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Navajo religion medicine men - page 1 of 2

During his training, each medicine man must acquire his own medicine bundle, by the ritualistic gathering of a bundle from an aging medicine man or by making up a new bundle. The type of ceremony that the medicine man knows will determine the kind and size of the medicine bundle. Collection of a new medicine bundle is time-consuming and includes herbs, pollens, feathers, sacred mountain dirt, stones, scrub oak branches, juniper bark, cattail flags, wild rice grass, rock sage, bear grass, plants with pods, and many other grasses and tree branches.

The medicine man, further, must be able to identify exactly every herb, plant, and other necessary object required in particular ceremonies. Like a medical doctor, he is on call at all times but goes to the patient's hogan to perform the necessary ceremony. The Navajo people usually know which medicine man in their area specializes in each ceremony. The chants are followed by serving food to the spectators, and, with the medicine man's fee, the expense can be large.

The performance of a ceremony, depending upon its complexity and length, often requires financial assistance from both the immediate and extended family to pay the substantial expenses incurred. Not only must the medicine man and other healers be well paid, but also great amounts of food must be provided for guests who gather to share the blessings of the ceremony's daily rituals, and to share the social activities as well.

Each traditional ceremony requires a separate buckskin jish, (the medicine bundle of a Navajo chanter), which contains feathers, rattles, stones, pollens, animal tissues, native herbs, ochres, and clays, and additional paraphernalia for specific chants. These Navajo medicine bundles are considered very sacred.

In addition to jish, Yei'is (masks) are also sacred and are not to be sold or possessed by non-Navajos or even Navajos untrained in their use. Archaeologist and Navajo experts say that Yei'is "are among the most sacred paraphernalia in Navajo religion." The Navajo Tribe, which enacted its own law in 1978 protecting religious artifacts, believes that the masks are tribal property "not to be sold or traded outside the clan or tribe." By traditional standards, a widow does not usually inherit her husband's belongings, such as yei’is, which typically go to another ceremonial singer.

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

Navajo religion medicine men - page 2

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