The Mountain Chant, A Navajo Ceremony Part 2

62. As night approached an old woman entered the medicine lodge and said: "I will send my grandson as an akaninili." This old woman's lodge was not far from where the medicine lodge was built and all present knew her grandson well. Whenever they visited her lodge he was always lying on the ground asleep; they never saw him go abroad to hunt, and they all supposed him to be lazy and worthless; so when she made her offer they only looked at one another and laughed. She waited awhile, and getting no response she again offered the services of her grandson, only to provoke again laughter and significant looks. A third and a fourth time she made her proposal, and then she said: "Why do you not at least answer me? I have said that I will let my grandson take your messages to one of these camps and you laugh at me and thank me not. Why is this?"

Hearing her words, the chief medicine man, who came from a distant camp and did not know her, asked the men who were present who the woman was and what sort of a young man her grandson was; but again the men laughed and did not answer him either. He turned to the old woman and said: "Bring hither your grandson, that I may see him." The woman answered: "It is already late; the night is falling and the way is long. It is of no use for you to see him to-night; let us wait until the morning."

"Very well," said the shaman; "bring him at dawn to-morrow." She left the lodge promising to do as she was bidden; and the moment she was gone the long suppressed merriment of the men broke forth. They all laughed inordinately, made many jokes about the lazy grandson, and told the medicine man that there was no use in sending such a person with the message when the best runners among them did not dare to undertake the journey. "He is too weak and lazy to hunt," said they; "he lives on seeds and never tastes flesh."

63. As soon as there was light enough in the morning to discern objects, a man who was looking out of the door of the medicine lodge cried out, "He comes," and those inside laughed and waited. Presently Tlaescni (such was the name of the old woman's grandson) entered and sat down near the fire. All looked at him in astonishment. When last they saw him his hair was short and matted, as if it had not been combed or washed for three years, and his form was lean and bent. Now he appeared with thick glossy locks that fell below his knee; his limbs were large and firm looking; he held his head erect and walked like a youth of courage; and many said to one another, "This cannot be the same man." In a little while another young man named Indsiska (Radiating White Streaks), as fair and robust as the first, entered and sat down by the fire on the side opposite to where Tlaescni sat. The white earth and the charcoal for painting the akaninili were already prepared; so some of the young men in the lodge, when they beheld this pair of fine couriers, arose without a word of debate and began to paint the latter and to adorn their persons for the journey. When the toilet was done, the medicine man sent the couriers forth with many messages and injunctions and told them to blow on their whistles four times before they got out of hearing of the lodge. Tlaescni went to the north and Indsiska to the south, and they walked so slowly that all the spectators again laughed and made merry, and many said: "They will never reach the camps whither we have sent them." They pa.s.sed out of sight just before the sun rose. Those who remained in camp prepared to amuse themselves. They cleared the ground for the game of nanjoj, and brought out their sticks and hoops. Some said: "We will have plenty of time for play before the couriers return."

Others said: "At yonder tree we saw Tlaescni last. I suppose if we went there now we would find him asleep under it."

64. About the middle of the afternoon, while they were playing their games, one looked to the north, and, at a distance, he saw one of the messengers approaching them, and he cried out, "Here comes Tlaescni; he has wakened from his sleep and is coming back for something to eat."

A moment later Indsiska was announced as approaching from the south.

They both reached the door of the medicine lodge at the same time; but Tlaescni entered first, handed his bag to the medicine man, and sat down in the same place where he sat when he entered in the morning.

Indsiska followed and, handing his bag to the shaman, sat down opposite his companion. Now, many who were without thronged into the lodge to enjoy the sport, and they laughed and whispered among themselves; but the couriers were grave and silent, and, while the medicine man opened the bags, they took off their ornaments and washed the paint from their bodies. In the bag of Tlaescni were found four ears of lejyipej (corn baked in the husk underground). They were still hot from the fire, and the shaman broke them into fragments and pa.s.sed the pieces around. From the bag of Indsiska two pieces of noca' (the hard sugar of the maguey), such as the Apache make, were taken. When the young men had finished cleaning themselves, they pa.s.sed out in silence, without a glance for any one.

