Navaho Witchcraft (Navajo Witchcraft)

Citation preview

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

CLYDE KLUCKHOHN Biographical Introduction

by Talcott Parsons and Evon

Z.

Vogt

Digitized by the Internet Archive in

2012

http://archive.org/details/navahowitchcraftOOkluc

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT CLYDE KLUCKHOHN

BEACON PRESS

BOSTON

COPYRIGHT, 1944, HV THE PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE Published by arrangement with the

Peabodu Museum

of

Archaeology

and Ethnology, Harvard University First

Beacon Paperback edition published

in

1967

Beacon Press books are published under the auspices

of the

Unitarian Universalis Association

Published simultaneously

in

Canada by Saunders

Printed in the United States of America

BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY

of Toronto, Ltd.

PUBLISHER'S NOTE Navaho Witchcraft was first published in 1944, in a limited by the Peabody Museum of Harvard University. The publishers are honored to republish this classic monograph in tribute to the late Professor Kluckhohn and to his edition of folio pages issued

service to man's understanding of himself.

The changes and additions resulting from publication in book form have been kept to a minimum. Parenthetical cross references in the text have been made into footnotes. The footnotes have been numbered separately in each section and moved from the text to a section following the appendices. With this exception, the sequence of materials is exactly that of the original edition.

No

material present in the original has been omitted from

A photo facsimile of a newspaper page, which appeared as excerpt 2333 in Appendix IX, has been deleted, but the complete text of the two articles on the newspaper page has been included in the present footnote number 26 of Appendix IX. The words "paper" and "monograph" referring to this work itself have been changed to read "study" or "book." No other change has been made in the original words and sentences in the text, the appendices or the footnotes. Two additions have been made in the introductory pages this edition.

D. Herbert Landar of Los Angeles State College provided a brief "Key to the Phonetic Spelling of Navaho Words," which should be helpful to general readers in interpreting the phonetic symbols, all of which have been retained. The other addition is the obituary article about

of this edition.

in California has kindly

Clyde Kluckhohn by Professors Talcott Parsons and Evon Z. Vogt which appeared in the American Anthropologist, Vol. 64, No. 1, February 1962.

PUBLISHERS NOTE

VI

The

publishers wish to express their gratitude to Professors

Talcott Parsons

and Evon

Z.

Vogt and the

editors of the

Amer-

ican Anthropologist for permission to publish their article in this edition.

Museum

The of

O. Brew, for

publishers also extend their thanks to the Peabody

Harvard University, and cooperation and advice in

its

director,

Dr. Joseph

this undertaking.

CONTENTS Publisher's

Note

v

Biographical Introduction

ix

by Talcott Parsons and Evon

Key

Z.

Vogt

Navaho Words

to the Phonetic Spelling of

xxi

by Herbert Landar Acknowledgments

3

Introduction

5 Part

I:

Data

Section

1:

General Discussion of Data

13

Section

2:

The

22

Section

3:

Witchery

Section

4:

Sorcery

Section

5:

Wizardry

Section

6:

Prostitution

Section

7:

Other Types of Witchcraft

Section

8:

Protection Against

Section

9:

Observed Behaviors Relating to Witchcraft

Distinct Categories of Witchcraft

Way

and Were- Animals

31

34

Way

36

and Cures

43 for Witchcraft

Section 10: Participation

Part

II:

25

46 53

57

Interpretation

Section

1:

Introductory

Section

2:

Distributional

Section

3:

Navaho Witchcraft

65

and

Historical

Comments

69

as Providing Culturally

Defined Adaptive and Adjustive Responses

76

VU1

CONTENTS Appendices: Instances

Part

III:

and

Stories of Witchcraft

Introductory Note to the Appendices

Way

131

Appendix

I:

Witchery

Appendix

II:

Sorcery

149

Appendix

III:

Wizardry

154

Way

133

Chant Legend

Appendix IV:

Prostitution

Appendix V:

Datura Divination

175

Appendix VI:

Frenzy Witchcraft

177

Appendix VII:

Other Types of Witchcraft

189

Protection and Cure

192

Behavior and Participation

205

Bibliography

219

Notes

226

Appendix VIII

Appendix IX:

:

158

A BIOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION by Talcott Parsons and Evon Z. Vogt

Clyde Kluckhohn (1905-1960) was certainly one of the most notable anthropologists of the present century. But he was more than that an eminent social scientist generally, an important academic statesman, and an influential figure in public

—

affairs.

In anthropology his influence

was deeply

felt in at least

four important ways, namely his penetrating ethnographic studies

Navaho, extending over a period of 37 years; his contribudevelopment of the theory of culture, particularly in the fields of pattern analysis and the study of values; his intellectual leadership and stimulation of a large number of students, both graduate and undergraduate; and, not least, his representation of anthropology in a wide range of different contexts academic, governmental, and otherwise. He was a man of unflagging energy and the widest catholicity of interests, with mastery of some seven languages, wide knowledge of the humanities, firsthand acquaintance with many parts of the world, and pasof the

tions to the

—

sionate concern for

human

values.

While Kluckhohn did some pioneering work in the field of culture and personality, engaged in some research in linguistics and human genetics, and also did some early work in archeology, he will, in our judgment, go down in the annals of strictly intellectual history mainly for his work in Navaho ethnography, on the one hand, and his theoretical work on the concept of culture, on the other. Reprinted from the American Anthropologist, Vol. 64, No. February 1962, pp. 140-161. Reprinted by permission. ix

1,

Part

1,

X

BIOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION

Kluckhohn's interest in the Navaho began in 1922 when, at the age of only 17, ill health interrupted his freshman year at Princeton, and he was sent by his family to a ranch near Ramah, New Mexico. The nearest neighbors were Navahos and

young Kluckhohn soon developed a deep interest in learning to speak Navaho and in studying Navaho customs. He quite obviously had both an unquenchable curiosity about exotic customs and a deep sensitivity to the nuances of alien ways of life two qualities essential for an anthropologist. The American Southwest in general, and Navaho country in particular, had what Kluckhohn called "an obsessive fascination" for him. Throughout his life he was always happiest, more relaxed, and in his best form, both as a magnetic person and as a creative thinker and teacher of anthropology, when he went on field expeditions to the mesa and canyon country of New Mexico and Arizona. Travelling on horseback or in various models of old station wagons or jeeps, he became a familiar figure as he led his many devoted students through the pifions and junipers in pursuit of elusive Navaho informants, or lived for weeks at a time in Navaho hogans. He spoke Navaho fluently and was known affectionately by hundreds of Navahos as "Hasteen Clyde." It was in this Southwestern setting that much of Kluckhohn's creative work was accomplished. His portable typewriter was in use almost every day, even on field expeditions, with a steady flow of anthropological writing. On the day of his fatal heart attack, July 28, i960, he was working on an article in a small cabin on the Upper Pecos River near Santa Fe. Kluckhohn's first book, To the Foot of the Rainbow, describing his early pack trip to the Rainbow Bridge, was published in 1927. In 1928 he completed the work for his A.B. at the University of Wisconsin, studied at the University of Vienna in 1931-32 and at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar in 1932, served as

—

Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of

New

Mexico from 1932 to 1934, and completed his Ph.D. at Harvard in 1936. During this decade he kept in close touch with the Navahos, making a number of pack trips to unexplored country on Wild Horse Mesa, and published his second popular book, Beyond the Rainbow, and two semi-popular articles on the

BIOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION

Navaho

in 1933. In 1935

XI

Kluckhohn was appointed an instructor and the rest of his formal academic

of anthropology at Harvard,

career was spent at Harvard.

More began

work with the Ramah Navaho and from that season on he was

serious ethnographic

in the

summer

of 1936

either personally or through students continuously in touch with

the

Navaho until his death. In his introduction to the Leightons' The Hand-Trembler, he wrote of his Ramah Project:

Gregorio,

The

original plan was to spend two summers (with assistance from graduate students) doing the ethnography of the group as a background for the child study. Advisors assured me that Navaho culture

was already well known and local variations at

Ramah

also pointed out that

that

it

was merely necessary

together with the

no Navaho

Ramah

to describe

situation.

It

was

group had been described. In draft of an ethnography. However, when local

completed the first it during the 1938 field season I got a sense that we had not yet mastered the basic patterns, let alone the cultural dynamics. It was resolved, therefore, to continue ethnographic investigation simultaneously with the research upon the children. Gradually there emerged the notion that the following of a small community and its culture through time was a needed experiment in anthropology. It seemed plausible that the lack of time dimension was primarily responsible for the flat, one-dimensional quality which acute and sensitive scholars from other disciplines had noted in even the best of anthropological monographs. In 1939 a long correspondence with Professor Donald Scott, Director Emeritus of the Peabody Museum of Harvard University, clarified my thinking. Mr. Scott stressed the

1938

I

we checked

same persons

significance of "continuous observation of the

same environment." He suggested profitable to

paramecia,

spend

it is

in

the

that "if biologists have found

their lives following the

likely that the science of

it

events in colonies of

man would be rewarded by

intensive, longitudinal observations of a single

community."

Over the years Kluckhohn produced a

series

of technical

papers and monographs on the Navaho that are noted in the profession as models for accurate and perceptive ethnographic description.

Two

of these monographs,

An

Navaho

Classification of

Navaho Chant were written in collaboration with his close friend and colleague, Professor Leland C. Wyman. A third, Navaho WitchTheir Song Ceremonials and

Practice,

Introduction to

BIOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION

Xll

craft, is

perhaps his

scription with a

finest

new and

work, since

it

combines detailed de-

penetrating theoretical interpretation

synthesizing psychoanalytic learning, and social structure theory.

Less technical, but

still

classic

examples of

fine anthropological

writing and analysis, are the two books he wrote with Dorothea

Leighton, The

Navaho and Children

collaborated with Leonard picture study,

of the People.

McCombe and Evon

Z.

He

also

Vogt on the

book, Navaho Means People. Another ethnographic Navaho Material Culture, written in collaboration with

W. W.

Hill and Elizabeth Colson, is now in press. Kluckhohn was often criticized by his anthropological colleagues for not writing a full-scale technical monograph on the Navaho. In point of fact, he clearly planned to do such a monograph and would, we think, have done so had he lived. His files contained too much good material collected by technical ethnographic methods over a period of 24 years to make this an easy assignment, especially while Kluckhohn himself was busy with

a

number

A

of other enterprises.

strong and continuing interest in theory developed very

His thesis on "Some Aspects of Contemporary Theory in Cultural Anthropology" was submitted in 1936 and his early papers in the late 1930's and early 1940's soon gave him a real charismatic quality for large numbers of early in Kluckhohn's career.

anthropologists.

hohn was

This perhaps explains in large part

in 1947 the

first

why

Kluck-

president of the American Anthro-

pological Association to be elected to the post after the Association It

was reorganized and the method of is

extremely

retical position.

He

election changed.

characterize Kluckhohn's theo-

difficult to

never developed a tight theoretical scheme;

was wide-ranging and eclectic in his interests and publications. He was deeply interested in developing anthropology as a science; yet he was also a humanist who wrote from a philosophical as well as a scientific point of view about values

rather he

in

human

culture. In addition

he wrote papers on

statistics in

anthropology, on aspects of psychoanalytic theory, and on population genetics. He was hence very much of a generalist in anthropology. Yet

if

one were

to attempt to isolate a special thread

in his theoretical development,

it

would,

we

think,

be

his writings

BIOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION

X1U

on culture pattern and value theory. Many of his basic ideas were summarized in his Mirror for Man (which won the McGraw Hill prize for the best popular work on science in 1947 ) they are also developed in the monograph on Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions which he wrote in collaboration with the late A. L. Kroeber. But more impressive were the series of papers he did on levels and types of patterning in culture in which he ;

developed especially the idea of "covert" or "implicit" culture. His theoretical concerns with value systems took two major forms: a search for universal values and the development of a series of categories

features."

based upon the idea of "binary distinctive universal values make an increasingly

The papers on

convincing case for the position that, despite wide differences in

human values common The application of "dis-

customs, there are apparently fundamental to the diverse cultures of the world.

tinctive features" analysis to value systems

was

just

beginning to

few years of his life. It is too early to judge whether this method of analysis will provide a lasting contribution, but it was a pioneering effort to bring some order into what will continue to be one of our most difficult areas emerge in his writings in the last

of study in the social sciences.

These deep interests in value systems were also the strongest moving spirit in the organization of the Comparative Study of Values in Five Cultures Project which included additional field work with the Ramah Navaho but extended the study to include

—

the Zuni, the SpanishAmericans, the Mormons, and the Texan Homesteaders. This large scale project carried out field research in the Ramah area four other neighboring cultural groups

from 1949 through 1953, involving 37 field workers from a variety of the behavioral sciences, and leading to an impressive series of papers and monographs on the five cultures and their value systems.

Kluckhohn's eclecticism in theoretical matters precluded his founding a "school" with "disciples," and hence a focused effort to develop a particular type of anthropology. On the other hand, it had the virtue of enabling him to cultivate and encourage novel

and often times

"off beat" ideas in his students.

tonishing capacity to stimulate students in

all

He had an

as-

branches of an-

BIOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION

XIV

thropology to go ahead on their own, and he was amazingly

view that were developed and younger colleagues. He was a gifted field worker, and much of his skill and enthusiasm was communicated to his students as he initiated successive generations of them into field research in the Southwest. At Harvard he devoted countless hours listening to and counselling students who flocked to his office with ideas or problems, large and small.

tolerant of the diversity of points of

among

his students

To return pology,

it

to Kluckhohn's contributions as a theorist in anthro-

seems

fair to

suggest that he occupied an important

He came

heyday of the had become predominant in the earlier years of this century in American anthropology, particularly under the impact of the thinking of Franz Boas, and of the traditions of German idealism on which Boas built. As we have noted, Kluckhohn, with his humanistic sensitivities to uniqueness and qualitative considerations had much sympathy with these positions; he above all felt the absolute necessity of

transitional position.

to maturity in the

ideas of cultural relativity which

the empathetic understanding of the attitudes of people living in

which he carried out so outstandwork on the Navaho. At the same time he was fully cognizant of the inadequacy of the more radical type of cultural relativism for the needs of scientific theory, and he was determined that anthropology should assume its full place among the theoretical sciences. Hence, from cultures other than his own,

ingly in his

an early phase of his career he was, as again we have noted, actively concerned in the search for elements of universality in human cultures. His solid knowledge of biological science sensitized him to the importance of invariants at this level, but perhaps even more his studies of psychoanalytic theory convinced him of the existence and importance of essential common elements in the structure of human personalities, influenced as these were by the processes of personality development within the framework of kinship. A relatively early insight in this field was which of course, included the that matrilineal kinship systems Navaho did not, as Malinowski had claimed, eliminate the relevance of the Oedipus complex. The articulation of these personality factors with both the

—

—

BIOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION biological

and the

XV

sociological aspects of kinship

might have led

Kluckhohn's search in a sociological direction, but he showed less interest in this than in going directly to the patterning of culture

itself,

particularly the

component

of values.

Here he was main

certainly striking at the heart of the matter so far as the traditions

of

American anthropology were concerned.

came

In the

model hope that universal units of culture analogous to the phoneme and the morpheme could be identified. He also was much attracted by Roman Jacobson's emphasis on the imporprocess he

and

increasingly to look to linguistics as a

to

tance of binary oppositions in the structure of language and, in his last papers on the theory of culture, he made this the main basis of his very tentative approach to systematization. In the whole process he not only looked to a scheme of cultural universal, which could be used as a framework for cross-cultural comparisons, and could be articulated with the social, psychological, and biological levels, but he also explicitly revived consideration of the problems of cultural evolution which the previous generation of anthropologists had so ceremoniously buried. Along such lines as these, though not the systematic developer of a single coherent scheme, Kluckhohn, in his time, had an important catalytic influence on his discipline and beyond. This influence is closely connected with the fact that Kluckhohn had such a catholicity of knowledge and understanding for the whole world of learning, which made him, though so eminent an anthropologist, never content with anthropology alone. In addition to the variety of influences he was exposed to and he himself sought out in the course of his education, and to his continuing breadth of reading throughout his

life,

this

Harvard beyond anthropology, both as one of the principal founders and mainstays of the Department and Laboratory of Social Relations and as a prominent citizen of the University as a whole, not least in his capacity as a member of the Committee on General Education and a teacher under its auspices. Among the constituent disciplines which were brought tocatholicity underlay the extension of his role at

gether in the social relations group, in addition to anthropology to

which he was so deeply

loyal, his closest affinity

was with

BIOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION

XVI clinical

psychology.

This involved not only his lifelong interest

in psychoanalytic theory, but very particularly the ideographic

He was fond between anthropology and clinical psychology on the one hand and sociology and social psychology on the other, in the latter case associated in particular with their common concern for statistical methods and the breaking down of complex configurational phenomena into quantitatively measurable units. It was clear where his own primary personal sentiments lay, and yet he was certainly deeply committed to working toward a synthesis broad enough to include both types of approach, a commitment which was indeed manifested in the direction his analysis of culture was taking in his last years. Another evidence was his insistence on a requirement in statistics as part of the training of social anthroand empathic aspects

of the "clinical approach."

of suggesting that there

was a

correlative affinity

pologists.

However much,

to observers

in the

foreground of major

innovations of academic organization, such developments

seem

to

depend on the

university organization

particularities of

and

politics,

and

immediate

may

settings in

of the personalities in-

volved, in a longer view they could scarcely occur or prove viable

they did not incorporate major possibilities in the trend of development of cultural content itself. Kluckhohn had the rare imagination to grasp, more clearly than any but a few, the potentialities of the fruitful interplay between these three major growing disciplines in the behavioral field. In evaluating his contribution in this respect it should be remembered that, at the time when he first made these commitments, the importance of the relationships was far less widely recognized than it has since become. For the record it may be noted that certain early associations and friendships prepared the way for his later more general role at Harvard and on the national scene. Besides his early field experience in anthropology, his experience with psychoanalysis in Vienna, and his contact with R. R. Marrett at Oxford were certainly important. Again, there was a very old friendship with John Dollard, starting when they were undergraduates together at the University of Wisconsin, and an early and long-continuing friendship with Alexander and Dorothea Leighton. The psychoif

BIOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION analytic interest

was

also continued

XV11

by participation in the joint at Columbia dur-

Abram Kardiner and Ralph Linton one year when Kluckhohn was on leave

seminar of ing

Harvard. Also

it is

of absence from important that he saw a good deal of Robert

Merton during the Harvard,

On

when

brief period, in Kluckhohn's early days at

they were both there together.

the other hand, in the development of what

his central anthropological interests, little

is

it

impact the anthropologists under

came

striking to note

whom

be what

to

Kluckhohn studied

during his graduate student days made upon him. The interests in pattern theory and in value systems bore little relationship to the concerns of his early anthropology professors in Vienna, or of R. R. Marrett, or of Tozzer, Dixon, or

Two

things

seem

to

Hooton

at

Harvard.

have happened. From the very beginning

he began to range well beyond the field of anthropology for ideas and insights. He came to respond more strongly to the influence of four men with whom he never studied as a graduate student: Sapir, Boas, Linton, and Kroeber. Sapir clearly stimulated his interest in culture and personality and in culture pattern theory, as did Linton who was more of a contemporary. He came to have great admiration for the contributions of Boas. And in the last 15 years of his life he developed a very close intellectual and personal relationship with Kroeber. Although the relationship was not as close, Kluckhohn was also an admirer of the contributions of Ruth Benedict and Robert Redfield, whose intellectual interests were in many respects very close to those he was working on at the time of his death. Another salient aspect of Kluckhohn's professional character was his concern with and talent for practical affairs, in which he was heavily involved over most of his mature life. These ranged from the prominent role he played in the profession of anthropology itself to very active involvement in the affairs of government. He was thus, within his profession, pne of the principal advisors to and participants in the activities of the Wenner-Gren Foundation. He also played a particularly prominent part in the relations between his beloved Navaho and the government, being deeply involved in this problem in the months

immediately preceding

At the university

his death. level, in addition to his participation in

BIOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION

XV111

the affairs of the Department of Anthropology (he served as

its

Chairman from 1957-1960), of the Peabody Museum, where he was curator of Southwestern Ethnology, and the Department and Laboratory of Social Relations where he was the senior social anthropologist and a member of the executive committee of the Laboratory from the beginning, he performed particularly imfirst Director of the Russian Research Center, established in 1947 with a grant from the Carnegie Cor-

portant services as the

poration of

New

York.

This was explicitly an interdisciplinary venture oriented to the most important single focus of American foreign relations after

World War

II.

Many eyebrows were

raised over the fact

was not an established expert

that the Director

in the field of

indeed the many languages which Kluckhohn commanded did not at that time include Russian. His qualifications, in addition to his high general level of ability, Russian or Soviet

were those

affairs;

of a general social scientist talented in administration.

In addition, two more specific factors played a part.

The

first

Kluckhohn had played during the war in the research unit of the Office of War Information, under the directorship of Alexander Leighton, which was concerned with the analysis of the trend and determinants of Japanese morale. This group showed that it was possible, by careful use of social

was the

role

science methods, to achieve a substantially higher level of understanding, precisely in the areas most relevant to policy, than

could even the best interpretations of the empirical, policyoriented "experts" operating within the traditional framework of

government.

Specifically,

the

progressive

deterioration

of

Japanese morale from early 1944 on, and the importance of the role of the Emperor, were matters on which the usual experts did not have clear, certainly not agreed opinions, but the rele-

vant findings of research were unequivocal. The important point here

is

that the directors of the research, though they

made

liberal use of experts on Japan, were not themselves such experts at the beginning, but were general social scientists. The second factor was Kluckhohn's participation in the social relations experiment, which was expected to provide an important

BIOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION

XIX

part of the orientation for the projected studies of Soviet society

and

its

background.

The Center under

brought together a variety provided one of the most ex-

his direction

of talent in these fields.

It also

tensive examples of collaboration disciplines

and

history, economics,

between the and political

social relations

science.

It

has

produced a long series of important publications in the Russian field and has had an important, though intangible, influence on policy. Among these he himself participated as author in only one, How the Soviet System Works, by Kluckhohn, Inkeles, and Bauer.

Kluckhohn's administrative talent was manifested not only

way

which he brought together a particularly able and "nondirectively" directed their work, team which he handled the extremely delicate and but by the way in sensitive political aspects of the problem. It should be remembered that the Center was established just when the tensions of the cold war were coming to their first peak of exacerbation and that Kluckhohn's directorship included the period of the Korean War and the early stages of McCarthyism. Throughout this he was able to retain the confidence of all the important relevant government and university agencies without sacrifice of academic integrity or the freedom of research and opinion. And this was done with only a few relatively minor disturbances. It is significant that McCarthy, in his crusade against "Pusey's fifth-amendment communists," did not even mention the Russian in the

in

of social scientists

Research Center. It is

not surprising, in view of this record, that Kluckhohn

demand

and advisor outside the and in governmental agencies. Especially in the last 10 years of his life he devoted a great deal of his energy and time to these demands. He was also in demand as a "cultural ambassador" and in this connection served on assignments at the Salzburg Seminar in Austria, with UNESCO, in Japan, Australia, and India at various times. Kluckhohn was, to an unusual degree, honored by election to major professional organizations beyond his field, including the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of

was

in great

as a consultant

University, particularly in the foundations

BIOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION

XX

and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society. he treated these memberships not merely as an honor, but he played a major active role in the affairs of all of these associations. He thereby also served to keep the relatively small field of professional anthropology in constant and effective communication with the higher echelons of American academic as well as governmental life. In 1949 the University of New Mexico conferred on him an honorary degree of L.H.D., and in 1954-55 he was a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Arts

Characteristically,

Study

in the Behavioral Sciences.

which we stressed in conacademic work, can thus be extended to his professional career as a whole. His career was in a sense a living demonstration that it is possible, even in the modern age, to approach the role of a universal man, a true Renaissance type. As anthropologist his work was of high distinction in a number of specialties, but he will probably be remembered more as a generalist, as some have said perhaps the last general anthropologist in the great tradition of Boas and Kroeber. But he was a generalist in a much wider sense than this, as eminent citizen in his own university and in the academic world generally, as promoter and director of manifold interdisciplinary alliances between his own field of anthropology and a whole series of its academic neighbors. He was one of the best examples of the academic man in practical affairs, both as university administrator and policymaker and in the outside world. With all this he was a deeply cultured man in the widest sense, and a man with a genius for personal friendship, with the widest variety of types of people. And all this he did while living in the most precarious state of health from late adolescence

The theme

of creative eclecticism,

nection with Kluckhohn's

more

strictly

on, blithely ignoring the dangers inherent in that condition.

His

premature death removes from our ranks a great anthropologist

whom we

can

ill

afford to lose.

Professor Kluckhohn

is

survived by his wife, Florence Rock-

wood Kluckhohn, with whom he

now

collaborated on a

number

of

Richard Paul Rockwood Kluckhohn, an assistant professor of Anthropology at Boston University.

publications,

and a

HARVARD UNIVERSITY

son,

KEY TO THE PHONETIC SPELLING OF NAVAHO WORDS Many Navaho

vowels and consonants can be pronounced

essentially as in English, but

some

of

them

will

seem strange

to

the average American.

The vowels nounced roughly

i,

e,

a,

like the

and o give no

trouble.

They

are pro-

vowels in bid, bed, top, and no.

sa-d. This sounds like the English

When

word word sod and means "word."

they are especially long, a raised dot

used, as in the

is

Vowels have nasal quality sometimes. Breath is released through the nose as well as the mouth, in making nasal vowels. Nasal vowels are shown by a hook, as in bi-h "deer." If you hold a finger under your nose as you say this word, you can feel breath coming through your nostrils. Vowels vary not only respecting length and nasalization, but also respecting pitch or tone. With low pitch on the first syllable, the word nili means "he is," but with high pitch on the first syllable, the word we have is nili "you are." Movement from high to low pitch is shown by a circumflex accent, as in ^ePe-lm? "disease witchcraft."

The

sign

which looks

like a question

mark

stands for a com-

mon Navaho

speech sound, the glottal stop. It is produced by closing the space between the two vocal cords or membranes in the larynx as pressure builds

up from

air of

the lungs, and

then popping the vocal cords open suddenly, in a

We

hear

this

sound

little

cough.

in certain emphatic pronunciations of the

word apple: ?apple! The consonants

b, d, g, h, k, I, m, n, s, t, w, y, and z give no trouble because they are pronounced much as in English. Strange to the eye, but familiar to the tongue and ear, are c (the sound of ts in cats), 6 (the sound of ch in chair), g (the sound xxi

KEY TO PHONETIC SPELLING

XX11

dz in adze), 3 (the sound of in jump), s (the sound of sh sound of s in pleasure), and A. (the sound of dl in paddle). Strange to the tongue and eye are I, formed like an I but without voice, so that breath whispers past the edges of the tongue ( as in dil "blood" ) x ( like the ch in Scottish loch or the h in an exuberant huge); y, made like x but with voice produced by vibration of the vocal cords; and X, a combination of

/'

in ship), £ (the

;

of

t

and

I.

Globalized or checked consonants such as t\ U, 6, 6, and X are not ordinarily used in English. The f is made partly like an English t, but one's vocal cords close before the t is made and

open abruptly an instant

after the

t

has been made.

The same

pattern of glottal closure, consonantal articulation, and glottal release occurs with U (Ha-? "arrow"), c (Pacose- "sucking way"),

c

(Paddh sodizin "shield prayer"), and X

(?aUZ ?aze- ?

"gall

medicine" )

Herbert Landar

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

To Leland

C.

Wyman

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Support for the field work basic to this monograph has been provided by the Division of Anthropology and the Peabody Museum of Harvard University, the Social Science Research Council and by grant No. 544 from the Penrose Fund of the American

am

Philosophical Society.

I

who have

made

generously

David Aberle, Flora

also grateful to the following friends

available unpublished field notes:

Helen Bradley, Malcolm Carr Collier, W. W. Hill, J. Charles Kelley, Alexander and Dorothea Leighton, Maud Oakes, Katherine Spencer, Harry Tschopik, Jr., R. Van Valkenburgh, Paul Vestal, Ben Wetherill, L. C. Wyman and Robert Young. Father Berard Haile has kindly given advice on linguistic matters. Superintendents E. R. Fryer and J. M. Stewart made available material in the confidential files at the Navajo Central Agency. To L. C. Wyman, S. K. Harris and Paul Vestal are due thanks for botanical identifications. To Mrs. John Adair I am indebted for assistance in the preparation of the manuscript. June McCormick Collins and Cordelia Gait scrupulously checked the proof and verified references. If, in Part II, I have attained to any correct or useful employment of psychological and psychiatric conceptions, this is largely owing to two sources. First, I must mention the informal guidance and instruction which I have received over a period of years from a number of kind friends, notably John Dollard, Margaret Fries, Edward Hitschmann, Alexander and Dorothea Leighton, O. H. Mowrer and Henry A. Murray, Jr. To Dr. Mowrer I am particularly grateful for the notions of "adjustment" and "adaptation" which play so central a role in my interpretations. Second, I must express my gratitude to the Carnegie Corporation of New York and to Professor Ralph Linton for the opportunity of studyBailey,

3

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

4

ing psychology and psychiatry systematically for a year and especially of participating in the Seminar directed

and Dr. A. Kardiner

by Dr. Linton

Columbia University. it, had the benefit of a critical reading and many helpful suggestions from David Aberle, Father Berard, Malcolm Carr Collier, W. W. Hill, E. A. Hooton, Charles Kelley, W. Kelly, Florence Kluckhohn, John Landgraf, J. A. H. and D. Leighton, R. M. McNair, M. E. Opler, Donald Scott, A. M. Tozzer, R. Van Valkenburg, Paul Vestal, Esther Goldfrank Wittfogel and L. C. Wyman. The criticisms of David Aberle, Father Berard, A. H. Leighton and L. C. Wyman were particularly searching and detailed, and I am most appreciative at

The manuscript,

of the

many

or parts of

hours they gave to the task.

Naturally, however,

they must not be held responsible for blemishes of description or analysis

which remain,

for in

to disregard their advice. But

a cooperative venture.

some I

am

instances

I

was bold enough this was

deeply sensible that

INTRODUCTION Thousands of pages have been published on Navaho cereBut thus far only one paper 1 (by a psychologist! ) has been devoted exclusively to Navaho witchcraft. Goddard has published a brief text, 2 and Hill less than half a page on the Witch Way type of ritual hunting. 3 Otherwise, the literature presents only stray paragraphs and sentences and casual mentions. 4 And yet we have reason to assume that belief in witchcraft has been (and in some areas still is) an exceedingly important dynamic of behavior. Whether Navahos actually carried out rites of witchcraft or at least whether such rites were carried out by monials.

—

many

individuals at

all

frequently

—

is,

in the present state of our

information, as open to question as in the case of the Pueblo Indians. But there

is

existence of witches

no doubt that in both cultures is

belief in the

manifested in expressions of fear of indi-

viduals and of places

and objects held to be associated with and suspicion of certain persons unquestionably influence various behaviors, and there are occasional acts of violence. Knowledge of Navaho idea patterns 5 on this subject is witchcraft. Distrust

essential to our total understanding of

The term

"witchcraft"

is

Navaho

culture.

not unobjectionable as covering

A more

the materials to be treated here.

precise

title

all

would have

been cumbersome, but "Navaho idea and action patterns concerned with the influencing of events by supernatural techniques that are socially disapproved" would have expressed rather accurately the subject of this study. In analyzing the conceptual picture of the world presented

venient and not misleading to

by Navaho

make

unacculturated Navaho believes that

culture,

it

a grand dichotomy. it is

con-

Every

possible to influence the

course of events by means involving the supernatural. 5

is

On

the

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

6

one hand, there are the personal and public rites and ceremonials and property, the increase of desirable goods and for curing. The personal rites are transmitted within the family and, occasionally, from friend to friend. The public ceremonials have highly similar purposes as well as

for the protection of self, family

more obvious "curing" function. The rites of divination, the Hunting Ways, the salt-gathering and trading ceremonies are neither precisely private nor precisely public. But all the ceremonial means of influencing the course of events which have just been mentioned have this important property in common: they are culturally approved. Knowledge of these aspects of the esoteric culture brings prestige and positively toned responses from

their

members of the society. On the other hand, it is believed some individuals know supernatural techniques for injuring their fellow tribesmen. The one body of knowledge and belief is sometimes referred to by English-speaking Navahos as "the good side," the malevolent knowledge and activity as "the bad side." It is with "the bad side" 7 that we shall here be concerned. In social science it is of crucial importance that fact and inference should always be as clearly distinguished as possible. For that reason this book is divided into two parts: "Data" and "Interpretation." For example, it is unequivocally a fact that the other

that

vast majority of those

whom my

informants have accused of

witchcraft have been persons of wealth or

planation" of this circumstance

When

fact. is

is

My

data and interpretation are closely juxtaposed, there

often confusion as to the dividing line between the two.

posed to reject

make

his

own

my

dis-

conclusions, will treat the data separately

and

inferences, Part I will consist entirely of direct in-

ductions from

my

obtained.

field materials,

In the appendices material are published; ants as

course

all

together with an account of

interviews which present divergent

so, in that

regard, no factor of selection

The troublesome matter of influenced by the investigator's

—

In

much he may be

how they were

involved.

"ex-

equally unequivocally a non-

the hope, then, that the reader, however

is

prestige.

the selection of informpersonality remains, of

although tending to cancel out in time as more investiga-

INTRODUCTION tions overlap.

Likewise, the sheer accidents of the sampling

process cannot be entirely controlled

when

dealing with a topic

such as "witchcraft." It is altogether possible that another worker, working over an equally long period and with an equally large

number of informants, would obtain a body of material which was substantially different in a number of critical respects. In all honesty, however, I must say that I doubt this. The number of informants status

is

so large, the range of variation with respect to age,

and "personality type"

is

so great that major discrepancies

my informants were not on witchcraft. I picked some of them up as hitch-hikers while I was traveling in the Navaho country. Others asked me, as an old friend, to take them to a town or a government agency, and I seized this occasion to engage them in conversation on the subject of witchcraft. Circumare highly unlikely.

sought out by

me

More than

half of

as informants

stances such as this control the factor of personal selectivity to a is evidenced by the goodness of fit befrom informants whom I sought out and tween data obtained those who, as it were, sought me out. In general, the internal consistency of my data and their agreement with data obtained altogether independently by Dr. Hill and other workers indicate that, at least in all major directions, these data are not materially prejudiced by factors of selection and sampling.

considerable degree, as

This

is,

of course, primarily a study in

Navaho

folk belief

twenty years. No sustained attempt is made to discover the "aboriginal" as opposed to "acculturated" in witchcraft in the past

beliefs.

We are as interested in what the young school boy thinks

about witches as in the notions of his old grandfather. An attempt will be made to call attention to beliefs and practices which seem to be the result of recent acculturation, but we shall not disregard inconsistencies and discrepancies because we have not created any "ideal" systematization of idea patterns which

we

take as the cultural standard.

Whether

or not any particular

belief accords with the generally accepted version of a

largely irrelevant to the questions

we

are asking here.

myth

is

What we

want to know first of all is: on the basis of a large sample of Navaho men and women, some with and some without great

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

8

what generalizations as to and related acts ) concerned with witchcraft can be made Navaho population as a whole.

stores of esoteric knowledge,

beliefs

(

for the

Purpose and Limitations of This Book

The

basic purpose of this study

is

the Appendices) certain field materials (in Part II) certain inferences

and

and

to present (in Part I

and

to

make from

these

interpretations as to the dy-

namics of Navaho social organization. Reference will be made to the already published literature to indicate discrepancies or to reinforce points for which the support from field data is weak. There are two topics with which I shall not deal systematically in this study. The few mythological fragments which happened to be volunteered by my informants will be presented, but I did not attempt to gather the mythology of witchcraft. Father Berard Haile's infinitely rich collections of mythological texts can be expected to establish the mythological background of witchcraft in full clarity. Since movements in the underworlds were largely motivated by dissatisfaction with the conditions produced by the Witchery of First Man and his associates, the chantway legend for Upward Reaching Way (Moving Up Way) should be especially illuminating. 8 For purposes of our interests here, the important consideration is that mythology establishes the validity of belief in witchcraft. 9

The second

subject

which

I specifically

tensive comparative or historical analysis. gestive parallels

among

is

any

in-

sug-

other peoples will be cited. But an ade-

quate comparative study provide data which

eschew

A few particularly

is

may be

a large task in utilized

itself.

My

by other students

aim

is

to

in distribu-

Similarly, while I recognize the legitimate importance of questions as to Puebloan, Spanish or other derivation of Navaho idea patterns related to witchcraft, I regard such questions as beyond the scope of this book.

tional investigations.

The first draft of this study was written in 1938. In 1939 it was revised and new data were incorporated. In 1941 there was a complete rewriting and inclusion of material obtained in 19391941. Changes during 1942 were limited to taking advantage of

INTRODUCTION suggestions

by

9 critics

and the addition of a very few items from

current publications and fresh field notes.

The base

line for

statements as "during the past few seasons" or "last

always the autumn of 1941, except formant or another field worker.

when

I

am

such

summer"

quoting an

is

in-

PART

I:

DATA

SECTION OF DATA

1:

GENERAL DISCUSSION

Introductory

The craft

is

principal reason that so

little is

known

of

Navaho witch-

the extreme reluctance of the Indians to discuss the mat-

As one informant remarked, "People don't tell out about them down here in the body." On the one hand, if other Navahos learn that a certain man or woman has discussed the subject, that person is by that very fact open to suspicion of knowing too much, i.e., of being a witch. On the

ter.

these things; they keep

other hand, if the informant relates anecdotes referring to the supposed witchcraft activities of others, he becomes liable to their hatred and revenge. In particular, if these persons "really are witches," and they learn that someone has gossiped about them, they are, it is believed, certain to witch the gossiper and get him out of the way. Over and above these two excellent reasons for caution and silence, there is the additional motive that most Navahos who are "good citizens" feel a genuine discomfort 1 in talking about such topics which are defined for them by their culture as evil and ugly. Because of these barriers to gathering material, a particularly detailed account of how the data were collected is required. Since the number of informants is so large and since conversations were held with many of the informants on several occasions, the description of the interviews must be somewhat generalized. However desirable, ideally, it might be to give an extended portrayal of the status and "personality" of each informant as well as the complete context of the situation in which each bit of

material was obtained, this course 13

is

clearly impractical for rea-

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

14

and expense

sons of space

seem

of peculiar significance, they will

How

the Data

Under the

details

be presented.

Were Obtained

right circumstances almost

What

about witchcraft.

Where such

of publication.

any Navaho

will talk

are "the right circumstances"? First

foremost, confidence in the person or persons to

whom

and

the stories

are told, trust that idle or malicious gossip will not be spread.

Navahos who

when

me

they

resolutely denied the very existence of witchcraft,

knew me

only casually, years

later, after

they

knew

poured forth deep-seated fears and very detailed materials. Secondly, some sort of privacy is essential. Witchcraft is seldom discussed in a group (except very generally, obreally well,

liquely or jokingly ) unless those present are closely related, or at least

son

know each

it

is

very

other well and have mutual trust. For this rea-

difficult to

obtain witchcraft data through an in-

and close friends The "investigator plus a single Navaho" is usually the best situation. I have found that Navaho hitch-hikers whom I picked up when I was alone in my car were often surterpreter, except, to

some

extent,

from

relatives

of the interpreter.

prisingly willing to discuss witchcraft in spite of the fact that they

had never seen me before. Indeed, I am sure that it was because they had never seen me before and anticipated that they would never see me again that they were ready to talk! Thirdly, the inquirer's approach is of great importance. To say "I hear you know a lot about witchcraft and I want you to tell me about it" would be disastrous. One must be careful to begin one's remarks with a statement of this order: "I know you are a good man (woman). All the people say so. I realize that you don't know anything at all about witchcraft. But you are old ( or, have traveled around a great deal, have studied a lot), have had lots of experiences, and I am sure you must have heard some good stories about witches. I wish you would just tell me some of the things you have heard." This, of course, is an approach to a rather formal interview. For a more casual talk (e.g., with a hitch-hiker), I have found a rather jocular approach best: "Oh,

you

live at

.

I

hear there are

lots of

witches over there.

PART

I:

DATA

15

that true?" or "These Navahos keep talking about (mentioning one kind of witch). Are there really such things? Have you ever seen any, or their tracks?" In the fourth place, the general "mood" and situation of the informant are determining factors. If he is at a chant or otherwise preoccupied with Is

"good thoughts," or, if he is only mildly disturbed over his state of affairs, he is not likely to wish to discuss witchcraft. Navahos, however, who are really in a state of anxiety over the activities of their neighbors will often throw caution to the winds and "let off steam" to whoever will hear them sympathetically. Of course, over all these abstract and generalized conditions, the factor of individual personality supervenes. A few Navahos will speak about almost anything if they are well paid. Others feel strong enough and secure enough in their knowledge of good powers to be able to talk of witchcraft with impunity. A few Navahos also even unacculturated ones appear to be genuine sceptics 2 and to feel no hazard in repeating stories which they consider purely imaginative. Finally, a Navaho under the influence of alcohol usually has a looser tongue on this as well as on other topics. I confess that when I have encountered mildly inebriated Navahos at "squaw dances" I have not scrupled to try to get them talking on witchcraft. Working under these conditions, it takes a long time to amass an adequate body of material. My first witchcraft stories were collected in 1923 from English-speaking informants and from white traders. Almost every year since then I have collected some anecdotes and I have been working systematically on the

—

—

My

subject every field season (except 1935) since 1932. maincludes five major divisions. First, I have field notes on

terial

132 formal interviews with 93 different informants. Here notes in the presence of the informant3

I

took

and used an interpreter

except in the five cases where the informant spoke adequate

Notes on these interviews range from two pages to Of these formal interviews twenty-seven were of passive type. That is, I did not ask specific questions but merely led the informant to discuss anything concerned with English.

ninety-one pages.

witchcraft which he

where

I

was willing

consistently questioned

to.

