were to enable the
hunter to move with ease and hold his head at the proper height when he
crept in disguise on the deer. During the next four days no work was
done, except that the elder brother practiced in imitating the walk of
the deer.
19. From the camp where these things happened they moved to a place
called Tse‘-lakàï-iá‘ (White Standing Rock). Before they went to hunt or
gather seeds, the old man desired that they should all help to build the
hogán (hut); so all went to work together, men and women, and the hogán
was completed, inside and outside, in four days.
20. The morning following the completion of the hogán, the father sent
the young men out again, directing them, as before, not to go to the
south. They went off together, and soon espied a herd of deer. The elder
brother put on the deer mask and began to imitate the motions of the
animal, asking his younger brother what he thought of the mimicry. When
the latter gave his approval, the elder brother said, “Steal round to
the other side of the herd and when they see you they will come in my
direction.” He waited, and when he saw that his brother had got to the
other side of the herd, he selected a big fat buck as his special
object, and began to move towards him, walking and pawing the ground
like a deer, and rubbing his antlers against the trees. Soon the buck
began to approach the hunter, but the latter kept his head constantly
turned toward the deer the better to maintain his disguise. Presently
the buck came quite close to the Indian, when the latter sped his arrow
and brought the quarry down. They carried the meat home and the old man
demanded that the meat and skin should all be his in payment for his
advice. This was the third time he had advised them and the third time
he had received a gift for his service. He directed that the meat should
be cut into pieces and hung in the trees to dry, and that the skin
should be stretched and dried for his bed.
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.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account