The Night Chant: A Navaho Ceremony - Softcover

"A comprehensive study of the ritual that utilizes songs, sand paintings and masks, among other symbols. Exhaustive. This is a book for Native Americana scholars and those with a deep and abiding curiosity about a culture that is not easily understood."--New Mexico Book League "Massively detailed. Based on eight years of careful and respectful observation, it remains, almost a century after its original publication, one of the seminal studies of Navajo religious practices."--The Journal of Arizona History "An important contribution to the understanding of cultural contact, the discipline of anthropology, and the debate over American Indians and cultural/intellectual property."--New Mexico Historical Review A comprehensive study of the ritual that utilizes songs, sand paintings and masks, among other symbols. Exhaustive. This is a book for Native Americana scholars and those with a deep and abiding curiosity about a culture that is not easily understood. New Mexico Book League" Massively detailed. Based on eight years of careful and respectful observation, it remains, almost a century after its original publication, one of the seminal studies of Navajo religious practices. The Journal of Arizona History" An important contribution to the understanding of cultural contact, the discipline of anthropology, and the debate over American Indians and cultural/intellectual property. New Mexico Historical Review"

A detailed description of a nine-day Navajo ceremony of healing rites, songs, myths, and prayers performed only during "frosty weather" as observed by nineteenth century ethnologist and linguist Washington Matthews. This edition includes powerful contemporary observations in a foreword by John Farella.