Twenty-five of the interviews

were carried on with twenty-five

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

l6

an endeavor sound generalizations on various matters of witchcraft belief. It is only with these informants (plus two or three others) that anything approaching a comprehensive discussion of Navaho witchcraft ideology was carried on. Other informants were able (or willing) to discuss only one or two topics in any detail, making merely a few vague and general remarks about others. The remark "I just heard a few things" became a familiar pattern. Second, I have notes on 115 conversations with 102 different informants (with twenty -one of whom I also had formal interviews at some time ) Seventy-three of these conversations were carried on directly in Navaho, the remainder in English. These notes were written down from half an hour to a full day after the conversation. They range from only a few lines to ten pages, but I do not include in the enumeration almost countless casual references to the commonplaces of witchcraft lore. Third, I have notes on conversations with sixteen white informants (mostly traders) who related some anecdote they had heard from Navahos. Fourth, I have some twelve pages of notes on gossip or witchcraft talk which I overheard going on between Navahos. Fifth, I have eighty-seven pages of notes supplied me different informants during the past three years in

to obtain statistically

.

by other workers.

Informants

Of the

ninety-three informants used in formal interviews, were men. Ages ranged from about fifteen to putatively past ninety, with seventy-one informants presumably more than fifty years of age and forty-two presumably more than sixty. 4 Thirty-eight were ceremonial practitioners. The vast majority were of moderate to good economic circumstances. Only four could be classified as poor and only three as rich. The eighty-one informants (who do not enter into the first group) with whom informal interviews were held, ranged in age from eight to past seventy. Only thirty-one were presumably more than fifty years of age. Only twelve were ceremonial practitioners, to the best of my knowledge. It is impossible to be precise as to economic position, but my impression is that this group includes a greater seventy-six

PART

DATA

I:

number

17

of the poor

and

that, in general, its

economic

status

is

lower.

Of

the ninety-three informants used in formal interviews,

came from the Ramah and Two-Wells Danoff areas. Only eight, however, of the "check group" of twenty-five came from these two areas. Other localities represented include: Navajo Mountain, Kayenta, Tuba City, Chaco Canyon, Fort Defiance, Pine Springs, Klagetoh, Canyon de Chelly, Puertocito, Stoney thirty-eight

Lukachukai, Tohatchi, 5 Manuelito, Pinedale, Gallup. The western Navaho territory is much less well represented than the eastern. The north is scarcely represented at all. Of the eighty-one informants in the informal interview group Butte,

Shiprock,

came from the Ramah and Two- Wells Danoff areas. The remainder have a quite satisfactory geographical spread with Shiprock, Aneth, Canyon Largo, Red Rock, Huerfano, Crystal, Leupp, Keams Canyon, Salina, Chilchinbito, Tsaya and Dinnehotso being represented, as well as all of the places named in twenty-three

the

first list.

With a few exceptions group were paid, usually hour.

The informants

all

informants in the formal interview

at the rate of twenty-five cents

in the informal interview

per

group were not

paid (except indirectly by transportation, cigarettes, food, etc.).

For obvious reasons the names of informants will not be given.

Investigator's Role

This has already been partially covered above. role assumption

was

possible.

No

consistent

With some informants the

very simply that of a friend of

many

years' standing.

role

was

In these

be generalized and summed up in the words of one informant: "I don't know why you want to know all this stuff. I can't see what good it does you. But you have always been nice to me and my family so I will tell you the stories I have heard." In the case of some slightly sophisticated informants, experience showed that it was possible to heighten motivation by talking to them in this fashion: "You know that a lot of things have been written about the cases, I think the attitude of the Indians could

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

l8

Navaho lies

Indians.

You know

too that a lot of these things were

—by people who had never been out here or had

just talked

some agency. But white people read those things and believe them and get all their ideas about the Navaho from them. Well, I am writing a book too. But I want it to be right. That is why I have come way out here to you. I know you'll tell me what you have really heard about it." Some persons, in Navaho society as in our own, need very little exterior inducement to talk. The blind, the old and few no-good Indians

to a

in Gallup or at

feeble, the neglected are often so grateful for if

know

they

an audience

that,

the investigator well enough so that the usual sus-

picion of outsiders

is

not operative, they will talk at great length

even without economic reward. With others, of course, the economic factor was not only primary but essentially sufficient in itself. It was enough that they could earn a few dollars rather easily. In the same breath it must be pointed out that there were others who would not discuss witchcraft at any price. With hitch-hikers and other informants with whom my contacts were very transitory, I usually assumed a role with which they were familiar from their relations with white traders and Indian Servthat of a slightly supercilious and bantering white ice employees man who has some real curiosity about "Navaho ways." After I had become familiar with the verbal pattern, 6 "I don't know anything about it, I just heard about it," I learned to

—

prevent by various devices exaggerated suspicion or active hostility

on the part of the informants

whom that

I

whom

sought to interview formally. was quite aware the informant I

I

I

did not

would

know

well but

state at the outset

knew nothing

of these un-

approached him only as a generally respected and well-informed man. This statement would be backed up by a more extended and carefully calculated appleasant practices, but that

I

I always sought to learn as much as possible in advance about the person's life history and present situation. In this way, I could phrase my whole approach in a way that tended to avoid "tender spots" and arousal of anxieties. By such means, I have been able in recent years to interview nineteen informants who are widely rumored to be witches and even three who have

peal to vanity.

actually

been

"tried" for witchcraft.

Even

so,

some individuals

PART

I:

DATA

19 I have you I was a away from here.

are so "touchy" that despite the most careful preparation,

recently been indignantly repulsed with

witch? I

Who

sent

you

to

"Who

me? You can go

right

told

know anything about those bad I have among the same individuals many years, I have most scrupulously preserved the confi-

don't

things."

Naturally, working as

over

my

is the primary explanahave obtained in the last five years have been infinitely less guarded and richer in content. During interviews I have always endeavored not to appear too eager or interested. Except during systematic checking I have not interrupted the free flow of the informant's remarks until he stopped. Then I have seldom said more than "Is that all?" or "Do you remember hearing any other stories?" or "That's quite a bit like another story I heard but a little bit different. Another ." fellow told me Occasionally, the indication on my part that I was already familiar with a certain bit of esoteric lore has served as a useful entering wedge at the beginning of an interview or as a stimulant to further utterance by the informant. Perhaps ten per cent of my total data were volunteered altogether spontaneously by Navaho friends without my so much as steering the conversation indirectly into such channels. This

dences of

informants.

I

believe this

tion for the fact that the materials

I

—

last class of

data

is,

of course, peculiarly valuable as a yardstick

against which to test the trustworthiness of information

was given with

which

resistance.

For purposes of the type of socio-cultural analysis and interis attempted in this monograph, the above account of interview problems and methods is perhaps sufficient. In a later publication I hope to examine the beliefs and behaviors which concrete individuals manifested with respect to witchcraft. This, obviously, can be done effectively only against the background of their life histories and in terms of detailed study of the actual situations in which the verbal or other behaviors occurred. It is clear that for such purposes the interpretation of interview materials would constitute an elaborate exercise in the most intricate sort of semantic analysis. It would be necessary to specify most carefully the emotional intensity manifested in each interview and in different portions of the same pretation which

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

20

which method had been emwould be very important,

interview, the degree of resistance apparent, the extent to

the direct or indirect emotional release

ployed.

The

analysis of explicit lies

and the search for projections would have to be very intensive. The analyst would need to be very sensitive to all of the informant's attitudes and evaluations: how and what sectors of the culturally available witchcraft lore had been assimilated, how he discriminated these questions would be of crucial significance. Juxtapositions of subject matter would give clues as to the mean-

—

ing of witchcraft belief to the particular individual. In short, the

determination of the manifest and latent content of each interview would need to be very searching. In every case the analyst would have to try to distinguish: (a) what the informant was willing and able to say, (b) what he was willing to say but not able, (c) what he knew but was not willing to say, (d) what the informant was himself unaware of repressed or semi-formed material. However, since in this study we are proceeding at a higher level of abstraction (the social and cultural), a cruder sort of analysis can be expected to give adequate results to a

—

first

approximation.

General Nature of Data and Plan of Presentation

By content, data can be divided into five classes: (1) Statements dealing with the theory of some branch of witchcraft. (2) Anecdotes purporting to relate some actual occurrence of witch activity. (3) Statements dealing with the theory of protection against or antidotes for witchcraft.

(4) Actual behaviors

(observed or reported) which were said to have been motivated

by

Accusations of witchcraft against spe( 5 ) persons and other material on participation.

fear of witchcraft.

cific

Sections 3-9 of Part

I

will present digests of the data of

and (2). But since materials of this sort are so difficult to obtain and since, apart from Morgan, almost none have hitherto been published, the majority of the actual statements are published in Appendices I- VII. The first portion of each appendix includes those excerpts from interviews dealing with the generalized idea pattern of this kind of witchcraft. The second classes (1)

PART

I:

DATA

21

Each separate interview numbered to facilitate reference in the body of the book. In some cases the assignment of interview excerpts to an appendix is somewhat arbitrary, for the excerpt may deal both with a particular type of witchcraft and with protection or cure consists of anecdotes of specific cases.

excerpt

is

Such cross references are indicated at the end of each appendix. Almost all statements of any length which have been made or with participation.

to

me

about Navaho witchcraft are published in the appendices, may be distributed be-

although the content of a single interview

tween several appendices. In those cases where the same anecdote has been independently obtained from different informants only the fullest version

published.

is

The

similarity of the ac-

counts as to names, places, sequences of events was astonishing.

The

principal discrepancies

between various versions

of the

same

anecdote arose from the fact that some informants were disposed to give briefer accounts, less richly embellished with small particulars. Certain statements of idea patterns duplicated each other so completely that it seemed necessary to publish only those which embodied variation,

however

some new

slight.

Many

detail of information or

some

brief references to witchcraft or

and so was a witch likewise do not appear But all of these classes of unpublished material have, of course, been utilized in the enumerations which indicate the patterned modalities and the ranges of variation. In many respects the scientifically preferable course would have been to have had the documents precede, or at least immediately follow, the generalizations. But these interview excerpts are enormously detailed and, in many cases, not easy to read. It was therefore felt that their inclusion in the body of the text would interfere with the reader's obtaining a readable and runinsinuations that so

in the appendices.

ning account of Navaho beliefs relating to witchcraft. Section 8 of Part I will deal with data of class (3); Appendix VIII gives apposite documents. Sections 9 and 10 cover material of classes (4) and (5); Appendix lated texts.

IX contains the

re-

SECTION 2: THE DISTINCT CATEGORIES OF WITCHCRAFT

According to Navaho belief, there are a number of distinct methods of carrying out malevolent activity. Each has its own Navaho name, and these terms are almost never used interchangeably. For convenience of reference, English equivalents are needed. Unfortunately, in every case a literal rendering of the Navaho terminology would have resulted in a vocabulary which was awkward, and which would have had little significance for the student who was unfamiliar with Navaho linguistics. It is believed that the terms "Witchery," "Sorcery," "Wizardry" and "Frenzy Witchcraft" will convey the diagnostic differences in the four principal techniques of witchcraft roughly in accord with dictionary definitions and current usage. It must be emphasized that each of these English words is to be used as a technical term. Thus "Witchery" will be a convenient and brief

way

phenomena which the Navaho call ?ant'i 1 "Sorcery," a short designation for those which the Navaho refer to by the =n3in stem; "Wizardry," those which the Navaho call of designating all

•

j

?adagas; "Frenzy Witchcraft," one of the several classes of be-

havior which the Navaho designate as Pajile

•

.

These terms and

the corresponding Witch, Sorcerer and Wizard will be capital-

ized as a reminder that they are used in a special and technical sense, as equivalents of

Navaho

terms.

For this reason, "Witch" whereas "witch" will

will refer only to practitioners of ?ant'i;

designate practitioners of

all

types of witchcraft. Likewise,

convenient to reserve the term "witchcraft" to cover

malevolent

activities

which endeavor

events by supernatural techniques. 22

all

it is

types of

to control the course of

PART

DATA

I:

It

23

must be

insisted that

these distinct categories

it

is

who have created who forces his data

the natives

—not the ethnologist

own devising. It has been truly said: "There are no synonyms in the English language." In the strictest semantic sense there are no synonyms in any language. If any people finds that two or more terms are necessary it may be into pigeonholes of his

inferred that they "think of" the

somehow

distinct.

distinctions.

I

The Navaho

phenomena

so differentiated as

are unusually sensitive to such

have heard Professor Sapir remark, "The Navaho

language is peculiarly interested in categories; it delights to file things away. Vividness in contrast between categories is very important to the Navaho." This does not mean, of course, that every Navaho always makes every distinction with perfect clarity.

some confusion

between the various types of witchcraft when one gets to the peripheries, 2 but most informants are clear and consistent on the main outlines. With few exceptions, the various techniques are separately categorized and scrupulously referred to by the distinct terms. There is, to be sure, always syncretism. The association of plants with types of witchcraft other than Frenzy Witchcraft is probably an instance of the syncretistic tendency. 3 There seems to be syncretism between Sorcery and Disease Witchcraft. 4 In the appendices will be found three cases where Witchery and Sorcery are definitely mingled, 5 at least two others 6 where there are traces of such syncretism and three 7 where Sorcery and Frenzy Witchcraft are perhaps confused. In excerpt 97 Witchery and Wizardry do not appear to be clearly distinguished. Also, in certain contexts, Navahos tend to lump all witchcraft practices in the same way that in other contexts they tend to class together all the worst things they believe in all ghost and witchcraft lore. 8 Sometimes, when pressed as to whether there was any connection between those, for example, who practiced Witchery and those who practiced Frenzy Witchcraft the informant would make replies of this sort: "Oh, yes, all those people who do bad things hang together." There

is

as to the differences

—

Field notes

show a

greater

number

of references to ?ant'j*

than to any other type of witchcraft so Witchery will be treated first. Sorcery will follow, because Witchery and Sorcery are so

24

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

closely linked that some informants regard Sorcery as merely a branch of Witchery. Wizardry will come next since it is clear that Witchery-Sorcery-Wizardry constitute a pattern assemblage which native thought separates from Frenzy Witchcraft by a major dividing line.

SECTION (^ant'i-zi)

1

WITCHERY WAY AND WERE-ANIMALS 3:

(ye-na-lAo-si-)

Digest

When

an English-speaking Navaho refers to "witchcraft" or most often ?ant'i which he has primarily in mind. First Man and First Woman were the originators of Witchery Way, the beginnings of which are thus placed in the pre-emergence period. The classic Witchery Way technique is that mentioned in the emergence legend. A preparation (usually called "poison" by English-speaking informants) is made of the flesh of corpses. The flesh of children and especially of twin children is preferred, and the bones at the back of the head and skin whorls are the prized ingredients. When this "corpse poison" 2 is ground into powder it "looks like pollen." It may be dropped into a hogan from die smokehole, placed in the nose or mouth of a sleeping victim or blown from furrowed sticks into the face of someone in a large crowd. "Corpse poison" is occasionally stated to have been administered in a cigarette. Fainting, lockjaw, a tongue black and swollen, immediate unconsciousness or some similar a cognate

it is

dramatic symptom is usually said to result promptly. Sometimes, however, the effects are less obvious. The victim gradually wastes away, and the usual ceremonial treatments are unavailing.

Witches are associated with death and the dead. They are likewise closely associated with incest. Suspicion of incest

Witch activity and vice Both men and women may become witches

by that very

fact suspicion of

25

means

versa.

(?adant'i),

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

26

although references to male Witches are considerably more nuall the female witches mentioned in actual anec-

merous. Almost

women; some informants insisted that only childIt was agreed generally that transvestites were neither more nor less likely than ordinary persons to become witches. Witchery is most often learned from a dotes are old

less

women

could be witches.

parent, a grandparent or a spouse, but a spouse also often re-

mains ignorant that the partner is a Witch. 3 Killing a near relative, normally a sibling, is a part of the initiation into Witchery Way. Persons become Witches in order to wreak vengeance, in order to gain wealth or simply to injure wantonly most often motivated by envy. Wealth is obtained by robbing graves or by a practice of fee-splitting. The one Witch would make a person seriously ill and his partner (a practitioner) would treat him, and the two would split the fees. Or, the Witch- (singer) would

—

cause

illness,

by the same

then the diagnostician would recommend treatment singer- ( Witch )

.

Direct black-mail

is

seldom men-

tioned, but victims are most often rich individuals.

Were-Animals ye na lAo si ) 4 Witches are active primarily at night, roaming about at great speed in skins of wolf, coyote and other animals (bear, owl, desert fox, crow). This is one bit of witch•

•

•

(

craft lore

•

.

with which even the youngest Navaho

deed, ye-na-iAO-si- and ma^i-coh ("wolf") the most

common

I

is

familiar.

In-

have found to be

colloquial terms for "witch."

Witches are tracked, normally the morning after an incident: dirt falling in from the hogan smokehole, unusually loud barkings of the dogs or "strange" noises or other occurrences have made the dwellers in a hogan feel that a Witch has been there. The tracks of were-animals are usually spoken of as larger than those of the actual animals. Sometimes the trail is followed 5 a long distance, only to end at the home of some Navaho. In other cases the Witch is caught and often recognized as a clan or real sibling. The trapped Witch tries to buy freedom with beads or other jewelry, but these are refused with horror. Sometimes the Witch is shot at night or at such a distance that

when

PART

DATA

I:

recognition spot) turns

is

2.J

Then some Navaho

impossible.

(often at a distant

up with an unexplained wound,

Witches Sabbath Witches as were-animals meet action against victims, to initiate

women,

course with dead

plan concerted

at night to

new members,

to

have

inter-

to practice cannibalism, to kill victims

by ritualized practices. The place of assembly baho yan ) is most often said to be a cave. ( There was general agreement that all types of witch activity must be carried on away from home. ) The Witches sit in a circle, surrounded by piles or baskets of corpse flesh. Some informants said that rows of identifiable human heads were likewise stored in the cave. The Witches are naked save for masks 6 and many beads and at a distance (

?ant'i

•

Their bodies are painted in a fashion

other articles of jewelry.

reminiscent of that carried out in ceremonials. are directed

by a

chief

Witch

"for

whom

all

The proceedings

the others just work."

This chief Witch and other leading Witches are thought of as

but they are assisted by a class of menial "helpers," and so poor that sheer self-preservation

rich,

these are said to be poor

demands

"work

that they

—

for" the Witches.

English-speaking informants will describe the proceedings as "kind of like a sing" or "just like a

bad

sing."

Most informants

agreed that songs were sung and dry paintings (often described as of "colored ashes") made. Some informants specified that the paintings represented the intended victim.

One

gests that the assembled witches spit, urinate

the sandpictures.

A

few stated

quoise bead with a small

bow

represented in the painting.

bows

are

made

of

human

that the chief

at

some

interview 7 sug-

and defecate upon Witch shot a tur-

definite part of the figure

Some informants

assert that the

shin bones.

Disagreements

On

the whole, there

is

substantial agreement

between

in-

formants on the major features of Witchery ideology. Night activity, were-animals, association with corpses and incest, killing of

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

28 a sibling as part of

initiation, various points of

technique

are mentioned in interview after interview

traits

denied explicitly or implicitly in any. This Every statement about and the Franciscan Fathers is confirmed my interviews. A very few points in the

for the literature.

my

not specifically mentioned by

—these

and are not

concordance holds also Witchery in Matthews

by

more

several or

of

published material are

informants. 8

In short, the general outlines are very consistent. Variation is

almost entirely restricted to details of technique, costume, de-

meeting place, and the like. And then there are which some informants were not familiar or

scription of the

certain features with

were

The use

less familiar.

tioned by only two of

by the Witch was menOnly one informant spoke

of a bearskin

my informants. 9

of the use of the genitalia of corpses.

necrophilia, for

example ) were referred

three informants.

It

was not possible

Other

(such as

details

to spontaneously

by only

to test all of these embel-

lishments with all informants, but most of them were checked with the group of twenty-five. In most cases, the check informants

would

say,

"Oh, yes,

I

have heard of that" or "Yes, some

people say that" or something of necrophilia

heard

this sort.

twenty-three informants

Thus

admitted

in the case of

that

they had

tales involving this feature.

Active disagreements center around such matters as what creatures could be were-animals. All agreed on wolf (almost in-

variably mentioned

first)

and coyote. Nine of the check group Only three would admit desert

denied bear and eleven, owl. fox,

and only one, crow. One

of Hill's informants spoke of were-

animals stealing sheep, but this was denied by

all

of

my

check

Two of this

group denied body painting for were-animals. Eight of the check group felt that songs were not used in Witchery Way but only in Frenzy Witchcraft. 10 Twenty-two of the check group insisted that plants likewise were used only in group.

Frenzy Witchcraft.

(Actually, "runs into the

mouth"

11

is

the

only plant spontaneously mentioned in connection with Witchery; 12 it is also mentioned by one informant in connection with

Wizardry.) 13

The check group

explicitly

denied data in the

with respect to some statements by Newcomb. 14 All denied the association of red with witches and that the heart

literature only

PART

I:

must be

DATA

29

torn out of a relative as part of initiation. All denied that

twin colts were killed because witches rode them. Twenty -three informants denied that dogs were especially likely to bite witches

but two informants professed said they had never heard of badgers, ducks (and other animals and birds),

(not disguised as were-animals ) familiarity with this notion.

that the flesh

was

,

Twenty

"witches' food."

Close study of the interview material reveals a of these

is

that of the relation

Certain white writers about the

One

number

of

between ghosts 15

most striking and witches.

Navaho (notably

the Coolidges

clear examples of syncretistic thinking.

of the

and Reichard ) have written at times as if these two were synonymous. This is, I think, most definitely not the case. But ghosts and witches are certainly very closely associated. Both are connected with the dead, with the night and with certain animals, e.g., coyote, owl. They are the two things which the Navaho fear most. It is not surprising that they are juxtaposed in more than one interview, 16 and the fact that there was some disagreement among the check group as to whether ghosts or witches or both ate the flesh of corpses is probably to be understood in terms of the syncretistic tendency. Probably, the statement of some informants that witches are especially dreaded when the wind blows is another example. It is understandable that some whites have treated the two as essentially synonymous, for I have had more than one Navaho do just that. The beginning of the following interview will serve as an example:

(Ethnographer) Tell

me

everything you ever heard about

witches.

(Navaho) You mean were-animals perhaps?

How

do you

mean? (Ethnographer) Suppose you

start in

and

tell

me

the time

when you first heard about witches. Who told you? Where were you? What was the story? (Navaho) Long time ago when I was very small, they told me a lot of stories about witches. I can't just remember all that. But here is a story I remember pretty well. [And here the informant proceeded to tell a perfectly straightforward ghost story (which has been published elsewhere).] 17

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

30

of the check group and many have discussed the matter agreed that ghosts are not witches nor do ghosts practice witchcraft. 18 Moreover, the cure par excellence for ghost sickness is an Evil Way chant, whereas that for witchcraft is one of the prayer

Nevertheless, every

other Navahos with

ceremonials. 19

member

whom

I

SECTION

SORCERY

4:

1

(

9 iiizid)

Sorcery is not as distinct from Witchery as is Witchery from Wizardry. 2 Indeed, Sorcery is regarded by most informants as a branch of Witchery Way (in the same fashion that there are

branches of the principal chant-ways). the witches' sabbath.

But since

it is

Sorcerers participate in

a different technique, and

especially since the consistent use of a separate term suggests that the

Navahos categorize Sorcery

separately,

here treated

it is

in a distinct section.

Sorcery

is

essentially

an enchantment by

spell.

The Sorcerer

does not need to encounter his victim personally at all. He must merely obtain a bit of the victim's clothing or, better, personal

body

with

flesh or other material

under a lightning-struck spell, often setting the

The

to die.

or

may be

The Sorcerer

tree.

number

incantation

dirt). 3

This will be buried from a grave or buried in a grave or

offal (hair, nails, faeces, urine,

of days after

may be

recited as

is

will

then recite a

which the victim

is

a prayer in a chant

a song or both songs and spoken formulas

may be

employed. Saying "good prayers" backwards is sometimes mentioned as a technique. The "praying a person down into the ground prayer" is spoken of frequently: various parts of the body (beginning with the vertex of the head) are successively invoked. 4 Apparently, there is a variant of this associated with the sweathouse. 5 The "hard flint" (be-s nXiz) song is also mentioned as a witchcraft incantation. The "Two Came to their Father" ( hata ? ba zna ?azi ) song is connected with the visit of the Hero Twins to their father, the Sun, and is said to have been employed "in the old days" only against monsters and enemy •

tribes

•

but

victims.

A

now

to

be perversely directed against

intra-tribal

song or group of songs, attributed in mythology to 31

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

32 First

Man, which

came

dead!").

secret

name

is

It is

frequently referred to a great advantage to

is

ni^i

know

of the victim in reciting this spell.

One

•

sili

•

d

be-

("it

the personal and

Various special

most familiar of these is that of opening the belly of a horned toad, putting "the charm" therein and then saying the spell. 6 This seems to be almost specific against a pregnant woman and her unborn child. Or, the spell may be whispered while stepping over a person who is lying in a hogan or around a campfire at a ceremonial gathering. Murmuring the incantation while walking around the hogan of the victim is also mentioned. 7 It is often added that the victim dies four days after the recitation of the spell. Another special technique is that of making evil-wishing sandpaintings, ?i-ka-h be-?ohono3in (this term is also sometimes applied to those said to be made in the Witches' cave, but the sandpaintings connected with Sorcery are stated to be made by a single Sorcerer or with a companion or two, at most on top of a hill or in the timber to the north of a hogan ) Sorcerers also follow the technique which has an almost worldwide distribution: they make images of the victim from clay or carve them from wood and then "kill" or "torture" the effigy by sticking a sharp-pointed object or shooting a projectile into it. This practice, however, was spontaneously reported by only four informants, and all of these came from strongly acculturated areas. I therefore suspect recent diffusion from Spanishspeaking individuals or from eastern Pueblos where the "doll" technique is well-known. However, Richard Van Valkenburgh writes me that he found "a small image with a turquoise bead punched in the heart in a reputed Witches' cave near Lukachukai. It is carved from a six-inch piece of pine that was struck techniques are mentioned.

of the

—

with lightning. It is in the shape of a man ( crude ) Black hair is painted on the head." 8 So far as I have been able to discover, no other white observer has reported seeing such an "image." Some.

times

it is

said that the Sorcerer scratches a representation

stone and puts

it

in the

home

or automobile of the victim

on

—or

it in a saddle bag. In the working of spells each Sorcerer, according to some informants, is believed to have a particular "power" (the earth,

conceals

PART

I:

DATA

33

the sun, lightning, darkness, bear, owl, snakes, etc. ) which assists ,

him. Sorcery

is

carried out against animals, grain, crops

and other may be

property as well as against persons. Even an automobile 9

There is occasional reference to Sorcery as directed communities or groups of people rather than against single individuals. Thus grasshoppers, caterpillars and other insects are said to have been sent by Sorcerers to destroy witched!

against whole

the crops in a given locality. 10

Animals 11 and whirlwinds also practice Sorcery. Dogs 12 are perhaps mentioned most frequently.

Disagreements

Once

again, certain details were mentioned by some informand ants not by others. But work with the check group revealed only two positive differences of opinion as to the theory of this branch of Witchery. 13 Ten of the check group denied that Sorcerers necessarily had a "power." Nine informants maintained that Sorcery was used to produce illness but never to kill. In general, even among those informants who would not agree that Sorcery was never used to kill, there appeared to be a feeling that Sorcery was somehow less violent, less catastrophic than Witch-

ery or Wizardry.

SECTION

The ticle

5:

WIZARDRY

central concept here

('adagas) 1

that of injecting a foreign par-

is

The

(stone, bone, quill, ashes, charcoal) into the victim.

projectiles

Navahos

are often described as

will

"arrows."

English-speaking

occasionally refer to this kind of witchcraft as

"bean-shooting," but the majority of informants stated that actual

beans were never used. The term "Wizardry" is used here merely to permit brevity and clearness of reference in later discussion and interpretation.

Wizardry

is

generally considered to be of comparatively

recent origin

among

sisted that

has been

it

the Navaho. Indeed,

known

some informants

only since Fort Sumner.

in-

Some

informants mentioned Mexicans as the source, others, Pueblo

—

Ashes from a ghost hogan, beads especially a bead had belonged to the intended victim, bits of bone or teeth from a corpse, grains of sand from a red ant hill, pieces of yucca, Indians.

that

porcupine

quills,

olivella shells,

deer hair, wild

fragments from rocks burned for a sweatbath

—

cat's all

whisker,

these were

mentioned by a number of informants as the objects shot. The shooting was apparently believed by a few informants to be carried out through a tube, but the majority opinion was that the objects were placed in a special sort of red basket or on a cloth or buckskin and made to rise through the air by incantation. According to some informants, shooters removed their clothes and rubbed ashes on their body before shooting. As in the case of Witchery and Sorcery, the killing of a sibling or other close relative was a necessary preliminary to participation. Sucking

was the special cure for this type of witchcraft. Of a victim who has been treated it is usually said "hah?axa-nil objects were taken off him." Those who believe themselves the victims of

—

34

PART

I:

DATA

35 Santo

Wizardry often seek curers from other tribes: Hopis, Domingos and other Pueblo Indians; Utes and Apaches are also mentioned. 2 Prevalent opinion seems to be that Wizards do not, as such, become were-animals and participate in the witches' sabbath. Women were never mentioned in passive interviews or in anecdotes as Wizards. Wizards seem to be almost exclusively old men. The rich are again prominent as victims. Although emaciation is occasionally mentioned as a symptom of Witchery or Sorcery, emaciation (together with pain in the part where the object has lodged ) is almost always stated to be diagnostic of Wizardry. Wizardry may also be practiced by animals. 3

Disagreements Fifteen informants in passive interviews (without questions,

leading or otherwise) spoke of the recency of Wizardry the Navaho.

Of

the twenty-five check informants only

among

two main-

known in legendary times. Five of the check informants asserted that the objects were propelled through a tube, fourteen others held to the basket technique, while the rest said that the object to be shot was simply placed tained that Wizardry was

on a cloth or buckskin. Three denied that Wizards used songs. Only three claimed that Wizards, as such, behaved as wereanimals, and it is my impression that here (as in the matter of recency) direct questioning brought syncretistic thinking into play. It is significant that few of the passive interviews or anecdotes refer to Wizards participating in the witches' sabbath. Ten of the check informants said that women could do Wizardry. The rest denied that there were female Wizards. The practice, referred to by the Coolidges, 4 of Wizards shooting with a "witchbow" at a sandpainting figure of the intended victim was familiar to seventeen of the check group, even though not mentioned spontaneously by any of my informants. 5

SECTION (

6:

PROSTITUTION

WAY

? azite-)

Introductory

The term

Way"

"Prostitution

is

used by Navahos today to

refer to three different (though connected

of activities. First, there

is

and

interrelated) sets

the type of witchcraft wherein certain

plants are used for 'love magic," or for success in trading

gambling.

To avoid

Witchcraft." to

many

*

and

confusion this will be referred to as "Frenzy

Second, there

is

the ceremonial

(

chant according

informants ) which existed to cure the victims of Frenzy

Witchcraft.

This ceremonial will be referred to as Prostitution

Way

chant. 2 Finally, there

some

of the plants

and

is

a form of divination which utilizes

which are employed Frenzy Witchcraft. This will be referred to as Datura divination. In a sense, the latter two hardly fall within the scope of this book. But since considerable confusion (even on the part of (

especially Datura )

in

many Navaho

informants ) prevails as to the relation of the three

seems best to set down in a single place the I have obtained on the chant and the rite of divination, as well as on this form of witchcraft. Reluctance to discuss any type of Prostitution Way is extremely great. While many informants mentioned that Witchery, Sorcery and Wizardry were talked about only in private and never in the presence of children, this provision was violated in more than forty instances. In the case of Prostitution Way, however, the ideal pattern was scrupulously adhered to. Women as well as children are rigorously debarred from hearing talk of Prostitution Way. The only exception is a woman who has been successfully treated by the Prostitution Way chant or the Mounsets of activities, it

limited information

36

PART

I:

DATA

37

succeeded in tain Smoke ceremony of Blessing Way. obtaining seventeen fairly substantial interviews on Frenzy Witchcraft and in every case children were rigorously sent away. I finally

Indeed, each of these interviews was carried out only in the presence of the informant and one or two other older men. All informants agreed (and all save three spontaneously mentioned) that it was dangerous to children or young people "whose bones are not formed" to talk about Frenzy Witchcraft in their presence and that it was highly improper to discuss it in the presence of women. Only five informants gave me even scraps of information on the chant, and only seven on Datura divination, but similar precautions were also observed in all these cases.

Prostitution

Way

Chant?

Wyman

and I, 4 following the Franciscan Fathers and our own informants up to that time, listed Prostitution Way as a Holy Way chant. In the last few years I have happened to encounter a number of informants who steadfastly denied that there was ever a chant of this name. For a time I was inclined to feel that we had made a mistake in listing such a chant. But rechecking and repeated discussions with some of our earlier informants seem to make the following points clear: (1) There was undoubtedly some sort of a socially approved ceremonial which existed for treating victims of Frenzy Witchcraft and especially lewd women. (2) Since a rattle was not used and since equipment was generally meager, some informants are unwilling to call the ceremonial a chant (hata-1). 5 It is significant that

the disagreements on this matter showed

a definite age line. All informants

who

dogmatically denied the

existence of a socially approved ceremonial

by

this

name were

probably under sixty years of age. Those who postulated such a ceremonial (including the five who had heard some bits of information about it ) had all been born during or prior to the captivity at Fort Sumner. Several were certainly more than eighty years of age.

This circumstance

fits

well with the fact that the

Franciscan Fathers, writing a generation ago, considered that there

had been a

Prostitution

Way

chant.

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

3§

dangerous to assert that any Navaho ceremonial is "exAwl Way and Earth Way, Prostitution Way would appear to be "more nearly extinct" than It is

tinct."

But, with the exception of

any other known Navaho ceremonial. Dr. Wyman informs me that a singer of the Otis Trading Post region claims to know how to conduct Prostitution Way. But after repeated and sustained enquiries I have not been able even to hear of a person who says he has seen a performance in his youth. My five informants all got their information from parents or other older relatives who had seen the ceremonial carried out. Excerpts may still be carried out in some localities, but it seems highly probable that full fivenight performances are things of the past.

The ceremonial is stated to have lasted five nights. There was a sweat and emetic ceremony for four mornings. The plants for the emetic were gathered at one of three peaks 6 which some-

what resemble a "White Cone"

phallus in shape and

which are called two one of these cones by the singer, all

in English at the present.

informants, Datura, gathered at

was chewed by him and other informants denied

been made and

spit into the this.

Two

of

Also, according to

mouth

of the patient.

The

prayer-sticks are said to have

but I was unable to One informant said that

also small sandpaintings,

obtain detailed descriptions of either.

the sandpaintings represented two of the principal characters in the origin legend. Another informant said there was one sand-

Cone Towards Water Man. All informants except one agreed that no rattle was used and that there was very little equipment at all other than the plant medicines and that necessary for making prayer-sticks and sandpaintings. All informants seemed to feel that Prostitution Way was closely linked with Coyote Way and with Moth Way, 7 but all were positive that Prostitution Way and Coyote Way were separate and distinct ceremonials with different origin legends and different procedures. 8 Prostitution Way

painting "of birds and butterflies" and a second one of

existed for the curing of victims of Frenzy Witchcraft or lewd-

ness however caused. For example,

it

was

stated that a

man who

had too many wives or had been married too many times might "get sick from it" and find a performance of Prostitution Way helpful. Coyote Way (Moth Way), on the other hand, was for

PART

I:

DATA

39

who had been

treating those

Masked God ImWay, but no such figures apWay. The patient in Coyote Way wore a guilty of incest.

personators took part in Coyote

peared in Prostitution

coyote skin for a G-string.

A

Way was normally capped by Way, including the Mountain Smoke

performance of Prostitution

a performance of Blessing

ceremony. 9 said that there

It is

Way. 10 There Blessing is

Way

a Prostitution

is

are said to

Way

which most singers are afraid

highly helpful to

part of Blessing

be special Prostitution

know "because

it

Way

songs in

but which it will keep you from going to learn,

dry."

Datura 11 Divination 12 Hill has already published a brief account of

My

tion.

material

is

generally congruent with his

are no actual disagreements, but

my

Datura divinaaccount. There

data 13 permit the addition of

a few details. Singers of Prostitution

Way

chant supervised an individual's

taking of Datura for divinatory purposes.

first

Prostitution

Way

Way

were

chant and the Mountain Smoke ceremony of Blessing

The plant called "deer eye" was an antidote which the diagnostician carried (only three confirmations for this statement ) Datura divination was used as a last resort. Two informants insisted that Datura divination was used only for tracing thieves and locating lost objects not for diagnosis in illrestorative rites.

.

—

ness.

Rather careful enquiries indicate a rather interesting geo-

The

graphical distribution of Datura divination at present. is

rite

almost unheard of in the Navajo Mountain and Kayenta re-

gions; in Chaco Canyon a number of informants have heard of it but were unable to name any persons who carried out the rite. The seven men who were mentioned as still practicing Datura

divination

all

live in

a central belt stretching from

Ganado

to

the eastern side of the Lukachukai Mountains, and there also

appears to be a area. 14

maximum

general familiarity with

it

in this

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

40

Some singers apparently have a ceremony (which may be added to any chant) which provides for the administration of Datura to a patient or co-patient as a general prophylactic against illness or misfortune. The implicit theory would seem to be that anyone having the hardihood to take such a powerful and dangerous medicine is inevitably fortified against all sorts of disaster. The few cases which have come to my attention all involved singers, curers or practitioners of hand trembling divination.

Frenzy Witchcraft 15

Frenzy Witchcraft

is

primarily the

Navaho

"love magic."

This and the use of a group of plants, 16 of which Datura 17

is

the

most prominent, are its most distinguishing features. Secondarily, Frenzy Witchcraft is employed for success in trading, in gambling and in hunting. A few informants maintained that it was also used in salt gathering. Frenzy Witchcraft has a distinct association with Game Way. Negatively, Frenzy Witchcraft is set apart by the fact that the dead are not connected with its techniques and by the fact that its practitioners do not take part in the witches' sabbath.

The basic technique is that of administering the plants: through food, in a cigarette, by kissing, 18 or simply by contact on the person or with objects. One of the plants (Datura) is a known drug. Other plants, such as poison ivy, are known to be noxious irritants. The plants must be gathered in a prescribed manner, reminiscent of Navaho chant practice. 19 Songs and prayers are also mentioned. Indeed, it is said that each plant has its

own

The special cure is the Mountain Smoke ceremony Way; prayer ceremonials are mentioned only in-

song.

of Blessing cidentally.

In a sense, there are two major types of Navaho witchcraft: the Witchery-Sorcery and Wizardry complex, and Frenzy Witchcraft.

Although many informants denied that Wizards behaved as

were-animals, there was general agreement that Witches, Sorcerers and Wizards "work together and help each other." And no informant said that practitioners of Frenzy Witchcraft behaved as

PART

I:

DATA

41

were-animals. By its plant technique and its association with love magic, trading and gambling, 20 Frenzy Witchcraft unquestionably

Greater direction against non-Navahos

stands apart.

On

another such differentia. it

may be

the other hand, certain traits

mark

out with equal clearness as part of the general corpus of

Navaho

witchcraft.

Frenzy Witchcraft

is

a malevolent activity

directed especially against the rich; 21 the killing of a sibling

the price of initiation; there

with the

sister;

22

there

is

is

is

the tie-up with incest, especially

collusion with singers

and diagnosti-

cians.

On

the basis

Father Berard

is

of

mythological and other

of the opinion that

considerations,

under aboriginal conditions

Frenzy Witchcraft was directed only against foreign women, gamblers, etc. Some of the interview materials would appear confirmatory of this view.

Disagreements

Although

all

informants agreed on Datura and nine inform-

ants spontaneously

some disagreements

mentioned the same

were which could or could

five plants, there

as to subsidiary plants

not be used in Frenzy Witchcraft.

such as the "doughnut" through 23 could be verified with only three or four informants. No such item was explicitly denied, but the great majority of the check group simply pleaded complete Certain items of technique

which the chewed plants were

(

spit

ignorance.

Although fear of Frenzy Witchcraft was universally

ex-

pressed 24 and unusual precautions were taken in discussing there

was no unanimity

qualifiedly bad.

(This

it,

of opinion that Frenzy Witchcraft was un-

may be because

it is still

thought of pri-

marily as directed against aliens. ) While everyone agreed that

it

should be dreaded, seven informants seemed to take the position that

able

it

could be used only in ways which were relatively respect-

(for self -protection,

against out-groupers).

for

success in trading or gambling

In other words, while Frenzy Witchcraft

could be (and by some people was) used in ways which were universally

condemned,

its

possession, while fearsome,

was not

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

42 This view would

necessarily disreputable.

Berard's opinion that Frenzy Witchcraft

fit

was

well with Father originally a tech-

nique for obtaining foreign women. Some informants felt that only, or mainly, the pollen of the plants was used. The Prostitution Way chant legends say the pollen must be mixed with dew from the plant, but no informant listed this practice.

victims

(

as in

—either by

Some

stated the pollen

Witchery ) others that ,

it

had

was blown on the mouths

to enter their

kissing, eating or smoking. 25

formants stated that

it

Another group of inroots which others insisted that any portion of the

was the powdered leaves and

were administered. Still plants was equally efficacious.

The

exact relationship of Frenzy Witchcraft to

remains somewhat obscure. 26

Game Way

OTHER TYPES OF WITCHCRAFT SECTION

7:

1

The idea

patterns relating to those types of witchcraft of

which every Navaho has heard have now been discussed. There remains a little material on varieties which were mentioned spontaneously by only a few informants and about which most of the check group professed either complete ignorance or familiarity with the name only. It is possible that these types were better known in days gone by some informants suggested this. I sus-

—

merely a syncretistic genguess would be that these varieties were always

pect, however, that eralization.

relatively

My

obscure.

this

It

suggestion

is

likewise possible that

is

more

detailed

information might have been obtained in certain local regions.

