This e-text includes characters that will only display in UTF-8 (Unicode) file encoding:
ā ī (a, i with macron or “long” sign)
ỳ ĕ (y with grave accent; e with breve or “short” sign)
If any of these characters do not display properly—in particular, if a diacritic does not appear directly above its letter—or if the quotation marks in this paragraph appear as garbage, you may have an incompatible browser or unavailable fonts. First, make sure that the browser’s “character set” or “file encoding” is set to Unicode (UTF-8). You may also need to change your browser’s default font.
The “cents” sign ¢ (capitalized ¢) has been used as a stand-in for the “c with slash” characters Ȼ ȼ, which will not display on most systems.
The author’s “Note on Orthography” has been left in its original location, between the table of contents and list of illustrations.
All brackets are in the original text. The utterance “hu‘hu‘hu‘hu” was printed both with and without final ‘.
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION—BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY.
THE MOUNTAIN CHANT:
A NAVAJO CEREMONY.
BY
Dr. WASHINGTON MATTHEWS, U. S. A.
CONTENTS.
Page. Introduction 385
Myth of the origin of dsilyídje qaçàl
387 Ceremonies of dsilyídje qaçàl 418 First four days 418 Fifth day 419 Sixth day 424 Seventh day 428 Eighth day 429 Ninth day (until sunset)Second dance (great plumed arrow)
433 Third dance 435 Fourth dance 436 Fifth dance (sun) 437 Sixth dance (standing arcs) 437 Seventh dance 438 Eighth dance (rising sun) 438Ninth dance (Hoshkàwn, or Yucca)
439 Tenth dance (bear) 441 Eleventh dance (fire) 441 Other dances 443The great pictures of dsilyídje qaçàl
444First picture (home of the serpents)
446Second picture (yays and cultivated plants)
447Fourth picture (great plumed arrows)
451Sacrifices of dsilyídje qaçàl
451Original texts and translations of songs, &c.
455 Songs of sequence 455First Song of the First Dancers
456First Song of the Mountain Sheep
457Sixth Song of the Mountain Sheep
457Twelfth Song of the Mountain Sheep
458 First Song of the Thunder 458 Twelfth Song of the Thunder 459First Song of the Holy Young Men, or Young Men Gods
459Sixth Song of the Holy Young Men
460Twelfth Song of the Holy Young Men
460Eighth Song of the Young Women who Become Bears
461 One of the Awl SongsFirst Song of the Exploding Stick
462Last Song of the Exploding Stick
462 First Daylight Song 463 Last Daylight Song 463 Other songs and extracts 464Song of the Prophet to the San Juan River
464Song of the Building of the Dark Circle
464 Prayer to Dsilyi‘ Neyáni 465 Song of the Rising Sun Dance 465Instructions given to the akáninili
466Prayer of the Prophet to his Mask
466 Last Words of the Prophet 467 IndexNOTE ON THE ORTHOGRAPHY OF NAVAJO WORDS.
The spelling of Navajo words in this paper is in accordance with the alphabet of the Bureau of Ethnology:
c = ch in chin; ¢ = th in this; ç = th in think; j = z in azure; q = German ch in machen; ‘ shows that a vowel is aspirated; the vowels have the continental sounds; ai is the only diphthong, and is like i in line; l is usually aspirated; the other letters have the ordinary English pronunciation.
See also
ILLUSTRATIONS
In the original text, full-page Plates were interleaved with the book pages. For this e-text, the Plates have been placed as close as practicable to their discussion in the text.
Page. Plate X.Medicine lodge, viewed from the south
418 XI.Medicine lodge, viewed from the east
420 XII.Dance of nahikàï
432 XIII.Fire dance
442 XIV.The dark circle of branches at sunrise
444 XV.First dry painting
446 XVI.Second dry painting
448 XVII.Third dry painting
450 XVIII.Fourth dry painting
452 Figure 50.Qastcèëlçi, from a dry painting of the klèdji-qaçàl
397 51.The çobolçà, or plumed wands, as seen from the door of the medicine lodge
422 52.Akáninili ready for the journey
424 53.The great
Dancer holding up the great plumed arrow
434 55.Dancer “swallowing” the great plumed arrow
434 56.The whizzer, or groaning stick
436 57.Yucca baccata
440 58.Sacrificial sticks (keçàn)
452 59.The talking kethàwn (keçàn-yalçì‘)
452