Pastoral ways, beliefs, and healing practices of the Navajo people

Navajo Indians

Navejo Indians

The Navajo Indians also referred to as Dine are semi-nomadic people. It is interesting to note that Navajo people are at times known as 'Holy Earth People (Iverson, 2002). This comes from their beliefs in supernatural beings as well as traditional practices of ritual songs and dance. Navajo people are found in north-eastern areas of Arizona and north-western region of New Mexico (Iverson, 2002) .the regions where the Navajo people live in arid and desert areas that have minimal rainfall. The Navajo people are highly family oriented people, and have a rich culture that is full of ceremonies and other traditions. This paper looks at the history of pastoralists of the Navajo people, their beliefs and religious practices and kinship, sickness and healing, which are important elements with the culture of Navajo people.

Pastoral ways

The traditions and practices of a society, which are to some level the outcome of the country in which that society live, at the end has a pronounced impact on their lifestyle and habitation. Arizona and New Mexico were possessed by the U.S. In 1846, and before that period, the Navajo Indians lived mainly by war and raids. The Mexican settlers who lived down the Rio Grande and the Pueblo Indians who also lived in the same area were the main victims of the Navajo Indians. The Navajo Indians stole thousands of sheep and horses from the two communities, and whatever was stolen formed the starting point of pastoral life of the Navajo Indians (Iverson, 2002). Soon, they owned huge flocks and herds, which they still have until now.

The Navajo people reservation is best suited for keeping sheep compared to anything else. The step they took to move from war activities and hunting to rearing sheep is was not a long one or a difficult one to choice. Under the hardship of necessity the Navajo Indians turned to a peaceful pastoral community, concentrating on their flocks and herds, which they combine with practicing horticulture in a very limited and cautious way. However, modern conditions are gradually changing the traditional pastoral life of Navajo people, and now some are embracing agriculture. The changes have affected other aspects of their lives such as house structure. But still, Navajo people are generally pastoral people, and they have not changed a lot.

As explained by Iverson (2002) each Navajo family posses a flock of sheep and goats, at times, they number to thousands. In addition, each family has a band of horses that can be in hundreds, occasionally, the horses may reach thousands of them. In the recent years, many families also have started to own cattle, these cattle owned by Navajo people belonged to other communities an when the Navajo people either raided them or refused to hand back when they strayed to the areas they graze. Presently, the Navajo people cannot be said to be living in hardship, but in affluence because of the many animals they own. However, their traditions and lifestyle makes them live as though suffering from poverty.

Due to the scarcity of pastures in most of the areas the Navajo people live, and the hardship of getting enough water supplies, the animals are moved from one place to another on regular basis. This aspect makes it difficult for the Navajo people to construct permanent house. However, the Navajo people cannot be said to be nomads. Indeed, the area within which a particular household moves back and forth is very much confined.

Generally, the movement particular household or family is controlled by the condition of the pastures and the water supply (Iverson, 2002). During a dry season most of the small streams dry up before we start of the summer. More so, supposing a flock stays for a long time in same place, the pasture in that place could be destroyed by close cropping, and the family will be forced to abandon that place for a period two to three years. If this happens, the place will be able to recover and have a good pasture once more.

During the summer, the normally practice of the Navajo people is take their animals upwards to the mountain or high plateaus. They camp near a stream of spring of water until the season ends and winters comes. They then move to the lower foothill or into valleys. This movement is observed each year. The heavy snow that falls in the mountains and its slow melting makes the mountains to be more fertile with lots of grass compared to the valleys. However, during this time, the grassy grows too high and may make it hard for sheep to graze. This also hinders communication among the community. Some family stay in the mountains even during the winter season, but the general rule is that people move to the low lying valleys in the winter and the Navajo people practical abandon the mountains during the winter season (Iverson, 2002).

When there is a lot of rain, seasonal pools and small lakes forms on flat country lasting for a number of weeks. Families take advantage of this season and graze their flocks on the land near their prescribed land, and build temporary structures. However, this does not last for a long period because the water soon dries and the family has to move out. Indeed, as long as Navajo people continue being pastoral, their houses will remain temporary structures. Another consequence of the pastoralist lifestyle of Navajo people is that families do not stay together. It is difficult for big communities to stay together because of large flocks of sheep each family has. However, in rare cases, small families of five to ten stay together when they found a good location (Iverson, 2002). But, such families are considered to be poor by other Navajo families because they normally have small number of animals.