Indeed,

I

have reason to believe that intensive enquiry on top of

Black Mesa and in the Shiprock (and northern country generally)

would give good

results for

Eagle

Pit

Way

and "A Woman's

Piece of Wood."

Disease Witchcraft

f (

e ? e-lnP) 2

This was referred to spontaneously by only four informants; three others discussed

it

briefly

when

questioned. However,

all

name. The technique is essentially the same as that of Sorcery. Except that association with the dead is not prominent and that game animals and domestic livestock are a focus of this kind of witchcraft, the whole lore of Disease Witchcraft reminds one most strongly of that of Sorcery. Indeed, it may not be very far from the truth to say, "Disease Witchcraft is that form of Sorcery which is assoof the check group professed familiarity with the

43

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

44

dated with tion in the

Game Way and which has its mythological authorizaGame Way legends." It seems to be used particularly

by hunters and upon hunters and

to produce bad luck in hunting. used against domestic animals, especially sheep. Practitioners of Disease Witchcraft do not behave as were-animals or It is also

participate in the witches' sabbath.

At one time

had thought

I

turn out to be the "Witch

cussed by Hill

3

(

Way

that Disease Witchcraft might of hunting

which

without giving the Navaho

practices discussed

Wolf

Way"

by

is

briefly dis-

name )

.

But the

Hill are apparently associated with the

of Hunting. 4

It may be that the connection of Disease Witchcraft with Game Way is illusory, dependent simply upon the accident of the

sampling process whereby my four informants who discussed Disease Witchcraft all happened to know the lore of Game Way. Game Way legends apparently relate various types of witch activities. An alternative view of the position of Disease Witchcraft, suggested by some of the evidence, is that this is the form of Sorcery wherein appeal is made to various supernaturals to effect the evil, as opposed to Sorcery proper where the spell itself, without direct invocation of any supernatural, is deemed efficacious. Today some informants do refer to the use of "powers" by practitioners of Sorcery, but this may again be a case of syncretism. Certainly the minimum statement which can be made is that the central notions concerning Sorcery and Disease Witchcraft show much in common.

Eagle Pit Sorcery ^o-dbe^inizin) This was discussed by only three informants. Eight of the

check group said they had heard of again,

is

in principle that of Sorcery.

it.

The

technique, once

All agree that

it

was more

dangerous than any form of witchcraft except, said two, Frenzy Witchcraft. One can only speculate as to how much this reputation for power is conditioned by vagueness of knowledge and unfamiliarity. tell from the meager data, Eagle be a type of Sorcery associated with

Actually, so far as one can Pit

Way

would appear

to

PART eagles

I:

DATA

45

and Eagle

Way—just

as Disease Witchcraft appears to

a type of Sorcery associated with

One informant

be

Game Way.

stated that Eagle Pit Sorcery

was part

of

complex known as "a woman's piece of wood," now extinct but said to have been learned from the dwellers of Mesa Verde. However, another informant discussing the same type of witchcraft considered that the name was not "woman's piece of wood" ( ?as3a bicin ) but "woman's song" 5 Repeated efforts to check and obtain further ( ?as3a biyi n ) information brought only vague and contradictory replies.

some

larger ceremonial

•

•

•

.

Other Kinds of "Evil Magic"

The Franciscan Fathers 6 mention

belief in the evil eye. This

have collected, and

was denied by all of my informants. One informant did remark, "The only time I ever heard of it was when Monster Slayer and his brother met some people who did it against them with their eyes." We may here again have to do with regional (or possibly temporal?) variation. It seems plausible that those Navahos who have been in contact with Spanish-speaking groups might well have taken over this belief. My sampling would indicate that fear of the Evil Eye is not very prominent or frequent among Navahos generally. A malicious act which one occasionally hears of is that of did not appear in any anecdotes

I

it

my check group (and twelve other informants) denied that this was connected with any of the types of witchcraft. Observations of this kind were frequent: "Women just do that to be mean. It hurts you all right, but it isn't a witch way." My impression is that my informants felt that menstrual blood was intrinsically dangerous 7 there was no need to add "magical" procedures. administering menstrual blood in food. All of

—

PROTECTION AGAINST AND CURES FOR WITCHCRAFT SECTION

8:

1

Every culture channels,

to some extent, the anxieties felt and members of that society. The culture says, in effect, "This is what you must fear. These are the dreadful things that can happen to people and they happen in this way." How-

expressed by the

—

ever, just as cultures tend to define anxieties so also they define

the means of partially preventing and of relieving these anxieties.

Forms of protection against and cures for the various types of Navaho witchcraft have already been alluded to incidentally, and

many of the excerpts from which have been explicitly reserved for Appendix VIII. But it seems useful to summarize all of this material in one place. reference to these will be found in

interviews, in addition to those

Protection

Although frequently, I

this is

not actually the protection mentioned most

would venture the inference

and intangible ceremonial goods

that the

Navaho

feel

be their surest warrant against all types of witches because informants spontaneously stated that those who had "good songs and prayers and stories" were the hardest to witch. Possession of talking prayersticks, other ceremonial equipment and medicines in the home was said to be excellent insurance. Twenty-one of the twenty-five check informants referred to these tangible and intangible protections when specifically queried: "How do Navahos protect themselves against witches?" But the indirect evidence was even more convincing to me. In spite of the fact that ceremonial tangible

46

to

PART

I:

DATA

47

and the threat of malicious gossip against them is always present, it was nevertheless the singers, in general, who talked most freely. And, without known exception, it was the singers (and especially the curers), who were commonly held to know the least or whose "professional reputation" was in some way dubious, who were more reluctant. Some singers of great knowledge and wide fame seemed to feel ( and in several cases stated verbally that they felt an immunity to the dangers of witchcraft. Conversely, some laypractitioners are

men

more

subject to suspicion than others,

said things of this sort: "I

things.

I

haven't any medicine."

am The

not appear to be afraid of witchcraft to their

knowing

it

"from the inside."

afraid to talk about those

many singers do undoubtedly partly due As Malcolm Carr Collier

fact that is

has observed (in an unpublished manuscript), "Any singer

is

supposed to know some witchcraft; the Navaho say that it is good to know something about it because then you can protect yourself, but if you practice it too much, it is to your own detriment."

The above discussion refers to general ceremonial knowlThe specific protection against witchcraft which was mentioned most often was gall medicine (?aXiz ?aze-?). Gall mediedge. cine

is

a specific against and antidote for Witchery, although one

Wizardry. 2 Most conservative Navaho carry gall medicine with them whenever they enter a large crowd (especially at ceremonial gatherings). It is said to act as an immediate antidote to the fainting produced

informant mentioned

it

also as a cure for

poison." The gall of eagle, bear, mountain Hon and skunk are the most frequently mentioned ingredients, but wolf, badger, deer and sheep (once) are also referred to. Some sort of ground corn is also generally agreed upon as an ingredient. This medicine is also carried by many Navahos when they travel away from their home country and especially when they plan to enter regions (such as Chin Lee, Black Mesa and Canoncito) 3 where witches are believed to be particularly numerous. Certain small sand or pollen paintings are made by individuals or by family members (rather than by ceremonial practi-

by "corpse

tioners) as protection against witchcraft. 4

Possession of certain plants, notably "witchcraft plant,"

5

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

48 "lightning herbs"

6

and "Game

Way

plant,"

7

and drinking and

anointing the body with a lotion from such plants

is

also believed

be a useful protection. Sometimes these plants are administered in the sweathouse and various other minor ceremonial features are added. According to some informants, all Game Way and War plants may be used as protection against witchcraft. But other informants averred that these plants were used in witchcraft. The check group divided almost evenly on this issue. Perhaps it may be said that the agreement is that there is some sort of close association felt between Game Way, war and witchcraft? Certainly a number of informants mentioned the use of Enemy Monster Way and other war ceremonials for both protection and cure. Songs from these ceremonials were also said repeatedly to be sung in the sweathouse for protective and curative purposes. The eating of Datura was mentioned by some informants 8 as a protection against witchcraft, and sixteen of the check group agreed but seemed to feel that the protection was to

almost as fearsome as the danger. the eating of

two

plants

One informant

specified that

(generally considered as part of the

Frenzy Witchcraft group of plants) was a protective against Frenzy Witchcraft. 9 Another protection, volunteered by only one informant but confirmed by all save two of the check group, is Talking Rock medicine. Scrapings from a rock are obtained with various rites in a cave where there is an echo and mixed with certain plants. 10

Curing Confession.

very helpful

(

A

and

by the witch is believed to be produce a cure unless the victim is in too

confession

will

advanced a stage) for the victims of all types of witchcraft. form of divination or the observation of suspicious acts has convinced a certain group of Navahos that a certain person is a witch, that person is summoned to a meeting (leading by a rope is mentioned more than once) and questioned. If he proves recalcitrant, he is tied down and not allowed to eat, drink or relieve himself until he confesses. Since this practice is wellknown in Zuni and other Pueblos, I suspected at one time that

far

When some

PART its

I:

DATA

distribution

49

among

the Navaho might be

limited to

some areas

immediate geographical contiguity with Pueblo groups. However, whatever its ultimate derivation may be, the practice is at of

present generally distributed over the

Navaho

country.

The

suspending the accused by the thumbs (familiar from Zuni ) was not reported by any of my informants and was denied by all the check group. Placing hot coals on the feet of the accused was first mentioned to me by a white informant but was confirmed as at least a former practice by eighteen of the check trait of

group. If a witch confesses, the victim will at once begin slowly to improve, and the witch will die within the year from the same

symptoms which have been

afflicting the victim.

If a

witch re-

fused to confess within four days, he was most often killed. In

some

was allowed to escape if he permanently A number of accused witches are said to have fled to Canoncito. But Van Valkenburgh 11 is undoubtedly right in considering witchcraft as a crime for which the Navaho administered capital punishment. A considerable number of witches put to death are referred to in the literature, 12 and a much larger number are known to me from reliable white and Navaho informants. Sometimes, when tension mounted sufficiently, the witch was killed without "trial," sometimes by an aggrieved individual but equally often by a group of relatives (and friends) of some supposed victim. The manner of execution varied, but was usually violent ( by axes or clubs ) Shooting left

cases the accused

the community.

.

hands of injured individuals occurs fairly often; I have heard only once of hanging. The tearing apart by four horses described by Mrs. Richard Wetherill 13 was ridiculed by all of my at the

informants as utterly fanciful.

Payments

to the families of

supposed victims by the families were men-

or clans of persons accused or executed as witches

tioned by

many

informants.

Apart from the

effects of confession,

a diffuse supernatural

sanction against witches exists in the form of a belief that a

witch

who

escapes

human

detection will nevertheless eventually

be struck down by lightning. According to some informants, a witch who

is

caught in the

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

50

act will try to present something valuable to the intended victim. If the

victim consents, then the witchcraft will take effect on

as originally planned, but

him

after catching the witch in the act

if,

of witching, the victim refuses the proffered gift, then the witch

under his own curse. As to the fate of witches after death, the majority of informants say that all people go to the same place irrespective of the manner in which they die or of their practices during life falls

( twenty-seven confirmations to six denials ) Morgan's informants, however, claimed that suicides and "mean people" (including .

witches) live by themselves and that the tinue witchcraft in after

spirits of

witches con-

14

Twenty-three of the twenty-five informants in the check group maintained that the spirit of a dead witch was no more likely to molest the living as a ghost than the spirit of

a

life.

man who had been

natural activity during

guiltless

of malevolent super-

life.

Prayer Ceremonials. 15

These constitute a second general

cure for witchcraft, although five informants in the check group

denied that they were particularly useful in cases of Frenzy But, with this qualification, there was general agreement that a prayer cere-

Witchcraft, and three others seemed doubtful.

monial, or "big pray," as English-speaking Navahos say, was the

most useful remedy for a person who had been witched. There are a number of prayer ceremonials, but I know of only three which have actually been carried out in recent years. These are the Self -Protection Prayer

(

?acah sodizin ) or "Shield Prayer" as

it

by English-speaking informants; the Bringing Up Prayer ( ha ^ayate h literally, 'leading up from below"); the Bringing Out Prayer (cehoyate-h literally, "leading out of a place"). The last two are very closely associated, and, as Father Berard has suggested to me, they can conveniently be referred

is

often called •

•

—

—

to jointly as Liberation Prayers.

particular prayer ceremonial witchcraft, but there

was

was

little

Some informants

felt

that a

efficacious for a given type of

agreement on these matters. All

prayer ceremonials "pray the evil back to the witch." The lore of the prayer ceremonials is complex, and I have in preparation a separate book on this subject.

Chants. Chants, especially Evil

Way

chants, 16 are

employed

PART

I:

DATA

51

Some

to cure victims of witchcraft.

informants, however

(

twelve

of the check group) insisted that any chant save an Evil Way chant would not only fail to help but would actually "make him

worse." Just as the feeling alent, so

is

toward ceremonial practitioners

that toward the chants.

feel that a chant

may

Many

actually be used to bewitch

versed or otherwise improperly conducted.

is

ambiv-

informants seem to

—

if it

be

re-

One would perhaps

not be far from the truth if one said that the general attitude toward the chants amounted to this: "The chants are instruments of great power which are intended for good. But an evil singer can turn the power of the chants to evil ends." Certain short prayers, probably connected with chants or excerpted from the full prayer ceremonials, are also used. One of the topics upon which there was a maximum of disagreement among the check group was as to whether Coyote Prayer was a part of witchcraft or a very powerful protection against and cure for witchcraft.

Plants

Plants.

Specifics.

were used

for cure as well as for protection. 17

In addition to the general cures for witchcraft,

number

of more specific remedies. All of these have been mentioned in the earlier sections and will be found in the appendices. For victims of Sorcery and Disease Witchcraft the recovery of the clothes, "body dirt," or other buried materials brings relief. For Frenzy Witchcraft there is the Mountain Smoke ceremony of Blessing Way and a "sheep meat soup." For Disease Witchcraft the smoke of Game Way is the specific.

there are a

Sucking

Way

(

?acose

sucker normally cut

•

)

.

This

is

the cure for Wizardry.

(with an arrowhead

—

glass

is

The

mentioned

once) the place which hurt and sucked out some foreign object.

It is

was sucked out ( and spit pinyon bark, according to nineteen of the check

usually mentioned that blood

into a tray of

group) a number of times before the object was obtained. The sucker sang 18 and usually applied some sort of medicine (such as "witchcraft plant") to the

applied.)

by only

A number

wound. (A

flint

club was also often

of variations in technique

were confirmed

a small proportion of the check group: use of olivella

shells in place of cutting

and sucking, use

of dried

and powdered

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

52

("woman's and the sprinkling of water on the patient with feathers was not confirmed by any of the check group, but this material came from an informant whom I have found generally untrustworthy. Hrdlicka 19 speaks of sucking to treat abscesses, but my informants said it was only used to exblue lizard as medicine, use of pulverized rock

The use

fingernail").

of a reed

tract objects. 20

All informants agreed that there had been a great efflorescence of sucking in the period between roughly 1870 and 1910. A very large number of informants volunteered scepticism about suckers. Suckers were generally held to be wizards themselves

or in league with wizards. that they

had prepared

were going

to "suck out."

manifested. 21

A

They were held

to be charlatans in mouths the objects which they At the same time fear of suckers was

in their

few informants held that the sucker not only

extracted the object but also "shot

The data permit

a

it

back" to the witch.

final generalization applicable to all

of witchcraft: the note that illness resulting really, in the final analysis, incurable

was struck by a number

of informants.

types

from witchcraft

—unless

the witch dies

is

OBSERVED BEHAVIORS RELATING TO WITCHCRAFT SECTION

9:

1

White observers can and do attend Navaho chants. That such chants are carried out is not a matter for argument. There is no record, however, of any white observer seeing a Navaho practice witchcraft. Mr. Van Valkenburgh writes me that he has seen a Navaho woman "barking like a dog." No observer has ever reported seeing witchcraft paraphernalia, although Father

Berard has seen a sucker's equipment, and Van Valkenburgh's "small image with a turquoise bead punched in the heart" has already been mentioned. What warrant have we, therefore, for assuming that the

many Navaho, at any rate) actually believe these can we be sure that the witch tales are not simply Navaho counterpart of fairy tales or the Oz stories? The

Navaho

(or

stories?

How

the

answer

is

that witchcraft does enter into the world of observable

behavior through a series of behaviors (largely negative) which

make

sense only on the assumption that witchcraft

believed

is

actually

in.

all, there is the whole pattern assemblage of proand curing acts which have just been discussed in the last section. Out of thirty-two households in the Ramah area only two failed to possess gall medicine. (I saw it in every case my-

First of

tective

self.)

In the second place, there

is

the inescapable fact that people

are killed as witches and the corollary facts that individuals are

both covertly and publicly accused of witchcraft, and others clearly believe themselves to be witched (fall down in faints, manifest symptoms of acute anxiety, 53

etc.

)

.

Accusations of witch-

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

54

based upon revelations by divination (also by peyote dream 2 at present) or upon observation of the accused picking up spittle or engaging in other behavior attributed to witches. When is a diagnosis of witchcraft likely in divination? The evidence is unmistakable on this point: when an illness is persistent, stubbornly refusing to yield to usual Navaho treatment; when an illness is in any way mysterious from the Navaho point of view; 3 when the symptoms correspond to those expected in such cases sudden onset, fainting, emaciation, sharp pain in a localized area and a lump or other evidence of a foreign object there; and when the sick person has quarrelled with some powerful person, craft are

especially one previously suspected of witchcraft.

In any of

these contexts a diagnosis of witchcraft illness will be accepted

by the patient and

as plausible

his family.

The seeing

of un-

explained tracks around a hogan or in the vicinity of graves also favorable to the interpretation of

witchcraft. It of witchcraft

show only

is difficult

is

given.

to discover

My

how

records of

an

illness as

is

caused by

frequently the diagnosis

more than a thousand

cases

eight cases of witchcraft as the assigned difficulty, but

were consome instances. However, the Navaho characteristically show some scepticism in this matter. All of my check informants agreed that such diagnoses were often mistaken. Scepticism is also indicated by the fact that a singer whom

it is

practically certain that diagnoses of witchcraft

cealed from

me

in

is often called back to sing sometimes even by relatives of the "victim."

divination has accused of witchcraft in the

same

locality,

In the third place, there

is

the series of negative behaviors.

Navahos dislike going about no doubt that almost alone at night. This is due partly to fear of ghosts but partly also to fear of witches. There is equally no doubt that most Navahos are very careful to dispose of materials which could be used in Sorcery. I have seen highly acculturated Navahos scrupulously gather up every hair after a haircut. Navaho secrecy about urination and defecation 4 (contrasting sharply with Pueblo Indian behavior in this respect) is partly to be related to the Navaho modesty configuration, partly to fear of witchcraft. Care in the disposal of the placenta, menstrual blood, etc., and secrecy There

is

all

about the personal name are similar instances.

The Navaho

PART

DATA

I:

55

practice of always giving hospitality to the aged, no matter

by the

fear that otherwise the

sanction against cruelty to dogs

be admitted!)

is

may

how

commonly explained old would witch them. The only

unpleasant the aged individuals

(

be,

is

not a very effective one,

it

must

that the animals will perform witch activity

Fear of refusing a request repeated nana ?co skan ) is explained on similar grounds. There are likewise a number of ceremonial behaviors based upon belief in witchcraft. That the singer must always taste a medicine before giving it to the patient is sometimes regarded as the singer's demonstration that he is not putting witchcraft materials in. That only close relatives are trusted to dispose the more important objects in a chant 5 may be partially based upon fear of witchcraft. I know of three cases where individuals were abandoned by relatives on the ground that they were hopelessly bewitched. Finally, there are the series of acts which most Navahos are careful to avoid committing lest they become suspects. Thus, for example, one Navaho will normally be careful not to step against their tormentors.

four times

•

(

•

over another. 6

Of more true

(

direct evidence there

although

almost none.

is

this is nearly the case

)

to say that

boasts of possession of "evil magic."

vouched to

for cases

know Frenzy

where a man claimed Witchcraft.

One

It is

not quite

no Navaho ever

There are several well (to an intimate or two)

of Hill's interviews 7 contains

the assertion that at one time Wizards resorted to direct black-

have one case 8 where, in a violent quarrel, a singer said, "I have a power" and this was interpreted by his hearers as an oblique way of threatening witchcraft. There is also an instance where remarks in a situation of tension were interpreted as a threat of witchcraft. 9 Probably such indirect blackmail and threatening is not infrequent. The New York Times for December 21, 1936, contained a dispatch under dateline of Tuba City to the effect that "a medicine man" had tried to force other Navahos to move off a certain range by saying that otherwise he would "make magic and their sheep would die." I have heard a few similar stories from the gossip of the Reservation but nothing which I feel to be well attested. 10 Do Navahos practice witchcraft? u We cannot at present

mail. I

—

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

56

answer

this

question on any scientific basis, 12 but perhaps the

who has long been preoccupied with these mateworth setting down on paper. I haven't the slightest doubt that Frenzy Witchcraft is practiced in the sense that Datura and other plants are used. I am almost equally convinced that incantations and other practices of the Sorcery type are attempted. I doubt the witches' sabbath, even though various caves are consistently reported as witches' meeting places. I suspect that graves are robbed. 13 I do not, of course, believe that Wizardry

opinion of one rials is

is

practiced

—at

least not as described in informants' accounts. 14

Perhaps, in terms of incidents, 15

my initial

statement

is

needlessly

There seems clear evidence that witchcraft is practiced we as yet have no scientific certainty as to frequency or as to whether all the types which are described in words are indeed

cautious.

—

actualized in deeds.

SECTION

10:

PARTICIPATION

may be

Participation in belief in witchcraft Sceptical statements of the following sort total of

nineteen informants: "I don't see

things are true

when

discussed

first.

were obtained from a

how

they haven't seen them.

they can say those I

don't believe in

have seen tracks which people said were were-wolf tracks, but I don't know whether they were or not. I think maybe they were just big dog tracks. People talk about were-wolf tracks around their homes at night. But you can always follow those tracks down to the home of some other Navahos where they have big dogs. Long years ago people talked a lot about the witches. I don't know whether it is true or not. My father's grandfather said there weren't any witches." 2 Such remarks, however, cannot be taken at their face-value without examination. There is always the possibility that they are made primarily as devices to justify evading further discussion of the subject. In addition to all the circumstances which have previously been detailed as making Navahos unwilling to talk about witchcraft, witches.

there

is

I

the additional factor of anticipation of disapproval or

on the part of whites. Navahos who have directly or indirectly had contact with schoolteachers, missionaries, etc., know that belief in witchcraft is held in even less regard than credence in chants. To admit to fear of witches is to invite unfavorable responses from whites. I would connect this constellation with the frequently met verbal pattern, "There used to be witches all right, I guess, but I don't believe there are many around any more." While I believe that there are some Navaho whose major attitude is one of scepticism toward witchcraft, my experience necessitates reservations on this score. For in seven cases, where ridicule

57

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

5& I

had been convinced

that in a crisis early conditioning is

was emancipated from demonstrated unequivocally

that an individual

this sector of his culture, later events

still

prevailed.

not an "either/or" matter. As always,

a continuum. The fact

is

we have

Of

course, this

to reckon with

doubtless that there are some persons

toward the sceptical pole of the continuum but who nevertheless can be instigated by special situations to behave as if they did, after all, believe in witchcraft. Observation and report make one conclusion reasonably certain as at least a statruly placed

tistical generalization: fear of

have ceased to believe

witches persists

among people who

in the efficacy of the chants.

Since the actual practice of witchcraft

in doubt,

is

discuss participation only in terms of accusations

and

we can

differential

participation only in terms of the idea patterns abstracted from

the statements of informants.

It

may be noted

that,

while quite

a number of informants claimed to have seen were-animals, only a very few referred to observation of actual witchcraft practices.

Out

of a

Navaho group

living individuals

witchcraft.

Ten

of five

have been accused

hundred members nineteen (

additional individuals

in gossip

—not publicly

)

of

who have been dead from

ten to thirty years have been so accused. In the last thirty years

—

have been six public accusations "trials," and two "witches" have been killed. These are my most trustworthy and useful figures. Some notion of the intensity of Navaho preoccupation with witchcraft may be gathered from the fact that in a period of four months' field work among the Navaho, Drs. A. H. and D. C. Leighton there

their running field notes a total of 859 Navaho references to "threats." Of these 219 were references to threats arising

found in from

social relationships,

and

of these

twenty were references to

witchcraft. 3

Unless one knows a group extremely well, most of the anecdotes which one obtains relate to witches not in the immediate

community but "over the mountain," "across the reservation" generally, the farther away the better, it would seem. After a number of years' work among the Ramah Navaho, I had only whispers of three witches in the whole history of the community

—as against the twenty-nine eventually obtained.

One

interesting

PART

I:

DATA

59

regularity in the distribution of the "far-off" witches

is

that the

Chin Lee area is mentioned far more frequently than any other, and Tuba City, Black Mesa, Shiprock and Cafioncito come up more frequently than could be expected on a random basis. But from a total of 222 cases of persons accused of witchcraft where some other information was available, some idea can be gained as to Navaho conceptions of differential participation.

One hundred and eighty-four were men; all were adults. No women were accused as Wizards or as Frenzy Witches. All women accused were definitely old; 131 of the men were definitely old

(spoken of as "old" "very old," "grey-haired," "white-

haired," etc.

)

.

One hundred and

as ceremonial practitioners of

forty of the

some

sort,

men were

but

described

must be remem-

it

bered that the proportion of adult Navaho men who are ceremonial practitioners is very high. Twenty-one of the men were said to be "headmen" or "chiefs." This is an exceedingly high such leaders to the

figure, considering the proportion of

adult male population.

Twelve

as ceremonial practitioners. total

of the

women were

One hundred and

group were described as rich or

total

referred to

fifteen out of the

"well-off";

seventeen were

described as poor or very poor; for the remainder no economic information was available. All of this

fits

almost perfectly with the idea patterns derived

from direct questioning. is

A few

details

may be

added.

There

the thesis (confirmed by seventeen of the check group) that

childless

women were

particularly apt to

generally and singers especially are

be witches. The old

more feared

has turned white or grey. All older people

after their hair

who wear medicine

at gatherings. The very poor are forced by become helpers to witches. Out of the 103 cases where informants accused (or repeated accusations against) their own relatives, fourteen were directed against a maternal uncle and eighty-one against affinal relatives

pouches are feared their poverty to

much the most prominent of these. Both the "case histories" and direct questioning made plain the Navaho conviction that witchcraft tends to run in family lines. Remarks of this kind were frequent: "Of course, people

with son-in-law accusing father-in-law 4 being

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

60

were pretty sure he was a witch because his old grandfather, he stayed with all the time when he was a boy, was killed

whom

as a witch about twenty years ago." In other words, while singers

and the

rich are

more

liable to suspicion of witchcraft

others, the chances of accusation are materially greater

singer or the rich

man

is

also a son or

than

if

the

grandson or nephew of

someone who had been generally considered to be a witch. Information was collected about 164 supposed victims of witchcraft. Ninety-seven were men, the remainder women. One hundred and twenty-three were adults; otherwise the age distribution seems to be random, so far as it is at all definite. One hundred and thirty-three were described as rich, twelve as poor, six as "medium"; for the remainder no information was available. Eighty-nine were described as blood or clan relations (of whom fifty-nine were siblings); thirty-nine were described as affinal relations. Only three were considered as victims of Sorcery.

An

attempt was

made

to

make

statistical generalizations as

were inadementioned most often (but is there a chronological-acculturation factor here?), next husbandto the learning of witchcraft, but the case histories

quate.

Grandparent-grandchild

wife, next parent-child, last

—

is

siblings.

For reasons which have been alluded to earlier, participation aspects of fear of witchcraft can hardly be discussed on any very precise basis. The generalization may be repeated that essentially all Navaho seem to share this fear to some degree, but the intensity of the fear varies greatly from area to area, from individual to individual, and among the same individuals from time to time and from situation to situation. It is my impression that

women,

as

a group, characteristically manifest more anxiety

about witchcraft than do

Navaho

men

as a group.

The unacculturated

strongly tends to accept the use of supernatural tech-

niques for socially disapproved ends as an inevitable part of the nature of things. Indeed, several informants volunteered re-

—

marks such as "witches are needed for rain just as much as the good side" which would indicate that such malevolent activities were actually necessary to the natural equilibrium. Part of such attitudes is undoubtedly to be traced to belief in the mythological

PART

I:

DATA

6l

portrayal of the importance of witchcraft in pre-emergence times. tells me that when she asked if a certain well-known man were a singer she was told, "No, he knows things much deeper down than that." This was, of course, an oblique reference to the general conviction that this man was a witch. 5 I have

Dr. Reichard old

heard remarks of similar character.

The conception that witchcraft is not only inevitable but even a means of obtaining some kinds of wealth, as

"all right" (as

with reservations

—a proper part of

a singer's knowledge)

may

be connected with what may have once been the preferred ideal is a legitimate technique when used against enemies, or indeed against all outsiders. But there can be little doubt but that witchcraft knowledge was always considered dan-

pattern: witchcraft

gerous

—to possessor as well

of "recklessness" to all forms.

the witch

is

is

The

as to potential victim.

notion

attached not merely to Frenzy Witchcraft but

In fact, one

way

that folk opinion tends to identify

by foolhardy behavior

—especially

when

volves the transgression of supernatural sanctions.

this

in-

As Father

Berard has remarked, "To disregard anything to be feared or tabooed ( bah adzid ) is to expose one's self deliberately either to danger and death, or to be branded as a witch." 6 Addendum. On a final recheck of this material in pageproof

it

strikes

the text of Part

me I as

that

two points do not emerge

as clearly in

the data in the appendices suggest that they

should. 1.

Pueblo Indians are not only resorted to as curers for

two Navahos who live near the Hopi often speak, for example, of the Hopi who enclose themselves in gourds and move rapidly by rolling along. 7 2. Domestic animals and possessions may also be damaged by witchcraft. Clothing, horses, saddles, medicine bundles any personal possession valued greatly and used frequently is

witchcraft, they are also themselves feared as witches (the

things are, of course, connected).

—

subject to attack. 8

PART

II:

INTERPRETATION

AN ESSAY IN STRUCTURAL DYNAMICS

SECTION

On

1:

INTRODUCTORY

the basis of informants' descriptions and tales, together

with observed behaviors which informants stated were motivated

by

this

beliefs

same corpus of folklore, an account and practices has been presented.

delusion that this treatment anticipate that

many

is

of

"definitive."

local variations

ent traits remain to be discovered. 1

I

Navaho witchcraft

am not under the On the contrary, I

and some completely I

think

it is

differ-

not unlikely that

some areas which were inadequately sampled (for example, the northern Navaho territory) may present a somewhat distinct facies. It is more than possible that even some of the major inductions which I have drawn from the data will require modification or revision. Indeed, I hope that this study will instigate other workers among the Navaho to collect materials which will test the validity of the generalizations which have been made here. Nevertheless, the sampling reported upon is extensive and intensive enough for something more than sheer description to be required. We have seen what the facts are. Now what do they mean? "Meaning," in science, consists primarily in showing that one fact bears not a haphazard but a determinate relationship to another fact or set of facts. Are there any uniform modes of relationship between the data bearing on Navaho witchcraft and the data on Navaho history; between witchcraft beliefs and practices and Navaho social organization, Navaho economy, the structuring of the whole pattern assemblage in

—

Navaho value systems? The greater portion

be devoted to this sort of be drawn to certain facts and

of Part II will

structural analysis. Attention will

impressions relative to the geographical distribution of various witchcraft concepts found

among 65

the Navaho, and a few highly

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

66

tentative suggestions as to the possible historical significance of

such

distributions will

upon the

be made. But emphasis will be focussed on the one hand, the actual value

structural dynamics:

of contemporary

Navaho Witchcraft

component

and practices Navaho Society and

beliefs

the preservation of the equilibrium of

for its

—

on the other hand, the "cost" the disruptive effects of such beliefs and practices. Obviously, the materials which are at hand in the appendices would be susceptible of many other types of analysis. Indeed, I made some tentatives along lines which I did not follow out at all exhaustively, and it may be worth while, in this introductory individuals,

—

section, to

which

I

comment

upon

briefly

experimented.

The

different sorts of attack with

uniformities of symbolic reference

could doubtless be dissected out by one with the requisite I

skills.

tried to test certain interpretations of the "deeper" psycho-

Morgan 2 may be

analytic order. istic details

the mother. But of the old

right in intimating that cannibal-

represent infantile phantasies of aggression against

become

this, as of Jones's 3 interesting

witches, because

oessation of sexual activity,

can only say that

I

suggestion that

they are dissatisfied

material which either confirms or refutes. 4

I

see

with the

little

for Jones's hypothesis of castration threat as motivating tasies of

male witches and

for

in

The same may be

my said

phan-

Roheim's 5 contention that "witches

are representatives of the 'bad mother' image, of the talic aspect of the child's

body destruction phantasy." In general, "sexual" Navaho data seemed to me strained and

interpretations of the

much

less satisfying

than those relating to the total social milieu.

Morgan 6 found symbolic of his material, but in

representations of intercourse in

my

rather than symbolically cloaked. Actually, as victims less

some

data sexual references seem direct

women

are specified

frequently than men, nor does analysis of tales told

by men show a higher proportion of female victims than those told by women. A more promising kind of analysis seemed that of using the data as source materials on "how Navahos think." What do Navahos consider as evidence? What types of connections between events do they infer? What are the unstated premises of their logics?

It is clear, for instance, that

the use of exuviae

PART HI INTERPRETATION

makes sense only

67

in terms of belief in

an implicit assumption:

that of the principle of holophrastic magic.

depend

for

their

validity

upon the

Similarly,

principle

of

many

acts

sympathetic

magic. Also inviting was this line of attack: the types of envy

which recur in the interview excerpts (jealousy of "people with turquoise and property," of men with "good women" [rich, skilful, beautiful women], of persons of the same sex who have "good looks") and similar data could be utilized to infer the types of motivation which influence the individual Navaho (of given status) most strongly. It is hoped that others may be moved to exploit these and various unmentioned angles from which interpretations might be made. But preliminary exploration of the possibilities convinced

me

that a treatment of the place of witchcraft in the general

Navaho society would be the most rewarding direcwhich interpretation could take at the present time. For unwarranted generalizations as to the bearing of witchcraft upon social structure are current in comparative sociology. Not only laymen but distinguished anthropologists have been heard to operation of tion

utter unqualified statements of this sort: "Belief in sorcery 7

is

one of the most destructive things a society can possess." There is no doubt that belief in the possibility of malevolent manipulation of the supernatural inevitably has

some

socially disintegrat-

ing effects. However, here, as everywhere in the field of culture,

which depart from an abstract concept such as be highly misleading and dangerous. The given belief and practice must always be viewed in relation to its special phrasing, its place in the total structure and in relageneralizations

"witchcraft" are likely to

tion to the general situation of the particular society at a partic-

Navaho

must immediately from most Melanesian "witchcraft" in that Navaho "witches" seldom boast openly of their power and are not available as hired agents. Section 3 of Part II will, therefore, be given over to structural analysis. 8 The hypothesis will be developed that the euphoric effects of the witchcraft pattern assemblage are considerable, perhaps even out-weighing the dysphoric effects at the present moment. It is hoped that this may influence anthropologists ular time.

"witchcraft," for example,

be recognized as a horse of a

different color

68

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

more frequently

to examine without prejudice the contributions any pattern assemblage to the total social system and to resist the tendency to label "witchcraft" or "sorcery" as "evil" in accord with the connotations which such words as "witchcraft" and "sorcery" have in our language, conformant to our system of sentiments. It is also hoped that this exercise in structural analysis may contribute to the general understanding of some aspects of Navaho social structure which have perhaps been insufficiently appreciated. At the same time, the emphasis upon structure will by no means preclude other kinds of interpretation. Thus witchcraft as an expression in phantasy for the culturally disallowed, but unconsciously wanted, will be considered because such wish

of

—

fulfilments are of obvious utility to individuals in the preservation

of their equilibrium.

SECTION 2: DISTRIBUTIONAL AND HISTORICAL COMMENTS

Ideally, the "historical"

mode

of interpretation

would show some

us how, in terms of the historical experience of the Navaho,

forms of folk belief and practice relating to witchcraft (and not others ) are present. For example, why is belief in injury through intrusive objects prominent, whereas fear of soul loss does not occur in any clear-cut form? To be sure, the explanation of such

problems

is

seldom purely

historical.

Navaho could have become

It is

quite possible that the

through contact or diffusion, with the concept of soul loss and yet have failed almost completely to incorporate the notion into the assemblage of idea patterns relating to witchcraft because of incompatibility with the prevalent underlying configurations. 1 Or, when the Athabascan-speaking cultural ancestors of the Navaho lived in a different physical environment, they may have employed other plants in witchcraft, but these pattern-parts would have lapsed through familiar,

sheer unavailability of the plants in the present ecological situation.

Nevertheless, the historical aspect of the presence or absence

form is invariably of indispensable importance. Absence of a trait means, very often, merely that the people have never been presented, either by stimulus diffusion or by contact diffusion, with the opportunity of acquiring the trait. Although questions of rejection, partial rejection and reinterpretation must always be carefully examined, presence of a trait has usually to be understood, in part, through distributional analysis and hisof a given cultural

torical inference.

In this case, however, the lack of the requisite 69

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

7°

information from other societies makes an historical interpretation of the forms of Navaho witchcraft premature.

To make

historical inferences

from the distributional data,

we

should need to know (if there were to be any substantial expectation that the inferences would be valid): ( 1 ) which Navaho traits were shared with a very large number of tribes of western North America; (2) which Navaho traits were shared with some, at least, Athabascan tribes of Canada,

Pacific

Coast United States, southwestern United States and

many other many or most

not with

tribes; (3)

with

tribes of southwestern

which Navaho

traits were shared United States; (4) which Navaho traits tended to be shared only with other southern Athabascan tribes; ( 5 ) which Navaho traits were shared only -with Pueblo tribes, only with the Ute, etc. These facts are simply not procurable at present. Witchcraft

not described for some tribes at

merely mentioned that is very brief and general. The absence of traits is almost never mentioned. 2 In short, the published materials on witchcraft for the peoples of western North America are, with a few exceptions, so meager and insufficiently detailed that a comparative distributional study must wait. Comment will, therefore, be limited to is

such conceptions

drawing attention data do suggest.

exist.

to a

all; it is

In other jases, the description

few considerations which the available

After a preliminary exploration of the literature

made

plain

gave up any attempt to deal exhaustively with even But even a cursory reading of the fragmentary literature shows that a very large number of the Navaho traits have a wide, though often spotty, distribution in western North America. A superficial examination of the mate-

the gaps,

I

the existent publications.

on the Athabascan speakers of Canada and of the Pacific Coast of the United States suggested that their witchcraft beliefs resembled those of the Navaho considerably less than they did those of neighboring peoples speaking languages of other families. 3 In fact, I failed to find any elements which I would be tempted to call "general Athabascan." Of course, if we turn to rials

the southern Athabascans, there are many specific parallels. Association with incest, trial and execution of witches and other

PART

II

:

INTERPRETATION

71

found among the western Apache. 4 Incest connecambivalent attitude toward ceremonial practitioners, the sacrifice of a close relative and other parallels likewise turn up among the Chiricahua Apache. 5 But it is very difficult to find any trait shared by the various Apache groups and the Navaho which both of these do not also share with Pueblo culture. Indeed, it is my impression that Navaho witchcraft as a whole has more in common with Pueblo witchcraft (if one may lump the beliefs and practices found in various Pueblos) than it does with Apache witchcraft (if one lumps the information on different Apache groups). Such "lumping," however, is premature in the absence of adequate published data for Lipan, Mescalero, Jicarilla and Kiowa Apache. And Dr. M. E. Opler, on reading the galleys of this book, pointed out many highly specific parallels, which I had not found in the literature. Dr. Opler, who undoubtedly has the broadest comparative knowledge of southern Athabascan cultures, writes me: "I believe I can show that there are two layers of Navaho thought and practice on witchcraft, one of which draws largely from Pueblo sources; the other of which agrees in pattern and spirit with general Apachean." As one reads through Parsons' survey of Pueblo witchcraft, 6 one notices very few items indeed which are not represented ( albeit sometimes in differently phrased form) in the Navaho material. There are, of course, some differences. Noteworthy absences in the traits known for the Navaho are the Tewa and Keresan beliefs concerning rag dolls (especially those in the form of clowns) and stealing the victim's heart. Some of the differences bear an obvious relation to certain contrasting configurations of the two cultures. Thus, witch activity to prevent rain is not referred to in the published Navaho data nor does it appear in any of my interviews. The highly individualistic structuring of traits are also

tion, killing of witches,

Navaho witchcraft activity

meet

is

in

is

also arresting.

With few

directed against a single individual.

caves

and

plot,

exceptions, the

While Witches

and while Wizards are sometimes

described as operating in groups of two or three, far the greatest

number

of stories picture a lone witch practicing against a lone

victim.

The Navaho who wishes

to use the supernatural

malev-

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

72

—

someone must himself become a witch he cannot someone to do the witching. It is specifically mentioned that husband or wife are often unaware that the partner is a witch, 7 and the major pattern is that of the single witch in an innocent family. There is, of course, no precise counterpart among the Navaho to the treatment of witchcraft victims by Tewa and

olently against hire

Keresan curing

societies.

In general, however, the correspond-

ences between Navaho and Pueblo are as frequent and intensive as one

would expect between two

cultures long in intimate con-

tact.