65. At nightfall they returned to the lodge, and entering, sat down in the west, one on each side of the medicine man, and Tlaescni addressed him, saying: "When we came to the lodge this afternoon, we did not give you an account of our journeys because the people who are with you are fools, who laughed when we came home from the long journey which they feared to undertake; but now we have come to tell you our adventures. I," continued Tlaescni, "went to the north. On my way I met another messenger who was traveling from a distant camp to this one to call you all to a dance in a circle of branches of a different kind from ours. When he learned my errand he tried to prevail on me to return hither and put off our dance till another day, so that we might attend their ceremony and that they in turn might attend ours; but I refused, saying our people were in haste to complete their dance. Then we exchanged bows and quivers as a sign to our people that we had met and that what we would tell on our return was the truth. You observe that the bow and quiver I have now are not those with which I left this morning. We parted, and I kept on my way towards the north. It was yet early in the day when I reached cgojila', where the Jicarilla and friendly Ute were encamped. There I sprinkled meal on the medicine man and gave him my message. When I arrived they were just opening a pit in which they had roasted corn, and they gave me the ears which I have brought home. They promised to be here in our camp at the end of the third day, which will be the night of our dance."

66. When Tlaescni had done speaking, Indsiska gave the following account of himself: "It was but a little while after sunrise when I reached Tse'laka-sila and entered the camps of the four tribes. In one they were just taking some noca' out of a pit, and they gave me those pieces which I brought home. I entered the lodge of a medicine man in each tribe, scattered on him the sacred meal, and announced to him when our dance would take place. They all promised to be here with their people on the end of the third day, which will be on the night we hold our ceremony."

67. When the akaninilis came to tell their adventures to the medicine man, they were beautifully attired. They wore earrings and necklaces of turquoise, coral, and rare sh.e.l.ls. They had on embroidered blankets of a kind we see no longer, but the G.o.ds wore them in the ancient days. They rustled like dry leaves. The blanket of one was black and that of the other was white. When they came out of the medicine lodge they went around among the huts and inclosures of those who were a.s.sembled, visiting the wives and the sweethearts of the silly men who had laughed at them in the morning; and everywhere the women smiled on the beautiful and well dressed youths. The next morning the men laughed and sneered at them no more, nor whispered in their presence, but glanced at them with sulky or shamefaced looks. During the day the akaninilis took part in the game of nanjoj with those who once jeered at them, and won many articles of great value.

68. On the afternoon of the third day following the one on which the akaninilis made their journeys, a great cloud of dust was observed on the northern horizon and a similar cloud was seen in the south. They grew greater and came nearer, and then the invited Indians began to arrive from both directions. They continued to come in groups until nightfall, when a great mult.i.tude had a.s.sembled to witness the dance.

After the guests began to arrive the young men set to work to cut trees for the corral, and when the sun had set the building of the dark circle of branches began. While the young men were making the circle the old men were making speeches to the mult.i.tude, for the old men always love to talk when the young men are hard at work. It was the greatest corral that has ever been built in the Navajo country. It was as broad as from Canon Bonito to "the Haystacks" (a distance of about six miles), yet the visiting tribes were so numerous that they filled the circle full. In the mean time the sounds of singing and of the drum were heard all around, for many different parties of dancers, who were to take part in the night's entertainment, were rehearsing.

69. There was some delay after the inclosure was finished before the first dancers made their appearance. A man entered the corral and made a speech begging the atsale, or first dancers, to hasten, as there were so many parties from a distance who wished to perform during the night.

Soon after he had spoken, the two atsale who led in the dance of the great plumed arrow entered, and after them came six more, and performed this healing dance over Dsilyi' Neyani as it is performed to this day.

(See paragraph 131.) When this was concluded various groups from among the strangers entered, one after another, and conducted their different allis, or shows, which the Navajo then learned and have since practiced when they sing their songs in the dark circle of branches.

70. When the dance began in the evening there was one of the invited tribes which, it was noticed, had not arrived. This was the Beqai, or Jicarilla. The Navajo asked the Ute where the missing ones were, and the Ute answered that they had pa.s.sed the Jicarilla on the way; that the latter were coming, but had stopped to play a game of roulette, or nanjoj, and were thus delayed. Shortly before dawn the Jicarilla came and entered the corral to exhibit their alli or show. It was a dance of the nanjoj, for the wands and implements of the dance were the sticks and wheels used in playing that game.

71. During the night a chief of the Navajo, while walking through the crowd, observed the grandmother of Tlaescni sitting on the ground. He approached her and said: "Your grandson and his friend have done a great deed for us; they have made a long journey. Many doubted whether they had really made it until we saw the mult.i.tude gathering in our camp from the north and from the south in obedience to their summons. Now we know that they have spoken the truth. Tell me, I beg you, how they did this wonderful thing." She answered: "They are igini. My grandson for many years has risen early every morning and run all around Tstsil (Mount Taylor, or San Mateo) over and over again before sunrise. This is why the people have never seen him abroad during the day, but have seen him asleep in his hogan. Around the base of Tstsil are many tse'na'djihi (heaps of sacrificial stones). These were all made by my grandson; he drops a stone on one of these piles every time he goes round the mountain."

