Sand Painting Of The Song-hunter

: Myths And Legends Of California And The Old Southwest

Navajo

(Explanatory of frontispiece)



The black cross bars denote pine logs; the white lines the froth of the

water; the yellow, vegetable debris gathered by the logs; the blue and

red lines, sunbeams. The blue spot in the centre of the cross denotes

water. There are four Hostjobokon, with their wives, the Hostjoboard.

Each couple sits upon one of the cross arms of the logs. The gods carry

in heir right hands a rattle, and in their left sprigs of pinon; the

goddesses carry pinon sprigs in both hands.



Hasjelti is to the east of the painting. He carries a squirrel skin

filled with tobacco. His shirt is white cotton and very elastic. The

leggings are of white deerskin, fringed, and his head is ornamented with

an eagle's tail; at the tip of each plume there is a fluffy feather from

the breast of the eagle. The projection on the right of the throat is a

fox skin.



Hostjoghon is at the west. His shirt is invisible, the dark being the

dark of the body. His staff is colored black from a charred plant. Two

strips of beaver skin tipped with six quills of the porcupine are

attached to the right of the throat. The four colored stars on the body

are bead ornaments. The top of the staff is ornamented with a turkey's

tail. Eagle and turkey plumes are alternately attached to the staff.



The Naaskiddi are north and south of the painting. They carry staffs of

lightning ornamented with eagle plumes and sunbeams. Their bodies are

nude except the loin skirt. The hunch upon the back is a black cloud and

the three groups of white lines indicate corn and other seeds. Five

eagle plumes are attached to the cloud-back, since eagles live among the

clouds. The body is surrounded by sunlight. The lines of blue and red

which border the cloud-back denote sunbeams penetrating storm clouds.

The black circle zig-zagged with white around the head is a cloud basket

filled with corn and seeds of grass. On each side of the head are five

feathers of the red-shafted flicker.



The Rainbow goddess, upon which these gods often travel, partly

encircles and completes the picture.



These sand pictures are drawn upon common yellow sand, brought in

blankets and laid in squares about three inches thick and four feet in

diameter. The colors used in decoration were yellow, red, and white,

secured from sand stones, black from charcoal, and a grayish blue made

from white sand and charcoal mixed with a very small quantity of yellow

and red sands.



(From eighth annual report of the Bureau of Ethnology, abridged from

description of James Stevenson.)