Belief in were-animals and many other features is shared with the Spanish-speaking peoples of the Southwest, but both positive and negative differences bulk much larger than as be-

tween Navaho and Pueblo. The fact that few Navaho have been able to speak more than a little Spanish and still fewer Spanishspeaking persons have had any command of Navaho has tended to prevent any detailed exchange of patterns. Some Spanish patterns have doubtless reached the Navaho through Pueblo intermediaries.

There are those who seem tions of witchcraft

came

have held that all, or most, noSouthwestern Indians from Euro-

to

to the

pean

sources, through the Spanish. In view of the essentially world-wide distribution of a number of beliefs about witches, this view seems to me highly implausible. A reciprocal influence seems at present a much better guess. The almost universal distribution of certain elements gives probability to Clements' 8 intimation that a complex of certain witchcraft beliefs was part of a generalized Palaeolithic culture which, in some sense, forms

the ultimate basis of

all

known

cultures.

Intrusive object witch-

from every continent, and one finds the concept of the sacrifice of a near relative as far from Europe and Amer9 Upon ica as, for example, in New Zealand and the Marquesas. such general foundations the peoples of various regions have, of course, developed their own peculiar elaborations. It is these which I would guess the Southwestern Indians and the Spanishspeaking peoples of the Southwest to have, to some extent, reciprocally diffused. To take the most certain instance, the assocraft is familiar

PART H: INTERPRETATION

73

came

ciation of cats with witchcraft almost certainly

to the

Indians from the Spanish.

complexes of witchwell have separate historical origins. Frenzy Witchcraft is easily the most distinct, and originally may scarcely have had more in common with the other types than that it was also a secret, socially disapproved

There appear

craft ideas

among

to

be three

fairly distinct

the Navaho, and these

may

form of influencing the course of events by techniques involving the supernatural. Elements shared today (association with incest; 10 direction against the rich; 11

name of the may very con-

invocation of the

victim 12 ) with the other varieties of witchcraft

ceivably represent recent syncretism, under the influence of a

generalized witchcraft configuration.

Frenzy Witchcraft

I

sus-

pect to be "non-Athabascan," largely on the ground that similar practices are not reported for the

Navaho

Apache

tribes. 13

I

would guess

have obtained the basic notions from Pueblo groups, although, if there be anything to Navaho traditions that certain clans came from the Pacific Coast of California, a derivation from Datura using peoples of southern California or Arizona may be suspected. However, Dr. Opler suggests that Frenzy Witchcraft is connected historically with Apache 'love magic." Wizardry is somewhat less surely distinct, but here too such elements as nakedness of practitioners, association with the death sub-configuration 14 may possibly be traced to the operation of the syncretistic tendency. In view of the unanimous Navaho testimony as to the recency of Wizardry, its derivation is puzzling. Again, I would guess Pueblo or, possibly, Spanish through Pueblo. The final category centers in Witchery and Sorcery, but also includes Disease Witchcraft and Eagle Pit Sorcery. Indeed, it may be defined residually as embracing all Navaho Witchcraft beliefs except those of Frenzy Witchcraft and Wizardry. The basic components of this complex seem to be most firmly tied in to Navaho culture, but, considering Pueblo parallels, I would hesitate to postulate a "pre- Southwestern" origin. These "tentative guesses" are so highly unsatisfactory that it is a relief to come to two uniformities in the data for which an historical explanation can be put forward with some confidence. the

to

—

—

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

74

These are the recurrent tendencies to mention the Chin LeeCanyon de Chelly and the Canoncito Navaho groups as especially witch-ridden. 15

As Hill 16 has pointed out, the Canyons de Chelly and del Muerto area is somewhat aberrant and culturally distinctive in the it

Navaho country

as a whole.

differentiated as the

home

The Navaho themselves

of beautiful

women 17 and

consider as con-

nected with chants of the God-impersonators sub-group 18 and clans

who

are supposed to have originated or to have brought

these chants. 19

The Navaho reproach

this

area not only as witch-

infested but also as thief-ridden 20

and as "responsible for bringing enemies into the country." There is, I believe, a common historical factor which explains all of these reactions. In the late eighteenth century when the Hopi towns were beset by famine and plague, fairly large numbers of Hopi migrated to Canyons de Chelly and del Muerto and amalgamated with the Navaho then living there. There are also stories of other accretions of Pueblo population in this region during comparatively recent times.

At

all

events,

Navaho and Hopi tradition and folk belief agree Canyon de Chelly Navaho have an unproportion of Pueblo blood. Likewise, a number of

that the contemporary

usually large

the cultural features which Hill mentions as aberrant reflect

Pueblo influence. Finally, the Navaho consider the chants of the God-impersonators sub-group to have been partially derived from the Pueblo. In terms of all these factors, other Navahos tend to feel their fellow tribesmen of the region of the canyon as in some sense aliens. The ascription of witchcraft is, then, to be understood in part as the projection of hostile impulses toward partial out-groupers who live in the midst of the in-group. In part, it must also be understood in terms of the fear and dread which Navahos have tended, and to some extent still tend, to have of Pueblo Indians as superiors in the arts of the supernatural. In this case, just as the

Navaho

of this area are associated

with especially rich and powerful chants; so, by the same token, are they connected with a peculiarly dangerous knowledge of

bad side" of Navaho religion. The Canoncito group are likewise "Navaho who are not quite Navaho." They are, in large part, descendants of Navahos

"the

PART H: INTERPRETATION

who were

75

missionized by the Spanish during the During succeeding wars between the Navaho and the Spanish this group of Navaho often aided the Spanish. Hence, they are commonly referred to by reservation Navaho as "enemy people," and expressions of hostility toward them are partially

eighteenth century.

not infrequent. In addition,

it is

conceivable that a feeling that

they obtained witchcraft knowledge from the powerful Spanish enters the picture.

Finally, the fact that

Navaho witches who

were expelled from their own communities took refuge among the Canoncito group has doubtless intensified the conviction that witches were especially to be dreaded in this region. A final problem which is partly historical: namely, that of the effervescence of witchcraft in the immediately post-Fort

Sumner section.

period,

is

best reserved for treatment in the succeeding

SECTION 3: NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT AS PROVIDING CULTURALLY DEFINED ADAPTIVE AND ADJUSTIVE RESPONSES 1

Introductory In the preceding section

we were

the cultural forms which define

interested in the origins of

Navaho

and

witchcraft beliefs

The questions we asked (but could not answer) were: where? when? from whom did these patterns come? We can make the transition to our interests in this section simply by askpractices.

ing a different set of questions with respect to the diffusion process: why were particular cultural forms selected and others presumably rejected? how were they re-interpreted in accord with peculiarly Navaho meanings? Granted that fear of certain types of malevolent activity on the part of others could have been acquired from persons in foreign tribes, how is it that among the Navaho such fear is directed primarily toward singers, the old, the rich? If

must

we hope

to

answer such questions with any

validity,

limit ourselves almost entirely to constants in the data,

we

such

normal price of initiation. When mentioned by only one or a very few informants, an interpretation, however suggestive and generally plausible, which related this feature to some supposed strain or tension in Navaho social organization would be of doubtful value. The "explanation" might well He in the interaction of the "temperament" or "personality" of the given informant with a as killing of a sibling being the

a particular feature

is

76

PART H: INTERPRETATION

7

social situation peculiar to

eralized pressure felt

by

him

all

—rather than

in a gen-

at the time

individuals of one sex, age group

and

status. It is likewise plain that we shall not get very far if we talk about witchcraft alone. A structural analysis ( an investigation of "functional dependences") is a study in the interrelation of parts.

All of the parts

must be described before

can be understood.

A

description of

their interrelationships

many

Navaho

aspects of

so-

be a necessary background to comprehension of the workings of witchcraft. This becomes clear immediately when we ask the question which is actually most central to our conceptual scheme: why have witchcraft patterns (whatever their historical source!) survived through the periods to which our material relates? If we look at a few features of the Navaho socialization process and at some conditions of Navaho life which the child early experiences, we at once gain a partial (though by no means complete) enlightenment. cial structure will, therefore,

Early Life as Background for the Survival of Belief in Witchcraft Just as

we have

learned in physics and chemistry, and

biology, that the previous experience of any energy

now

in

complex contin-

ues to operate in the present, because the past experience is not out of some mysterious realm, but it is just this persistent modification of the energy

complex that continues

the consideration of

human

to operate in the present; so in

conduct,

we

are beginning to see that

when

these early experiences of childhood,

the infant

is

just begin-

ning to construct his private world and to organize those patterns of feeling that will be coercive over subsequent experience, continue to operate in every attempt the child makes to order events, to organize experience and to learn to regulate his conduct. 2

—

-L.

Let us observe,

first

of

all,

how

persistence of witchcraft beliefs.

K. Frank

implements the even before he is

socialization

The

child,

fully responsive to verbalizations, begins to get a picture of ex-

perience as potentially menacing. elders, confess their

He

sees his parents,

and other

impotence to deal with various matters by

technological or other rational

means

in that they resort to exo-

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

7§ teric prayers, rites.

When

songs and "magical" observances and to esoteric he has been linguistically socialized, he hears the

hushed gossip of witchcraft and learns that there are certain whom his family suspect and fear. One special experience of early childhood which may be of considerable im-

fellow tribesmen

portance occurs during

toilet training.

with mother or with older

sister to

When

the toddler goes

defecate or urinate, a certain

uneasiness which they manifest (in most cases) about the con-

cealment of the waste matter can hardly fail to become communicated to the child. The mother, who has been seen not only as a prime source of gratification but also as an almost omnipotent is now revealed as herself afraid, at the mercy of threatening forces. The contrast must be uncommonly great between

person,

the picture of the world which the child had during what the

psychoanalysts call the period of "oral mastery" and the picture of the world

which he

during the period

from the words and acts of his elders is being obliged to give up the "inof unrestricted urination and defecation.

gets

when he

stinctual gratifications"

Other early experiences of the child help to create a soil the implanting of belief in such a phenomenon as witchcraft. What with a diet which no longer has even the advantages of being a trial and error adaptation over many generations to the peculiar conditions of Navaho life, with no skills for combatting the disease introduced by Europeans, with drafty hogans and wet clothing and other inadequate protections, it is

fertile for

hardly surprising that Navaho children are frequently threats to health

which were

ill.

The

characteristic of the aboriginal cul-

still largely present, but additional threats arising out unwise adoption of our dietary habits and from other European borrowings have been added. In short, it is inevitable that the

ture are of

Navaho

child experiences discomfort

satisfactory

means

of alleviation.

—without quick or

and pain

The

child likewise sees others

Hunger, too, is an early experience. Not many Navaho have attained adulthood without knowing starvation for short periods and hunger rations for long periods. Since the child soon discovers that even his mother cannot control these things and since the doings and sayings of his elders make it plain that all of these privations occur even when people work

ill

and

suffering.

PART

INTERPRETATION

II:

very hard and very

79

wonder

small

skilfully, it is

that experience

has a capricious and malevolent component for most Navahos.

fits

Thus we see, in a very general way, how a belief in witches with what the young Navaho very soon comes to expect of

living.

But

we have

as yet

learned

little

as to

why

these particular

forms of belief in witchcraft should be perpetuated. The learning of urine and faeces concealment may act as a conditioning mechanism specific to witchcraft belief. Otherwise, however, the only thing which seems

some

sort of

demanded by

the conditions listed

is

fear of

malevolent forces. To get beyond the demonstration

of a social matrix favorable to the survival of beliefs of the

we must examine

generic type of witchcraft,

systematically the

makes to how-

contributions which the witchcraft pattern assemblage

the maintenance of personal and

which

ever, the conceptual tools

must be

social equilibrium.

will

be used in

First,

this analysis

set forth.

Manifest "Functions" and Latent "Functions"

My

basic postulate for the ensuing discussion

adjustive or adaptive, in

some

sense, for the

that no which are

is

cultural forms survive unless they constitute responses

members

society or for the society considered as a perduring unit. tive"

is

of the

"Adap-

a purely descriptive term referring to the fact that certain

types of behavior result in survival (for the individual or for society as a whole). "Adjustive" refers to those responses

which

bring about an adjustment of the individual, which remove the

motivation stimulating the individual.

Thus suicide

is

adjustive

but not adaptive.

An

analysis in terms of adaptive

very similar to that which

many

and adjustive responses

is

anthropologists have termed

Thus Radclifle-Brown has recently written: would define the social function of a socially standardized

"functional."

"...

I

mode

of activity, or

mode

of thought, as

its

relation to the social

which it makes some has often been pointed out,

structure to the existence or continuity of contribution."

word

3

However,

since, as

used in importantly different senses in mathematics, physiology and anthropology, the introduction of

the

"function"

is

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

8o

the concepts "adaptive and adjustive responses" seems a means

which have inhered in "function" Moreover, the concept of "adjustive response"

of avoiding the ambiguities

and

"functional."

should direct our attention to the contributions which of

Navaho

culture

of individuals.

makes

this aspect

to the preservation of the equilibrium

Anthropological "functionalism" has too often in formulating the relations between the ab-

been so interested

stracted parts of the social structure that there has

ency

to lose sight of the concrete

tions

and rewards

felt

human

organisms.

by persons have been

been a tend-

The motiva-

lost sight of in the

preoccupation with the significance of a culture pattern for the social system.

In this study the terms "function" and "functional" will

ways be used

in quotation

marks

al-

—as a reminder that they are not

intended as equivalents for these terms as used in either mathematics or physiology. Rather, a given bit of culture is "functional" insofar as it defines a mode of response which is adaptive

from the standpoint of the society or adaptive and adjustive from the standpoint of the individual. This definition is broader than the one which has been usual in anthropology in that the relation of the culture pattern to both the total social structure and to individual organisms is envisioned. The definition also seems more rigorous: the operations by which the "function" of a culture pattern is defined consist in showing how the fulfilment of the pattern promotes the solidarity or survival of the society and the maintenance of their equilibrium on the part of individuals.

Lest a needless confusion

arise, it is useful at this

point to

introduce Merton's helpful distinction between "manifest func-

and "latent function." 4 One can very easily point to cultural forms which lack manifest "function." For example, a cowboy (or a recent Plains Indian) will spend an hour catching a horse which he then rides for a distance considerably shorter than he covered on foot while catching the animal. Taken literalistically and superficially, this act ( and the pattern of which it is a manifestation) seems distinctly "non-functional." It does have no manifest 'Junction." But more than one latent "function" may be pointed out. The cowboy escapes the ridicule to which he would tion"

PART H: INTERPRETATION

be exposed

if

8l

another cowboy saw him walking (on any other

mission than that of catching a horse )

.

He

also preserves his

own

sense of self-respect and of the fitness of things. All apparently

elements in cultures,

"non-functional"

may be

dysteleologies," similar order.

The

all

so-called

"cultural

seen to have latent "functions" of a

at present mechanically useless buttons

on

the sleeve of a European man's suit subserve the "function" of

preserving the familiar, 5 of maintaining a tradition. People are,

more comfortable

in general, if

if

they feel a continuity of behavior,

they feel themselves as following out the orthodox and socially

approved forms of behavior.

This latent "function," therefore,

constitutes a distinctly adjustive response.

houses"

when

Similarly, saying "five

house" would be sufficient at the level of

"five

manifest "function"

is

to

be understood

as fulfiling the latent

"function" of bolstering the individual's security through adher-

ence to a familiar and established tradition.

What, then, are the "functions," the sociological raison d'etre, (and perhaps practice of) witchcraft by the Navaho? will It be convenient to consider this question first from the standpoint of the adjustive responses which such beliefs and

of belief in

practices

make

possible for the individual.

We shall then see how

they constitute, up to a point, adaptive responses for the society. Since a society categories

is

made up

inevitably merge,

angles of perspective will

of individual organisms, the

two

but an emphasis upon the two

show the

"functions" in sharper focus.

Manifest "Functions" of Witchcraft for the Individual

The manifest practice

is

Navaho

"functions" are limited in number.

concerned, witchcraft

is

So far as

obviously a means of attain-

women, disposing of enemies and "being mean." In short, witchcraft is a potential avenue to supernatural power. Power seems to be an important central theme in Navaho

ing wealth, gaining

culture of to

some

which gaining wealth, disposing of enemies, and even, women are merely par-

extent, obtaining possession of

ticular examples.

An

inadequate memory, lack of the fees for teachers (the

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

82

teacher of witchcraft needs to be paid only by the sacrifice of a

some Navahos from attaining through the socially approved route of becoming a singer. For such persons learning witchcraft is a manifest antidote to deprivation. Indeed, the presence of the witchcraft patterns must be a constant "temptation" to Navahos who lust for power but have not attained it by other means. The practice of witchcraft similarly supplies an outlet to those Navaho in whom aggressive impulses are peculiarly strong. Old Navahos sibling!), or other factors prevent

supernatural power

comment that the men who used to organize war parties were of a special personality type: "they were the ones that always liked to stir up trouble." One may speculate that personalities who found leading a war party an especially congenial occupation would find becoming a witch the most congenial substitute in the contemporary Navaho world. But since most of the data evidence belief in witchcraft rather than practice of witchcraft, our major attention must be given to seeing how witchcraft "functions" in the lives of Navahos who are not witches. At the manifest level, it may be pointed out, first of all, that witchcraft stories have the obvious value of the often

dramatic

—the exciting

story.

They

partially fulfil the "functions"

which books and magazines, plays and moving pictures carry out in our culture. In the second place, it must be realized that witchcraft ideology gives a partial answer to the problems which disturb the Navaho as well as other peoples stubborn illness

—

without apparent etiology, death without visible cause. One of man's peculiarities is that he requires "reasons" for the occurrence of events. 6

One

of the manifest "functions" of belief in witchcraft

that such belief supplies answers to questions

is

which would

—and

because perplexing, disturbing. More specifically, the availability of witchcraft as an explanation helps to maintain the Navaho's conviction in the efficacy of the curing ceremonials. If a chant which has been performed without otherwise be perplexing

a hitch by a singer of great reputation fails, nevertheless, to cure, the Navaho need not wonder: "Are the chants really any good?

Or

are

we

perhaps, after

forces that cause illness?"

planation

is

at

all,

A

hopelessly at the mercy of the

culturally acceptable alternative ex-

hand: "The disease was caused by witchcraft,

PART that's

INTERPRETATION

II :

why

83

the chant didn't work."

This line of reasoning also

who has failed. Unless he be of a kind that voicing such a suspicion will be a boomerang against himself, he may say, "Well, my friends, I have done my best and my chant is very powerful. But your unfortunate kinsman has clearly been witched. As you know, only Evil Way chants will do any good against those who have been witched. And the best medicine is not a chant but a prayer ceremonial. That is why I have failed. I am sure that the man who did divination should have found out that a witch was behind this illness/' But would the convenience of witchcraft as an explanation gives an obvious out for the singer

feels the situation to

be, of itself, sufficient to ensure the survival of such beliefs at the expense of more rational modes of explanation? It must be re-

membered

Navahos characteristically continue have lost all trust in Navaho medicine. Even in a more complex culture like our own which prides itself upon its rationality, belief in "black magic" is by no means that acculturated

to fear witches after they

totally extinct.

Christian it

was an

survival

all,

The

until comparatively recent times, the

—not that witchcraft was untrue but that

evil religion.

explanation. supports.

After

Church taught

Our

culture hardly needs witchcraft as

tenacity of such beliefs

must have additional

To understand fully why witchcraft belief has such value among the Navaho, we must look at the latent

"functions" of belief in witchcraft for the individual.

Latent "Functions" of Witchcraft for the Individual Navaho

ize

The most obvious of these is that the individual can capitalon the credence of his fellows in these patterns to gain the

center of the stage for himself. It

Navahos complain

of the

is difficult

symptoms

to

know how

often

of witchcraft as a device for

But close analysis of some cases where the well-known indicates that this mechanism is sometimes employed. A high proportion of those who have suddenly "fainted" or gone into a semi-trance state at "squaw dances" getting attention.

personal context

is

or other large gatherings are

women

or

men who

are

somewhat

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

84

The rich and powerful (who somewhat aggressive types) tend to andiscovered by a diagnostician in the privacy

neglected or occupy low status. are usually, of course,

nounce or

have

to

homes

of their

it

that they are victims of witchcraft.

seventeen cases where

who

collapsed at

But, out of

have the relevant facts, eleven of those large gatherings were women and thirteen of

those were persons

I

known

to receive a

sponses in the normal run of things.

minimum These

of prestige re-

facts

fit

well with

phenomena which have been reported from other cultures. a commonplace that European and New England witch were frequently started by publicity seekers, often children. probable that in the South frustrated women make up a

similar It is trials

It is

considerable proportion of the accusations which get Negroes lynched. Linton points out that

among

the Tanala of Madagascar

"most of those subject to tromba [a neurotic seizure indicated by an extreme desire to dance] are persons of minor importance." 7 A fuller quotation from Linton 8 will bring out the parallel concretely:

...

and him with a means of escape from the limitations and thwartings which the social system imposes upon him. ... It is ina technique for re-establishing the ego of the individual

of providing

teresting to note that social structure.

A

tromba occurs only

in certain positions in the

hereditary priest, the chief of a village or the

hereditary head of a lineage never has tromba.

A

younger son,

has to be submissive to the head of the lineage, frequently has

who

A

it.

with children practically never has tromba, but a first wife who has no children and is consequently subject to disapproval and social disadvantage does have it occasionally. Its highest incidence, however, is among sterile secondary wives who stand at the

first

wife

.

.

.

bottom of the bearing

social scale

with the whole pressure of the structure blocking them in every direction.

down on them and

[Linton describes in detail what happens seizure.]

.

when someone

gets a

.

.

tromba

The possessed person during all this time is the center of all more powerful members of his family

the attention, and the richer and

have to foot the bill. In this way, the individual's ego is well satisfied and he can get along quite well until the next tromba seizure occurs. Like most hysterical seizures, tromba requires an audience. .

.

.

PART HI INTERPRETATION

85

Mead's material on the

differential participation in certain trance

states in Bali 9 suggests

somewhat

similar interpretations.

A

second latent "function" of the corpus of witchcraft lore for individuals is that of providing a socially recognized channel for the expression (in varying degrees of obliquity) of the cultur-

Certain aberrant impulses ( such as those toward and necrophilia) may achieve some release in phantasy. Of course, a man can have a day dream involving intercourse with a dead woman without recourse to a witchcraft setting. But he is then likely to have his pleasure dampened by worry over the abnormality of his phantasy. In the Navaho phrase "he will wonder if he is losing his mind." He will probably feel under the ally disallowed.

incest

necessity

Whereas,

of if

having Blessing

Way

sung over him at once.

the phantasy takes the form of repeating (or

manu-

facturing) a witchcraft tale involving this incident or visualizations while listening to another telling such a story, the psychological

mechanisms

of identification or projection permit the outlet

in phantasy without conflict.

Quantitatively

more

significant as

adjustive responses are

the ways in which witchcraft beliefs and practices allow the expression of direct and displaced antagonisms.

The Leightons

found that into their category of "difficulties with other Navahos" fell 26 per cent of the 859 "threats" which were mentioned in their interview material.

They note

that intra-tribal friction ranks

second only to the disease-accident and injury-religious beliefs as a source of the worries which Navahos reported to them. 10 My own material abundandy confirms this indication of the importance of the problem of aggression in Navaho society at the present time. Witchcraft is, of course, only one of many possible ways of handling this problem and is indeed only one of a number of ways utilized by the Navaho. Fights occur; aggression is expressed against dead relatives as ghosts; there are other cultural devices for meeting the hostility problem which will be discussed

due means in

course.

But

if

myths and

of sublimating the

Navaho

encies, 11 witchcraft provides

stood means

rituals

provide the principal

individual's anti-social tend-

one of the principally

of expressing them.

socially under-

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

86

To

see in detail

how

this is so will require

examination of the

sources of personal insecurity and intra-social tension

among

the

Navaho. Such a discussion will also supply the appropriate background for consideration of the third latent "function" of witchcraft: the objectification and alleviation of displaced anxieties arising from the general situation of the Navaho or from the spea particular

cial situation of

Navaho

at a particular time.

Sources of Personal Insecurity and Intra-Group Tension among the Navaho

The Leightons of health worry."

rightly speak of "the

12

frequent than in our personal illness

is

own

marked preponderance

probably considerably more society. 13 And it is not merely that

health

111

is

a threat to the individual's security system.

any member of the household means that his or her others; it means also that everyone must make economic sacrifices to pay for the appropriate ceremonials. In other words, the prevalence of ill health which throws additional burdens on the well and strong is in itself productive of tensions and probably of unconscious antagonisms. Besides sickness, other unpleasant and ill-understood events occur all too often.

The

illness of

tasks fall

upon

Lightning strikes a relative or destroys a valuable part of one's flock. There is no rain or rain comes at the wrong season or

comes in such a downpour that the young plants are washed out; a late freeze blights a field or an unseasonably early frost in autumn ruins what had promised to be a bumper crop. Navaho culture is a scarcity culture. Making a living in that semi-arid environment is uncertain at best, and recent growth of popula14 Few Navaho tion and over-grazing have increased the hazards. families have any appreciable reserve food supply, and credit at the trading stores families. is

If

is

indefinitely elastic only for the wealthier

weather conditions are too unfavorable, real hunger

the result.

To

sickness

and the

difficulties of

making a

living

is

added

another realistic threat: the increasing pressure of our aggressive

and exploiting

society.

The growth

Navaho and white number of Navahos into

of both

populations forces a greater and greater

PART HI INTERPRETATION direct

87

economic competition with whites.

Each new school

generation means that a larger proportion of Navahos must face the difficult problem of compromising between the the two cultures.

During the

last

demands

of

generation the impact of the

whites has been steadily intensified. With the increase in white

population and their encroachment upon lands needed by the

Navaho

for their

own

expansion, with mounting activity of In-

dian Service representatives and other whites within the Navaho country, the Navaho have come to feel themselves in an acutely uncomfortable situation. Indifference and withdrawal are no longer effective responses. They know they must develop some suitable form of compromise with our civilization. At the moment they feel themselves exploited, surrounded by more powerful forces, "on the spot."

These objective hazards contingent upon the physical, bioand social environment make for personal insecurity and for intensification of inter-personal conflicts. As Sumner and Keller have observed in The Science of Society: "Where men are existing with slight resources on the edge of catastrophe they are full of hostility, suspicion, and other anti-social feelings and habits/' But the basis for anti-social reactions is not limited logical

.

.

.

to the external conditions.

What Murray 15 would

call the

alpha press (the tendency or

"potency" that actually exists as far as scientific inquiry can

determine

it)

upon Navahos

is

"a temporal gestalt of stimuli"

laden with great threat of harm to every Navaho organism. Al-

though the alpha press certainly creates an atmosphere favorable to the hypertrophy of social mistrust, the centering of hostile feelings

upon other persons

own

is

accentuated by the beta press (the

phenomena that he perceives which all unacculturated Navaho are vulnerable. Navaho mythology not only states that many dangers threaten. Mythology, and the cultural ideology in general, proclaim that the forces operative in the world are capricious and actively malevolent. Moreover, these capricious and malevolent forces strongly tend to be personalized. To the realistic dangers of the alpha press Navahos react with fears (a fear is a reaction that is proportionate to the danger one has to face). 16 The dangers, howsubject's

to

interpretation of the

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

88

which operate neutrally (even though ineluctably) and which can be avoided or even in some measure controlled by rational means. To fears the beta press adds anxieties ("anxiety is a disproportionate reaction to danger or even a reaction to imaginary danger"). But the fact that the dangers are "imaginary" from the point of view of a scientific observer does not mean in any sense that they are not "real" to the Navaho. As Hallowell 17 has observed ". psychologically, the actual order of reality in which human beings live is constituted in a large measure by the traditional concepts and beliefs that are held" and "Indians themselves are able to point out plenty of ever, are not conceived as forces

.

.

tangible empirical evidence that supports the interpretation of

the realities that their culture imposes

upon

their minds."

In terms, then, of the joint effects of the alpha press and of

Navaho tends

the beta press every curity.

If there

psychology and psychiatry, themselves manifest position

is

to feelings of personal inse-

be one established generalization from it

hostilities

reinforced in the

is

that those

toward

others.

who

clinical

are insecure

This general dis-

Navaho case by the potency

of the

and Both witches and ghosts supply personal targets against which hostile feelings may be directed, but these are not beta press for personalizing

all

reactions to deprivation

threats. 18

the only possible responses.

Navaho Ways

of

Handling Hostile Impulses

Psychoanalysis of individuals offers the parallel finding that ag-

Thwarted, it first mobilized by panic, must find a victim. can only turn inward to threaten the aggressor himself. We see children who are continuously denied the right to assert their aggressiveness become sad and sick and even, at times, more or less intentionally hurt themselves. Adults in the same situation develop all gression,

degrees of paralysis of action from simple bad

mind

humor

to that severest

becomes difficult, if not impossible, the simplest necessary step toward the future. state of

in

which

it

to take

—Erik Homburger Erikson

In no society is socialization attained without frustration. In every adult society socialized individuals experience some dep-

PART H: INTERPRETATION rivations situations.

and

89

at least occasionally find themselves

They

satisfy biological

feel

some resentments when

and other needs run afoul

in conflict

their attempts to

of the prohibitions of

the culture as mediated by cultural agents, 19 and the interference

same gratifications. Always and everywhere human beings have hostile impulses toward other human beings. But every society restricts and channels of other persons competing for the

the expression of hostility. Intra-group killing

bidden. In our society, the son

who

is

universally for-

resents his father's tyranny

must sharply suppress the expression of such resentment on pain of losing economic support. In most cases, when husbands and wives freely manifest their hostilities toward each other, the marriage comes to an end. Since most hostile impulses must to greater or lesser extent be suppressed or repressed, there is need in every society for hate satisfaction. But unless there are some forms of hating which are socially approved and justified, everyone will remain in an intolerable conflict situation, and neuroticism will be endemic in the population. Aggression, whether overt or masked, is not, to be sure, the only possible adjustive response. Withdrawal, passivity, sublima-

and other responses are sometimes effecwho have been deprived or threatened. Some social systems are much more efficient than others in directing hate satisfactions into oblique and socially non-disruptive channels. It would be too much to say that all societies must necessarily have their "witches," i.e., persons whom it is proper to fear and hate and, under defined circumstances, to behave aggressively toward. "Witches" are not very prominent in the sentiment systems of some societies. But no culture which has yet been described leaves "witches" out of its definition

tion, conciliation, flight

tive in

reducing the motivation of those

of the situation for every sector of life or for every

group within

the society. "Witches" in this very general sense of "scapegoats"

have probably played some part in all social structures since Palaeolithic times. Most contemporary European societies feature such witches quite obtrusively. These "witches" may be either a minority within the society or an external society. Thus the Nazis

have had the Jews; the Fascists have

their

Communists and

their

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

90

"plutocratic democracies"; 'liberals" have the Jesuits

(and vice had the Germans. To make the broadest possible structural comparison, Navahos blame their troubles on witches instead of upon "Jews" or "niggers." We should be putting the matter over simply but not altogether incorrectly if we said that a belief in witchcraft was Navaho culture's substitute for "race prejudice." Just as witchversa). For a period of time the French

craft practice has the manifest "function" of providing a channel through which direct aggression can be released, so witchcraft belief has the latent "function" of channeling displaced aggres-

But

its "scapegoats" by the color of by their separate religious tradition or by their occupation, Navaho culture chooses certain individuals who are supposed to work evil by secret supernatural techniques.

sion.

in place of selecting

their skin or

The

universality of the "scapegoat" pattern

is

not, of course,

a sufficient explanation for the specific forms of Navaho witch-

The argument thus far is merely that witches are one to the Navaho problem of what to do about hate satisfaction. The existence of a high frequency of hostile impulses among Navahos would not necessarily even mean that aggression against others was unusually common. Hostility may be turned craft.

answer

self, and the fairly high incidence of hypochondria Navaho population suggests that this means of handling

against the in the

This is not, however, a very adjustive reThere are also the various non-aggressive reactions to hostility. These will now be examined. It will be argued that while they make some contribution to the solution of the hostility problem, aggressive needs remain. This conclusion will be dochostility is utilized.

sponse.

umented by

logical evidence that the non-aggressive reactions

are inadequate

havior

is

makes strenuous group

hostilities

do occur

and by empirical evidence it will be shown

frequent. Finally, efforts to

that aggressive bethat

Navaho

society

prevent the overt expression of intra-

and that the violence

of physical quarrels

which and

indicates the presence of quantities of suppressed

repressed aggression.

One

which may be regarded as a which some psychologists would

possible overt response

substitute for aggression

is

that

PART

II:

INTERPRETATION

call "leaving the field."

gi This

may

take the form of social with-

drawal or that of flight from reality through the use of narcotics. Both these types of response are employed by the Navaho, but there are circumstances which prevent their bringing large scale relief. Within the last five years peyote suddenly became very popular in restricted areas of the Navaho country. However, conflict with the native religion and the vigorous opposition of the Indian Service have sharply curtailed this practice. The use of alcohol is much more widespread. The compulsive (and apparently increasing) propensity of Navahos for drinking must, in part, be understood as a response which produces adjustment by deadening certain sensations and by granting release from some of the specific enactments of the culture. Here again, though, the interference of Indian and white police makes this a device which can be used only very occasionally by all save that minority of the Navaho population which lives in continued proximity to white bootleggers. Social withdrawal also

is

limited in

its

effectiveness.

Navaho

types of shelter and the needs for co-operation for economic

ends sharply limit the privacy of individuals.

Except that one

may herd sheep alone and that some men (and a very few women) may take flight by going to work for whites, withdrawal is

not a very effective response in relation to one's

Navaho

Withdrawal is sometimes an adjustive response in respect to pressures from whites, 20 but almost the whole technological and economic system is against its effectiveness within Navaho society. "Passivity" is a frequent response both toward other Navahos and toward whites. In part, this "passivity" (by which I do not mean sexual passivity or passivity as technically defined by some psychoanalysts) arises out of sheer fear of retaliation based on experience. Such fear of retaliation commonly leads to "passivity" in overt behavior and to outlet in phantasy. In part, also, Navaho "passivity" derives from the training in concealment of the excreta and other early experiences which bring about fear of all strange persons, experiences and situations. The long training in physical passivity in the cradle may also be significant. But I have treated this subject fellows.

—

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

92 in greater detail in another paper, 21 and, in

that this technique of adjustment alone to the

problem

is

any

case,

it is

evident

not a complete answer

of inter-personal hostilities.

It must, howbe pointed out that Navaho culture does make available a number of patterns for conciliation. Some of the general ways in which the ritual patterns operate in this direction have been described, 22 but an additional specific pattern may be mentioned here. When two siblings or other close relatives have quarreled, the dispute may be brought to an end without loss of face to either, if the one attends a ceremonial in which the other is patient or sponsor. That is, attendance is culturally interpreted

Conciliation, likewise, has a limited utility.

ever,

not as admission of guilt in the quarrel or as willingness to the

first

make

overtures but merely as fulfilment of the ideal pattern

requiring

relatives

to

each other under these circum-

assist

stances. 23 In this situation the patient or sponsor can,

welcome the estranged

and usually

unusual warmth. This gesture will not be interpreted as confession of primary responsibility for the difficulty but often serves to produce at least does,

relative with

temporary cessation of ill feeling. ," However, the total contributions of withdrawal, "passivity conciliation and narcoticism are insufficient to permit Navahos to dispense with aggression as an adjustive response. Interpersonal conflicts are frequent. Very often these remain at a verbal level and even at the non-face-to-face verbal level, i.e., gossip. But among a scattered population intensified gossip is not as satisfying an outlet as it seems to be in a society like Zuni. On the other hand, there are circumstances which necessitate prohibitions against overt aggression.

actual helplessness of

many people

In the

first

in a scattered

quately policed society makes the pattern of playing

place,

the

and inade-

down

overt

aggression on the part of most people a highly adaptive response. If I

molest a young

girl

who

is

out herding sheep alone, this

someone else will feel free to treat my daughter or wife in the same way if they are unprotected. Even if I do not see the matter in this light, my relatives and

increases the likelihood that

associates will punish

me

severely for such behavior because of

the implied threat to them and to those

whom

they are instigated

PART HI INTERPRETATION

A

to shield.

93

society like the

against physical aggression.

Navaho must have harsh It is

sanctions

true that today such attacks

often seem to be treated rather lightly, and that one hears jocular and off-hand references to them. I am inclined, however, to ascribe these

phenomena

to recent disintegration of the native

—with

social control largely surrendered to

social organization

Indian service police. is neutralized by upon others. This is peculiarly true the members of one's own consumption

In the second place, the hostility system the necessity for calling

with reference to group 24 who are likewise especially likely to be the actual targets for one's hostile feelings. The very threats of the physical environment make social co-operation a biological necessity. If the margin of subsistence is slim, at best, one must work with

—

one's brother-in-law

no matter how

irritating

he

may

be.

Any

considerable amount of time dissipated in quarreling means a

members of one or Hence, the social pressures to enforce the co-operation of an individual with his blood, clan and affinal relatives are tremendous and difficult to resist. In general, thereserious threat to the actual survival of the

more consumption

fore,

hostilities

units.

are

only partially or occasionally

expressed

directly.

The

upon this state of antagonistic cooperation are hypertrophied by the emotional inbreeding which the geographical isolation of Navaho households makes almost inevitable. A consumption group is not often made up of a single tensions attendant

biological family.

more aged

The household

frequently includes one or

or crippled relatives or other "hangers-on."

often than not, the consumption group embraces from five or six

households.

The members

More two

to

of a consumption group

unavoidably see a very great deal of each other, and this intercourse is not restricted to the necessities of economic co-operation. But the nearest other consumption group will usually be at least a mile away and is likely to be several miles to ten miles away. This means, especially during winter and during periods of

intense

economic

activity,

that

contact

with outsiders

is

limited; chances to "let off steam" about grudges, suspicions, jealousies to persons

who

are not emotionally involved are in-

NAVAKO WITCHCRAFT

94

Men who are not ceremonial practitioners and women who have young children have only an occasional trip to the

frequent.

trading store or attendance at a chant to take them out of the restricted circle of personal interactions.

The

result

is

a strong

tendency toward involvement in a morbid nexus of emotional sensitivities from which there is little escape through socially approved patterns. Drinking does constitute one form of escape, and this not merely through the narcotic effects. Alcohol acts as a super-ego solvent, and actual fighting is particularly apt to occur during or after a drinking party. Husbands will beat or fight with their wives. Sons-in-law will strike or speak very bitterly to fathers-inlaw,

and the same events take place between brothers-in-law,

brothers

(real or classificatory )

,

maternal uncle-nephew (real

Out of 324 physical quarrels, where I have the relevant facts, more than 90 per cent fell within these dyadic relationships. There are a very few drunken brawls between sister and sister and between father and son, and I have one case of a son striking a mother (classificatory). The distribution of these figures is influenced by the fact that men drink somewhat more than women. In some cases, e.g., parent-son, this distribution is appreciably favored by residence patterns. In other cases, howonly).

ever, e.g., brother-brother, the residence pattern

is

actually against

such frequencies.

in

general, these

In short,

I

believe that,

where the tensions lie in Navaho society. Drinking facilitates some discharge of these tensions, and, although quarrels between such relatives aire still disapproved, there is a strong disposition to condone drunken fights. Observations of did beat his brother up this kind are numerous, "Yes, pretty badly, but, of course you know they had been drinking a

figures indicate

The characteristic violence of these overt conflicts affords some indication of the intensity of the pent-up aggressive impulses which normally are denied an expression commensurate

lot."

with their strength. It is to be noted that alcohol is the only outlet with which white culture has provided the Navaho. Yet whites have added enormously to the sources of aggression, and there are only a

few rather

indirect

means by which

hostile

feelings

toward

PART HI INTERPRETATION

95

The general tendency indeed toward blocking releases. The examples of peyote and drinking have been mentioned. Whites have also added their punishments for overt aggression. In the old days if a man beat his wife he might have to pay a fine to her family and she might leave him. Today there is the chance that the offender will also have to spend some months in jail. But the most important outlet which has been cut off is that of war. For whites can be expressed with impunity. of whites

is

many

societies, war has provided the principal problem: "what to do about hate satisfaction?" record makes it clear that for centuries war was important Navaho pattern assemblage. Now, for

answer

The

to the

historical

an exceedingly more than two generations, access to war has been denied except through enlistment in the army of the United States which for obvious reasons hardly provides an adjustive response for many Navahos. With organized extra-societal aggression denied, it seems probable that intra-societal aggression has mounted.

—

Latent "Functions" of Witchcraft: Aggression Release

The two most important

Navaho witchNavaho problems of "functions" seem to be less

latent "functions" of

craft for the individual relate to the crucial

aggression and anxiety. These latent

related to individual status than to certain general pressures

which

affect (to varying degrees) all Navahos. Let us briefly review the picture. The intra-societal tensions which are present

in every society 25 are aggravated in the case of the

Navaho by

uncushioned dependence upon a capricious physical environment, by emotional inbreeding, by insecurity consequent upon the pressure of our culture and society, by restrictions upon various methods for discharge of aggressive impulses. Non-aggressive ways of handling hostile feelings are inadequate. Most direct forms of intra-group aggression constitute too great a chaltheir

lenge to social solidarity and to subsistence survival. these circumstances the beliefs

and practices related

Under

to witch-

craft constitute eminently adjustive cultural solutions for

Navaho

individuals.

Displacement of Aggression.

There are few

socially legit-

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

96 imated

whom

hostilities

among

the Navaho.

The witch

the ideal patterns of the culture say

but necessary to hate. Instead of saying

all

it is

is

the person

not only proper

the bitter things one

and repressive father-in-law (which would threaten one's own economic security as well as bring down upon one's head unpleasant social disapproval), one can obtain some relief by venting one's spleen against a totally unrelated witch in the community. This displaced aggression does not expose one to punishment so long as one is discreet in the

has

felt

against one's stingy

whom one talks. And if one rages even in the locality but lives over the mountain a safe hundred miles away one is perfectly assured choice of the intimates to

against a witch

who

isn't

against reprisals.

