Ceremonial of Hasjelti Dailjis and Mythical Sand Painting of the Navajo Indians | Page 6

second piece of cloth;
two under the third, and two below the fourth, their tips pointing east.
Then upon each of these feathers he placed an under tail-feather of the
eagle. The first one was laid on the two feathers at the north end of the
rug; again an under tail-feather of the turkey was placed on each pile,
beginning with that of the north. Then upon each of these was placed a

hair from the beard of the turkey, and to each was added a thread of
cotton yarn. During the arrangement of the feathers the tube decorator
first selected four bits of black archaic beads, placing a piece on each
bit of cloth; then four tiny pieces of white shell beads were laid on the
cloths; next four pieces of abalone shell and four pieces of turquois.
In placing the beads he also began at the north end of the rug. An aged
attendant, under the direction of the song-priest, plucked downy
feathers from several humming-birds and mixed them together into
four little balls one-fourth of an inch in diameter and placed them in
line running north and south, and south of the line of plume piles. He
sprinkled a bit of corn pollen upon each ball; he then placed what the
Navajo term a night-owl feather under the balls with its tip pointing to
the northeast. (See Pl. CXIII). The young man facing west then filled
the colored reeds, beginning with the one on the north end. He put into
the hollow reed, first, one of the feather balls, forcing it into the reed
with the quill end of the night-owl feather. (A night-owl feather is
always used for filling the reeds after the corn is ripe to insure a warm
winter; in the spring a plume from the chaparral cock, Geococcyx
californianus, is used instead to bring rain). Then a bit of native
tobacco was put in. When the reed was thus far completed it was
passed to the decorator, who had before him a tiny earthen bowl of
water, a crystal, and a small pouch of corn pollen. Holding the crystal
in the sunbeam which penetrated through the fire opening in the roof,
he thus lighted the cigarettes which were to be offered to the gods. The
forefinger was dipped into the bowl of water and then into the corn
pollen, and the pollen that adhered to the finger was placed to the top of
the tube. After the four tubes were finished they were placed on the
pieces of cloth, not, however, until a bit of pollen had been sprinkled on
the beads which lay on the cloth. The pollen end of the tube pointed to
the east. The four bunches of feathers were then laid on the tubes. The
song-priest rolled up each cloth and holding the four parcels with both
hands he placed them horizontally across the soles of the feet, knees,
palms, breast, back, shoulders, head, and across the mouth of the
invalid, and the invalid drew a breath as the parcel touched his lips. He
sat to the north of the rug facing east. The sick man then received the
parcels from the song-priest and held them so that the ends projected

from between the thumbs and forefingers, and repeated a prayer after
the theurgist, who sat facing the invalid. The prayer ran thus:
People of the mountains and rocks, I hear you wish to be paid. I give to
you food of corn pollen and humming-bird feathers, and I send to you
precious stones and tobacco which you must smoke; it has been lighted
by the sun's rays and for this I beg you to give me a good dance; be
with me. Earth, I beg you to give me a good dance, and I offer to you
food of humming-birds' plumes and precious stones, and tobacco to
smoke lighted by the sun's rays, to pay for using you for the dance;
make a good solid ground for me, that the gods who come to see the
dance may be pleased at the ground their people dance upon; make my
people healthy and strong of mind and body.
The prayer being offered, the parcels were given by the theurgist to an
attendant, who deposited them in line three feet apart along the side of
the dancing ground in front of the lodge. Their proper place is
immediately on the ground that is to be danced upon, but to prevent
them from being trampled on they are laid to one side. The black tubes
are offerings to the gods and the blue to the goddesses of the mountains
and to the earth.

THIRD DAY.

FIRST CEREMONY.
The construction of the second sweat house began at sunrise and was
completed at