The mountain chant, a Navajo ceremony (A Rio Grande classic)

This is a description of a Navajo shamanistic healing ceremony. It centers around a recitation of a cycle of myths about a Navajo culture hero, Dsilyídje Qaçàl. His journey takes him to the land of the gods and goddesses, where he learns powerful magic. The narrative is compelling and compares well with the Homeric Odyssey, which it resembles both thematically and stylistically. The ceremony incorporates dance, song, prayer, sand-painting, drama, sculpture, conjuring, and even a bit of farce. Of note are the beautiful plates of the ephemeral sand-paintings. The purposes of the ceremony are various. Its ostensible reason for existence is to cure disease; but it is made the occasion for invoking the unseen powers in behalf of the people at large for various purposes, particularly for good crops and abundant rains. It would appear that it is also designed to perpetuate their religious symbolism. Some of the shows of the last night are, undoubtedly intended to be dramatic and entertaining as well as religious, while the merely social element of the whole affair is obvious. It is an occasion when the people gather to have a jolly time. The patient pays the expenses and, probably in addition to the favor and help of the gods and the praise of the priesthood, hopes to obtain social distinction for his liberality. This, like other great rites of the Navajo, is of nine days' duration. Some of these rites may take place in the summer; but the great majority of them, including this dsilyídje qaçàl, may be celebrated only in the winter, in the season when the thunder is silent and the rattlesnakes are hibernating. Were they to tell of their chief gods or relate their myths of the ancient days at any other time, death from lightning or snake-bite would, they believe, be their early fate.