The

fact that a high proportion of witchcraft gossip refers

to distant witches

makes Navaho witchcraft much more adaptive

than most patterns which center witch activity within the group. At Zuni where everyone knows everyone else the effect appears to be much more destructive. But in a Navaho story the witch

—

can be specified as a Navaho with a gain to the imaginative reality of the tale and yet never have been seen by narrator and hearers, or perhaps seen only rarely when he visited the community to conduct a ceremonial. In such cases the social visibility is sufficient for credence but the social distance great

—

enough

make

to

the origin of feuds unlikely.

Since

Navaho

witches (with the partial exception of the de Chelly and Canoncito populations) are a distributive rather than a segmental minority, persistive sadism of the type directed against Jews in

Germany does not

appear.

Why

most witchcraft is attributed to other Navahos is a question which I cannot completely answer with confidence. Whites, I believe, are seldom considered witches because it is felt that witchcraft is foreign to their cultural tradition. For the same reason it is usually considered that witchcraft would not

be

effective

if

The logic is similar to the work all right for white work on Navahos except maybe on sick-

directed against them.

frequently heard "white medicines people. But they don't nesses

we

fact that

got from the white man."

Navaho

And

for

Pueblo Indians, the

victims of witchcraft will sometimes at great

PART

II:

INTERPRETATION

97 "doctors" 26 to

expense and as a land of last resort go to Pueblo be cured reflects primarily, I am convinced, the belief that Pueblos as superior witches have a correlatively greater capacity to treat.

In mixed marriages

when

the

Navaho spouse

dies, sur-

viving relatives will often attribute the death to Pueblo witchcraft.

Fear of witchcraft

is

also manifested during trading ex-

But the contacts of most Navahos with Pueblos are too infrequent to make this outgroup witchcraft a major pattern. Navahos of the vicinity of Keams Canyon, Arizona, gossip a good deal about Hopi witches, but such gossip probably has little meaning for Navahos of the neighborhood of Cuba, New Mexico. ( However, a trusted white informant tells me that he recalls Navahos of Steamboat Canyon, Chin Lee and Fort Defiance not only talking of Hopis as witches but even detailing witchcraft paraphernalia in kivas, etc.) The problem of out-group versus in-group witchcraft is, however, much more complicated than this. The primary determinant is probably: which form is more congenial to the major peditions or other visits to Pueblo towns.

cultural configurations or to the single integrating principle (if

there be one).

Thus the Mountain Arapesh's

witchcraft to alien groups 27 seems to culture as does the

Dobuan

fit

attributing all

the general plot of that

conviction that witchcraft

fective at a distance, and, therefore, all operative evil

in-group 28

Dobuan It

sense

seem congruent with the

structural

is

inef-

magic

principles

is

of

culture.

should be pointed out that in the most precise structural

much

attribution of witchcraft to other

Navahos

is

really

an out-group attribution. Up to this point we have used the term "Navaho society" loosely. If we define "a society" by the operations of isolating a group of individuals who interact with each other more frequently than they do with other human beings, 29 the Navaho Indians do constitute a society in such a sense. But by the same operations we can isolate a number of separable societies within the Navaho population. These are the local groups which have a trading store or stores and whose unity is symbolized by having a "headman." These are the only units of social differentiation larger than kin groups which operate in any sense as wholes.

The Navaho

tribe has never

had

—

at least in

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

98

—other

historical times

than a linguistic unity, 30 although per-

is now emerging around the artificial mechanisms by the Indian Service. But the local group, the local community, which is doubtless the surviving representative of

haps one instituted

the bands of the aboriginal social organization,

still defines most Navahos interact more frequently with non-Navahos than they do with their tribesmen of a hundred miles away. And so if a Navaho at Ramah passionately declaims against a witch at Chin Lee he is, from the relevant structural point of view, attributing witchcraft to an outsider. Henceforth,

face-to-face contacts.

use "society" to refer to the tribe as a whole, "group" or

I shall

"community" for the local group. There is, however, some in-group witchcraft behavior in the exact sense. Presumably, the gratifications obtained from gossiping about witches in distant spots are somewhat dilute. Covert gossip about witches within the group also occurs. On occasion, moreover, one can get the satisfaction of seeing the accused suffer. In the security of a crowd who are of one mind one can assail the

socially is

witch face to face.

Still

more

rarely, the luxury of

sanctioned physical aggression toward an in-grouper

permitted.

The

fact that the killing of witches

is

uniformly

described as violently sadistic suggests that these acts gained

huge increments "You are struck

me

right.

when he read

of displaced aggression. Dr. Hill,

the description of the killing of witches in Part

I,

commented,

Navaho murders are always messy. It always somehow out of character." I would venture

as being

among the Navaho, whether verbal or behavioral, seems commonly accompanied by displaced aggression. Quarrels have a fury that is often ridic-

the generalization that direct aggression

ulously out of proportion to the alleged grievance.

In short, the idea patterns defining belief in witchcraft provide means of displacing hostile impulses against relatives ( which are culturally forbidden and realistically dangerous ) and

(which are, for the most part, effectively prevented by superior force) onto approved "scapegoats." Since hostility toward witches is culturally sanctioned, the satisfaction against whites

of this outlet for aggression

Direct Aggression.

is

not

dampened by

conflict.

Witchcraft, however, not only provides

PART H: INTERPRETATION "scapegoats" against

whom

99 hostile impulses

may be

displaced.

Under some circumstances, witchcraft provides a means for attack upon the actual targets of my hostile feelings. If I am a singer and smarting under professional jealousy of another singer I can whisper accusations of witchcraft against my rival. 31 Or I can mitigate the burning of my envy of a rich neighbor by suggesting that perhaps the way his riches were obtained would not bear too careful scrutiny. If my wife runs off with another man, I can often say to my relatives "Oh, he got her by Frenzy Witchcraft." This both permits intensified and socially justified indignation on my part and also reduces my shame: it is not that the seducer is

a better

man

than

he used magical powers.

I

Nor does witchcraft belief merely channelize antagonisms between one individual and another. The feuds between different extended family groups

upon a

rest primarily

realistic

(which perhaps often actually conflict over land or water re-

sources) are frequently given a formulation in witchcraft terms. 32

For instance, one group had complained to the Indian agent of the drinking and fighting of some of their neighbors; these retaliated by threatening to kill an old man of the accusing group as a witch.

Witchcraft belief also permits a limited amount of direct verbal expression of aggression against relatives. Guarded gossip

about a tyrannical maternal uncle several occasions I have

say to me, "Yes,

my

some people say he blood relatives

is

maternal uncle is

is

had a Navaho is

a witch too."

relatively rare,

a useful safety valve! in a

communicative

On

mood

all right. But Such gossip about close

a big singer

but cases of direct accusation

against affinal relatives are not infrequent. 33

My

material con-

Morgans 34 suggestion that such accusations are notably more frequent among patrilocal consumption groups. firms

This

is

doubtless partly because such patrilocal residence

creates

new

ization

which

also, I

am

strains in social relationships within a social organ-

dominantly matrilineal and matrilocal.

It is

convinced, to be connected with the fact that a

man

is still

more opportunities

of escape from the mbred emothan does a wife from that of her husband (where she resides with them). This is especially true

usually has

tionality of his wife's family

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

100

during the period

and rearing

when

responsibilities incident to child bearing

woman's freedom of movement. But throughout life it is the case that female economic tasks center in the home, whereas those of men give excuse to travel. A man's economic interests give him indeed not merely excuse but reason to spend a considerable amount of time visiting his mother or his sisters. His flocks and other property still often remain there; he has responsibilities for the education and marriage of his nieces and nephews. Men likewise have more occasion, as pracfetter a

titioners, helpers or

Either a

families.

apprentices to attend ceremonials in outside

man

or a

woman

faces difficulties in entering

a consumption group where the basic adjustments are already established

and where the basic

loyalties

have the emotionally

The newcomer, the affinal an outsider and is made to feel

intense foundation of blood kinship.

added to the group, is an outsider. On his part, he reacts with resentful comparisons favorable to the consumption group from which he has come. But the point is that, under matrilocal residence, when a man's wife's relatives "get in his hair" too much he can go away for a few days or a few weeks. So long as such absence does not become more frequent than his presence this will be treated as normal behavior and no sanctions will be applied. But this relative

safety valve

is

little

husband's people.

who own home

with her

available to the wife

lives

she goes to her

very often she

If

cook for her husband and for simply physically impossible conditions her antagonisms against Under these for her to leave. which she can discharge them her in-laws mount, and one way in will

be

criticized for failing to

neglecting her children. Often,

it is

by murmuring to her own folk be a witch. The psychological mechanisms underlying gossip and accusation (as well as the pleasure found in repeating or listening

in a socially

approved manner

is

that her father-in-law seems to

to tales about witches tifarious.

The two

who

known personally) are mulMorgan35 pointed out, are and projection. By identifying with the are not

central ones, as

those of identification witch-aggressor dispositions toward cruelty

By

may be

attributing to others the aggressive impulses

discharged.

which the

in-

PART H: INTERPRETATION dividual himself feels

The

feelings.

fear of

101

some

relief

retaliation 36

This dread of retaliation

is

may be is

obtained from guilt

expressed and objectified. 37

by no means operative only

at

un-

conscious or semi-conscious levels. First and foremost, projection is

escape from repressed conflict by attributing one's

tional drives to the external world.

repressed or even suppressed. ships

me

it is

But not

.

.

preted by the other as aggressive). As ".

and

.

.

fears.

Morgan 38

witchcraft covers a wide range of

A

say: "he hates inter-

observes:

human antagonisms may turn

simple argument over the price of a horse

into a witchcraft situation.

Witchcraft may, therefore, be con-

sidered a subjective element which hostility

Navaho

(mentioning some aggressive act or acts

."

are

In discussing personal relation-

a familiar experience to have a

because

own emo-

all hostilities

between

may be added whenever

individuals crops out."

Witchcraft

tales, gos-

sip39

and accusations supply, then, a readily available means of and of objectifying fears consequent upon one's own aggressions whether overt, symbolic or covertly expressing aggression

repressed.

Folk belief channels these phantasies into witchcraft them with culturally appropriate details.

patterns and documents

To

these "documentations," as

call

Morgan

does,

"delusions"

would seem a mistake. In some cases they may be what most psychiatrists would call "hallucinations," i.e., false sense perception. In other cases they would seem to be simply misinterpretations: 40 probably dirt does fall into the hogan from the smokehole at night,

but the sensory facts are interpreted in accord with

premises which our culture regards as

ment

Sherif

41

false.

By

ingenious experi-

has demonstrated that the social environment

screens perception.

Subjects did not report

by any means

all

of

the events which their physiological apparatus was capable of detecting.

Van Valkenburgh

(in a personal

communication) has

given an excellent rough generalization of the total process

among

the Navaho:

have reached the conclusion that a communal psychological wave sweeps in disfavor of a certain individual. This. wave is originated and nurtured by the ill will of individuals or groups (usually of relatives). By the time it has reached fever heat the instigators I

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

102

themselves believe the stories they have built up on the basis of little happen but which have perfectly simple rational

things which did explanations.

Relation to Socialization

Witchcraft ideology not only provides an outlet for that generalized tension consequent life.

Equally,

it

sions arising out of figurations.

upon the conditions

of

Navaho

affords canalized relief for the specialized ten-

Navaho

That the

social structure

and

killing of a close relative

cultural con-

is

part of the

general witchcraft pattern could be explained on the ground that

(and hence frustrating) is almost always performed But why is it always a sibling who is mentioned in the Navaho material, whereas in New Zealand and the Marquesas 43 the father or grandfather is the victim? If, with

socializing

by

close relatives. 42

Kardiner, 44

we

treat folklore as "the expression of the pressure of

certain social conditions currently prevailing,

on the products

we must assume that the systems of habit training and the established techniques for personal interaction in Polynesia tended to focus a component of hatred upon father or grandfather while among Navaho this is directed toward brother of fantasy,"

45

References to the killing of siblings are strikingly numerous. 46 The Navaho ambivalence (largely unconscious) toward siblings finds expression in phantasy not merely in the pattern of killing a sibling as witchcraft initiation. Anecdotes or

sister.

where brother kills brother or sister. 47 When a were-animal is pursued, more than once the witch is recognized as a real or classificatory sister. 48 That the uncon-

relate other instances

scious feelings are ambivalent rather than entirely negative

is

suggested by the circumstance that brother-sister are the commonly mentioned incestuous pair (although father-daughter also occurs occasionally).

These inferences are entirely congruent with some outstand-

The Navaho baby receives a maximum of gratification. The mother gives the baby her breast whenever it cries, day or night. The baby is assured of the constant physical nearness of the mother and ing facts of socialization and social organization.

PART

INTERPRETATION

II:

103

receives a great deal of actual fondling. is

born

all

of this changes

But when a new

—and usually rather abruptly.

sibling 49

It is

should be generated But, as has already been shown,

hardly surprising that hostile impulses against the displacing rival.

between siblings receive only a limited overt expression because of economic necessities and because violation of one of hostilities

the most highly valued of Navaho ideal patterns brings severe punishment and social disapproval. The initial reason for resenting a sibling

is

by later experiences. Most Navaho The mother must necessarily give her main

reinforced

families are large.

attention to the baby.

older

sister,

take

the

Hence, older siblings, and especially the primary responsibility for socializing

weaned

toddlers. As socializers they are necessarily frustrators, and this frustration is not compensated for (in the feeling of the younger child ) by the intense gratification which the mother was able to supply. Probably although the evidence on this point is not too clear the reverse is also true. That is, the older

—

—

siblings

may

harbor resentments, conscious or unconscious, as a

which the care of younger brothers or impose upon their own activities. Further, it is probable that sibling rivalry (at the period of weaning and infancy) leads to envy and hostility at the adult level of the siblings who get coveted property from parents or of

result of the constraints sisters

brothers

(sisters)

who

are competitors for a desired

woman

(man). In adult life the solidarity of siblings must be maintained ( with the exception of occasional overt quarrels ) no matter what the cost in self-sacrifice. The property of a deceased mother or other relative is normally divided alike between dutiful son and wastrel. The frugal and provident brother or sister is under strong pressure of public opinion to look after the lazy and improvident (and his or her family). The shame of a disgraceful act falls with almost equal strength

perpetrator.

mote

There

are, of course, also

positive feeling

toward

siblings.

upon the

many

siblings of the

factors

which pro-

The unusual

strength of

the prohibitions on physical contact between siblings of opposite sex 50 suggests strong

need for controlling libidinous impulses between brother and sister. It may even be that the marriages between pairs of siblings which are so frequent among the

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

104

Navaho represent unconscious cest. 51

alent,

substitutes for brother-sister in-

In other words, the characteristic feeling tone

is ambivbut with the negative component suppressed or repressed

most of the time. Dreams 52 as well as folklore confirm this diagnosis, and the bitterness of overt quarrels reminds one of the North African proverb "they hate like brothers." Manufacture of, credence

way

in,

repetition of witchcraft stories give individuals a

of ridding themselves of

toward

their siblings.

some

of their aggressive feelings

more

Occasionally, a

substantial outlet

than that of phantasy is allowed. Father Berard tells me that Big Water, the headman of the Ganado region at the time of Manuelito's 53 purge of witches, ordered the execution of his own brother.

There are other ways in which witchcraft tales and folklore "are commentaries on current social organizations and demonstrate

attending

conflicts. 54

Affinal

relatives

are

frequently

mentioned as practitioners or victims of witchcraft. This strain in current social organization and those arising out of the jealousy toward the rich and toward successful ceremonial practitioners have already been alluded to. Why are old people especially suspects as witches? There is, of course, a basis for aggression against them in that they are usually economic liabilities. I do not believe it is because ( as in the case of singers and the rich there is jealousy of their prestige, for the very old have little influence and are often neglected. It is conceivable that Navahos unconsciously place witchcraft as a kind of substitution for the

aged of the power they have lost in the workaday world. One may also make an interpretation in terms of the Navaho con55 figuration "distrust of extremes."

The very

rich, the

—these are

the very powerful singers, the very old

The Navaho

all

very poor, peculiarly

an unusually high value on long life. The very old person has, therefore, attained something quite prized it is perhaps felt that he has a power comparable to that of the singer. The aged have passed, as it were, from the liable to suspicion.

set

—

realm of "the profane" to that of "the sacred." Perhaps, rather as Dr. Opler has suggested to me the very old person is about at the alleged exto lose "something prized" and resists this well-known when singer is also a any rate, At others. pense of

—

—

PART H: INTERPRETATION

105

doubly feared. 56 Certainly the closeness to death is the critical factor. Navahos say, in effect, that the very old will die so soon anyway that they will take all sorts of chances with the culturally prohibited for the sake of immediate gain where the younger person would feel he had too much at stake in the long run and therefore sticks closer to "the good white-haired, he

is

side." It is also my impression, although I have never heard any Navahos say this in so many words, that the Navaho feel the aged to be "almost ghosts." The very old, being close to death, partake of death's fearsome attributes. This seems to be another overlapping or linking of ghosts with witches. Ghost belief permits the expression of hostility felt toward dead relatives, witches that felt toward living relatives. Ghosts are, as it were, the witches of the world of the dead. A striking corroboration of

these "psychological" interpretations of beliefs regarding ghosts

and witches

the astonishing fact that, according to

is

some

in-

formants, the only ghosts one can see are those of relatives. "I

did not see the ghost for the other boy and the same clan.

If

we had been

would have seen it." 57 The negative instances are

I did not belong to both of the same clan we both

also interesting.

Thus, while a

kind of generalized grandparent (the old person)

is

suspect as

a witch, the tales never specify that a grandparent was witched

by a grandchild one's

own

wise,

and

or the reverse. This I

would explain

in this

way:

old relatives must be cared for economically and otherthis

does set up a

strain.

In particular, there

is

evi-

dence that youngsters who are assigned to look after an aged grandparent (to cut their wood, bring their water, accompany them on journeys) feel some resentment at this restriction on their freedom, especially being cut off from free play with their siblings in their own home. But the general feeling tone cannot be described as hostile only as containing elements of ambivalence. For grandparents are normally extraordinarily affectionate and generous with their grandchildren and there are other compensations. The grandparent-grandchild relationship is, on the whole, one of the most positively toned relationships in Navaho society. Hence, the tensions which arise out of the factual con-

—

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

106

are displaced against the old in general rather than expressed directly against grandparents. ditions

Similarly, the circumstance that in tales laid in the contemporary scene references to parents witching their children are

nonexistent and those to children witching their parents are excessively rare 58 corresponds to the behavioral facts of parent-

One final interpretation of negative evidence may be made. Women appear less frequently than men as the witch-aggressors. This fact may merit a sexual explanation, but I am more inclined to understand it through the premise that child relationship.

the solidarity of that

few

Navaho

society centers in

singers or curers are

women

regularity that

menopause suggests evil to those

who

women

is

women.

relevant.

Also, the fact

However, the

witches are either childless or past the

that

Navahos are unwilling to attribute such and rearing children for they are

are bearing

the focus of the sentiment system.

In summary, witchcraft hostility

is

one Navaho means of handling the

problem. The existence of

this belief in

Navaho

culture

permits the socially tolerated expression of direct and displaced aggression.

It

channels the expression of aggression.

It

possibly

But my thesis is not that given the amount and kind of aggression which exists in Navaho society witchcraft belief must exist. My thesis is only that given these conditions some forms of release must exist. When other forms are inadequate, and when the witchcraft patterns were

forces the expression of aggression.

historically available, witchcraft belief

is

a highly adjustive

way

of releasing not only generalized tension but also those tensions specific to

Navaho

social structure.

Latent "Functions" of Witchcraft:

Handling the Anxiety Problem It is

almost inevitable, given the generalized beta press and

of hostility which has to be repressed, that Navaho today should be anxiety ridden. But nothing is more intolerable to human beings than being persistently disturbed without being able to say why or without being able to phrase die matter

the

amount

life

in such a

way

that

some

relief or control is potentially available.

PART

II:

107

INTERPRETATION

worth noting that man not only craves reasons and explanabut in most cases these reasons involve some form of personification, some human-like agency either natural or supernatural. It seems that only a small minority among highly sophisticated peoples can fairly face impersonal forces and the It is

tions,

phenomena

Doubtless the explanation for this atdawning consciousness prac-

of chance.

that during the years of

titude

is

tically

everything that happens

is

mediated by human agents

the parents or their substitutes.

Witchcraft belief allows the verbalization of anxiety in a is understandable and which implies the pos-

framework that sibility of

doing something.

Witches (who are living individ-

uals) are potentially controllable

by the

the environment are not. Likewise,

ment

it is

of the individual that witchcraft

is

society; the caprices of

important for the adjusta focus of anxiety which

of anxiety which under conditions of stress are characteristically different. For a Navaho, witchcraft is something in terms of which he can acceptably justify his

the culture recognizes as valid. the

members

of different societies manifest

anxiety to his fellows.

he can

The symptoms

It is

justify his anxiety

a peculiarly adjustive response in that

without taking any blame himself. For

which are normally treated by Holy Navaho point of view rests in the infraction of some cultural prohibition. To some degree, it is the individual's own fault that he is sick. However, the Navaho consider the witch victim as guiltless. Thus, between

in the case of those illnesses

Way

chants the ultimate etiology from the

various possibilities for the objectification of anxiety, witchcraft is

one of those which

cultural validity

is

is

most wholly advantageous.

But the

the issue which concerns us immediately here.

a Navaho merely complained or put forward an explanawhich might carry weight in another culture, the reaction of his family would eventually be indifference or active irritation. For a Navaho to tell his unacculturated family that he was suffering from lack of vitamin Bi would affect them much as we should be affected if a member of our family told us that he was ill because last year he was careless enough to look upon a cow that had been struck by lightning. But so long as a Navaho or his If

tion

family or a diagnostician can suggest that a witch

is

responsible

io8

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

for uneasiness or illness social support

is

Sickness

assured.

is

regarded as out of the ordinary by all societies, as Warner says, 59 "not only because of the lack of physical well-being but because the individual's daily social society

where the

life

is

Especially in a

changed."

effective social units are small the disturbance

any persons daily routines constitutes a danger to the smooth functioning of the whole social organization. Navaho society could ill afford not to support its members who are witched, and of

abandonment of such individuals always was hopelessly witched. Witchcraft normally means the very maximum of social support, and I know of more than one family rendered bankrupt from paying for one the rare references to

specify that the victim

"cure" after another. Belief in witchcraft

would

response for the individual

When

fright

is

if it

not, of course,

be an adjustive

only defined and justified anxiety.

instilled sufficiently, organic sickness

and death

may and do result. Most organisms can stand flashes of anxiety. But, when flashes of anxiety become transformed into acute attacks, anxiety ceases to

fenses of the organism

have the function of mobilizing the deand becomes a self-contained menace. A

distinguished physiologist has recently set forth the probable

bodily mechanisms involved. 60 There can be no question of the reality of the threat to the organism's

be

survival.

Therefore,

if

an adjustive response, the culture must also, through the techniques of protection and cure, provide means of alleviating the distress. There must be organized, inwitchcraft fear

is

to

at all

stitutionalized attempts to relieve anxiety. It is to be noted that the most powerful of these do not stop with the individual's taking a self -administered medicine. The expensive ceremonials, demanding the presence and interaction

of the patient's family with practitioners

who

represent the

general social organization, symbolically affirm that the victim

succored by the whole social structure. That total social organization is considered the

is

the visibility of the

against witches

is

attested

by the

surest

protection

facts that were-animals are

almost always seen by lone individuals, that going about alone at night tions.

is

If

peculiarly dangerous 61

and by other

similar considera-

exaggerated fear of witches arises from (among other

PART H: INTERPRETATION

1CX)

sources) projection of one's is,

in part, conditioned

society

—as

suppression.

meaning

own

aggressions, witchcraft "illness"

upon a sense

of loss of rapport with the

the penalty for transgressing the barriers of social

As Kardiner 62

may have "the subjective and protected, but hated." There-

says, illness

of not being loved

most efficacious reassurance for victims of witchcraft will be the unusual, complicated and costly prayer ceremonials. These aspects of the Navaho security system are, we must not forget, differentially invoked by different individuals. To some degree, all Navahos must feel food, sexual prestige and other anxieties. But it is a commonplace of clinical psychiatry that some persons are able to endure a considerable amount of frustration without showing neurotic symptoms or reactions of hostility. In addition to these presumably constitutional differfore, the

ences, the antecedent external situation of the individual for

differential

anxiety.

The same organism,

quarrel with a wife, might interpret his

own

after

makes

a violent

feelings or another's

behavior in a witchcraft context, whereas in a smooth domestic

atmosphere no such association would be made. Such constitutional and situational factors enable us to understand varying degrees of scepticism 63 as to witchcraft.

They also help us to comprehend the so frequent "disproportionality of affect." With myths validating confidence in the power of witches and with the circulation of tales and anecdotes vouching for the contemporary reality of these evil

powers, 64

it is

reasonable that the unaccul-

Navaho should feel some anxiety on this score. Some Navahos, however, seem to manifest a very disproportionate turated

we must assume to be displaced from other sources immediate social situation or from generalized tension produced by white pressure, environmental insecurity or frustrations incident to the socialization process and family living. anxiety which

—from

The

last of these is a

potent source of anxiety as well as of

aggression for the Navaho.

The unconscious

contents which

manifest themselves in dreams and in witchcraft phantasies

But a constant effort must be made to conceal them, and, as Homey 65 says, ". the more a child covers up his grudge against his own family the more he projects his anxiety to the outside world and thus

plainly evidence intra-family resentments.

.

.

.

.

.

HO

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

becomes convinced that the world'

The

frightening."

anxiety resultant

in general

upon

all

is

dangerous and

the factors

men-

tioned in turn fosters malicious destructiveness, 66 and thus the circle

complete.

is

intimately related.

"Anxiety"

As

and "aggression" are indeed

out, dogs often attack they fear. So, following Reik, we may suggest that identification with witch-aggressors may be a special instance of

those

folklore points

whom

purpose of mastering anxiety. 67 To sum up: witchcraft is a major Navaho instrument for dealing with aggression and anxiety. It permits some anxiety and

identification for the

some malicious destructiveness

minimum

of

aggression

is

punishment

be expressed directly with a Still more anxiety and

displaced through the witchcraft pattern assemblage

into channels least,

to

to the aggressor.

where they are

relatively harmless or where, at

there are available patterns for adjusting the individuals

new problems created. with group adaptation.

to the

Individual adjustment merges

Witchcraft as an Adaptive Structure for the Local Group

and

for

Navaho

Society

That most Navahos believe in witchcraft

is,

up

to a point,

a danger not merely to the solidarity but to the very existence of

The informant's remark, "If the white people hadn't stopped us, we'd have killed each other all off" has more than a grain of truth in it. Paradoxically, however, belief in witchcraft, so long as other forces hold the disruptive tendencies in check, is the society.

an adaptive structure of a high order. The principal manifest is that witchcraft lore affirms solidarity by dramatically defining what is bad: namely, all secret and malevolent activities against the health, property and lives of fellow tribesmen. This "function"

sanction

is

reinforced

evil: incest,

and

by

attributing to witches all the stigmata of

nakedness and other kinds of forbidden knowledge

act.

But credence in witchcraft likewise has many specific latent "functions" which make for the preservation of the group's and the society's equilibrium. It tends, along with other social mech-

PART H: INTERPRETATION anisms, to prevent

111

undue accumulation

too rapid rise in social mobility.

A

rich

of wealth

man knows

and tempers that if he is

stingy with his relatives or fails to dispense generous hospitality to all

and sundry he

viduals

know

be spoken of as a witch. Indithey accumulate wealth too rapidly the

likely to

is

also that

if

start by robbing the dead Navaho which is competione hand, and still familistic on the

whisper will arise that they got their of their jewelry. In a society like the

and capitalistic, on the any ideology which has the effect of slowing down economic mobility is decidedly adaptive. One of the most basic strains in Navaho society arises out of the incompatibility between the demands of familism and the emulation of European patterns in the accumulating of capital. The rich tend to have tive

other,

considerable prestige, but they are also for this are many-sided.

Among

much

hated.

others, there

is

The reasons

the association

between polygyny and wealth. "I might lose my wife because rich people can have more than one wife." One is tempted to speculate on the associations between Frenzy Witchcraft, polygyny and wealth, but in the absence of fuller information about the history of the various sub-patterns of polygyny and of any historical knowledge of Frenzy Witchcraft, such speculations would be empty. To return to the point at issue, the best hope for the preservation of the coherence of Navaho culture and the integrity of the Navaho way of life seems to rest in there being a gradual transition between the familistic type of social organization and a type more nearly resembling our own. A man cannot get rich very fast if he does his full duty by his extended family. Any pattern, such as witchcraft, which tends to discourage the rapid accumulation of wealth makes, therefore, for the survival of the society. Similarly, the threat of

an accusation of witchcraft acts as a

brake upon the power and influence of ceremonial practitioners.

They

are effectively

the course of events

warned that their capacity for influencing by supernatural techniques must be used

only to accomplish socially desirable ends.

The

fact that witches

are depicted as using whistles, pollen, turquoise, sandpainting,

songs 68 and that there are

many

other highly specific parallels

between witchcraft and chant practice

(e.g., sorcerers

bearing

112

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

materials under a tree struck craft

is

indicates that witch-

thought of as bad ceremonialism. 70 The whole associa-

tion of practitioners flects

by lightning) 69

and ceremonial practices with witchcraft reNavaho have

the central ambivalence of feeling which the

for this sector of the culture.

Singers are valued

Witchcraft gossip and potential the lay

Navaho

trials

—but distrusted.

and executions guarantee

that practitioners will think twice before they

abuse their powers. How this works in the concrete is well illustrated by an incident which occurred at Red Rock in 1937. A

man went

to his maternal uncle

The uncle was not

and asked him

to sing over his

with the number of sheep offered and evaded performing the chant. The wife died. The nephew first accused his uncle as a witch but was unable to muster family or community support for disciplining. He therewife.

upon

satisfied

killed the uncle himself.

Such events must surely reinforce

the disposition of singers to be liberal to their kin and prompt in

acceding to requests for ceremonial help.

Witchcraft as a Technique of Social Control is, indeed, a threat which Navaho keep all "agitators/' all individuals who threaten to disrupt the smooth functioning of the community, in check. When Manuelito in 1884 brought about the execution of more than forty "witches," 71 there is good evidence that this was a very astute way of silencing leaders throughout the Navaho country who were beginning to advocate another armed resistance to the whites. Manuelito was convinced that the only hope for his tribe lay in peace. He knew that if he caused the troublemakers to be arrested and turned over to the United States government his own prestige would suffer and possibly be destroyed. But they could be tried and killed as witches with full social approval. I may here be attributing undue prescience to Manuelito, but the interpretation has the support both of Navaho informants and qualified white observers. Perhaps, all of this is rationalization after the fact; I merely report what Navahos and whites who either knew Manuelito personally or knew

Accusation of witchcraft

social organization uses to

PART

II:

113

INTERPRETATION

some member

immediate family have told me. Certainly, however, the use of this device for social control is in most cases less consciously carried out. The introduction of the Ghost dance of his

Navaho was blocked by spreading the word that new religion were witches.72 Any powerful instigator of trouble in a local Navaho group simply tends to be talked about as a probable witch, and this tendency operates to reduce intra-group friction. Realization that someone who "acts mean" is likely to be accused as a witch acts as a deterrent of hostile acts. The corollary is that an offended person may avenge himself by witchcraft. There are other respects in which witchcraft belief is an cult

among

the

proponents of the

effective sanction for the

enforcement of social co-operation. 73

The aged, whether they have

a claim as relatives or not,

must be

fed or they will witch against one.

The

who

realization that the death of

are

siblings

is

ill

may

reinforced

by the

disposition to aid siblings

give rise to suspicion that a survivor

The

learning

is

sometimes increased by the fear that they are witches and that if they are disobeyed they will use witchcraft against those who fail to follow them. While this sometimes doubtless has the consequence of perpetuat-

witchcraft.

effectiveness of leaders

ing bad leadership,

tendencies of

it

Navaho

has

its

society

is

good side too

make

it

in that the anarchistic

peculiarly vulnerable

facing a society organized like our own.

The

survival of

when

Navaho

groups is favored by any sanctions which assist a united front behind leaders of some permanence. The singers care and best efforts for his patients are reinforced

by

his

knowing what the

consequences of his losing too many patients will be: suspicion of witchcraft, perhaps open accusation, possibly trial and execution. Even the fear of going about at night has social value. One of the principal sources of friction jealousy.

Fear of witches

among Navahos

at night acts to

some

is

sexual

slight extent as a

deterrent of extra-marital sex relations because night-time

would

otherwise provide favorable conditions for a secret rendezvous.

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

114

Differential in

Frequency of Witchcraft Manifestations

Navaho History

Some

which have been hitherto presented from a diachronic perspective. There is universal agreement that a period ( roughly that between 1875 and 1890) after Fort Sumner reached a maximum of suspicion of witchcraft, of witchcraft trials and executions, probably also of actual witchcraft practice. 74 This was, of course, precisely an epoch when the equilibrium of Navaho society, destroyed by war and captivity, was in a troubled state of readjustment. The of the hypotheses

find important confirmation

virulent outbreak did not occur at Fort after the return

—any more

Sumner

or immediately

than Italian Fascism took over im-

mediately after Caporetto or Hitler immediately after the treaty of Versailles. There always seems to

be a period when a people

are too crushed for any single response to

when

become

many

peculiarly

trial and toward a new readjustment. Destructiveness always seems to appear in social reconstruction after a major trauma. Fort Sumner was a major trauma, the full calamity of which it is difficult to convey to white readers. A people who had been like a scourge to the Spanish and to other Indians alike was for the first time subjugated. A people who did not understand group captivity and who had been accustomed to move about freely over great spaces was taken captive and held close together within a limited area. The region of their captivity was flat and colorless a tremendous contrast to the rugged and vivid landscape which the Navaho prize so highly. A people who had raised and hunted their own food had to depend upon others. Even the very foods were unfamiliar and, at first, highly distasteful. Probably no people has ever had a greater shock. To get some understanding of what Fort Sumner meant to the Navaho it is necessary to read hundreds of interviews. It seems almost impossible for any Navaho of the older generation to talk for more than a few minutes on any subject without speaking of the misery of Fort Sumner. Those who were not themselves there heard so many and such poignant tales from their parents

frequent,

error efforts

—

the general state

is

that of

varying

PART H: INTERPRETATION that they talk as

if

115

they themselves had experienced

all

the horror

of "the long walk," of the confinement, the homesickness, the

own land which had been desolated of buildand flocks and crops. It was necessary "to start all over again," and any older Navaho is eloquent on the hardships and

final return to their

ings

privations of those days. 75

To

was added the deprivation of war patterns had been system, and no set of functioning pat-

these sources for hostility

enforced peace.

The important

removed from the

social

set of

terns disappears without necessitating all sorts of disturbing shifts in the social isostasy.

In particular,

if

the principal outlet for

is pent up, one must expect a sharp increment of in-group aggression. There can be little doubt that from many different points of view witchcraft has been the

aggression against out-groups

principal substitute for war. There are striking parallels. Instruction in witchcraft, like instruction in the

war

rituals,

must be

home and away from women and children. War leaders were criticized 76 in a way reminiscent of the criticism of singers who are suspected of witchcraft rites against native enemies. For instance, the enemy in war is prayed down given away from the

into the ground. 77 Indeed, the "evil is

magic" of war

rituals,

which

held to have been directed only (in former times) against

monsters and members of enemy ple, the

Two Came

tribes,

to their Father song)

now (as, for exambeen incorporated into

has

domestic witchcraft practice. 78

war patterns was concomitant with a social controls due to the surrender to

Since the loss of the

weakening of internal

white domination, a very favorable situation for the discharge of the increased tensions through activities related to witchcraft was created.

This seems to have been precisely what occurred.

Father Berard

is,

indeed, rather of the opinion that in pre-Fort

Sumner times the witchcraft techniques were used almost

ex-

non-Navahos, with intra-Navaho witchcraft being definitely exceptional. This seems plausible, although I would guess that it was intra-group rather than intra-society witchcraft which was rare in the earlier period. There is no doubt that with the single exception of the disappearance of the war clusively

against

patterns, the

most

striking feature of the acculturation of

Navaho

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

Il6

non-material culture since Fort Sumner has been the attenuation of clan regulation of social behavior. In part, this has resulted

from Indian Service tially

officials

and white-controlled courts par-

taking over the responsibilities formerly assumed by the

native social organization. In the old days the clan

sponsible for the activities of

clan

A

all its

in a given local

witchcraft or

if

was held

member member of clan B

members.

If

a

re-

of

of group accused a there was any evidence which the Navaho would

consider as indication of the practice of witchcraft against a

whole of clan A would have to conSuch practices meant severe punishments to the culprit from his clan relatives whom he normally counted on for his major emotional support. These diffuse but effective clan controls made any connection with witchcraft a very nonrewarding business. In the post-Fort Sumner period community pressures were still strong enough to restrict overt internecine

member

of clan B, the

tribute to a fine.

aggression, but since the Indian Service ignored witchcraft (ex-

cept where a witch was executed), the means of holding

down

were ineffectual. Indeed, the position of the "witch" has certainly been improved by recent conditions. While it appears that some of the very early agents winked at or even actually advised the execution of witches and certainly publicly burned the medicine bags of those accused, the more recent Indian Service79 and white courts refuse to acknowledge the existence of witchcraft. A great grievance which many Navahos feel against our government is precisely: "they fail to punish people for the worst crime we know." On the other hand, the Indian Service and other acculturating agencies have not yet been able to alter the native belief in witchcraft. Hence, "witches" are in a highly favorable position to practice indirect extortion they are feared and yet almost immune from punishment, for white governmental agencies exert witchcraft, gossip, accusations

and

trials

—

every force to prevent the killing of witches.

Thus the peculiar conditions and the rise in witchcraft frequency during the 1875-1890 epoch both meet the requirements of the theory which has been set forth. (Perhaps an additional factor which has not been discussed was the contact which the Navahos had while at Fort Sumner with Comanche, Apache and

—

—

PART H: INTERPRETATION other Indians.

)

117

Facts from the immediate present, although less some confirmation. The last ten

definitely established, also lend

years have been a period

been much

when the squeeze from white

intensified in part in the

Navaho

form

of the

culture has

consequences

American society during the 'thirties. The stock reduction program has been a storm center for much anti-white manifestation. The program was, in substance, an effort to alter the whole technological basis

for the

of

Navaho

of the

society;

been disturbed.

It

puzzled, divided

and

strain.

economic

difficulties of

hence, the society's basic equilibrium has

has been a time

among

when

the

Navaho have been

themselves, conscious of constant stress

Reports from traders and Indian Service

officials

suggest that this has also been a period of great resurgence of witchcraft fear and of overt aggression against supposed witches.

In the Navaho group which there

is

no doubt that the

last

I

have been studying intensively six years have been marked by a

sharp rise in the number of persons witches. 80

faced a

The

critical

past two years

whom

gossip accuses as

(during which this group has

land problem, disputes with the Navajo Service,

acute but factionally 81 divided dissatisfaction with the local

Navajo Service representative) definitely show a sharp rise in this curve as contrasted with the preceding four years. There have been associated increases in the number of ceremonials carried out. While this increase during the last two years may also be connected with the relative economic prosperity of this interval, I am inclined to regard both the witchcraft and the 82 phenomena as alternative responses directed toward the preservation of a badly disturbed equilibrium. Peyote and new nativistic cults have, of course, the same significance. The evidence is good, though perhaps not conclusive, that in other areas (such as Pinedale-Perea), where white pressure is at a maximum, witchcraft manifestations are also at a maximum. This would be due, of course, not merely to increased tensions but also to increased breakdown of native social controls. It is also

ceremonial

true that the increased tensions result from over-crowding as well as from white pressure. More room usually means less conflict. Thus Malcolm Carr Collier found much witchcraft talk in the Klagetoh area and none at Navajo Mountain. 83 This I would

Il8

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

relate both to the remoteness of

Navajo Mountain from white

pressure and to the lack of crowding there.

Discussion

and Summary

After presenting patterned cultural theory and practice relating to one sector of Navaho culture which may be referred to in English by the one word "witchcraft," 84 an attempt at "explanation" has

been made. That

is,

I

have

tried to

show

that certain

available data bear a determinate relationship to other data to generalized propositions.

In particular,

we have

and

seen that the

data did not bear a haphazard relationship to the physical environment, economic problems, health conditions, the concrete situation of the individual

and

to

such other sectors of culture as

the forms of habit training and general social organization.

The study of Navaho witchcraft does not stop, then, with the bringing to light of bits of curious and sometimes terrible belief. Systematic analysis of observed behaviors and of the latent and manifest content of interview material suggests clues as to the stresses ics

and

strains of

of social process

Navaho

social organization

generally.

and the dynam-

The outstanding

conclusions

Navaho may now be briefly reviewed. Burke has remarked, "Human beings build their cultures, nervously loquacious, upon the edge of an abyss." This is even more true of the Navaho than of many human societies. Witchcraft supplies a partial answer to some of the deeper uncertainties supplementing the answers provided by myths and rituals. If myths and rituals are the principal integrative and instrumental patterns for meeting the need-persistive 85 reactions to frustration, witchcraft patterns are instruments of no mean importance in adjusting to the ego-defensive 86 reactions to deprivation. Those substitute responses which do not constitute aggressive acts in the social sense cannot, for the Navaho, discharge the cumulative tensions. In a society where the relative strength of anticipations of punishment for overt aggression is specific to the

high, witchcraft allows imaginary aggression.

Witchcraft chan-

nels the displacement

emotional adjust-

of aggression, facilitating

ment with a minimum

of disturbance of social relationships.

PART n: INTERPRETATION

Even

119

direct aggression through witchcraft helps to maintain so-

cietal inhibitions

the witch

is

consonant with the old native culture. Likewise,

a convenient anxiety object. Anxieties

may be

dis-

guised in ways which promote individual adjustment and social solidarity. The threat of accusation of witchcraft is a check upon

The

the strong and powerful.

