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Navajo religion ceremonies - page 2 of 3

The first tie to the land occurs when a child is conceived in the Mother's womb. Prayers and ceremonies are performed for the unborn child which introduce the child to the Holy Ones and vice versa. When the child is born the afterbirth is offered to a young tree so as the young tree grows the child grows. The tree stands in a lifelong relationship to the person and prayers and offerings are made there throughout one's lifetime.

Chants for the purification and blessing of the hogan belong to a multitude of rituals that are the fabric of the complex Navajo religion. Religious rites and the conduct of daily life are centered in the Navajo ideal: to live in sacred harmony, in beauty, and in blessedness. A vast knowledge of Navajo myths, history, and folk tales is needed to understand the repetitive, seemingly meaningless chants, often called "sings" or "dances."

The Kinaalda or girl's puberty ceremony, is performed when a girl experiences her first menstruation, and culminates in a second gathering after her second period. The ritual extends five days and four nights, during which only Blessing Songs are sung, which are the holiest, and all the ritual events are patterned after those of the first and second Kinaalda, performed for Changing Woman. The majority of the ceremony takes place in the hogan belonging to the girl's family, which through the course of significant chanting comes to symbolize the First Hogan of First Man and First Woman, and the guests who attend the ceremony become the Holy People.

Following this, the young girl is dressed in ceremonial garb resembling that which Changing Woman allegedly wore, a "special sash" and jewelry of turquoise and white shell. After she is dressed, older females at the ceremony give her a vigorous massage, which is called "molding" the girl. This is a practice based upon the belief that at the time of initiation a girl's body becomes soft again, as it was at birth, and thus she is susceptible to being literally reformed by the efforts of those around her. The girl runs toward the east twice a day for the first day, and three times a day for the next three days. Her running circuit is clockwise, from east to west, and so is a symbolic pursuit of the sun. Aside from running, the girl's main duty is to grind the corn for the huge cake, called an alkaan that will be eaten on the ceremony's final day. The alkaan is baked in a large pit in the ground, into which the helpers pour the batter that the girl mixes. The batter is blessed with cornmeal and covered with husks, in the center of which the girl places another cornhusk cross-oriented to the cardinal points. Moist earth is shoveled in to cover the batter; a fire is built up on top and kept going all night to bake the batter fully. The fourth day is devoted to singing sacred Blessingway and "free" songs. This takes place in the hogan, which is arranged in ceremonial fashion. Throughout the singing, the chief goal is the identification with Changing Woman. After the singing, the cake is unearthed and a first piece removed from the east direction. The girl gives everyone a piece, except herself, for she is not allowed to eat any. A last piece remains in the pit as a sacrifice to the earth. Most Dine consider the ceremony complete after the alkaan is distributed.

• Navajo Creation
• Navajo ceremonies
• Navajo medicine men
• Navajo ceremonial sandpaintings
• Navajo sacred lands

Navajo religion healing ceremonies - page 3

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