Ceremonies

In ancient period, there were some important Navajo rituals and ceremonies related with war, hunger, agriculture, hunting and treatment of sickness. During the reservation era, almost all of the main public rituals and ceremonies were focused on healing in the broadest understanding. This is means, restoring peace with the supernatural beings. Navajo Indians perform many ceremonies; many of them involve a complex combination of prayers, songs, and magical rituals, where painting is used. Masked dancers as well play an important part in some of these ceremonies (Sander, 1979). The ceremonies last for two to nine nights, this will depend on how seriousness of the situation being treated by these ceremonies.

Kinship and sickness and healing

In traditional Navajo Indians practices, each illness, whether physical, mental or emotional, originates from the spiritual world, and happens because a person has done something wrong. Indeed, Haile (1993, 12) echoes this words by stating that "Sickness, in native ideology, is not organic, but is caused by jealous and angry supernaturals who make demands upon humans which must be satisfied." Similarly, sickness is attributed to a person not being in balance ("hozho") and thus such a person is in disagreement worth his physical and supernatural environment.

Supposing a person is sick or out of hozho he/she has to first look for a diagnosis (Haile, 1993). As explained by Haile (1993) a diagnosis can happen when the patient's family makes arrangement for an evaluation from a medicine healer that specializes in giving diagnosis. Owing to the fact that the Navajo people believes that sickness or disturbances comes from the breach of taboo, possessing ghosts or committing an offence of a deity, the person may not understand the cause of his/her sickness of disturbance. Accordingly, diagnosis is done through an act of divination. Haile (1993) explains that a diviner normally discusses issues with the patient and may try to establish the cause using different ways such as, stargazing and hand-trembling. When hand-trembling method is used, the diviner sings a song where he/she invokes Gila Monster (believed to be an assistant of the deities) who taught the community the song (Haile, 1993).

When the singer sings, his hand and arm starts to shake in manner that indicates the specific diagnosis reached about the sickness (Kluckhohn and Leighton, 1960). After the diagnosis is made, the family could then arrange for a ritual from a medicine man that can treat the diagnosed illness or disorder.

A healing ritual entails a number of activities as well as the intoning of several chants that the singer previous was taught and perfected them through an apprenticeship. As noted by Kluckhohn and Leighton (1960) the chants are normally performed at a traditional Navajo home referred to as Hogan. The chanting may be done together with a drumming or a rattle, though these instruments are not mandatory. Close family members are encouraged to join in the chanting.

It should be noted that these healing ritual mainly focus on retelling parts of the creation story. Therefore, if a patient suffers from stomach pains, the curing ritual will likely not focus on his stomach, but rather will restate creation stories. Indeed, these stories normal narrate how some people overcame their illness and regained balance. Though this may appear disconnected from the real illness, the Navajo belief illness being caused by supernatural beings makes retelling of holy stories an appropriate remedy. More so, the deities who are believed to be part of the creation are as well credited for introducing the rituals, chants and stores are invoked, therefore these rituals are believed to have supernatural powers that can be harnessed.

Medicine man (practitioner) is viewed as a spiritual intermediary who assists the patient to re-gain balance. Even though the practitioner may apply physical cures, for example herbal application, massages and sweat-baths, he also has to re-enact ancient chants to invoke better healing possibility. When changing the songs, the singer does not simply direct and performs the songs; he takes control of a supernatural authority and personifies the deity who formulated the song (Kluckhohn and Leighton, 1960). Through the invoking of spiritual authority (power) the singer aims at healing the disturbed patient. Kluckhohn and Leighton (1960) notes that this healing activity does not essentially aim at removing the physical ailment, though this might be the objective of the ritual, its main objective is to re-gain balance (hozho) within the patient's life.

During the time when a person may be feeling very helpless and lonely, Navajo healing rituals assist in providing a personal as well as cultural background for the person. His kin (family) and friends join the person to re-affirm the social relationship in ways that link the person to his present and past kin. At the same time, the patient is able to reconnect with the sacred soil; he gets a sense of belonging and place. Spiritually, the person re-learns beliefs and forms a kinship with the supernatural. All through this processes, the patient goes through emotional comfort and assurance achieving a balance (hozho).

Conclusion

As discussed in this paper the Navajo people are highly family oriented people, and have a rich culture that is full of ceremonies and other traditions. Navajo Indians lived mainly as warriors and hunters, but then changed to pastoralist when they came in conduct with the Mexican settlers the Pueblo Indians by stealing their sheep and horses. For many years now, they have remained pastoralists with huge flocks and herds. Like many other Native Americans, the Navajo Indians generally believed in many gods, and this was characterized by animism and shamanism. Navajo Indians practices, each illness, whether physical, mental or emotional, originates from the spiritual world, and happens because a person has done something wrong. Healing involves rituals and ceremonies that allows the person to regain his balance (hozho).