72. When day began to dawn there were yet several parties who came prepared to give exhibitions, but had not had a chance; still, at the approach of day the ceremonies had to cease. At this time, before the visitors began to leave the corral, the Navajo chief who had spoken with the grandmother arose and addressed the a.s.sembly. He told them all he knew about the swift couriers and all the grandmother had told him. He remarked that there were yet many who could not believe that the young men had made the journey; so, to satisfy all, he proposed that within twelve days they should have a race between the two fleet akaninili around the base of Tstsil, if all would agree to rea.s.semble to witness it, and he begged them to invite their neighbors of the Pueblo and other tribes to come with them. Then other chiefs arose to speak. In the end the proposition of the Navajo chief was agreed to. All promised to return within eleven days and decided that the race should take place on the morning following. Then they dispersed to their homes.

73. On the afternoon of the eleventh day, when they had rea.s.sembled according to their promises, the Navajo chief arose and addressed them.

He invited the chiefs of the other tribes to come forward and complete the arrangements for the race. So the headmen all came together at the place where the Navajo was speaking, and, after some consultation, they agreed that the race should be around the peak of Tstsil, but not around the entire range of mountains. The Navajo separated themselves into one party and the alien tribes into another, the two parties standing at a little distance from one another. The aliens were given the first choice, and they chose Indsiska; therefore Tlaescni fell to the Navajo. Then the betting began. The stakes consisted of strings of coral, turquoise, and sh.e.l.l beads, of vessels of sh.e.l.ls as large as the earthen basins of the Zuni, of beautifully tanned buckskins, of dresses embroidered with colored porcupine quills, and of suits of armor made of several layers of buckskin. The warriors in those days wore such armor, but they wear it no longer. The beads and sh.e.l.ls were laid in one pile; the buckskins, the embroidered dresses, and the armor in another; and the piles were of vast size.

74. The homes of these young men were at Kac-sakatse'cqa (Lone Juniper Standing Between Cliffs), now Cobero Canon. There is seen to day a rock shaped like a Navajo hogan. It stands near the wagon road and not far from the town of the Mexicans (Cobero). This rock was once the hut where Tlaescni dwelt. Not far from it is another rock of similar appearance, which once was the home of Indsiska. For this reason the runners were started at the Lone Juniper. They ran towards the west and five of the fleetest runners among the a.s.sembled Indians set out at the same time to see how long they could keep up with them. By the time these five men had reached the spur of the mountain opposite csaco (Hot Spring, Ojo de los Gallinos, San Rafael), the two champions were out of sight. Then the five turned back; but before they could return to the Lone Juniper the runners had got in and the race was decided. Tlaescni had won by about twice the length of his own body, and all the wagered wealth of the other nations pa.s.sed into the hands of the Navajo.

75. When all was done the strangers were dissatisfied; they mourned over their losses and talked about the whole affair among themselves for a long time. Finally they decided to give the Navajo another challenge if the latter would agree to a longer racecourse, which should include all the foothills of the San Mateo range. The Navajo accepted the challenge and agreed to have the race at the end of another twelve days. Early on the eleventh day the strangers began to a.s.semble from all quarters; they continued to arrive all day, and when night fell they were all in. Then the headmen addressed them, explaining all the conditions of the challenge and describing carefully the racecourse decided on. The betting did not run as high this time as before. The Navajo bet only about one-half of what they won on the former race. Again they started the two runners, and in such time as you could just mark that the sun had moved, they were back at the goal; but this time Indsiska, the champion of the alien races, won by about the same distance as he had lost on the previous occasion.

76. Then the strangers were satisfied and said, "We will try no more.

Many of our goods are still with the Navajo; but we have done well to rescue what we have." One of the wise men among them said, "Yes, you have done well, for had you lost the second race you would have lost with it the rain and the sunshine and all that makes life glad." It is because the Navajo won so much wealth on this occasion that they have been richer than the neighboring races ever since.

77. The ceremony cured Dsilyi' Neyani of all his strange feelings and notions. The lodge of his people no longer smelled unpleasant to him.

But often he would say, "I know I cannot be with you always, for the yays visit me nightly in my sleep. In my dreams I am once more among them, and they beg me to return to them."