—and

even animals

—may,

if

belief that the destitute, the

upon those who neglect or oppress them

witchcraft

aged

treated too unkindly, turn with

point, a protection for these unfortunates.

Many

is,

up

to a

sorts of cultural

by the corpus of witchcraft lore. It is probably no accident that the bogeymen who are used to socialize children have so many characteristics in common with the wereanimals dreaded by adults. 87 values are reinforced

The

extent to which

cultural instruments

is

Navahos

avail

themselves of these

related to place in the social structure,

temporary social situation and probably to constitutional facAll of these are determinants of the level of tolerance of

tors.

then some aggressor must thwarted individual would then displace the aggression onto a system or onto any group representing a constellation of ideas that evoked hostility, no matter how mild, in the

frustration.

"If the tolerance is poor,

be fabricated.

A

previous experience of the individual." as with, I suspect, all peoples

witchcraft are, to

some

—beliefs

88 With the Navaho and practices related to

extent, infantile, regressive instrumental

by those persons who are more more under the stress of misfortune than others,

patterns differentially invoked

"on the spot" or or

by those who

able to "take

it"

for constitutional or

Similarly, those

do not

constitute a

generally. rich 89

A

whatever factors are

less

than others.

who

are suspected or accused of witchcraft

random sample

of the

large majority consist of

and old and powerful

singers.

Navaho population

two groups of people: the Gossip against the rich

almost always takes the form of the rationalization that they got

by stealing jewelry and other valuables from the But actually the prevalence of this rationalization acts as a kind of economic leveler. The rich feel pressure to be lavish in hospitality, generous in gifts to needy relatives and neighbors and prodigal in the ceremonies they sponsor. Other-

their start

dead. 90

120

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

wise, they

know

the voice of envy will speak out in whispers of

witchcraft which

unpleasant.

would make

Similarly,

the

and mechanism regulates the

their life in society strained

existent

power and

influence of the singer. Feeling toward singers always tends to be somewhat ambivalent. On the one hand, they have great prestige, are much in demand and may obtain large fees.

On

the other hand, they are feared, and the border of active dis-

trust

close. A singer must not lose too many patients. be more generous and hospitable than the model

always

is

He must

also

Navaho.

It is also

well documented that at various crucial times

in the history of the

Navaho an

clever leaders have used the accusa-

means

During power took care of advocates of resistance to the whites by spreading the word that these persons were witches. Many were killed. There seems evidence that a correlation exists between the amount of fear and talk about witches and general state of tension prevailing tion of witchcraft as

the post-Fort

among

Sumner renewed

effective

of social control.

period, the chiefs in

the Navaho. Thus, during the last difficult years of con-

troversy over the stock reduction program, there has been ap-

more witchcraft excitement than for sometime past. The resentment over stock reduction must itself be seen in the context of the general disequilibrium of the Navaho economy. The "depression" of the 'thirties had much more direct and sharply felt effects upon the Navaho than did earlier down shifts in American business cycles because, prior to 1929, Navaho economy was much less fully integrated with American economy genpreciably

—

erally.

Since Navahos suffered as a result of the

fall in

the price

and wool, the loss of market for their craft products, unemployment at wage work, this factor alone helps us underof sheep

stand increased antagonism against the rich during the last decade.

But witchcraft naive abhorrence.

is

not something which need be viewed with

It

has been seen to have

latent "functions" both for the individual

its

and

manifest and

its

for social groups.

At the same time, witchcraft has its cost91 for the individual and for the group. Given the conditions of Navaho life and the

Navaho

socialization process, given the guarantee in the back-

ground that the Indian Service

will prevent wholesale slaughter

PART H: INTERPRETATION of "witches,"

an adaptive

Navaho witchcraft does structure.

social disruption.

insistence

121

Its cost is

and some

constitute an adjustive

projected aggression and

Probably, as a natural consequence of the

that witchcraft does have

important adaptive and

been too little stressed. In many undoubtedly does more to promote fear

adjustive effects, the cost has

cases witchcraft belief

timidity than to relieve aggressive tendencies. The fears consequent upon witchcraft tend to restrict the life activities of some persons, to curtail their social participation. Perhaps the

and

witchcraft pattern assemblage tends to be mainly adjustive for individuals

those

who

who tend to be aggressive, mainly disruptive for tend to be non-aggressive. Such a view would fit well

with the suggestions which have been

made

of the relationship 92

between witchcraft patterns and war patterns. Another aspect of the cost of witchcraft belief to which attention should be drawn is that probably this is a basis for unwillingness to undertake or to continue the burdens of leadership. For example, a young Navaho who has made a splendid record during the past two years as a judge has told his friends that he was resigning because he felt that his father's serious illness was traceable to witchcraft activities occasioned by resentment at some of the judge's decisions. Likewise, to counterbalance the tendency to economic leveling, there is to be reckoned the power and instrument for domination which accrues to the rich insofar as they are dreaded as witches. A statement in "Son of Old Man Hat" is a classic in this connection: "Bunch of Whiskers wasn't a headman, but everybody knew him and feared him. He was the richest Navaho on the reservation. They used to say, 'He's a witch. That's why he has lots of sheep, horses and cattle, and beads of all kinds, and all lands of skins.' He had everything, and by that everyone knew him and was afraid of him." 93

Epilogue:

Some Cautions

Anyone who writes a book upon one aspect of a culture but show how that aspect is tied in to other sectors of the culture runs a grave danger of misunderstanding and misinter-

tries to

122

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

The very focus upon one topic seems to imply the assignment to that topic of an over-weening importance. The fact that for purposes of the study one complex of cultural traits is the

pretation.

point of departure

—

and hence, that other complexes and traits tend to be discussed in terms only of the central issue suggests

—

to readers that the writer considers the topic in question central

from an absolute point of view rather than merely a convenient heuristic device for the task in hand. Discussions of Malinowski's

work by other

professional anthropologists clearly

document

this

complained that now the kula, now sex, now garden magic seems to be the dominant theme in Trobriand society the one magic clue, the understanding of which will reveal the whole structure. 94 point.

It is

In the hope of avoiding needless misunderstanding, I am going to make certain explicit statements rather than run the risk

making inferences which would be actually inbut which might have a measure of justification in the absence of stated warnings to the contrary. I think knowledge of Navaho witchcraft belief and practice is important to an understanding of the workings of Navaho society. But I do not of the reader's

correct,

think that it is "the key," that it is "more important" than ceremonialism or economy-technology or social organization in the narrow sense or various other sectors of Navaho culture which can be abstracted. I do not think the whole of Navaho social structure could be inferred from a knowledge of Navaho witchcraft although I do believe the social scientist could make some

—

correct

and useful guesses.

In any case, judgments as to the relative "importance" of these various categories can have only a sharply delimited

mean-

such judgments would rest upon abstractions and the vicious tendency would be to reify these abstractions. The observable behaviors from which the abstractions are derived are linked in a most intimate nexus. Still, if one makes appropriate allowances for the dangers of abstraction, one can ing.

First, all

talk meaningfully, for example, of the effects of the shift

matrilocal to patrilocal residence. precision,

make

To

from

a degree, one may, with

differentiations of "importance"

on the

basis of

the breadth of applicability of the cultural pattern. Thus, within

PART H: INTERPRETATION

123

the framework of witchcraft

Witchery

itself,

"more important"

is

than Eagle Pit Sorcery in the sense that no unacculturated Navaho comes to adulthood without having Witchery beliefs presented to him as a stimulus, whereas a considerable number of adults have probably never even heard of Eagle Pit Sorcery.

However, discriminations on the basis of extensiveness of cultural knowledge or of time devoted to an activity are dangerous. Cultural "importance" has an intensive, a qualitative, dimension as well. For instance, there is little doubt that most Navahos spend more time going to ceremonials, hearing about ceremonials, listening to recitals of the ceremonial myths and acquiring ceremonial knowledge than they do in attending to or spreading witchcraft gossip, let alone in practicing or learning witchcraft.

prove that ceremonialism is "more important"? Not necessarily, by any means. It is conceivable that a single poignant experience with witchcraft may alter a Navaho's basic atti-

But does

this

tudes more fundamentally than any amount of relatively perfunctory attendance at chants. that witchcraft

is

In short,

we

are justified in saying

"important" in the same

way

that ceremonial-

Navaho culture which touch every Navaho are important. Beyond this, with present knowledge and conceptual tools, we cannot go and have our judgments rest upon communicable operations. But the reading of this work, where I have talked about ism, social organization

and other

parts of

witchcraft insistently and have not talked about other aspects of

Navaho

witchcraft,

culture or have talked about is

likely,

in

the concrete realities. That

talk about witchcraft as

much

in relation to

accord with basic stimulus-response

principles, to leave the reader with fit

them only

much

is,

an impression which does not

"the average

Navaho" does not

nor behave with respect to witch-

on just finishing an intensive Only by writing volumes wherein the whole of Navaho culture was considered in extenso could the proper perspective have been maintained so far as the experiential effect upon the reader is concerned. In many Navaho local craft as

as

one

is

likely to think

discussion of that subject.

—

groups witchcraft

is

probably

behavior than the reading of less,

Navaho secrecy on

less significant as a

this

determinant of

book may suggest. Neverthe-

this subject indicates

caution lest the

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

124

student go too far in the opposite direction and seriously underestimate the significance of this pattern assemblage. The experience of many observers shows that one can have a good

knowledge of a Navaho group or know a number of and hear relatively little about witchcraft. But in some of these very cases a deeper-going knowledge of the group or the individuals (especially a knowledge which extended through time) indicated conclusively that witchcraft was an outstanding dynamic of behavior. If a given sector of a culture impinges to some degree upon all members of a society, it ought to be possible to take that sector as a focus of interest for a treatment which is to illuminate superficial

Navaho

individuals fairly well

not only that sector as part of the content of the culture but also the interrelationship of many strands of the culture. This is

what

I

have

But because

tried to do.

I

have pointed

to the

relationship of the strands of social organization, to the strands of

witchcraft rather than the reverse, does not witchcraft

is

mean

that I think

the "prime cause." "Cause" in the unilateral phys-

"A is the cause of B" is a notion with which can well dispense. "Mutual interdependence" is the only concept which seems applicable to the social behavior of human beings. It is to this interdependence, rather than to any ical science sense of

social scientists

one-sided influence, that

From

I

have attempted to draw

attention.

the point of view of our general understanding of

Navaho

though not in the context of an interpretation following a descriptive account of Navaho witchcraft, it would have been equally useful to take social organization as the primary variable, and witchcraft ( along with ceremonialism and other topics ) as a variable which was treated only incidentally and in relation to culture,

social organization.

Along these same explicit limitations

made do

as to the

lines, I feel

upon the

constrained to repeat certain

inferences and speculations I have

changing role of witchcraft in Navaho history. I which the Navaho

insist that the increasing deprivations to

have been subject in the last two generations are highly relevant to our understanding of the known phenomena. I do not maintain either: (a) that witchcraft alone covers the responses which

Navahos have made and are making

to these deprivations; or

PART H: INTERPRETATION (b) that

all

125

witchcraft belief and practice

is

generated or main-

My fundamental theoretical oriencomes from Lasswell, 95 and it seems worth while to at some length:

tained by these deprivations. tation here

quote

this

may be

Responses to deprivation

relatively concentrated as object

orientations, adjustive thought, autistic reactions, or somatic reactions.

In barest outline,

we may

find that a

man who

another wife, writes a book that eventually

moods and

loses his wife takes

sells, retires

into depressed

suicidal reverie, or develops gastric ulcer.

may

Students of culture

profitably

employ the same mode of

analyzing the form of adjustment to culture contact.

We

should

expect to find cultural differences in response to deprivation in ref-

erence to

object

collective

orientation,

adjustive

thought,

autistic

and somatic reaction. Putting the matter in terms of general possibility, we might find that in some instances the carriers of a blocked culture pattern might adhere tenaciously to an inferior fighting reaction,

technique, provoking extermination.

In other instances a superior

might be copied, though provocatively and unsuccessfully applied. Often the technique of manipulating goods might be taken over: thus, the carriers of a culture might drop their methods fighting technique

new methods of agriculture, handicraft or added to the stock of cultural technique, individual study, reflection and planning will grow more frequent. This adjustment is in the sphere of adjustive thought, which is an internalized act that is adjudged to be relevant to an object orientation in some of agriculture in favor of

trade.

If literacy is

future situation. If collective reactions are

concentrated in the autistic panel,

we

should expect to find more frequent moods of anxiety (associated with

more frequent

other affective states), and grandiosity,

and the

the somatic panel,

like.

we

reveries of unworthiness,

If collective reactions

are concentrated in

should expect more gastro-intestinal trouble,

more functional impotence

or sterility,

more damaging

of the integrity

of physical systems through the excessive use of drugs or through di-

many

would be more physical which do not direcdy modify the physical environment or the personal environment of the community. Hence, we would find more time spent on ceremonial or social dancing in relation to the time spent on the cultivation of crops, or in fighting rect suicidal aggression.

movements according

In

to patterns

or bargaining with outsiders.

cases there

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

126

Navaho responses

—not

to deprivation

encompass

all

of these

which we have noted in witchcraft. "Object orientations" are many and varied; the adaptability of the Navaho has often been commented upon. Agriculture and sheep-culture techniques have been widely and readily taken over from whites; in general, the adaptation to a capitalistic, competitive economy has been made with alacrity, and not a few Navahos have demonstrated their ability to compete with whites on their own terms. "Adjustive thought" is playing a role of increasing importance. Many Navaho leaders are using the techniques which literacy makes possible to their own and their people's advantage. Of the "autistic panel" witchcraft is only one facet. Reference has been made to types

just those individualistic autistic responses

the generally high level of anxiety, to the frequency of hypo-

chondriac

states.

The phantasies

may be seen in movements and perhaps also

of grandiosity

the visions 96 leading to recent cult

more realistic contemporary leaders (Jake example). "Somatic reactions" can be discussed with less confidence, but this type of response can definitely be documented. The increasing use of alcohol and the new popularin the attitudes of

Morgan,

ity of

for

peyote have been mentioned.

"gastro-intestinal trouble"

he

may be

extrapolation from our culture

When

Lasswell speaks of

indulging in an unjustified

and from

constitutional types pos-

but it is my "hunch," based on considerable selective observation, that some types of sibly almost limited to the white races,

somatic those

illness

who

conflict.

tence.

I

the

Navaho

are peculiarly frequent

among

under especially severe pressures of culture have no information on differential incidence of impo-

Indeed,

very unusual fecundity

among

are

is

my

data indicate that this manifestation

among

is

still

the Navaho. Vital statistics do suggest that

diminished

among

the acculturated

types of birth control are not practiced.

—even where our

The

suicides in the

Ramah area since 1870 were both cases where the suicide was threatened with imprisonment in a white jail. Dr. Wyman tells me that this may have been the dynamic factor in five out of six cases of suicide in various parts of the

1900.

The probable

Navaho country

since

increase in ceremonial activities has been

referred to elsewhere. 97

PART H: INTERPRETATION

127

Witchcraft, then, takes

its

place as but one of a

number

of

very interesting phenomena where the interaction between culture and the press of our society may be observed and studied.

native

The

rationale for such a detailed study of this particular

enon

phenom-

the availability of materials, previous neglect of this topic in studies of Navaho culture and the writer's interest in the is

Knowledge of the witchcraft pattern assemblage is presented as "important" to the student of Navaho culture ( and of cultures generally) but not as "more important" and certainly not as "most psychological ramifications of the witchcraft problem.

important."

Next,

it

seems necessary to reiterate

explicit attention given to the adaptive

my

awareness that the

and adjustive "functions"

of witchcraft probably has the effect of insufficiently highlight-

ing the disruptive effects which admittedly are important. adjustive features

recognized.

is

that these are already widely

Similarly, I

My

space given to non-adaptive and non-

justification for the small

wish to

known and

insist that I fully realize that

some Navahos like each other; that Navahos often smile and laugh and are happy; that indeed they not infrequently joke about certain features of witchcraft. Here again I must plead

Navaho sense of humor, his jocularity, his liveliness and good feeling have been noticed in the literature time without number. The amount of anxiety, of hostility (often largely disguised or submerged) have, on the other hand, only recently been discussed. There is, of course, much positively toned behavior among relatives and among Navahos generally. Indeed, I have in this book alluded many times to this side of the picture, and I have tried to emphasize that it was not so much pure hostility as ambivalence which was the central dynamic factor. Finally, I should like to guard against any possible misunderstanding of my conception of "historical" as apposed to that the

"psychological-situational" interpretations. Redfield

summed up The acter:

one

this

matter as

I

see

98

beautifully

it:

explanations of this situation are probably double in char-

may

give an explanation in terms of differences in historical

and one may give an explanation in terms of the consistency between one element of the society or culture and some other element. events,

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

128

—

In the former case

—one

to

speak

now

in terms of the

immediate problem

amount of witchcraft in Merida by telling about something that happened in Merida or that did not happen there. In the latter case one "explains" the greater amount of witchcraft in Merida by pointing to a condition there which might be supposed to provide a favorable situation for witchcraft. The condition is

"explains" the greater

the disorganization of culture in the city with the consequent per-

Truth can be claimed for the latter explanation as can be claimed for the former; and there is no inconsistency be-

sonal insecurity. it

tween the two explanations. Also in the Navaho case Tiistoricar and "structural" explana'

tions are

by no means

Indeed, they supplement and both are necessary to an underthe phenomena documented in the appendices. Apart

and reinforce each standing of

contradictory.

other,

from questions relating to the availability of witchcraft traits and patterns through diffusion, Navaho beliefs and behaviors during the last twenty years cannot be comprehended through structural analysis

must know many

alone.

To understand

of the central events in

recent structure

Navaho

we

history since

Very recent materials are utterly incomprehensible unless we are aware of the disintegration of the native social organization and of the stresses and strains in the economic environment that have resulted from the recent full dependence of Navaho economy upon that of the United States generally. 1870.

PART

APPENDICES: INSTANCES AND STORIES OF WITCHCRAFT

An

III:

accumulation of minute

details,

however

silly it

may

only correct means to reach fundamental truths. (Letter of A. F. Bandelier to L. H. Morgan,

February 28, 1874.)

appear,

is

the

INTRODUCTORY NOTE TO THE APPENDICES One

friendly critic has urged that the vernacular of interand of English-speaking Navaho informants be reduced to standard English. But it seems to me that a crucial difficulty in the social sciences has been that published data have been so remote from the actual facts, i.e., sense experiences in terms of a conceptual scheme. Now, to be sure, to have "the actual facts" here we would have to have sound moving pictures which recorded not only everything which Navahos, interpreters and the investigator said, but also all their motor activities during the interviews. Since, however, this ideal cannot be realized, it would appear that a better approximation can be attained if the English words are at least printed exactly as they were transcribed. In that way we are a minimum of one step closer to the preters

data as actually experienced.

In the formal interviews

I tran-

scribed quite rapidly with a personal system of simplified writing. I

would not maintain

but

I

that I did not miss

words or make mistakes,

believe the transcriptions to be relatively accurate.

down

my

Where

remember the exact phraseology of the informant. Both interpreters and English-speaking informants left certain words in Navaho either

notes were written

later, I tried

best to

—

words which they found lieved

I

knew

it

difficult to translate or

which they be-

well (especially technical terms of the esoteric

vocabulary, place names and the like).

These I have usually rendered into English. "He says," "they say," and the like have

been eliminated whenever the interpreter in question used them consistently. The only other case in which I have knowingly departed from the exact words of informant or interpreter has 131

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

132

been where they have used English terms which are commonly considered obscene. Here I have substituted the polite or technical synonyms. These two circumstances will account for the occasional appearance of an "elegant" word which appears out of context in the document. In

my

opinion, these texts constitute,

among

other things, a

storehouse of materials for the linguist interested in the patterned

ways in which non-Indo-European speakers use an Indo-European language. In any case, my argument is that since the history of science has abundantly demonstrated that what appeared unimportant to one generation of workers is of crucial importance to the next, we must, within the limits of practicality, present our data as nearly as possible as we got them. 1 Materials which were obtained in Navaho I have translated roughly and freely to the best of my ability. While I have undoubtedly missed subtleties, I have checked each translation with some trusted interpreter and I believe them to be substantially adequate.

The plied

me

excerpts with which are, of course,

my

colleagues have so kindly sup-

presented exactly as

I

received them.

APPENDIX

WITCHERY WAY

I:

1

Origin 1

I.

First

Man and

First

Woman

came up through the earth. Water came up right behind them. First

Man

"We

says,

underneath."

"What

is

it,

forgot

Woman

First

my

something

husband?"

says, "It

is

medicine." (He didn't say ?ant'i, because there were some more people with these two people. So he just called

down

it

'medicine.')

"We

left

"Well, we shouldn't do that," says the woman. They cannot stay without it. They have

it

there."

to make it some way so that it can be brought up by something. They

"How can we get that thing?" Big Fly says, "Get the bird that has the long bill, the bird called told Big Fly,

'diving

down

heron.'

8

He

can go back

They told thing. "Go in

there."

to get that

that bird

the water

and look for that thing and bring it up." They sent that bird down there and pretty soon he brought this thing up. The man and his wife was feeling bad about it. After it was brought up, they feel good again.

Man

First this

says,

man

thing,

"When you have will get rich easy.

This thing is sheep, horses. All the same as having a lot of hard goods, including different kinds of shell." When it was brought up, there is the place where it starts. People kept on with it and we're still hearing about it yet. 2.* # After First Man and First Woman had come out of the Big Cave and built the first sweathouse, Witchcraft Woman gave all the people

some

?ant'i.

She gave some to

the rattlesnake too, and he didn't have any place to put it so he ate That is why you will die if a it. rattlesnake bites you. Witchery started out un3. der the ground. First Man, First Woman and Coyote these three After everybody got started it.

#

—

above ground First Woman gave it Snake wanted some too, but his mouth was the only place he could put it. And so his bite kills out.

you.

General 4. When witch people get together they talk about things. One person will say to another man, "When I was out there at the people, one man got mad at me or one

woman.

And what

about that

man

or

I

want

woman.

do want

to I

man." One reason the other witches will be glad to kill this man is after they kill him they'll make more medicine, fresh medicine. When they kill him they go out and get him and bring him to kill that

inside

133

to

this

bad hogan.

For a

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

134

man he cine.

can be made into that medi-

If

woman,

they

kill

woman,

bring her

they'll

inside the

a

down

here

hogan and one man can

have intercourse with two,

a good

maybe

three,

her.

Maybe

maybe

all of intercourse with her. Put a little pot or something underneath her and catch the stuff. Make medicine out of that too. And that is something like truth to me, the way I heard about it in those days by their stories. There are some places where they put the dead body away. Some people out there have been watching this grave.

them can have

Sometimes when they come too near the dead body is gone. And just seen the wolf track around places.

And

were put away. See whether wolf would come around so they could shoot him. They tried hard in the daytime but they don't come around in the daytime. They do that in the night-time. They says the witch people says they can find the dead body better in the night-time than in the daytime. They says they can work with the dead body, work it down some way so it won't be heavy

Witch people when they bring these dead body to the hogan they can soon cut their heads off and hang them up inside the hogan. It is full of the head inside. Each one could be known, what the name of person was. When they talk about the person who is dead already they can point to the head. Anything what is put away with the

—

body

—

beads that hogan.

rings,

is all

bracelet,

belt,

taken to the same

They

make them One man

tell.

says twins

is

the best

medicine they have. Use that bone in the back of the head. Cut it in circle shape. After they cut that bone out, then they shaped it very round with a rock. That man says he does like that, that his job. Then he picks that bone up. Of course he'll have another friend beside him, he says, and you see the twin is dead already and this witch man is out north side of country where the bad people goes. He says he takes a man who he hates bad young man

—

woman. They pick up that bone and they use that upon the man they hate. Use some kind of pray and use that bone some way against the or

man

to carry.

dead

to

knew then

the witch people there has been carrying the dead body away. I heard about that when I was young. Seemed like they doing this in the night. Some other times some people has been watching this grave where the dead bodies

they

# Witches

are not afraid of are their homes. 6. Three years after the people went back to Fort Defiance from Fort Sumner they started a lot of witch stuff against each other. People started to talk and says let's gather up these witches and make them report these things. So they caught these people. When they was all caught they was right there together then before the people. The place where they gathered these people was over just the other side 5 of McGaffey. The place is called Water Gathers In. They take the people one at a time and question them. People says it was sure hard 5.

graves.

while he

praying. Easiest or woman who lives without a song or pray. If he kills that man, that man's people will bury him. After they buried him, they go right away there while the meat is fresh yet. When the witch people get there, they tear the grave up and bring the body out and pull

one

to

get

is

is

man

their clothes all off.

They

start

to

cutting just little pieces of meat just certain places only. Beginning from the crown of the head, then the end of the nose, then every place

PART

INSTANCES AND STORIES OF WITCHCRAFT

in:

—

where there is a spiral especially the thumb and finger whorls. Right up to both feet and then even the end of man's penis and woman's vagina. They take that meat back where they had witches' hogan. They take and dry all this meat and

when

they grind it. baking powder, make it soft. That's what they call ? ant'i and they tie that in little bundles. Wherever people have a sing they go there and take this stuff and just pour it out upon the man. They pick up the people who hates them. Whenever they kill a man like that, they always get his meat so that ?ant'i never runs out. One woman with one eye, they tied her up to a tree and she finally it

Grind

real

is

just

it

told this story:

one that

is

dry,

like

"I

doing

am

not the only

this witch.

There

more people besides me. Navaho country is big wide space where they are living. There is sevis

a lotta

eral places our

home.

When we

gonotify

ing to make our plans we these others and we go meet one place. When we get together there, we start and talk about the people and we want to get the best ones who they are rich. Sometimes we are just going to hurt a man, not to kill him. Just so as to hurt him bad so he won't get well very quick. Give him long sickness two years or two and a half years have to be in bed. The reason we do that is we wanted to get all his property. want to make something. At

—

We last

man

when he

gets sick pretty easy."

Most

we

of these witches

break a

was

rich

but some was pretty poor. These men will be the kind of a man that hasn't got anything just poor man. They work on these because they can make them help them pretty easy. They people who help the witch they scatter out among the

—

—

people.

They pick up where the

135

people piss or spit or stealing the

from

hair

When

the people's hairbrush. they do that they all bring

—

back something each one. They take those and bury them in the ground where a dead man's hogan is burnt away. Bury it right in the middle of that. Or they could bury them right where the grave is. They do that so they can make a little every time so they can have a lot

—

of sickness.

Well the people tried to get witches ask them to take them over there where those bad homes were. Tied these witches' feet laying arms together just and down. They says they don't give them anything to eat or let them

—

these

—

drink the water.

And

then not

let

them go outside for a while. Keep them in there, starving. One says, "I'll lead the people around where the homes is." They untied the man and he lead the people until they got tired out

all

around

—takes them

one place and when he gets there says, "I thought this was the to

place, but it isn't. I forgot." He keeps on doing this. He do it to the people like that. Keep on doing it and then he outrun the people. Then they tried to shoot him. Anyway, the people didn't get to see these bad hemes. But they killed

most of the

really

bad

ones.

The

people who was just helping these witches they say, "I am not witch. These people just want me to help them so I just help them gather up things." So they just let those helpers go. A man near Gallup called Mr. Fat Man was one they turned He died just a little while loose. ago.

7

(Q) Whenever a good man or a good woman dies he goes to a good place the place where our Holy People goes to. That's where our good people go to. And the bad people like those witches and other 8

—

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

i 36 like those who steal and they can go where we call Ghost Land. And so it is pretty near the same as what white people believe. The bad people go under the earth they are still bad to us. They are the ones who cause our sickness here. They put sickness upon the people yet even if they are dead. 7. (Q) People say their best medicine is made from twins either part of the back of their heads

bad people lie,

—

—

or skin whorls. supernatural

They

also

Twins are (

t'a • ?i Tisi,

used the blue

They grind

especially

di7in )

lizard,

9

they

up. Also they use the bladder of the blue lizard. Witches also make a witch bag out of the skin of the horned toad. 8. #Some people get rich on the Coyote Prayer. That is part of These people are not Witchery. afraid of snakes, bears and lightning. When people have learned Witchery the first thing they must do is kill They can their brother or sister. travel as far as Gallup in a minute. They run in at night to see if a person is getting worse. You can see the tracks of these people. Many of us have. But only a few claim they have see the body. They use a stick say.

it

with bad medicine on it. You won't live ten minutes after that unless you have the gall of eagle and bear and witchcraft plant. These can protect you. You must carry it with you all the time. Drink it with water if you get sick. Maybe your family will have to pry your mouth open. If you have a big family, nice girls

One

of the seeds of this plant was placed in a sleeping man's mouth or nose and it just keeps going into your brain or lungs. 10. #(Q) It is dangerous to 11 talk about Woman chief. She is the same as the boss of all the witches. 11. #An old man is the boss of the were-animals. They have a meeting place, usually in the mountains in a big hollow rock. They got out of there dressed like a coyote or

owls. They sing and paint up at that meeting place. They grind up blue

and feed it to other people. eat coyotes and owls. If you see the tracks of a wereanimal, you must be sure to step across them. Never go in front of

lizard

They

them. If you dream of were-animals, you must have Enemy Monster Way. 12. # Witches use masks just

like the yeibichai except that there

aren't feathers

on them. They break

twigs and speak the

who

name

of the per-

going to die. They get more and more emaciated and finally they die. Or, if that Witchery poison gets on them, they get some kind of lockjaw. You have to pry their son

is

mouths open

A

to get the antidote in.

people were dying around Pinedale lately. A woman has confessed. She said her father lot

of

this

and her brother forced her into it. She killed her own sister. They made her do it. That is part of being a witch. She had a baby last year. Said her father and her brother, they made it. She gave a list of witches from Cafioncito all

medicine. Especially if you are going to an Enemy Way or wherever there are lots of people. The witches can kill easier there and not get caught. Besides this bad medicine, they can send a snake after you or make the lightning strike you. Witches used the plant 9. w 10 called ze- ?il7 o'>ito kill people.

the way over. After she told all this, she don't know nothing. She is still out of her mind. people carry 13. #Witchery around bad stuff. They put a piece on a stick and throw it on you. Or they throw the stick at night from the top of a hogan on people while they are sleeping. They grind up

and nice boys, you must keep

#

—

PART m: INSTANCES AND STORIES OF WITCHCRAFT human

flesh

and mix

it

up with other

stuff

and make poison.

flesh

is

Children's

best.

14.

# Witchery

people

grind

powder and carry it around. When they come close to you they sprinkle They put the powder it on you. on a stick that has a furrow down the middle. After they throw it on you, your mouth shuts tight immediately and unless you get help quickly you die. Sometimes you die anyway.

—

!5-

#(Q)

Witches wear masks

how they talk. The masks made of unwounded buckskin.

that's

are

They

aren't painted like those that

the dancers in the Night

wear

Way

chant

are.

16.

"""Witches

intercourse with their their own clan mates

have may own sisters or

and nothing

them." M witches work in 17. #Two partnership. One witch makes a man sick the other cures him. That way they make a lot of money. Witches meet at night. The meeting place is usually in mountain or in big hollow rock. They take

happen

will

to

—

their

clothes

off

there.

They

sing

and paint up at the meeting place. They make noises like coyotes or

like

*This was just about fifty ago right after the Navaho came back from Fort Sumner. We 19.

years

got rid of all these witches. The only kind of witches that we have today are the kind that sprinkle something that looks like pollen on a man which will cause him to be-

come

sick.

Hair, clothes, nail parings, faeces and saliva are taken by witches. They take these to a place where

someone has been buried and then

Then they The man to who

pray over them.

them

there.

you ever see the tracks of were-animals be sure to step across If

them, don't go in front of them. 18. # Witch people use the gall bladder from the blue lizard to poison people with. They also make a witch bag out of the skin of the horned toad. Instead of having the pouches for their equipment made out of deerskin or mountain Hon

leave these

belong will die as the witch prays. He may die easily or with great suffering.

20. # Were-animals cut out the whorls from feet and fingers and top of head too, to use for Witchery poison. Those witches especially like to get twins.

It's

more

interesting.

# Witches

are just like ghosts. They eat dead people. They like to get the bodies of children best because they make the strongest 21.

medicine. Crows and buzzards and So do coyotes eat the people. witches.

Witches

owls.

137

the singers do, they say they use horned toad and other things that crawl like that. skin

have

medicine

and

songs and prayers. They also use little bows when they witch. 22. The gall of eagle ground with corn meal, that will keep you If you don't safe from Witchery. have this, Witchery poison would make your tongue black and come right out. If your tongue is black and swollen out of your mouth that proves Witchery has got you.

Anecdotes 23. #In Witchery hogan they have medicine soaked up in a basket

for people to drink.

was going on

One

inside a

time this

hogan and a

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

i38

used to know came along. and he went right in to get directions. He soon found out he was in a place where he had no

hunter

I

He was

lost

business

to

be.

He

stayed

inside

long enough to think what he would do. These people had killed a fine woman. A day after she died they had taken her to this Witchery hogan. They put her body behind a blanket in one corner and one after another the witch men had 14 intercourse with her. They had put a little pot underneath her vulva to catch the liquid from the men. The hunter could hear one man after another say, "Now she's getting

warm. Now she's getting hot." The circle of people inside the Witchery hogan were calling one bundle "medicine." This hunter ran off with that bundle. This medicine was what they killed people with

body including the brain, all dried and ground up. (Q) The basket was just a regular Navaho basket. 24. * "There was a man who lived on a mountain. He was a chief. One day they gathered the galls from all the animals, birds and repcertain parts of the

tiles to

make

a poison of them. This

man

set a date four

told all the people to for him.

days ahead and

come and

plant

"He prepared the galls and other meat for food for these helpers. The people came and planted and finished his field in one day. The food was all in one dish. All of these people ate of the food and in a little while some of them fell dead. A few of these men escaped and these were the men who later became witches. 15 ( Some of them knew that the food was poisoned and they did not eat it. ) There are still some of these witches around the country today."

*"My

25.

went on a stopped

to

before they told

my

father

and

mother

Crownpoint. They spend the night just

trip to

got

there.

My

father

mother that she should learn

be a witch. My father told her she must allow her favorite brother or sister to be given to the were-wolf people so that they could kill him or her. Then she would be able to learn witchcraft. My mother begged my father not make her learn. to

that

The same winter my

father's brothers

and

were

sisters,

there

seven

of

them, died."

Were-Animals 26. These were-animals, they run like a cat. They run around wearing a wolf skin. There are a lot around Black Mesa and Canyon de Chelly. The Mexicans have some too. They go near dead people, take them out to a house where somebody has died and put the bones there. Just like the Zuni who take bones out of the ground, bones of

own

family and bring them to their house. They carry the bones on their back. (Q) They rob for jewelry, but their

don't place

kill.

at

They meet together some night

—mostly

in

a cave.

They take off all their clothes there. The Lagunas have some too. They would go from Zuni to Laguna and back in one night. They can outrun a

fast horse.

(Q) a

man

It

could be a

or a boy.

They

woman all

do

or

this

were- wolves. 27. Were-animals use ? ant'r. They climb up on top of the hogan and drop it in the hole. They can can go right through sure run fast

—

PART

III:

INSTANCES AND STORIES OF WITCHCRAFT

the mountains.

you have

to

To

kill

learn Witchery

somebody

closely

related to you.

(Q) It has to be a full brother or sister that you kill. That's why people get stuck and don't learn all of it. If you do kill your brother or your

sister,

Witchery Blessing 28.

they put

You can

medicine.

just

like

right into this

it

get

rich

you

can

Way. *The informant

with with

says that

he

has heard that witches can wear the hides of bears, wolves or coyotes and turn into those animals. He has also heard that there are witches among the Hopi who get into bowls

and can

roll right along.

29. People are very

much

afraid

That is why go about at night

of those were-animals.

people don't like to very much, especially alone.

They when the Some people

are also especially afraid

wind

is blowing hard. don't like to go to the Girl's Dance at the Enemy Way unless they have

good medicine because they say those witches are worse when there is a big crowd. Were-animals paint their faces as the singer paints the faces of the patient in Female Shooting Way. Some people say they wear masks and a gourd over their nose. If anyone catches a were-animal and tells somebody else about it, the witch will die within a year. Horses smell were-animals at night and will jump. (Q) I saw the tracks of one in the morning once. They were like a dog's but bigger. (Q) Sometimes they use goat hides and colt hides too, they say. The hides come right down to the wrist.

paint their 30. Were-animals faces with the same kind of white clay that is used on patients in chants.

I

don't

know what

witches mix up with that clay.

the

They

139

both their bodies and their faces. They don't wear any clothes, but they dress up with a lot of beads. 31. (Q) I don't know whether they wear G-strings or not. The people who have caught them didn't want to get very close lest they be witched. Nobody could catch a witch on horseback. The only danger to were-animals is when they stumble in a prairie dog hole or a gopher hole. 32. #At night witch people paint

up in the skins of wolves, coyotes or owls. They run around dressed up like that. They paint their bodies and their faces with the white clay which we use in chants. They dress with lots of beads. Nobody could catch them on horseback. The only danger to them is if they stumble in a prairie dog hole. You can tell the were-animals from the real animals because their tails move constantly and their eyes are just slits through the masks. Also, the tails of real wolves stick out behind those of were-animals hang dress

—

straight

down.

#At night they run around fours in skins of wolf or coyotes or bear. They paint their face just like First Scolder used to yellow on chin, black on nose, blue on the mouth, white on the forehead. Except for the beads and skins and paint they are naked. (Q) I never heard whether they wear G-strings 33.

on

all

People who caught or not. didn't want to get very close.

them They

were scared they would be witched. 34. Some places we believe and some places we don't believe. A lot of people don't believe people can go in coyote or wolf hide. Other people do believe it. Some has been seen by some people. Man who seen running with coyote or wolf hide. If he is caught, witch person says, "don't report it to the other people that I am doing that." He wants to

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

140 so many sheep or horses or some beads so he won't tell about that.

times

But man who seen

They (Q)

pay

this don't

They

to take sheep or beads. to take

want afraid

those

it.

get scared at night doesn't see anything. say that is those were-animals. Bear, coyote and wolf just

horses

when person

three,

I

think.

But

—some

they wear masks, they talk; masks made of unwounded buckskin. ( Q ) No, they

people mentions owl and desert fox

aren't painted.

to

(Q)

that's

Yes,

how

(Q) They

They

just

kill

people.

don't steal sheep.

° "Bears used to bother the but nothing could be done about it. Only a witch could kill a 16 These men would go to bear.

35.

crops

den in winter, them out and kill them.

bear's

sing,

drive

"My

brother said that one night his dogs were barking and chasing around all night. Toward morning they chased something away. In the morning my brother looked for the tracks and saw bear tracks. He followed them and they went to the house of a man who was a witch. These kind of men put on a whole bear skin and then they are just like a bear. They can run like a bear. That is what those witches use. They look just like a bear and they go and do harm at his

hogan

someone." 36. *"Before the Navaho went to Fort Sumner they did not move around very much. They just herded sheep around home. "Any animal, even a bear, would be killed if it was caught Even a were-wolf stealing sheep. will steal sheep and carry them off to their homes." 37. #If people see wolf or coyote tracks around their hogan they sure get scared. If the tracks are real big, they really get scared. If a coyote follows a Navaho it means his sister or brother is going to die. Only way you can stop it is put turquoise in Coyote's tracks. They say that people wears the to

skin of these animals at night.

Some-

too.

38. °"Before the Navaho went Fort Sumner there used to be witches who would put on the skin of a bear, coyote or wolf and go around in them. You used to see their tracks."

39.

# Whenever

somebody

is

very sick and no chant will help him, then they know that person has been They say that is how witched. people get rich. Some people say they witch to do that. I don't know. They say the witches dress up in wolf or coyote skins and run around at night. They say they go naked. They say they put yellow on their cheeks, black over their eyebrows, white on their forehead. Their bodies are spotted with white clay.

Both

men and women do

that,

they say.

#

Those were-animals take 40. the whole hide off a bear or mountain lion or they take any kind of hide. They take the bones out and leave the claws. They put sticks in the legs to move the skin. With strings they move the ears of the hide up and down. That is one way you can tell a were-wolf from a the ears are always movreal wolf

—

ing up and down. If you shoot at the head of one of these werethe shot will just go animals, Shoot at the through the hide. animal's neck and then the shot will go right through the real head of the witch. These witches put poison in your nose or your mouth. If a singer is half witch and half singer he puts something bad in the medicine he

and then they die. These witches sit in a circle in a

gives his patients

PART

III:

witch cave.

INSTANCES AND STORIES OF WITCHCRAFT They

sing songs there.

#Were-animals use a powder which they get from dead people. Then they just touch you with it. If you get touched with this powder, it starts it on crown of your head and comes down. When it gets to your eyes, you fall over. It just takes a few minutes. Some of the 41.

medicine people, they know about

141

Those witches never wear any even in winter. They run around at night. That's why Navahos don't like to go out at night. Those Zunis, they work witchclothes

—

craft against us too. They put the or something else hair of a Navaho

—

—

from him and dance around it and do a ceremonial over and kill the Navaho.

that.

Were-Animal Anecdotes 42. * "Witches would wear an animal's clothes. old grandfather was called Many Hats. He was the head of all the witches. He send a man from the Salt Water clan over to see if a man they wanted to die

My

was

still

living.

This

man from

the

Water clan would dress himself in a wolf's skin and go back and forth and report to my grandfather. "There was a man who was hunting. He saw this wolf coming so he hid. When the wolf went by him he shot him. The wolf went Salt

over the hill just a little ways. The hunter went over there and there was the wolf with the skin off his head and the hunter saw that it was old Salt Water. The wolf said, 'My grandson, you have killed

me

I was sent by Many Hats the patient was dead.' The hunter said, 'What are you doing out on a day like this? Don't you

now.

to see

if

know

that you might freeze?' Old Water said again that he had been sent by Many Hats to see if the sick man was dead. The hunter told the wolf to go into a pot hole. The wolf backed into the hole. He had Salt

all

sorts

of beads

around

his

neck

and arms. The wolf took off all of these beads and told the hunter to take them. However, the hunter was afraid to take them. took off his head band.

