Navajo: The Past and Present of the Diné

Navajo: The Past and Present of the Diné — page 1 — The Healing Way medicine man kneels on the dirt A floor of a hogan He is there to treat a young girl with a fever Her family and friends participate in the traditional Healing Way ceremony too Carefully the man dips his hand into colorful sands Pictures and symbols emerge as he shifts the sand between his fingertips When the picture is finished the young patient sits in the center of it It is believed the sand will absorb negative energy All the while the medicine man sings prays and chants He is calling to the spirits to heal the girl When it is over the young patient leaves She might be feeling better She might see a medical doctor The beautiful sand painting is destroyed Being Navajo means maintaining cultural traditions in a modern world tradition custom idea or belief passed down through time

Navajo: The Past and Present of the Diné — page 2 — 000 W 00 CIDA Sand painting is also known as dry painting Sand painting There are two kinds of Navajo sand paintings One is made by a medicine man known as a singer The sand paintings are important parts of traditional healing and blessing ceremonies They are made and destroyed in a day They are rarely viewed by non Navajos There are also sand paintings made as permanent works of art

Navajo: The Past and Present of the Diné — page 3 — Chapter 1 People of the Land 6 The Dineh Tah Navajo Dancers promote cultural understanding through dance

Navajo: The Past and Present of the Diné — page 4 — Ancestors of today's Navajo were hunter gatherers They migrated from present dayAlaska and Canada about 500 to 1 000 years ago They settled in the canyons of northwestern New Mexico They called themselves the Diné pronounced deh NEH It means the people Their new homeland was Dinétah It means among the people They believed they were caretakers of the land Four sacred mountains mark the boundaries of their traditional homeland Arizona's San Francisco Peaks Colorado's Hesperus Mountain and Blanca Peak and New Mexico's Mount Taylor Four sacred mountains The Navajo's sacred mountains are linked to colors and directions Hesperus Mountain to the north represents black Blanca Peak to the east is linked to white Mount Taylor to the south is linked to turquoise San Francisco Peaks above to the west represent yellow ancestor family member who lived a long time ago

3

PAGE 3 OF 29

›

The only kids' eBook subscription service that offers thousands of high-quality books from well known publishers like HarperCollins, National Geographic and others.

JavaScript Required

Whoops! We're sorry but Epic doesn't work properly without JavaScript enabled. Check your web browser's settings to make sure it's enabled.