![]() Mother Earth may be used as the design for a healing or blessing ceremony, but Father Sky is needed to complete the symbology, as one does not exist without the other. The bluefaced sun is often used in a minor ceremony, but the whitefaced moon is considered its companion. Many lone figures which may be used for complete sand paintings are still associated with companions or with groups of similar symbols. More difficult to evaluate is "1" as a symbolic numeral. These are a few of the instances which emphasize the importance of the number "2" in Navajo ceremony and sand painting. There are two "talking kehtahns" and two "spirit givers." Estsanahtlehay, the Earth Woman, and Yolthkaiestsan, the White Shell Woman who represents water. ![]() There are two guards placed before the door when a ceremonial lodge is symbolized in sand, and two guardians at the east of many sand paintings. Father Sky and Mother Earth are twin creations and, when placed in the same sand painting, are always shown as being the same size and the same shape, but bearing different colors, designs, and potentials. The sun and the moon are twin powers in the sky and, although both are considered masculine in gender, the sun plays the dominant role, while the moon, although of equal importance, is less aggressive. This is accented in the tales of the warrior twins who are supposed to be dual personalities one went forth to accomplish dangerous feats while the other remained at home to guard the spiritual power of his brother.Īnother myth tells of two monster birds who nested on the peak of Shiprock and brought small children as food for the two fledglings in the nest. In this as in other forms of the symbology, the active and passive forces are united to form the perfect symbol. The north and east colors of black and white are considered masculine and are more abstract, consisting of the white or the spirit life, and the darkness of dormant life. The southern and western colors of blue and yellow are considered feminine showing characteristics of warmth, growth and fertility. The west and north are less beneficent, the north being masculine, west feminine. One of the most interesting elements in their religion is the duality which is found in almost every part of creation, usually one an active and the other a passive form, not in opposition to each other but complementing each other's powers, such as herain and sherain, crooked lightning and arrows which are dangerous or straight lightning and arrows which are guarding Sky Father and Earth Mother.Įast and south directions are beneficent, the east being the masculine in character and south the feminine. Corn is a sacred plant in Navajo lore and ceremony, and he showed me a "perfect ear" which had twelve rows of kernels along the cob and four equally perfect kernels at the tip. One fact brought to my attention by a medicine man when he wished to emphasize the importance of "4" was nature's use of that number and its multiples. Human existence has been divided into four stages, and everyone is expected to have four ceremonies held for them before they die. ![]() It would take several chapters to list all of the places where four is of ceremonial importance. There are four or eight sacred plants, four water monsters, four thunderers, and four, eight, or twelve prayer sticks erected around the border of the painting after its completion. The number of divisions granted to each great power depends on the type of ceremony and the size of the sand painting, and can be two, four, five, eight, or sixteen.Įvery sand painting emphasizes the cardinal points, the four corners of the earth where stand the four sacred mountains, four parts of the day, and four seasons in the year. The Sky is often divided into four segments with a definite symbol for each. The Fire God is sometimes pictured as four personages standing side by side or coming from the four directions. The hero, who killed the evil monsters, had three brothers with separate abilities and life histories but Klah remarked, "They are really all one person." Some students of ethnology believe that 4 is the number which symbolizes this present earth and everything we find here.Ī fundamental quality of any Navajo religious symbol is the plural character of every spiritual power or elemental force.
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