The hunter Then he got

a stick and lifted the beads into the head band with the stick. The wolf said, 'There is nothing on those kill you.' Then the hunter took the beads in his hand and went home. He told another man about

beads to

and said that he had killed somewith fur on it. They both went back to see it. When they got there the wolf was dead. They it

thing

kicked dirt into the pot hole to fill it. This happened during the winter. They went back to their homes. "A few days later they saw wolf tracks around where they were living. The tracks were those of Many Hats and his friends. They were looking for old Salt Water. They went to Salt Water's wife and asked where he was. They found only his moccasins at home. They hired a listener to find out where he was. He took Salt Water's moccasins and went out to listen to see if he could find out where he was. All that he heard was a mouse scratching the inside of the moccasins. He thought to himself old Salt Water is dead. He went back to the hogan said, 'This man is dead.' "After that they called old Salt Water's wife 'Trotted Aways Wife/ This woman did not get another husband for many years. Then there was a family who wanted to give

and

their son to this

woman. They

aslced

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

142

woman and

the she said it would be all right. The marriage was ready and they were waiting for the boy to come. As he left his home he said, 'I am going to eat for the were-wolf.' After that he was called 'The man who eats for the wolf.'

man

This

died lately." talk about witches. They think there was some witch people round there. They say man's name which mean No Hat, they think he is the one. They think this 43.

just

"They

man done something wrong

to that

says he seen looks like somebody was standing here (in the open). And his horse begin to move around, kinda scared of that noise. After he stop that noise, then he heard a man cough over there. And he rode over there and it's this man, Mr. Slender, howling there like a coyote. He just ask him why did he holler like a coyote? He says he didn't holler like coyote, coyote making the noise some other place. But this man know he was making that noise cause he was listening to him all that

about that for This man, Mr. a long time. Slender, they think he was a witch too. ( Did they say it to him? ) They told it right there to him. Moustache told him that he heard he was working with this man (No Hat). That man, and they ask him something too about him. He asked this man, Moustache did. It happened about a year ago: he was going to the sing and while he's going to the

time. He says he got afraid and his heart beating like that and he kept on till he got up to the sing. And when he got to the sing there was a

was a snowy day, and he's coming close to the hogan, another feller was riding behind on horseback. And this man was walking

17 it some other time." killed almost by was a 44. witch when I was young. I was lying in the back of a hogan when a man came along. This man wanted to be a star-gazer. He drew a sandpainting and put the kind of a rock that you can see through in the

woman.

They

talk

.

.

.

sing,

man

pretty near catch right behind and he heard the coyote hollering and looks like this coyote was pretty

ahead.

up

This

to this feller,

The sound sounded very

close. off.

And he

was a while

coming

lot of trees.

He

when he heard

started off again.

waited a

little

man came

that

holler

"Let's

quit

those

and around

man was

my

and then a the

'Yes,

I

have.'

me

a

little

while ago.

He

While saw a white

mouth.

singing

Then

that to

says,

stories.

center of the painting. Then he sang and went out to look at the stars. He saw something white on my eye-

streak

American way? Yes? Well, one did

of

°I

lids

that,

kind

Talk about

litde

about

about there

just

and the singer stop him. Singer

this

heard

Moustache was

coyote.

like

having the story

the

pretty well. He listen to that coyote. He got scared a litde bit. Maybe that coyote going to run after him. Sometimes coyotes do that. You

it.

there

they ask him about it. When they ask him like that, he says he didn't

He

wood. He come to a place, a open place. He heard that noise again. And when snow was on the ground in that night you can see, he says it's like that you can see

people there, he told about

And when

through

this coyote.

He went

far

him

says right ahead of

lot of

I

lot of little spots.

man came

back.

I

got

but a year later the man died. He was a witch and got it himself. These kind of witch fellows go around in wolf skins. One of them went to Keams Canyon about ten years ago wearing such a skin. The well,

trader shot him and the next morning followed the tracks to Pifion. There was an old man shot in the

stomach.

PART

Hi:

INSTANCES AND STORIES OF WITCHCRAFT

#A

man

followed 45. were-wolf tracks all the way Crystal to Chin Lee. He got close to it and was about to

when he saw

was

it

some

each

from

coffin.

quite shoot

his sister.

He

her go and before he got back to his mother's place his sister had returned and bathed herself all off. 46. # Yesterday a whole bunch let

of

men from

that

outfit

tracked a were-wolf from Pine Springs to Houck. But they never did catch up with it. 47.

#01d

's

wife's father

used to go around in a wolf skin

between here and Lupton and where people had died he would dig up the graves and collect the belts and jewelry. Then he takes this over to Crownpoint somewhere and gives it

make

to a silversmith to

bracelets

and

so on.

into different

That's the

way

they got their start to being rich, they say. Her father used to be a That's why some a witch too. 48. 's wife got very sick. The baby came the wrong way. Finally she died. The night before

pretty

bad man.

people says she

is

she died they heard somebody on top The next morning her husband followed the tracks. They looked like the tracks of a big wolf and they led to a cave. They found a bearskin in that cave. After the woman was buried, somebody dug her up. Her husband followed the tracks clear down to the Zuni Reservation. There he found No Hat herding all alone for the Zunis. So he shot him. 18 49. #Not long after they buried old lady at midnight one night her son and two sons-in-law heard a dog howling a long time. He just wouldn't stop. So these boys went out there near where she was buried. They went there with a sixshooter. They heard someone using a hammer. It was moonlight and rhev could see two witches, one on of her hogan.

,

side

143

trying

They

to get into the shot several times and

the witches went off. The next morning they found blood there. Pretty soon they heard that old , way over at Danoff, was pretty sick. They went over there and asked what was the matter. His wife said, "My husband was trying to ride a bronc horse and got thrown off and torn in the stomach by barb wire." One of those boys knew that it was right in the stomach 19 that he shot that one witch. The next day, that old man died. 50. #Four years ago at 's place, that mean dog they have there chased a witch off. The people all stayed inside the hogan. It was night and they were afraid to go out. But the next morning they found part of the hide the dog had torn off. They tracked that witch to Chin Lee. There are lots of witches in that country. 51. #Down in the Alamo where I live one time they caught a man going around at night in a wolf skin. They burned him on a pile eight feet high.

Go around

They do

that,

you know.

in bear skin too.

crow and owl skin and desert

Also fox.

don't really believe in those witches. But I think maybe I roped one once. And they say the government would pay a thousand or fifteen hundred dollars for a shot witch. One time down in the Alamo a man said he shot a woman dressed like a wolf in the rump. The very next I

day a woman died there. And they say she had a gunshot wound in her rump. 52. Over at Gets Black Beneath, north of Mount Taylor, two werewolves and some other Navaho were living. They were having a sing and every night the two wolves came over where the patient was. Had a lot of sheep there and trailed this wolf around the hogan everv time

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

144 they came up. The way they knew the wolves were coming was that the dogs barked every night and they knew the wolves were gathering urine and faeces. Use a lot of doctors there but never helped the patient. The patient got too sick. But finally he When this man did get better. started to get better he started to

herd sheep one day himself. He took his sheep out in a flat, open place. There was a hill in one place

—he

got up on top of that. And while he was on top there he got his nose bleed and when his nose stopped bleeding he didn't cover the blood up and when he looked through the sheep he saw something, looked like two coyotes. He started to go, went over there where these two coyote was and he found track there. It ran off to one side. There he found a dead sheep throats were already cut. The track was almost like a man's track where they had been handling the sheep. They got away already. He just let that go and took the sheep home and told some others about it at home. Someone went out there and was going to track this coyote off and see which way he was going back. They came down there where they kill a sheep and start to track the wolf from there. They found the place where they was hiding for a little while and they started to went over where the sick man had been sitting on top of the hill. And he noticed the place where the blood was this had been scratched up and taken away. They did that the same day they killed the sheep. These men tracked the wolves out south of Mount Taylor

—

—

and came home.

The man who had been

sick got again pretty soon sick in bed. They decided they were going to track the wolf again where he

worse

—

had picked up the blood.

Over

to

one side they found a place where they killed a horned toad and cut belly open and put blood in there and close it up again and put horned toad right out in sun on its back. Then away they went back home.

When they got home they decided they were going to track this wolf again. They tracked him back to Gets Black Beneath and found the two people and brought them back to where the patient was. Tied them down until they told about things these which they done. Didn't let them go outside. I don't remember how long they kept them there. Treat them pretty rough. Finally, one of them began to tell the whole story. Say they been going down there all the time. Want to kill this man because he is rich and got a good wife. They say they is guilty. One of them says, You people find out that we did it. So we know there is no more hope for us '

to live.

We

die pretty soon."

And

they says that patient there he'll get well but they'll be dead pretty soon because they got found out. "Better to turn us loose because we going to die pretty soon," they says. One of the men says, "We will turn you loose and we will see how it will go. If the patient gets well, we won't do

anything about you. If he dies, we got to kill you." So they turned

them

loose

and went home.

The

story begins north of Toadlena, on the mountain. It happened to a man called Mr. Friend's Grandson. One day this man was hunting big game. He had a saddle horse but not much good to ride weak and small. He came to a big canyon. In this canyon he saw two big deer tracks. Begin tracking these two deer had a gun with him. He kept following these two tracks. Go off a little ways and deer kinda split up. One go off all alone. Up in the 53.

—

PART

INSTANCES AND STORIES OF WrTCHCRAFT

III:

of the main mountain there was a lot of big bluff rocks. This track goes toward these big bluff rocks.

hills

Following

this track

ing off this

way

as

up he kept lookhe go along and

he saw through the rocks a big wolf that

moved

there.

This wolf stops over there and he takes a shot at him. He thought he shoot this wolf. He go a little closer to this place where wolf was and was looking down there and he saw a man coming out of there, walking. He kept walking and

walked right under where man was on top of rock. He didn't recognize

man

but the man called out his said, "Mr. Friend's Grandson, is that you?" Keep asking him that. This man was all painted up and had beads on but no clothes. Beads over to shoulders. Elbow to wrist solid with beads, red, white,

the

name and

turquoise.

He

noticed then

when

this

man

cough he spit out blood so he knew he was shot. And while he was sitting there he took bunch of beads off his neck and threw them up to man on rock. 20 Man says he was shot but don't shoot again let him die with that one shot. And the beads what he threw up he says that's a good beads not dead people's beads, live people's beads, and I'll pay that for not reporting about this. Well, those beads got stuck in a tree when the wolf man threw them up. So Mr. Friend's Grandson walked over there where his horse was and break off a long stick and pick up beads with stick. He was afraid they might belong to dead started to

—

people.

He

took those beads with a pole on his horse and carried it back towards his place. As he came near to the place he came into a big canyon where there was a lot of different kinds of trees and he thought he could hide these beads in this wild

M5

When

he rode down in this little canyon and found a big spruce tree down in there. Hang this beads to this spruce branch and left the beads there and went home. When he got home, before he got home he come to sweathouse. There are place.

some people there using the sweatbath and he went in the sweatbath himself. While he was in there with the people, he told his story and these people says they think this wolf he had a lot of friends. Pretty dangerous from those people if they see the way he did it. He also say he hide the beads up there. And the people say they going to put up a big pray, Self-protection Prayer, for him. Had big pray for him at night. Left beads where they were. Two days later he was looking for a horse and found it and started back home. On way back a big rattlesnake struck his leg didn't bite it just fell back. When the snake fell back it was half dead. He broke a stick and stuck it through its head and hung it on a tree and left it there. Three more days after that it

—

—

Lightning struck his sheep corral right at the entrance. His hogan was struck at very rear. started raining.

Then

start striking

more things

there at hogan. Along that time a

man

right

called

Hair Knot Gleams and another called Hair Fuzzy got up and talked to the lightning.

Told the lightning that

somebody talking to you to do it must be your father or mother or sister or brother if you mind it like that. So the lightning there must be

—

stopped.

The third time he corralled his horse and put a rope on one of his horses when he started walking up to this horse, taking up the rope, the horse got away and the end of the rope got wrapped around his leg. He got dragged off by the horse

—

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

146 once around inside the corral. But he was safe there again. Well, he wants to go back to this place where he was tracking this deer. People told him he must get on another horse, a good horse so that he have a good horse to ride up there, so he change horses and went down there where had been trailing this deer. There were lots of other wolf-tracks where he had killed the wolf. They had taken the wolf's body away. He noticed the were-wolves had also trailed him to where he hid the beads. The werewolves took the beads. There were big red beads in the bunch and they say that after that a man called Mr. One Eye was seen wearing those beads.

He

He

got one deer and killed it. skinning this deer. He

start

skinned this deer on one side and started to skinning it on the other and it seemed like his horse has been looking off in one direction and finally he act like he seen something, kinda afraid. Pretty soon this horse scared got and frightened saw something toward that hill. He look off that way and he see a big bear loping down the hill towards him. As soon as he see this bear he got scared himself and got on his horse but forgot to untie him. Horse jerked back with him twice, third time rope was pulled off from the pole. And he made a pretty good run trying to get away from this bear, coming right after him. He made a big circle around and left his knife and gun and everything where the meat was. He come back there and pick up his gun and the stick he used to clean the barrel with. And he start to running from there up on the main mountain where it was high only one place where the rock ends, he got up on top of this rock, and the bear was running straight up where

—

—

He

this rock was.

tied his horse

up

on top and walked back and got to rim of rock. Bear was coming straight up to him but he cannot get up.

He

spoke to this bear and bear he must mind a man, must do whatever he says. That's why he Is said

chasing him. The man told the bear that of course it was the witch people that told He told the

shoot you

him

"I'm

now and

Whenever he

way.

to talk that

bear,

kill

him

kills

going to

you

that

too."

means

for all these other witch people the

bad way they used

to doing.

All this

badness is going to be upon the witch people. They are going to start dying out. The bear was walking up to him. His mouth was wide open all the spit was running down from the jaw to the neck. When the bear heard what the man said he got up on his hind feet and stood up like he is going to fight him. But the bear is under the rock and the man shot him right through the heart. When the bear was shot, he grabbed a little pine tree. He put his arms around that tree and started to fight it. After the bear fell off the tree, the man came back to his horse. He broke off another long stick and came over to the bear. He was afraid that bear was alive yet so he poked that stick in the bear's eyes and belly,

all

over.

He found

was running blood through the pine needles. that

Many

down

years after that this

man

came back to where the bear had been by the tree. The tree had grown but the scars of the bear's bite

were

still

there.

A

young boy was caught by two witch people. They said, "There We want you is a sing down here. 54.

to

go along."

He

thought a sing

was going on over there where they said, so he made up his mind to go

PART m: INSTANCES AND STORIES OF WITCHCRAFT was after dark when he was caught. They start to going off in one direction. Kept going. with them.

It

I don't know how long they kept going. While they going they come

to a place

where there

some kind

is

of a door in the ground.

And

the

boy noticed the door was wide open. And he see the light out of that place. He looked down in there and seen a lot of people down in there. When they come to that place the two witch people blow the same land of whistle that the singer uses. After they come to that place, they went in there. After they got in there these other people they made a lot of talk about the young boy. They said, "Why did you bring this boy over. He's got no business to come in there." These people thought that the other people were bringing some dead people when they heard the whistle. That's why they open the door for them. While they was waiting in there talking they heard a whistle outside. One jumped up and opened the door. Two people came in from the top carrying a dead woman. They had a big load. This boy was scared to

There was a back room and the door opened he saw a lot of meat drying in there dead people's meat. They take this woman's death.

when

—

body in there. There were some mans in there that this boy knows already and a lot of other people that he don't know. They told this boy he is going to be with this people, with the rest of them. They not going to turn him out. There's one man in there like the boss of all. He told the boy he might be a helper of the others. He might give him a job to go out and look for some dead bodies. He might teach him that. He showed

him everything

that they had inside this room: a lot of meat, a lot of turquoise, a lot of beads so many

—

147

you can hardly count them. These beads come from the dead bodies. (Q) They say these people use the meat for food. They think whenever they go out for another person, they eat this meat first so they'll have good luck going. They told this boy they going to teach him how to use this wolfs skin. They told him there's a wolf skin in there hanging up with the ear cut off. They going to let him use that. They want him to go over the other side of Mount Taylor. They told him to undress his clothes so he did that. He didn't know what they going to do to him next so he

They close up other door over here. They told this boy they going to take him inside in this other room and told him he was to have intercourse with this dead woman before he did anything else. And this boy he got scared and He the top door was open yet. asked to go out a minute and make his water. These men said no. But he kept saying this and finally they let him out. He act as if he going to just pull his clothes off.

make

water so they go behind off. He heard a lot of noise behind him, people behind him trying to catch him. He hid in dead pine tree and he can hear a lot of them running quite close. After these people pass by him he start off the other way. He go a long ways and then he turn to his home. At first when the boy was brought in the witch people didn't know what they were going to do with boy. He was too young, they says. They told him after he'd had intercourse with

him.

his

He

ran

woman, they'd

the dead rest of

Tall Smith from that

tell

him the

it.

bunch

Thoreau was

of witches.

He

in a car accident just a

in

got killed

few

year.,

ago. 55. I

#Four

was alone with

years

my

ago in

May

two small boys.

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

148 heard someone walking around the hogan. I started out to see but I heard steps again so I ran back in. No one came so I went out to the shade. I saw a big wolf there. I went for a gun, but by the time I got it the big wolf was gone. I was scared so the boys and I went over I

and stayed

night at my father's other women [names

all

Two

place.

saw

mentioned]

Wherever the

My

same wolf. came, someone

that

tracks

saw it jumping in an arroyo and saw that it had human feet and not hooves. Some people tracked that down and saw that died.

sister

the tracks always started at

's

place. 56.

My

21

father

said

he was

away from home one day and saw a coyote or wolf didn't know out

—

—

which through the sagebrush. It was early in the morning. When he saw it, he thought he would try to run him down. It was wide open

—

country no trees, only sagebrush. He got pretty close to the coyote before he saw him. Finally, the coyote ran into some few trees near by. The coyote ran around these trees and stopped near a fallen dead tree.

Then my there.

It

was

father a

saw something

woman

sitting

down

with coyote hide slipped over her shoulder. Her forehead was painted white, black around eyes, blue moustache, yellow on chin. Around her shoulders it was painted red and she had white and yellow spiders painted on her arms. Had white eagle feathers on head but was absolutely naked. She had a bunch of beads around her neck and wrists. My father spoke to her. She put up her hands and said, "Don't shoot me, I am your sister." ** My father

took his gun and started to shoot anyway. But she said her father-inlaw and mother-in-law were witches too. "If you kill me there are lots

more. We work together. You'll get into worse yet." It was the sister of Mr. Little, My father recognized her after they spoke a while. She was in his own clan.

She pulled out a bunch of beads turquoise beads four or five sets. She threw it at my father so he would let her go and not say a

and

—

lots of

to the people. My father didn't say a word. She did all the talking. He didn't touch the beads. She said, "If you are afraid of these beads, pick it up with the stick. Or if you aren't satisfied, I'll give you fifteen head of horses one at a time so the people won't notice it.

word

—

And

fifty sheep on top." This happened on the north side of Danoff. My father was on his way to Mount Taylor. His partner was just over the hill. He didn't like to talk to her. But he thought to himself, "I don't like to kill her because she is my sister. But I will report this to the people." He said nothing about sheep and horses and beads. He just left. When he got to the top of the hill he thought he would see which way the coyote left. But he couldn't see her at all.

When my he called the

father got back

home,

people to come to him the ones that she had said were witches. They denied it. rest of the

—

(Q) little

I

things.

remember

My

just

two other

father said her hair

was all untied and spread out and wrapped around her neck. Could see some sticks painted red sticking 3 out from beneath hide.'

APPENDIX

II:

SORCERY

General 57. Witch people, one will have to say, "the earth is belong to me.

Whenever

anything to the me." Another witch will say, "the sun is mine. Whenever I says something to him, I

earth, he'll

says

do

it

for

Another says, These witch sit and he can have somebody to work for him. Like the white man, big boss, he sits to the Anything what he supposed table. to have it done by the police. Police people they can work for him. he'll

do

it

for

"thunder is people can

All the

same

me."

mine."

as that.

#A

witch practices in this goes to a ghost hogan and finds a stone. Then he takes another stone and draws your picture on the one from the hogan and calls you by your name. Then he puts the stone back in the hogan with your 1 picture face down and you get sick. Another way is to get a fingernail, hair or something and to put it in a red ant hill or in a grave or 58.

way.

He

an arroyo. Then you die. someone knows Shooting Way very well he is very dangerous and might become a witch. If he gets really mad at you he will say, 'lightning is going to strike you soon." Then you have to go up on top of a mountain and find a tree that has been struck by lightning.

bury

it

in

If

Where

the

lightning

struck

the

ground you put turquoise and pray to the lightning not to strike you.

A man who knows Mountain Top Way can send the bear after you. A man who knows Navaho or Chiricahua Apache Wind Way can send the snakes after you. The worst of all is the man who knows Beauty Way. He can send everything after you. 59. #One man says he has power over thunder, another over snake. He can make them do what he wants to you. He can kill you just by touching your foot with a stick. He has power over rocks also.

He

—

your spit, hair anything from your body like your shoes and socks. He takes it away and uses

dirty

buries

prays

it

in

some bad

to

it

there.

He

place. calls

He your

real name and he fixes when you will die. # Sorcery is when a man

name, your the date 60.

puts spit or a piece of the clothing of the man he is going to kill in a grave, perhaps in the mouth of a dead person. Or he can place a corn stalk a certain way on a cliff when it blows backward the man's corn will die. Another thing they do is to take a horned toad and open up

—

its

belly.

from a

Put in

its

woman who

—

belly something is

going to have

a baby part of her apparel (xah26i x or xahc 6i) or some dirt from her

149

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

i5o body.

Then both she and the baby

will die.

61. Coyote, or a dog or a snake things that don't speak sometimes they do Sorcery too. call that be ? i nizi n. Sometimes a man might bother a snake and the snake will get angry. We say that the snake will try be- ? i-nizi-n against this man. If a child bothers a dog too much we will say to it, "Don't bother that thing. It is dangerous. It will witch you." When a whirlwind runs through a hogan or through a bunch of people they will say be- ? i-nizi-n just like they do when a coyote runs in

—

We

•

•

•

front of a person. 62.

# Sorcery

is

just

a talking

the medicine people mainly, but it is especially Sorcery that we think singers do. 66. #Boys here in school sometimes say be-?i-nizi-n, "may bad luck come to you!" [Father Berard comments that the grammatically

more correct form would be be-?i-hzii-d. However, in my experience, the form more commonly used colloquially

be--

certainly

is

W-nizi-n.]

#They much with

don't kill people Sorcery. Those old

67.

very

man sick that get called to treat they get money or sheep.

singers just get a rich

way.

Then they

him and Or they have a partner. 68. #cin personal dirt, that is what they use in Sorcery. [Father Berard comments: While cin or c x in

—

Get anything dirty from your body your hair or your spit. Witch man puts it where man has been buried or where they died or put it inside dead body. Pray to it that you die in a month or two. Or they could say, "If he takes a step it will hurt him." "If he sits down it will hurt him," and things like that. (Q) Yes, women could do it

the absolute form of this noun, the bi-possessed form bic x i-n fits better.] One Navaho will say to another, "Don't leave your shoes around like that or somebody will 5in you."

too.

dirt sticks to pants or clothes.

way.

—

63.

# Sorcery

is

when someone

picks up your faeces or your urine and takes it where someone died and pray there and you get sick. Or take dirt from where you stepped or laid down or dirt from a Pueblo ruin. Some people kill a snake and point it toward the person they are bewitching. They set a date when you are going to die and it comes out just right. A horse might roll over on you or something. (Q) No, they don't do this to make money. They just hate people. Whenever there is an epi64. demic any place, the Navaho people will say, "First Man be* ?i-nizi-n." 65. #01d singers are the ones think they that we are afraid of. pray and sing and do Sorcery to us. Witchery and Wizardry are also for

is

69.

where there

is

dirt

skin

Take

house or a black ant house or a yellow jacket house and pray to it and kill people that way. I heard that the singers of Red Ant Way knows that part. That was the way they shot that Indian Agent it

to a red ant

in the penis. They had to take stones from a red ant house out

of his penis. 70.

they

#The

know

ple

who

who

sun and

Sorcery

Sun every day

#

We

Gather some man's foot

or cut a place

die.

moon

gets as

bearers

right.

all

The

pay the peo-

The Moon

gets those

die at night. 71. If a

dog comes

in the

hogan

with his behind towards you they think the dog is doing some kind of a pray which will put some kind of a sickness upon the people. In that case we tell our people to feed the dog, not treat him rough.

and

sits

PART

INSTANCES AND STORIES OF WITCHCRAFT

in:

Some day he might do him right.

that

if

you

don't treat

#You

72.

can do

Sorcery in

One way is certain way on

different ways.

a cornstalk a

When

a cliff. blows backward the corn

it

of that

to put

man

will wither

away and

you want to kill the man himthey say the Sorcerer just gets

If

die. self,

some

of his spit or a piece of his clothing and puts it with a dead body. The best place, they say, is

mouth of the dead body. Or the Sorcerer can speak the secret name of the man he is after. The best way to do that, they say, in the

for the Sorcerer to sit on horseback, not moving at all, and watch victim his who can't see him. is

Around Canyon de Chelly where there are so many witches and sorcerers they say that the Sorcerer just stands still on top of the canyon wall and watches the man down in his

fields

73.

below.

# Sorcery

bad thoughts

It

is

of like profanity. If a man talked that way to you, you might sort

die sometime.

Do

people cheat when they They cheat by tripping and knocking you down before you are ready. That's the only way. Could they use witchcraft? I think they do that. They sure beat you. The way they do: they have some kind of bad spell in their mind, or 74.

wrestle?

Yes.

know what kind, and They put it in their mouth and chew and spit on you,

plants, I don't

poison weeds.

some on your hand and you touch your mouth and you don't feel 2 good. And he sure would let you or put

down when you

wrestled. Or another way: he don't like you for a long time, and he gets a chance to

wresde, and he pulls some hair off your head and puts that some places

where witches

Witches will go where the dead are buried, and put the hair in the grave, and say how many days that?

they set for you, three days for example, and then at that time you

might get sick and might die. Instead of putting the hair with a dead person, they might put it in a tree where lightning hit a pinyon or a pine, under the bark, and pray and sing and pretty soon they would say how many days or minutes, and

—

lightning will kill you. Wherever there is a snake or a lizard they would pray and sing and the snake will come and bite you. These are called Sorcery.

.... How would you

will

go.

Where

is

cheat

[Mentions various footracing? ways.] That's all. Could you use witchcraft? If you race, a witch-man will do some kind of bad spell: he will say something bad in his mind, and you fall down, or you can hardly run, and the witch-man will beat Another way, if you beat you. a witch-man, after a few days he sets a day and says bad spells he might say a horse will kick you, lightning hit you, snake bite you, and it happens that way. And another way: they take some pieces of clothes and they might pull shirt, or shoes some of your hair out, and see you and take it over there where a dead person is and say something and after that you feeling bad and have to die. And maybe the witch-man will watch you and see you urinate and pick some of the dirt and put some of the dirt and kill you. They put it where a dead person is too. They use faeces too. Another way: if you beat a witch in a footrace, he will be nice to you and sitting by you, and where you spit he will take the dirt where a dead person is. Too bad for you. Only way a witchman will do these things is if you beat him. If he beats you, it's all in

.

means "thinking

toward you."

151

.

.

—

—

right.

3

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

152

Anecdotes 75. Yesterday five Navaho silversmiths who work at Zuni came by my place. They had been drinking. My wife shut herself up in the hogan. One boy peeked in the window and said, "We came over to find out where the Squaw Dance was. Would you like to go over there with us?" My wife said, "No, and I don't like a noise around my place either. If you want to drink, go way off over there." The boy said, "If you don't like my talk, you'd better be careful. You'll get hurt. And you'd better not call for help either. I mean it." It sounds

as

if he was somebody

talking about Sorcery.

my place today or tomorrow, that would just fit it with that man's talk. 76. Two men called Other Side of the Mountain and Bent were playing the hoop and pole game. These two people were bad. They some kind of witches on both side. You know in the old days they say that when these bad people get mad with some other people they can call a snake and the snake can bite a person or they can call the lightning and the lightning can strike a person. They can use many things. These two people were pretty bad. They can use the lightning. This man Bent he says to the other person, Other Side of the Mountain, "Why don't you call the lightning? I heard you are a good witch-man. Nobody can talk back to you. But I talk back to you so If

why

gets sick at

you

the good lightning to strike me." Other Side of the Mountain answered back to him, "Bent, you keep still. I look at it just this way: you look just like an old burnt stump. So an old stump like that lightning wouldn't do a don't

—

call

thing to it. Lightning wants to hit a good tree. Lightning wants to hit something better than you." "Well," Bent says, "what are you talking about a good stump or an old tree for? Why don't you say, 'I am not able to do that to you.' You might just as well say, 'You are too strong for me.' But myself, the snakes in the early spring, the very first snakes that crawl out, the

am going to try with am going to see what

rattlesnakes, I his rattle.

I

kind of fun you get." So these two people they just talk together like that. The danger that they called, it didn't show up. 77. # Recently at the sing for Moustache's wife, her daughter said that Filomeno's widow was trying to get her by Sorcery. Filomeno's widow went up on the hill where she could see the hogan of Moustache's granddaughter. Moustache's granddaughter's sons tracked her there and found different kinds of pollen there and one or two kinds

That made them think widow was witching their mother and them. That turquoise had no business to be there. It is a bad place for turquoise to be. Somebody died there some time ago. So Moustache's granddaughter is rJhinking of having Blessing Way. 78. # Several years ago they

of

shells.

that Filomeno's

killed his father for

being a witch.

Somebody, they claim, saw him pick up the spit of Tall Man's wife from the ashes. Then Tall Man tracked him to a cave. Tall Man was afraid to go in the cave. They told me [a trader] about it then and wanted me to report it to the agent. After that a mouse* chewed the fringe off a robe in Tall Man's hogan. His wife got real sick. Then a gun went off

PART

in:

INSTANCES AND STORIES OF WITCHCRAFT

accidentally

Man's son. that

outfit.

and wounded Tall That was too much for They just went and

killed this boy's father.

#Last year

79.

my

sister

was

the loom weaving when she suddenly felt a terrible pain in her shoulder. She thinks somebody sitting

at

did Sorcery to her. The pain lasted until after she had a Blessing Way over her. They often do it like that to women who are weaving. 80. # About ten years ago Red Boy's wife was having a baby. Old Man Arm was singing over her. The baby come the wrong way and kill both of them. Red Boy thinks that Arm's son did that. He was helping his father at the sing, and somebody said he saw him pick up that woman's faeces. A long time ago people say that Arm's son's tracks were seen going to where somebody

was buried. And when he was drunk he told somebody once that he knew how to kill a snake and point it toward a person he wanted to witch. So the people questioned Arm's son and tried to get him to say how he Sorcery against that woman. They told him they was going to hang him up by a rope. But still he

did

admit anything. Finally, he was going to report it to the agent at Crownpoint that Red Boy said he wanted to kill Arm's son. Then pretty soon one of the head men said, "There is nothing to this. I don't want to hear any more." Some of the other head men kept on awhile, but the father-in-law said again he was going to report it and pretty soon the meeting broke up. 81. #Last year Big Woman wouldn't

his father-in-law said that

was pretty

sick. Bluebird was singing over her. Big Woman's husband was helping him. Bluebird sent him

153

out for a stone to grind the sandpainting minerals on. While he was out looking for that stone he found two small sandpaintings of the sun west of the hogan. One was made 6 of blue pollen, the other of cat-tail pollen. He thought perhaps Bluebird was doing Sorcery against his wife, but he didn't say anything to the singer. He was scared to. After the sing, his wife got a She was so sick she lot worse. couldn't move out of the hogan. She was out of her mind. So her husband took her shirt to a man who does hand trembling. He saw that

woman needed bling Holy

have Hand Tremdone for her. Then

to

Way

her husband took the shirt to his wife's grandmother. She did hand trembling too. She found out those sandpaintings were made by that woman's first husband. Then her husband took the shirt to another hand trembler. He saw it was Bluebird who made those little sandpaintings. 82. The way they do a long while ago, some Indians were hunting deer way beyond Zuni Salt Lake, and three guys were hunting and one was the witch and knew how he and another man were mad at each other and say bad spells

back and

camp

forth.

Two

of

them

left

go home. The witch was up at camp and the others got farther away and he says something to the man's horse, and the man's horse sweat and lay down and roll, and the man knows what he said because they were mad at each other. The horse was ready to die, the

to

and the other man he knew the and so the horse got well, and the witch lost his horse because he didn't do a good job. This happened thirty-two years ago. 6 plants for the horse,

APPENDIX

WIZARDRY

III:

General 83. After the people went to Fort Sumner, when they came back they heard about shooting something into you. They used to get a sucker. He would cut you open and dig it out or suck it out. The bad people would shoot the bone of a dead person or an olivella shell into you. They could also use porcupine quill 1 or coals from place person dies. Also rocks burned from sweatbath. Also sand from a red ant hill. If they don't get things out of you pretty quick, you get poorer and poorer. Your flesh just dry away. Pretty quick you die. Wizardry is when they 84. shoot a dead man's tooth or a quartz crystal in you. You have to go to the Zunis or the Santa Claras to get

that sucked out.

They rub you

all

over first. Then the man sucks out a little stone or flint or snake too sometimes. You could do Wizardry too with ashes from where a man die and hogan was burned. A singer who knows Holy Way chant might do this sometimes. He could shoot the richest man he know, have another man in it who knows hand trembling, and this man will tell the fellow who gets sick to get the singer who did the shooting to cure him up. Will pay him lots of money. No

one

else

would know how

to

get

thing out of body. He'll cut place open and suck it out. Will sing a song or two first. He'll have some

kind of medicine to put on lips and tongue grind up bits of bees and other things that suck the flowers

—

most.

(Q) shoot

it.

85.

I I

don't know how they never heard about that. Wizard is envious of

#A

people with turquoise and property. He kills them. Only a man can do that. My maternal grandfather started to learn it but when it came to where he had to kill his brother or his father he gave it up. The people say that a man who taught Blessing

Way knew how

to

do Wizardry. 86. #When a person wakes up night with a sudden pain they will get a man to do hand trembling at

just as

Maybe

this

say, "I see a

bad

soon as they can.

hand trembler will man. ?azdi+gas

(he

practices

witch-shooting)." Then they will get a Sucker to cut place and suck it out. There are still suckers on the Reservation. Usually they are singers too, especially Male Shooting Way singers. This singer will pray before and after he cuts it out. These Wizards they uses shells. Also bones and sticks or grains of sand from red ant house. They put these in a red basket. Old Man Black House used to fly all over in a basket like that. 87. Wizards could shoot porcupine quill, sharp points of yucca, charcoal from where a man died or was buried, tiny rocks from red ant

154

PART

III:

INSTANCES AND STORIES OF WITCHCRAFT

Two men would

house.

do

it

to-

They rub their bodies all over with ashes when they are going gether.

where yucca plant grows. Sit right behind yucca. Put something in middle of hand or in red basket if they have one. to shoot.

Sit together

Pray

it,

to

call

man's

name

or

woman's name. Tell it to go right over there and through its heart. Then more prayer and songs. As sing starts, the little thing raises up and goes out. Hear noise over there and in minute man is dead. 88. #Rich people used to do Wizardry against each other. Three people get together to do Wizardry.

To

155

Wizardry you must

start

someone

Best

close to you.

is

kill

your

brother or your sister who is just older or just younger than you. 89. Make a bullet (not a bullet exactly) of stone, hair, porcupine quill or anything. Shoot it through a smooth rock and three other things If it goes through all four (?). things it will go in body of person

you hate and kill him. Medicine man remove it by sucking or by putting medicine on place, and it kills the thing right there and it disappears. Old time belief.

—

D

has never seen

it

done.

2

Anecdotes 90.

*"One

of

's

friends

the other day said he had had trouble with his eyes. He went to a Ute doctor who took something out of his eye like a fingernail. The Ute said that someone had shot it into him and that if he would pay him he would send it back to the shooter and then he, the shooter, would have to take the conse-

quences. He described how this man looked, his age, etc. The sick man found that he was describing a very close neighbor of his. He told to watch that this man

would get

sick as

he paid

to

have

the 'bean' sent back to him." Fort Sumner my 91. Before grandfather and his family were going back and forth, robbing sheep from the Mexicans. They were living on a mesa, staying in the daytime where no one could see them. At night they would drive the sheep off.

One day they looked off the mesa and saw a bunch of Mexicans trailing the tracks they had made the night before. The Mexicans camped at the foot of the mesa.

Some

of

these

people

my

grand-

was with decided to try to kill the captain of the Mexican soldiers by Wizardry. Two old men told my grandfather to help by holding the basket. The man who was father

going

to

shoot

behind.

Two

They had a

cer-

sat

others sat in front.

kind of basket called "little basket" or "red basket." The shooter took this basket out from a buckskin sack and put it on his lap. Next he took out two leaves of narrow-leaved yucca. He laid them straight across from him toward the Mexican. He put a live eagle feather in between, sticking straight up, but tain

leaning against one of the yuccas.

He

put

on bottom of between two yucca

olivella shell

basket, in center,

He

up the

feather then four medicines in little sacks one by one and then the olivella. ( Q ) I don't know what the medicines were, how they were called. He put the sacks of medi-

leaves.

took

and touched

first

cines away and then told my grandfather to hold the basket tight.

The old man started to sing and the olivella started to move, slowly

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

156

When

at

first.

it

moved

he sang another song, It began to move

faster.

around feather,

rising out of the Pretty soon it came near the doorway of the basket which was pointed toward the Mexican captain. When the second song was finished

basket.

it

went

like a bullet out of the bas-

old man told the boy and the other old man to put their heads down as the bullet went out and

The

ket.

keep very noise

we

quiet.

got him.

"If

you hear a

we

If not,

didn't

get him."

They heard the Mexican

yell

Other Mexicans got up, built up fire. The Navahos went down out.

closer to the

One

camp

of the Mexicans.

them could understand SpanHeard them say the captain

of

ish.

suddenly got

Maybe

a red ant bit him right over the heart. Pretty soon the captain began to yell loud. The Navahos said, "They'll move sick.

now. Let's go home and go to bed." Next morning the Mexicans were packing up. The Navaho stole close to their camp, heard them say the captain died toward daylight. Before I heard this story my brothers and sisters and I had been laughing at the old people.

made

us stop laughing.

It

This

showed

us they had something too.

Canyon de Chelly 92. #In there used to live a bad man called

"Gums Only." This Wizard

hit

a

school girl in the leg. Another man took the thing out while she was in school in Shiprock. The superintendent there, Tall Chief (Mr. Parquette) saw what they took out and saw the place. But still he didn't believe in witchcraft. Said it looked more like a red ant bite to him. The place was red on the outside where the man had sucked it a little.

This girl's family kept after Tall Chief to arrest this man Gums Only. But Tall Chief said it wasn't true.

There wasn't any such thing. Finally, one man in her family who was really a sucker, not a witch, said he'd prove it to Tall Chief. Tall Chief took this man into his

house and

The man

let

him

try

it

told Tall Chief to

on him. go into

bedroom, take his clothes off, and lay down. The Navaho stayed in a room by himself. The other people that were there could hear him praying. The superintendent had said just to hit him in the muscle of his arm so it wouldn't kill him. Well he was hit in the muscle his

of his arm.

Then the sucker took it out. put medicine in his own mouth and sucked out the piece of shell.

He

The

was gone.

soreness

But Tall

Chief sent the sucker to prison in Sante Fe and he had to stay there This happened about all his life. twenty or twenty-five years ago.* 93. #When I was a small kid my family was rich. We had lots of sheep, lots of horses cattle.

We

are

That's because

much

money

we

and some

poor now. had to spend too

sure

getting

my

father

around us up there at Shiprock, they hated us because we were rich. Those witch people they shot something into my treated.

Those people

father. It made a sore just like a had about every big abscess. sing the Navahos know. My father got a little better, then he'd get worse again. He sure got poor. Then we had to take him to Oraibi to get some man to try to suck this thing out of him. That was because none of the Navahos know how to do this any more. But this Hopi he couldn't get it. He worked awful hard. He sweated and he squirmed and he shouted. But he didn't get anything out. So then after a few months we took my father way over to Santo Domingo. A man dressed in a bearskin worked on him over

We

PART

INSTANCES AND STORIES OF WITCHCRAFT

III:

He had to work pretty hard but he did get something out a piece of bone from some dead fellow. That was about a year ago and my father has been getting better ever since. He's about all right

there. too,

—

—haven'ta

now

just

little

bit thin.

But we

got any money. It's hard to get started all over again. father's folks and my mother's folks they helped us all they can.* near Chin Lee there 94. used to be a man called Legs There are many Spread Apart. sure

My

#Up

up

Legs do Wizardry at night. He would put ashes on his face and go outside the hogan to do witches

that

in

Spread Apart used

country.

to

it.

Once he

who was on a

hill

mad

Mexican So he went about half a mile from the got

at a

a trader there.

Mexican's house. He took a little piece of turquoise and prayed to it. He sang two or three songs and the turquoise went off and hit the Mexican in the chest. It killed him. 95. A man living near Shiprock got very sick. He said he had a bad pain in the back of his neck. It was swollen there. He couldn't eat and he got very thin. One day when he was being sung over the singer said to him, "Maybe you have been witched. Maybe that is the trouble with you. I am going to find out." So he took the sharpest flint

he had in his pouch and cut a slit where it hurt. Then he sucked. At nothing but blood came out. Then came a piece of charcoal with some human hair wound around it. The charcoal, they found out by doing hand trembling, came from a ghost hogan and that hair came

first

from the head of a dead man. (Q) Sometimes when a singer sucks out blood like that, he'll save some of the blood and later use it himself in one of these bullets.

