Religion+beliefs+and+ceremonies

SAND PAINTINGS

Sand paintings are a sacred piece of Navajo art that is commenly used in Navajo healing rituals. Normanly they are where the gods come and go. Baisically while the Navajo preform their ritual the gods come in while the Navajo ask for healing. [|THIS WEBSITE] helped me get som of my info.



WHAT ARE NAVAJO GODS?

To the Navajo the water, winds, plants and animals are alive with gods. The navajo believe their gods/ holy people are the ones who put the moon into the sky and the ones who put the clouds, trees and animals onto the earth. They think that their nation was created inbetween four sacred mountains that they believe gave them a special beauty and harmoney with in their life.

Traditions

The Navajo have a long tradition in weaving. The Navajo began weaving with the wool of Churro sheep, introduced by the Spaniards in the 1700s. This became part of their lives, being passed down from generation to generation and becoming a important point in each household. Medison they used when they blessed a patiant during a Ceremony.

Ceremonies The Navajo usually call there ceremonies something that end with "chant,""sing" or "way" such as the Blessing way.

"The Blessing way" is a Navajo ceremony. There is also a ceremony called "The Enemy way" A lot of ceremonies are caused when someone is sick. When they bless a patiant they light a fire and next to the fire is a sand painting. The person who is blessing the ceremony is making hand motions.

Navajo religion has been described as 'life itself, the land, and well-being.' All living things - people, plants, animals, mountains, and the Earth itself - are relatives.

The story of the creation of the Navajo people and their emergence onto their sacred homeland is recounted in a ceremony known as the Blessingway, which is the foundation of the Navajo way of life. Blessingway focuses on the story of Changing Woman, who is the inner form of the Earth through its seasonal transformations. She is the major goddess for the Navajo.

Religion

Long ago, Navajo people believed to have harmony and balance with nature and with other people. The Navajo had a word for this Idea: hozho. A lot of ceremonies are caused to make sure that the world stayed hozho. If something went wrong they would bring hozho by having a ceremony. The ceremonies might include sand paintings, singing or dancing. Some ceremonies include sacred objects wrapped in a bundle.

The Navajo are instructed that in the beginning, First Man and First Woman emerged onto this world near Huerfano Mountain in New Mexico. One day, First Man found a baby on a nearby mountain. The baby matured in four days and became Changing Woman. Changing Woman created the four original Navajo clans from her body. Her sons rid the land between the four sacred mountains of dangerous monsters and made it safe for the clans to inhabit. The Blessing Way recounts in detail the instructions Changing Woman gave to the Navajo people she created. When performed in its entirety, the Blessing-way is a two-day ceremony whose purpose is to obtain peace, harmony, protection, and to help realize the goal of a long happy life.

ceremonies commonly take place in a hogan.

=Annotated Bibliography=

"Navajo Indians." Southwest Native Americans. Pam Eck, ed. April 22, 1998.26 Nov. 2008. http://inkido.indiana.edu/w310work/romac/navajo.htm This link has a lot about Navajo Indians such as Art, Food, Religion, and Legends. It mostly talks about the Navajo gods and the symbols for them. This website doesn't have to much information but I found out about the Navajo gods. It also talks about how the Navajo religion is different from other religions. This website has a lot of hard words and it is hard to understand.

Klah Hosteen. "Navajo Ceremonies." __The Kennedy Museum of Art__. 2001. 28 Nov. 2008  This page is short but it tells most of the ceremonies. and about how it takes place in a hogan. This also has information on the Navajo hogan and how it looked. This website tells me about what they normally call ceremonies and what ceremonies they preform under circumstances. I only found the first paragraph useful because the second paragraph was mainly about the hogan. This website is easy to understand because it doesn't have many hard words.

"A Sacred Way of Life." __NAVAJO RELIGION__. 28 Nov. 2008.Bacca Enterprises Inc. . This site has a lot of things about Religion. It also so has some poems. This website is good but it is a little unclear because there are too many poems. This website mainly talks about the Navajo land and religion it even has some information about shelter. This website has a lot of hard words and it might be hard to understand.

Smith Museum of natural history, Orma J, ed. "Ceremony." __Ceremony__. 26 May 2006. 4 Dec. 2008 http://www.collegeofidaho.edu/campus/community/museum/douglas/ceremony.htm. This site has a lot of information about how Ceremonies heal the Navajo people. This site mainly talks about how to get ready for a Navajo Healing Ceremony. This website holds quite a lot of information. This website also has information on religion in the first paragraph. I think it is also easy to read because I cant find many words that I dont know.

Lassieur, Allison. __The Navajo a Proud People__. N.J: Enslow. This book is very useful. It has a lot of information on a lot of the things the Navajo did. It talks about the Navajo in the past and in the present. This book is easy to understand and doesn't have to many hard words. one of the hardest words I found was "Sacred" this means special. Even though this book is so good I only found the section on Religion on p24-25.

Messick,Owen.Personal Interview. Messick,Cody. 15 Dec.2008. I interviewed My Dad because he lived in the Navajo reservation for 2 years. He has never been in a Navajo ceremony but he knows a lot about them. He talks more on the medicen man which is the guy that blesses the sick. He is a good sorce of information because when you talk to someone it is easy to understand and you can ask them questions.