Yeibichai Navajo rugs - Yei spirits Navajo rug
Navajo rugs, blankets and weavings

Differing from Shiprock Yei Navajo rugs, the Yeibichai is usually a bordered Navajo rug and depicts Navajo dancers impersonating Yei spirits. These dancers are more humanlike, and uplifted feet commonly suggest the action of the dance. The term Yeibichai incorporates the idea of both gods and ancestors; the Navajo consider themselves to be related to Holy people through kinship ties. Yeibichai dancers depicted in the Yeibichai Navajo rug, don regalia and ceremonial masks in order to imitate the appearance of the Yei. Yei are a particular category of Holy people, who at birth tried to speak but were unable to do so; they were only able to make inarticulate sounds. Yeibichai dancers depicted in this Navajo rug, are also known as God impersonators, since by resembling the Yei in both appearance and sound, the God impersonators attract the presence of the actual Yei, who are invisible, but never far removed from the earth surface people.

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