78. From Lejpahio the family moved to Dsildjoltcini (Mountain of Hatred). Thence they went to Tsinbilahi (Woods on One Side), and from there to Tse'yucahia' (Standing Rock Above). In this place they encamped but one night, and next day they moved to []epe-aca (Sheep Promontory), and went on to []epe-asii (One Sheep Lying Down). Here again they camped for the night. Next day they traveled by Tse'atcalcali (Rock Cracked in Two) to Tcoyajnaskic (Hill Surrounded With Young Spruce Trees), to Nigaqoka (White Ground), and to Tse'yistci (Dipping Rocks, i.e., dipping strata), where they stopped to rest for the night. On the following day they journeyed to cosakazi (Cold Water), in which place they encamped again.

79. When the morning came, Dsilyi' Neyani said to his younger brother, "Let us go out and try to shoot some deer, so that we may make beca'

(deer masks), such as we wore in []epentsa, where we killed so many deer." The brothers departed on the hunt and came to a place called Dsil-lijin (Black Mountains), and they sat down on the side of the mountains looking towards Tstsil. As they sat there Dsilyi' Neyani said, "Younger brother, behold the igni!" (holy ones); but the younger brother could see no one. Then he spoke again, "Farewell, younger brother! From the holy places the G.o.ds come for me. You will never see me again; but when the showers pa.s.s and the thunder peals, 'There,' you will say, 'is the voice of my elder brother,' and when the harvest comes, of the beautiful birds and gra.s.shoppers you will say 'There is the ordering of my elder brother.'"

80. As he said these words he vanished. The younger brother looked all around, and seeing no one he started for his home. When he returned to his people he told them of the departure of Dsilyi' Neyani, and they mourned as for one dead.

THE CEREMONIES OF DSILYiDJE QAcaL.

81. It has been my lot to see portions of these ceremonies at various times. The most complete view I had of them was during a visit made to a place called Niqotlizi (Hard Earth), some twenty miles northwest from Fort Wingate, New Mexico, and just within the southern boundary of the Navajo Reservation. This was the only occasion when I obtained full access to the medicine lodge on the later days of the ceremonies and had an opportunity of observing the wonderful pictures on sand which are ill.u.s.trated in color in the accompanying plates.

82. On October 21, 1881, when I arrived at this place, the patient for whose benefit the rites were celebrated and a few of her immediate relations were the only people encamped here. They occupied a single temporary shelter of brushwood, within a few paces of which I had a rude shelter erected for my own accommodation. The patient was a middleaged woman, who apparently suffered from no ailment whatever; she was stout, ruddy, cheerful, and did her full share of the household work every day; yet she was about to give away for these ceremonies sheep, horses, and other goods to the value of perhaps two hundred dollars. No ceremonies whatever were in progress when I came. Everything, so the Indians said, was waiting for the qacali. (Paragraph 2.) Some men were engaged in building a corral for the sheep that were to be slaughtered for the guests, and some old women were grinding corn to feast the men who were to work in the medicine lodge, which had been completed six days before.

83. This lodge was a simple conical structure of large, partly hewed pinon logs, set on end and inclined at an angle of about forty-five degrees, so as to join one another on top, where they formed the apex of the lodge. The circle of logs was incomplete in the east, where the openings for the door and the smoke hole were. A pa.s.sage, or entry, about five feet high and three feet wide, led from the body of the lodge to the outer doorway, where some blankets hung as portieres. The frame of logs was covered with sods and loose earth to keep out wind and rain.

Internally, the lodge was eight feet in height under the apex of the cone and on an average twenty-five feet in diameter at the base. The diameter was increased at the east (to allow for the entry) and at the north. The irregularity in the circ.u.mference in the north was at first conjectured to be a mere accident; but in the ceremonies of the first night its use became apparent as affording a hiding place for the man dressed in evergreens. (Paragraph 96.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: Bureau of Ethnology Fifth Annual Report Pl. X MEDICINE LODGE, VIEWED FROM THE SOUTH.]

84. THE FIRST FOUR DAYS' ceremonies in this case had been performed during the previous year. Such a division of the work is sometimes made, if more convenient for the patient and his friends, but usually all is done in nine consecutive days. These first days have less of interest than the others. Early each morning, before eating, all who desire, men and women, enter the medicine lodge, where, in a stifling atmosphere, seated around a fire of dry wood of four different kinds--cedar, big willow, little willow, and spruce--they take the hot emetic infusion of fifteen different kinds of plants mixed together. A little sand is placed in front of each to receive the ejected material. After the emetic has acted the fire is removed, deposited some paces to the north of the lodge, and allowed to die out. Each devotee's pile of sand is then removed (beginning with that of the man who sat in the east and going round the circle) and deposited, one after another, in a line north of the sacred fire. Each succeeding day's deposits are placed farther and farther north in a continuous line. Next all return to the lodge, which has been allowed to cool; the shaman spits on each some medicine which has been mixed with h.o.a.r-frost and is supposed to cool.

When all have left the lodge, a new fire of ordinary wood is kindled, and the kethawns, or sacrificial sticks, appropriate to the day are made.

85. FIFTH DAY. The chanter did not arrive until the afternoon of October 23. His ceremonies in the medicine lodge began on the morning of the 24th. The forenoon was devoted to the preparation and sacrifice of certain kethawns (kecan)--the sacrificial sticks, to the origin of which so much of the foregoing myth is devoted--and of sacrificial cigarettes.

About eight o'clock the sick woman entered the medicine lodge, followed by the chanter. While she sat on the ground, with her limbs extended, he applied some powdered substance from his medicine bag to the soles of her feet, to her knees, b.r.e.a.s.t.s, shoulders, cheeks, and head, in the order named, and then threw some of it towards the heavens through the smoke hole. Before applying it to the head he placed some of it in her mouth to be swallowed. Then, kneeling on a sheep skin, with her face to the east, and holding the bag of medicine in her hand, she recited a prayer, bit by bit, after the chanter. The prayer being finished, she arose, put some of the medicine into her mouth, some on her head, and took her seat in the south, while the shaman went on with the preparation of the sacrifices.

86. An a.s.sistant daubed a nice straight branch of cherry with some moistened herbaceous powder, after which he divided the branch into four pieces with a flint knife. Two of the pieces were each about two inches long and two each about four inches long. In each of the shorter ones he made one slight gash and in each of the longer ones two gashes. The sticks were then painted, a shred of yucca leaf being used for the brush, with rings of black, red, and white, disposed in a different order on each stick. The two cigarettes were made by filling sections of some hollow stem with a mixture of some pulverized plants. Such cigarettes are intended, as the prayers indicate, to be smoked by the G.o.ds. (Paragraph 88.)

87. While the a.s.sistants were painting the sticks and making the cigarettes the old chanter placed on a sheep skin, spread on the floor woolly side down, other things pertaining to the sacrifice: five bundles of a.s.sorted feathers, five small pieces of cotton sheeting to wrap the sacrifices in, and two round flat stones, each about four inches in diameter. The upper surfaces of these he painted, one blue and one black, and he bordered each with a stripe of red. When the kethawns and cigarettes were ready, the qacali distributed them along with the bunches of plumes, on the five pieces of cotton cloth, which were then rolled up around their contents, making five bundles of sacrifices. On the completion of this work there was prayer, song, and rattling; the medicinal powder was applied to the body of the patient as before (paragraph 85); two of the little sacrificial bundles were placed in her right hand, and while she held them she again repeated a prayer, following again phrase by phrase, or sentence by sentence, the words of the priest. The latter, when the prayer was ended, took the sacrifices from her hand and pressed them to different parts of her body in the order previously observed, beginning with the soles of the feet and going upwards to the head, but on this occasion touching also the back, and touching it last. Each time after pressing the sacrifices to her body he held them up to the smoke hole and blew on them in that direction a quick puff, as if blowing away some evil influence which the sacrifices were supposed to draw from her body. Then the three remaining bundles were put in her hands and the rites observed with the former bundles were repeated in every respect, including the prayer, which was followed by singing and rattling. When the song had ceased some of the a.s.sistants took the bundles of sacrifices out of the lodge, no doubt to bury them according to the method proper for those particular kethawns.

The round painted stones were also carried out.

88. The prayers which the woman repeated varied but little. They all sounded nearly alike. The night the shaman arrived he rehea.r.s.ed some of these prayers with the woman, at her own hogan, to make her familiar with them before she repeated them, in the medicine lodge. The prayer addressed to Dsilyi' Neyani, when she held in her hand the offering sacred to him, was as follows:

Reared Within the Mountains!

Lord of the Mountains!

Young Man!

Chieftain!

I have made your sacrifice.

I have prepared a smoke for you.

My feet restore thou for me.

My legs restore thou for me.

My body restore thou for me.

My mind restore thou for me.

My voice restore thou for me.

Restore all for me in beauty.

Make beautiful all that is before me.

Make beautiful all that is behind me.

Make beautiful my words.

It is done in beauty.

It is done in beauty.

It is done in beauty.

It is done in beauty. (Paragraphs 261-4.)