(Q)

All

I

know about how

157

they shoot is that they say they ways shoot from left to right. 5

al-

(Q) The Navahos don't know where this Wizardry comes from. First Man and First Woman had nothing to do with it. 96.

home by

#The man who

has

his

Mountain went several hundred miles to get some White Mountain Apache suckers to work on him. That was just a few months ago. He had been sick a long time, and he knew lots of people hated him. So he figured there must be some of those things in his back where it ached so much. Those Apache doctors took out several pieces of charcoal and some other things. Now he is better. 97. When they do Wizardry two men go off to the Mountain where nobody is. They sing four songs Wizardry song. They shoot weeds like a needle the plant we 6 Or they call "runs into the mouth." shoot woodpecker feather or ashes Tall

—

—

or turquoise sharpened like an arrow. They take their clothes off. Put

white cloth on floor. One fellow sits in front, one sits in back. Put corn pollen on cloth and also ?ant'i. They four songs. Then the things on the cloth start to move. Then they call the name of the man they are going to shoot. The thing goes off zzzz. Then the Wizards keep very quiet. If the man gets hit

—

start to sing

—

he jumps and says ?e-. The Wizards are listening and hear this and they say, "Now we got him." After about six weeks he gets sick and then dies. went 98. A month ago White Mountain over those to Apaches to get treated. They sucked a handful of ashes and a white feather out of his body. "I'm feeling pretty good now," he says. 99. Wizards they do it to the It makes a horse fall down, and the wicked men hide and you

horses.

can't see them.

7

APPENDIX

IV:

PROSTITUTION

WAY CHANT LEGEND The following

origin legend

was

learned only the origin legend "not the songs and prayers and medicines" of Prostitution Way. Since he was already married before the Navahos were taken to Fort Sumner he must have been well past eighty when he told me this story. It seems likely that there is more than one version of the origin leg-

end

1

for Prostitution

several informants this

"The

sort:

Way

starts

Prostitution

Way

in

8

A

down

there

live.

They

there full

eight

years

until

grown. This story

the

starts

in

some way to live. The boy hunted rats and cottontails. The grandmother found corn for him. The boy went out farther and poor, trying to get

the Otis

from where they lived. Fihe went up on top of a hill where there was a spring. He found that the Pueblo people had put some prayersticks away there. He began to think that whoever had put those prayersticks away was bad. And so he broke them up. He kept on after that going to other springs and gathering the prayersticks and breaking them. The Jemez people found out about this and got very angry. They wanted to find the boy and farther

begins in a corner of Coyote Pass Canyon near Jemez. boy was living there with a woman he called "my maternal grandmother." This boy had been abandoned by his parents at birth and hidden away. The Wind People picked him up and took him to Talking God and all the other Holy People. But the Holy People didn't have any milk to nurse him so they carried him over on the north side story

settled

Coyote Pass Canyon with his grandmother. They were hungry and

Trading Post region knows this other form of the origin legend.

The

Then they

when that boy was twenty. The boy was living there

3

singer

Black

and she took the baby right away. She had no milk either but she made a soup of rats and rabbits and fed the baby and raised him. That is the way she raised the baby, and when he got old enough to go around with her he went every place she did. They kept going around until the boy was about twelve years

boy was

down

that a

at the place called

Flint,

stayed

of

no mention of this spot. There are hints in information provided by Dr.

Wyman

woman

where the Jemez people

near the White Mountain Apache country at ?3ileThe story I recorded makes sila."

story

a

old.

because

made remarks

There they found

of Pelado Peak.

me by Old Soldier of Stony Butte. He knows Blessing Way and Enemy Way but claims to have told

nally,

158

PART

in:

INSTANCES AND STORIES OF WITCHCRAFT

159

grandmother and kill them. The boy and his grandmother hid by a spring on top of a hill. When the sun began to set, the boy and his grandmother left the spring and followed the water down

west again and got to Blue Rock

the

wash until they got out of the They went farther on and saw some white hills. They kept

tle

arroyo.

Then down to House On The Rock. Then they walked to Two Rocks 4 Lay. Then to Many Notched Hills. They stayed four days in one

his

walking until daylight. After daythey started walking again. They kept walking west all the time and passed Black Hill Rises Up. They then heard someone following light

them behind, tracking them up. They had just passed Bitter Water Spring when they found a place to hide in the cliff. It was sundown again. The grandmother was very tired.

Nothing happened that night. When daylight came they were going to start again but the boy told his grandmother that since she was so tired they had better lay over a day. He said he would look around. He did and found that some people were still trailing them. When the sun came up the next morning they started off. They went halfway up Mount Taylor and they hid again. They could look out from their hiding place and see people tracking them. They watched these people hunting for them for a long time, but finally the trackers turned back. There were too many rocks

and they couldn't follow the

tracks

across those.

The boy and

his

grandmother

started off to the west. Their tracks could be seen again, but they went

on anyway, hiding the tracks

as best

They came to Rock Way Up In The Air. From there they went to Rock With Willows and from there west to Water Runs On. They started from there west they

could.

again but changed their minds and walked back quite a ways to Bee Weed Rises Up. Then they started

Canyon and stayed Then they went

there three days.

northwest

straight west as they ing.

—not

had been go-

They got

to Stinging Water. Snake Water. Then to LitWater. Then to Tall House.

Then

to

place where there was a big canyon.

The boy left his grandmother at home and started to walk in the canyon. tain.

He

He walked up

the mounnearly got to the top, but

him back so he just walked back where his grandmother was. Then they both started walkthe wind blew

ing straight west again. They came to another place called Water Resounds. This was a cave and there was a spruce tree in front. When someone walked in the cave to get a drink, they would always hear a noise, "don, don, don." (That noise still there for many years, but no longer makes a noise that way now.) They got a drink of water and walked on again. They went on and

was it

came

to another spring called SquirWater. The sun had set when they got there. They sat near the water there. There was a big cave there too, and they decided to sleep Then they in the cave at first. rel

changed their minds and left and walked out to a little open place. They went It was way after dark. to bed where that open place was. They heard a noise and this voice came from where the spring was. It was ye-^ibicai. They heard it four After that a litde puppy barking. The next minute they saw a light there where that It was just littie dog was barking. like seeing through the windows of a house. There was a crowd in there and the ye-?ibicai dance5 was starttimes.

started

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

i6o ing right away. It was the Holy People. That went on the whole night through. ( In that cave, if you look up you can see a cross in the roof one line is black and the other is red.) The next morning they started to walk to another place called Red Willow. Then from there to another place called Pinyon Needle Water. Then there is a big valley across called Red Valley. Then another Then place called Black Water. another place called Coyote Box Canyon it is shaped like a corral; they used to drive coyotes in there. Then they went to Choke Cherries Spread Out. Then from there on top of the hill to Mark On Rock.

—

—

Black Weeds Stand Up. Spreads Out. Then to Picking Up Rock (where they used to have contests to see who could lift the rock). Then to Water Carries Wood Out. Then to Hill Stands. Then up in that canyon, then up in the mountain to place called Bands Of Green Grass. Then to Long Side Of Hill, then Grass Green Again. Then to Water Moves Clockwise. Then to Hill Like Man's Face. Then to Grey Cottonwoods Spread Out. Then to Red Flint Notch. Then to Rock Breaks Off. They stayed there

Then Then

to

to Hill

four nights. They walked into another cave where there were more ye-?i bicai. Again from there they start to walking again to Round Stick Lies.

Then

to

Dry Around Water. They

stayed there two days. The boy was looking for some more food around there while the grandmother was staying there. He was seeing the country too. In the morning they again. They just They saw a little yellow dog. He came up from somewhere and was with them there. The boy

were

ate a

starting off

little.

said, "Let's catch that little dog. is

a pretty one.

Let's catch

it

It

and

start to it,

but

own it

it."

got

He

started to grab

away from him.

started to run after that dog.

dog outran him. He chased the to

Shooting Water.

jumped

in

sunk down

The

little

He The dog dog

that water. The dog in that water and he

didn't see the

dog any more.

But

right in the middle of that lake a

stream spouted up. The boy knew the water was angry so he ran away from there. The boy ran behind a rock called Black Rock. The

big

water started to fall on him. When the water went away he started walking back to where his grand-

mother was.

Then they started to walking from there towards the west to Hole In The Ground. They kept walking to Swallow's Nest. While they were walking toward that place they saw water rising up again in one direction. From there to Cool Water. Then Green In The Mountain. From there to Horse Falls In The

Then to House Under The Rock Spreads Out. Then to Mistletoe Hangs. Then Dead Tree Stands Up. Then to Possessing Fish. Then to Red House. Then to Lake With Weeds On Surface. Then to Rock For Making Paper Bread. Then to Rock Points Toward The Valley. Then Wide Reeds. Then In The Then Hill Middle White Top. Where Water Cuts In. Then from there to Water Comes Together. Then Water Afraid. [Here the narrator said he had forgotten some names.] Then Big Willow Juts Out And Droops. Then to Keams CanArroyo.

yon.

Then

On

to

Walpi.

the south side there were a few juniper trees and they located there. In the daytime while the boy was out hunting for food, the grandmother walked over to the Hopi village and did grinding for the Hopi people and brought back a litde corn flour in the evening. Be-

PART

in:

INSTANCES AND STORIES OF WITCHCRAFT

the corn meal she got some corn and wild berries called blue sides

cherries. It had taken them four years to from Coyote Pass Canyon to Keams Canyon. They got to Walpi in the spring and they stayed there four years. By that time the boy was a full grown man. The man

get

time hunting for rats brought in food

just spent his

and

He

rabbits.

every evening. After four years he got tired of walking around that place and he said he wanted to go down near San Francisco Peaks. He told his grandmother that he wanted to make a circle trip, that he might see some people. If he did, he might stay one night with them, he said. He started off on his way and

went

right

straight

west.

way he found more prairie

dog and things

On

food:

the

rabbit,

like that.

He

a long stick that could be used for rabbits and also in prairie dog holes. One day he was doing that

had

got to a home. When they came the home Talking God was making the sound of the ye?-ibicai's voice. He kept on making that sound until he entered. Inside were

near

Cone Towards Water Man and

Cone Towards Water Man

noses.

Talking God, "Kind man, what are you bringing inside? You always do something when people ask you. We want you to throw out that man. We don't want him in said

to

But Talking God just kept on making that noise. Cone Towards Water Man said again, "You'd better throw him out." But Cone Towards Water Man's wife said, "Let him go. He might do no harm. He might just be wanting something. Let's hear what he says."

here."

let it go," said Cone Towards Water Man. After that Cone Towards Water

"Well, we'll

Man

started

talk

to

God and

ing on top of that hill and looking around. But he didn't see anyone. But as he started off again Talking God met him. Talking God didn't

wanted any blue

talk.

They

just

understood

each

Talking God. Then Talking God spoke up. He said, "You have everything, my grandson. You have all the shell and pollen. And I have nothing to worry about. So I want you to go along with me, my grandson."

So they started off toward the mountains called Streak Towards Water. When they got there they

his

When wife and seven children. Talking God and the man went in, all the people were holding their

when Talking God came up. He had come to a hill. He had been stand-

other by signs. The man had understanding. He knew that Talking God was saying something about white shell, blue shell, abalone, black shell, red shell, sparkling rock, blue pollen, corn pollen, cat-tail pollen. The man recited these things to

l6l

with Talking

The man asked Cone Towards Water Man if he black

the man.

red

shell,

pollen,

cat-tail

shell,

shell,

pollen,

white

shell,

abalone, blue

corn pollen,

6

sparkling rock. Cone Towards Water Man said yes, they wanted all of that. So they paid all these things to

Cone Towards Water Man

to

bathe the man, to try to get rid of that smell. Talking God then brought in yucca root. Then they spread out an unshot buckskin and Talking God and the man sat down on the buckskin. Cone Towards Water Man brought out a white shell basket. They bathed the man in that. But Cone Towards Water Man said,

"He

is

still

stinking.

We

can't

have him in here yet." They bathed

him again still

again

he in

in a blue shell basket

stunk.

They bathed him

an abalone

shell

basket.

About that time the smell wasn't

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

162 quite so heavy. He only smelled badly at the hair line of his neck. They bathed him over again in black shell basket. From the neck down they got all the smell off. But there was still some on his head. Finally, they bathed him in a red shell basket. When they got through, the smell was all gone. And from the hair line in the back of his neck there came out a little tiny rabbit. It had been chased out. The rabbit had

made the smell. The man thought the rabbit had been borne there the night before. But they told him it had been there for four days. They killed that rabbit.

But they kept on bathing that

man

for three more days. The first day they had used the leaves of big yucca. They had pulled off four leaves, taken them and softened them. The second day they used

the leaves of Monster's Yucca. The third day they used the leaves of Horned Yucca. The last day they used a small piece from the root of all these kinds of yucca. They used some songs too while they did the bathing. Right after that they put up Blessing Way for this man. They sang all night for him. And in the daytime of Its Day they shaped him up. His hair was short, but they stretched it down to below his knees. And they shaped all his legs, arms, body. They gave him more muscles there.

They shaped him

Then he looked had a

lot

The

pretty

over.

He

good.

of muscle then

last

all

all

over.

night they sang Bless-

Way all night. Cone Towards Water Man was the singer. When ing

the singing was

all

Towards Water

Man

to get up, to stand

finished,

up

Cone

told the straight.

man He

handed the man a bow called Black Bow and four arrows called "feathered

with

an

eagle

(?ace-be-st'a-n).

He

tail

mean

go

off.

And

you

to

keep

these.

I'll

just

111

my

That

will

be

get

the

bow and arrow

payment.

back."

The man started off back towards where his grandmother was. He found he had been six days and nights with these people.

six

When

he came to a place called Malapais Lays Out he saw some antelope grazing. He shot a buck and did as he had been told. Then at Malapais Lays Down he shot a doe. Then at Malapais Laughter Downwards he shot another buck. And at Malapais Lies another doe. When he got back to Walpi,

grandmother had been missing him. But she was still over grinding corn for the Hopi people. He looked his

around and saw fresh tracks so he his grandmother was all right. So he walked around and thought. He wanted to have a good home.

knew

Cone Towards Water Man had

gum and blue gum. T Told him he must keep that and given him black

take care of it, musn't lose it. When he needs something, he must take a little bite, chew it, and blow it and it will turn into whatever he needs. So he took that gum (he had had it wrapped up under his belt) and chewed a tiny piece and blew it. It

turned into a forked stick hogan.

Inside the hogan he blew it again and he got some pots and some food.

feather"

said, "I don't

for

loan them to you. You must pay me for the singing I have done for you with antelope. First shoot an antelope buck. And when you have shot it just pull the arrow out and lay it across the body and leave it. Next shoot a doe antelope and do the same thing with the arrow. Then a buck antelope again and the arrow the same way. Then another doe and this time leave both the arrow and the bow. Leave them and

He

Next he started off for Walpi. around for his grand-

looked

PART m: INSTANCES AND STORIES OF WITCHCRAFT mother there and asked some people, but they said they hadn't seen her. He thought they were just hiding his grandmother. Back there where they had sung Blessing Way over him, they had also given him two Little Black Winds, one on his right ear and one on his left. These two little winds gave him the news. Now they said to him, "Your grandmother down underneath the village is working." He went down there and saw his grandmother there grinding. He took his grandmother out and took her home. They came back where the hogan was. When they got

inside

the

hogan,

the

grand-

mother cut up a lot of meat inside and boiled it. Two Hopi women came back with them. These two women were there a little while. When the meat was boiled they ate The it up with those women. women wanted to stay there, but the man made them go back home. They didn't want to go back, but he sent them back anyway. Next morning two different women arrived. They had breakfast with those two women. They stayed there until noon and then after noon the women said to the man that they wanted him to go with them into the woods to cut up a small piece of wood for them so they could pack it back to Walpi. He cut up a litde wood and made up a little bundle for each one. While they were in the woods, he slept with one of the women, then after a while he did it to the other one. After that, they took the wood back to Walpi. Next day three different women came. They stayed nearly a whole day and towards the evening they went after wood again and he did the same thing to these three. Then they took their wood back. The next day there were four

more.

He made up some more wood

for the four,

and he did the same

thing

them.

to

163

And

over

at

the

hogan young boys had started to come and do the same thing to his grandmother as he did to those

women

the

in

cleaned up

and

his

He finally women in Walpi

woods. the

all

grandmother

all

the

young

boys.

When

they had cleaned up

all

these people, there were still some girls in the town living in a house which was like a basement down in

the ground. These two girls had only lived inside where it is dark. They never get out into the light, 8 they are called: do-bi'Me-Xa-d, "Light Can't Get Them." This man studied about these girls. He wants to get them. The only time these girls get out is early in the morning just as it starts to get bright. They go to the water hole then. This man went there before daybreak and

The two girls came They had water jugs. They

waited there. up.

walked down

water hole and brought them up and were standing quite close there at the only place where you can get to the water. They put the

filled

up

to the

their

pots,

—

on their heads. The man blew the water out, twice for each girl, four times in all. The one started back to refill her jar. He took the other one off and did it to her. Then he took the second one while the

jars

one was getting water. So he got the two. They stayed for quite a while there. Then they went to take the water back and the man went home. The father of these girls was called

first

Not-Sunlight-Struck too. He knew long it would take them to get water. He thought it took them too long this time. They never used to stay out that long. So their father thought something might have happened to them. When the girls came back in and brought the water, they reported this man that they had seen

how

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

164 So their father said he would have to see about that, he would have to step outside this time. He never had stepped outside before, not at any time. He stepped out there by the water hole and saw the foot tracks there. He saw someone had been standing up there. There were two foot racks, about outside.

inches

eight

apart.

He

looked

around and he picked up a piece of stick and measured that foot track two ways, lengthwise and crosswise. at

Everybody had breakfast there Walpi and, after they had eaten,

Not-Sunlight-Struck spoke to the people and told them not to go off.

Everybody must stay at home until noon. Even if somebody has a corn field, he must not go off. Nor must anyone go off to get wood. Next he rounded all the people up in a bunch and he started in with one man. He told him he must put up his foot so that it could be measured. So he went through with that stick, measuring the foot of each one. But nobody had a foot like that. There is another place where are a lot of Hopis called And Not-SunlightMishongnovi. Struck measured up all the feet around there. He still didn't find the right foot. Then he went to Oraibi. Then to another Hopi town. Then he went to another Hopi town, the one farthest west, and found one man

there

whose

foot fitted that stick length-

wise but not crosswise. He rather thought that man might have done He tried it all over in all the it. towns and still couldn't find the right foot.

Then he came back

Walpi because he

He

studied

it

didn't find

to

it.

over again and

heard about this woman and her grandson out south. He thought about that. He started off early in the morning and tried to go to that place. But this man already had

found out that Not-Sunlight-Struck was coming to him. As he was lying down, he saw this man coming far off. He told his grandmother to get outside and look. She went outside and looked and saw him. She went back in and told her grandson somebody was coming. This happened four times. But the man just lay on his back inside. When the man heard Not-Sunlight-Struck just outside he put one foot on top of the other toward the doorway. As soon as Not-SunlightStruck came in, he just walked to the man and measured his foot. The stick just

came out

all right.

It just

Not-Sunlight-Struck said, "I have been looking for this foot for a long while. I should have come here first, but I have been walking all over the country. I discovered about the man who left his tracks down there and did some other things too. I know about that. his

fit

foot.

—

But now I have found my son-inlaw. For you are my son-in-law. So you are living here." The grandmother got some food ready and she and her grandson ate with Not-Sunlight-Struck. After they had eaten, Not-SunlightStruck said, "My son-in-law, I want

you

to

nice

if

home.

go to Walpi. It'll be very you'd come down to our I

want you

to

come over

tonight and make it sure." The man said he would go over to the village

About noon Not-Sunwent home. That night the man went over to Not-Sunlight-Struck's home and stayed with his two wives. The next day he started out west over to the first place where he had shot antelope for Cone Towards Water Man. There he saw a bunch of antethat night. light-Struck

He used the sunbeams. threw sunbeams over this bunch

lope again.

He

of antelope

him

and

and drew them killed

twelve

close to of them.

PART

in:

INSTANCES AND STORIES OF WITCHCRAFT

After that he went back to Walpi told his father-in-law about that. He said those twelve antelope would be his payment for those girls. The father-in-law sent a bunch of men out there, and they had a lot of meat in Walpi. The man stayed in Walpi again all night. About sun-up the next morning he went off again to the second place where he had killed antelope before. This time he used the rainbow and got fourteen antelope. He reported it back again and a bunch of men were sent out to bring them

and

all

in.

The next day he used the sunbeam again. He got thirty that time. Men brought them all in on their backs. The next day he used the rainbow again and there were fifty in that bunch and he killed them Men, women and children all all. went out to bring in the fifty, and they got them all in by a little after dark.

Each of these four days, father-in-law gave him a new That makes

six

wives for him

his girl.

al-

That's the reason we call this story Prostitution Way. The next morning he went back together.

She had been getting all the young boys. When he came to his home, he wanted to leave that place. He went outside and he blew the whole hogan back into his mouth. In a minute the hogan was gone. Where the hole had been, all was level. He and his grandmother started for Walpi and to his grandmother.

they stayed over night there. Just after sun-up the next morning he took the two wives he had gotten first and put them on the sunbeam. He put his grandmother on the rainbow, and he got on that too. They went over the hill toward the north. They came to the ground at the place called Open Over The Hill. When they hit the ground they

started

and they walked Canyon de Chelly. to live there. They

walk,

to

from there

They

165

to

started

stayed there four days. While they were staying there, the Hopis (a bunch of men) came up each day. They were after the girls. They don't want him to take Qie girls away. Every time these Hopi men came, the man used the sunbeam and the rainbow to lift the girls up in the air so that the Hopis just looked and could find nothing. So they went back. That's where the people started getting two wives two sisters. The Sun also had two wives. That's why policemen can't stop it it is something written down back there. But the man figured it didn't look very well his having two wives and sleeping with them right

—

—

—

there. So he wanted to send them back to Walpi. He studied that out. He gave a live feather to each of the girls and the top of a cat-tail (when cat-tails get ripe you lie them down on the ground and the stuff flies around like a cloud). He gave each one a cat-tail and told her to put it under her clothes. He took

them over to a place called Water Washes Around The Rock. He put one of the girls on a sunbeam and the other one on the rainbow. They had these things with them. He told the girls that if they had trouble the feathers and the plants would protect them. After they left, he kept looking after them and he thought he could see the as Walpi.

He saw each

side,

all

the Hopi people out-

with

a

whip in their and boy€,

and men — everybody big enough

hand

girls

girls as far

to use a

The

whip.

went through these people, and each one hit them with a whip as they went by. The girls took out their cat-tails and threw them on the ground. The fluff flew out and girls

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

i66 spread into thick clouds. Each girl got on her feather and started flying with it. They went up into the air in spirals. That was the last he could see of those girls. This man went to a place called Water Makes Sound. While he was there, his two wives came back. Then he and his wives and his grandmother went back into Canyon de Chelly to Round Rock Sticks Up. They didn't stay there long. They kept on going to Rock In The Middle Crooked.

going

up

Rock

this

—

From

there they kept

Runs Through

Trail

to

trail

still

is

there

yet.

they

they owned that place. And so they passed on to Black Salt. Then they went over again to Many Lakes on top of the Tohatchi Mountains.

—

Then

next place they came to was Rock Face. Then up on top of the mountain they came to Place Where Red Ochre Is Gathered.

Then

to

Makes

Hunting

Pipes.

Stayed there several days and made 9 four pipes: white shell, blue shell, abalone and jet. They smoke with these pipes there before they start off again. They got to Pointed Sand 10 When they got there these Hill.

two

girls

stayed there.

Before the said,

"Many

man

started out

years from

be Navaho

now

he

there

on this earth. If Navaho get sick from Prostitution Way, they should get some plants from this hill and use those plants will

living

in the emetic of a five-night chant.

Use only these plants and use the in the morning for four mornings. Then the last night finish up with Blessing Way. That is the way fire

—on

the

came down to Toadlena. Rock Point. Then down to Cottonwood Pass. Then to Earth Opens to

let's

The

Up

and Then on

tain.

de Chelly now and are a long ways

Sand White

to

eastern rim of the mountains,

They kept going, going east all the time. They have passed Canyon off.

in

it

Way."

Then the man and his grandmother came to Sonsola. When they got there he was going to leave his grandmother. But Bear People were living there and they didn't want anyone to live there because

to White House. They kept going to another place called Rock Struck By Lightning. They stayed Then they started all night there. off again to House Slides Off CliffThen three days there. Stayed, from there start to going up and got to House In Middle Of Rock.

Then

work

supposed to

are

Prostitution

He

Up.

left his

grandmother

there.

This was a forked stick hogan of the Holy People. The whole hill was a hogan.

He

by him-

started walking off

Then to Can't Pass The MounThen to Green By The River.

self.

From Lays.

Sewed

—

where Dronow. Then to Adobe Kept on coming east to

there to Badger store

is

Stick.

Then

to

Water White

On He

Top. Then to Blue Malapais. kept going east all the time. At one place he found the Frog People living. He came to another place called Grinding House. This was a little village where some more Pueblo Indians were living. He stayed there several days and got all the girls there.

Then he went on

to

Moun-

There was another hill a little way from there. He started to live on top of that. He didn't make a house there just a little wall of rock. That still shows tain

Sits

Out.

—

there.

Near there some more Pueblos and he visits and goes around through these villages, but he comes back to the same place every evening. The next village he came to was House Of The Winds. 11 Black House was another. Also Valley live

PART

INSTANCES AND STORIES OF WITCHCRAFT

in:

House, Pueblo Bonito, Blue House. kept coming back to where he was staying. At the time when

He

Cone

Towards

Man had

Water

sung for him, Cone Towards Water

Man had taught him how Cone Towards Water plant

to

use

pollen.

and mix it with the dew from the plant and touch the girls and they will come. He did

Just take a

little

that to the girls in

At

all

those towns.

he came back to

last

his

place again and he wants to leave that place for another place. He just blew that wall back into his

mouth and picked it up with his wind. Only a few rocks were left standing up and you can see them yet today. He then went to Dark Lake where there were a lot of birds

167

time he got every woman. Then he went down alongside the San Juan River. Some other Pueblo Indians lived in villages there. After that there is only one more place where he hasn't been. This is a little village called House On Top (Pueblo Alto ) and there is a man there called Earth Winner. He beats everyone

gambling and wins girls. Downy wants to meet this man and so he starts off. On the way he stopped in Chaco Canyon. They were having a big meeting there. The people adat

Home Man

Downy Home Man.

dressed him as

There were Mirage Stone People, Water Sprinkler and all those kinds

called Prairie

People, Wind People, Crystal People. Talking God, hasce?07a-n, of Talking God were there too.

to catch

There were

Dog Legs. He started these birds for meat. He pulled out his own hair and trapped with that. He twisted his hair and tied it to a stick. He put these traps along the edge of the water and birds got their legs caught. He lived there and made his bed with the feathers of those birds. He had a bed four or five inches thick and he went to bed on that at night. At night he made a trip from there out to Wide House, way out north. There were also other places besides Wide House. He went around to all of them, gathering girls. That is all he is doing. He doesn't bring any of the girls home. He just does

it

to

them out

them while he

there.

When

is with he gets back

he puts himself in the lake water and while his body is still wet he rolls in the feathers. The feathers stick to him and he goes to bed that way. When the Pueblo Indians saw him using the feathers this way, they started in to call him at night

Downy Home Man [literally, "his home of downy feathers"]. He made four trips to Wide House

(Aztec

Pueblo)

and each

Moon

also

Yellow Mirage, Stone

People, Sunbeam People and Rainbow People. The crowd was talking about

Wide House. Some people were living way down there in the basement, they said.

They have been

trying

get these people out, but they can't. They are trying to figure out to

new

ways.

This

man

just

came up

there and listened to those people. He stayed there one whole day and what it was all about was that Earth Winner had been trying himself to 12 get those girls out at Wide House, but he couldn't. In the evening when Downy

Home Man was he left.

starting for

home

spoke one word and then The people just laughed they

just

—

word the first day. Next day he came back, and that

didn't

get the

evening when he left again he said, "Eat my brain." That was all he said, and people couldn't figure out just how he meant it. He did that kept going back and for four days forth down there and spoke that word every evening. After the fourth time, Earth

—

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

i68 Winner

tried again to get those girls but he didn't have anything to use and he couldn't get them out.

out,

And the Sun and Darkness tried it

Moon

tried

They

last.

it.

And

couldn't

get anybody else to try it. Nobody has power enough to get those people out.

At last, people began to talk about Downy Home Man. They talked about that word that he spoke every day. They figured he knew something. Some of the people began to say that that meant something. Earth Winner said, "In the morning he will come back again.

We

will ask this

man

to try to get

those people out." Everyone said, "All right. Let's ask him to do it. Let's tell him that." Downy Home Man was the name they were using while they were talking about him. And he knew at home that same night that they were talking about him, because he had the two little

Winds and beside

his

Winds

told

the ear.

Night right

little

Those two

little

him already that they were talking about him and that they were going to send him over to

Wide House.

When this man went back there in the morning again, there were a Some of the lot of people there. people asked him, "What does that word mean? Why did you say that word?" Downy Home Man answered, "I meant it. I could eat the brain of Light Never Strikes if I

wanted

to."

He

said that right in

the middle of the people. The people asked him again if he had a way to get those people out at Wide

House. He said, yes, he could do There is a big crowd around him, all watching him. that.

Downy Home Man right.

I'll

do

him

that

"All

So everybody

Go

ahead." They got the girls

said, "All right.

told

said,

that."

when he

out he should bring them right back

here where he was starting from.

And he

he would do

said

that.

He

told the people that they for him on top of the

must look mountain were born about

where the twins 13 noon that day. He went off over the hill, just a little way, and then he got on the rainbow which carried him up in the air to the north and brought him

down

Wide way he had sung

this side of the village of

House.

On

eight songs.

his

He was on

top of a hill people of Wide House got their wood. He turned

from

which

the

a bird which is called "Red Under The Wing" and flew part of the way. Then he changed into a woodpecker. He went a little way like that. Then he changed into the bird called "White Head." He went Then he a litde way like that. changed into the same kind of a bird only smaller, called "Running On The Log." Then from there he changed into the bird with the into

1

* After that into the yellow bird. Then there was a corn-

pretty voice.

He was getting pretty close He was at the edge of the cornfield. He changed into a corn

field.

now.

beetle.

Now

it

is

pretty

close

to

noon. Since everybody was inside and eating at noon, no one saw him. He traveled through the corn as a corn beede. Next as a rock wren he jumped right onto the wall of the village. Right in the middle of the village is where those people are that no one can get at. He traveled houses and then through the changed into the red rock wren. From there he could see the ladder sticking up from the roof these girls were staying. there on he went as a butterfly first yellow, then pink with variegated white, yellow, black, (with all these colors). As a but-

where

From

—

terfly

The

he followed the ladder down. were there when he got

girls

PART m: INSTANCES AND STORIES OF WITCHCRAFT down. They were making very nice weaving called "sewed fabric." They were doing it with white hair from a deer thigh, antelope hair, mountain sheep hair. They mixed up all these kinds of hair and made pretty things with

it.

The

older sister

was sitting with her legs spread apart and with this weaving on her right knee and the butterfly sits on it. She watches the butterfly a while and sees that it is a very pretty thing. She says to her younger sister, "Let's

catch

butterfly."

this

younger one

"No,

says,

it

The

might be one said,

something." The older "We'll catch it and we'll use a design the color of this butterfly." The younger one kept saying no, but the older one put her hand over the butterfly. The butterfly crawled out between her two fingers, and she put her other hand on top of it. The butterfly crawled through again, and then the younger sister put her hand over it. So now they were both working on the butterfly.

The

butterfly

—

started to fly off

up

the ladder rather slowly. So the two girls followed the butterfly, trying to catch it as it went up the ladder. And that was the way he got these girls out. Over the roof he still flew slowly so the girls followed. And he got away from town at the end of the field. It was still noontime. No one was outside to see what was

going

on.

Those

were

girls

still

catch him when he changed to a man and stood near

trying

to

The girls saw him and he them what they came out there for. He says he heard that they can't come up to the light at

them. asked

all,

that they stay

ment where

down dark

in the base-

the time. He asked the girls where they were going. They said they were after him. The man asked the girls four times to make sure if they were it

is

all

i6g

after him. They said yes all of the four times. They said, "We want to want to stay outside this time. stay with you." Then he put one on the sunbeam and one on the rainbow. They started going up, going back toward Pueblo Alto and then to the mountain where the twins

We

were born (Huerfano). All the people were making fun of him there. About half the people didn't believe he would get the girls. If they had looked carefully to the top of the mountain they could have seen him, but they didn't

they

very carefully because believe him. So they

look didn't

went back

to

Pueblo Alto.

He had

there without their seeing them. He told the people, "I got them out. They are here now. They are pretty nice girls. Suit yourselves about what you do to them. I leave that up to you. I don't want to take them myself." The others left it up

the

to

girls

Earth

Man those

Winner.

Downy Home

said to Earth Winner, girls."

Earth

Winner

"Take said,

"No, I don't want to take them. I have twelve wives already." Everybody asked the Sun to take the girls. The Sun said, "No." The Sun said

man who had called for the must take them. That was Earth Winner. Earth Winner asked every person one by one if they'd

that the girls

take the

girls.

They

all

said no.

He

asked each one four times and still they didn't take them. At last all the people said that Downy Home Man, he who brought the girls, had better take them himself. They all said they haven't anything to take care of the girls with, why they don't want to take

that's

them. Downy Home Man asked why they want to take these girls out, why they tried so hard even when they can't get them. Then he reminded them that they had sent him down there to bring the girls back.

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

170 Then they they

girls.

But

Wind

Downy Home Man

that

him he mustn't do anything to the The Wind also told him girls yet. that he had done too much singing to get these girls. He had sung on the way going and again coming back." The Wind said, "If you do anything

don't

all tell

want the

he had better keep them. So he kept them. He said he would take the

He

girls.

thinks he will take

them

over where he is staying and then after a while he will take them back where he got them. He says he hasn't anything to feed the girls with, nothing for them to sleep on no food and no blankets. When he brought them to his home, he had no food but bird meat. He tried to feed that to the girls, but they don't like it. After dark he went to the water and swam in the

—

rolled in the feathers and went to bed. The older girl went to bed on his right side, the younger girl on his left. The next day he

water,

kept trying with that bird meat, but they can't eat it. He kept this up another day. The girls were surely hungry by then. The third day the younger one ate a little piece of meat, the fourth day the older one ate a little piece too. So they both

had

a piece.

After the oldest one ate the meat, that night they went to bed again. All three lay down together. The man put more sleep on those girls so that they went to sleep very heavily that night. While they were sleeping, he got the rainbow and put the girls on the rainbow and raised it up a little and let it stay there. He chewed up the blue gum

which Cone Towards Wagiven him. He chewed it and blew it and that brought up a long house. He blew some more .^nd inside there was plenty of food. He blew again and that turned into bedding what was called "white or Datura

ter

Man had

—

robe"

buffalo

these

came

on and one with.

at

(cidilgai).

Two

once

to

all

to

bed

of

sleep

to cover themselves

They went For

—one

up

again.

of this time he hasn't

done anything

to the girls yet.

That

next to his ear keeps telling

5

to

them,

you'll

get

sick

yourself.

You'll get crazy right away."

Toward daylight the younger one woke up and felt the bed covers. She scratched the blanket and stripes of fire came from it. She said to her sister, "What's all this?" But her sister was sleeping. She wakened her sister and said, "What is this fire in the blanket? I must be lost." The older girl did the same tiling. She wanted

to

know where they

are.

Her

"We

are in a house now." "That's all right," said the older girl. In the morning they woke up, sister said,

went outside and got some wood and built a fire. Downy Home Man was They cooked some still lying down. food, then the man got up, and they all had a good breakfast. They lived there in that place for four years. He told the girls that he was traveling all the time, and that they must stay

went

home while he was away. He around

to

see

the

Pueblo

House Of The Winds, Blue House and other places. They He came home stayed at home. every night. After one year, then he went ahead and slept with the two girls. They were his wives then. One day, after four years had passed, he went out again, but when he came back at night the two girls were gone. A white butterfly had come to the girls and they thought it was their husband. When the white butterfly left, they had followed it. Butterfly himself knew a way like Prostitution Way by which he could bring the girls out. people,

to

Downy Home Man

kept track-

ing around, trailing the girls, but he couldn't find any tracks at all. So he

PART

INSTANCES AND STORIES OF WITCHCRAFT

III:

171

came back and slept by himself that night. The next morning he got his hunting pipe out, put some mountain tobacco in it. First he blew smoke with the pipe he had made with his

the ground. He kneeled down and It was a smokehole. He looked. looked in and saw a woman combing The woman saw his her hair. shadow and looked up and saw him

grandmother. He blew to the east the smoke didn't go very far. Then to the south, the west and the north.

there.

Then he tried his flute. If it had worked, the flute would have risen of itself and gone in the right direcBut the flute did not rise in tion. any of the four directions. Then he tried some again southeast, south-

blew four times, and the hole got big enough. Her breath also made a ladder. "Come in, my grandson," she said. When he got down inside, the woman said, "The place where you are going there is sure danger

northwest,

west,

he

down

smoke made

there.

a long stream out in that direction, and he knew the girls went that way. He tried the flute again. And the it rose in flute did the same thing the air and faced northeast. He got on top of the flute, and the flute carried him the way the smoke had

—

gone.

carried

It

—

When

northeast.

tried northeast, the

She asked him to come down, but the hole was too small. She said she would make it big enough. She

him quite a

dis-

the flute

he saw

tracks.

with

lot

a

of

It

him down,

was a meadow

different

He worked

flowers.

let

kinds

through

of

this,

to a place called Edge Earth. There was a bird called grey rock wren on a rock up above. The bird laughed at him as he was tracking those girls. It made a sound "Wa, Wa, Wa; Yes, White Butterfly was leading your wives along here they passed just after

and came

Of The

—

He

off north and place called "Yellow Rock." At this place there was a red rock wren who told him White

to

Butterfly

kept going a

was going

this

way with

your wives. Then the wren laughed at him. It made Downy Home Man a little angry when those two birds laughed at him. He started walking from there. He came to a valley and found

smoke coming out. There was no house just smoke coming out of

—

lives

he wanted to stay there for She made a corn mush for him and dished it out in a pottery She made a cross in the bowl. middle with corn pollen and spots a while.

of corn pollen in the four directions and in the center. Then he ate it all.

him

he had

White

finished, she told

Butterfly

had

twelve

He already had ten at home and now the two more made twelve. The woman said she would loan him her twelve daughters. "That man down there, he is going to ask you to bet twelve wives, so I am going to

wives.

loan you

my

daughters.

You

can't

do anything without the girls." She went in another room and brought twelve girls out of there. She told not to laugh when they got "If they laugh, White Butterfly might not want to bet because they haven't very good teeth. All the girls down there have good

her

girls

down

noon."

Butterfly

that

When

Where

White

He

passed yesterday evening with your two wives." He told her

tance.

came

there.

there.

teeth."

This was Spider Woman and her teeth are far apart. She had lots of children. Spider Woman said she wanted to go along too so that she would be down there with the others. They left and soon they came to a place where White Butterfly had some people around for guards: Biq; Blue Hawk and Hawk and Small

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

172

Hawk and Hummingbird.

These

out from White Butterhome and look in all directions. So Spider Woman and Downy

guards fly's

fly

Home Man knew

They were some people comstopped

here.

there ing out. So they got four different colors of hail: black, blue, yellow, white. They chewed up the black one first and blew it toward the east, then blue to the south, yellow to the west and white to the north. That turned into clouds from the different directions which drew together and started hailing. This scared the people who were watching. That hail was so big that the hawks all ran inside. So there was nobody outside and they started walking again and came to a doorway. White Butterfly came outside and they met him there just in front of his door. As soon as he got outside he said, "My opponent." Downy Home Man said, "I am not your opponent; I am your friend." They threw the word back and forth like that four times. Finally,

Downy Home Man

said, "I

mean to call you a friend. I not a friend of yours." They talked some more. Then

didn't

am

White

Butterfly said that

to play a ball

game.

he wanted

Downy Home

Man

asked for time to think but then agreed. White Butterfly said, "We will bet our wives, all twelve of them. Also we will bet each other our whole body on either side. Also the place we own everything all at once." Downy Home Man said, "All

—

Let's do that." While he had pretended to be thinking, he had fixed up a ball and gotten Big Snake to help him by promising shell and pollen. Everybody had said they would help Downy Home Man so he could win. The game was to be outside

right.

and down west. After Downy Home Man had said, "I am ready," they all

walked down there. Downy Home Man and White Butterfly were each wearing hats with flowers and with pretty singing birds. When they got to the hills, the birds of Downy Home Man started singing, but those of White Butterfly did not sing.

Downy Home Man

said he knew was bad luck for White Butterfly. There was a small hill on one side and one on the other. White Butterfly had played there before. Between the hills and to the east was the house. There was a hole in the house, and each player had to hit the ball from the top of his hill

that

through that hole.

They walked down there, and White Butterfly said he would try out first. He hit his ball, and it didn't go through that hole. It very nearly did, but it fell back. Then

Downy Home Man used his ball with a mouse inside. Downy Home Man set his ball with the mouse in it

on top of the

"Don't

The mouse

hill.

hit the ball.

the ball so

I

can

said,

Just hit under

start

running my-

And he

did that. He just hit the bottom of the ball, and the ball self."

started running from there. It didn't even touch the bottom or the top of

—

the hole it just went through. And White Butterfly said he still won because the ball didn't really go through the hole. They had an argument. But finally White Butterfly gave up and said, "I got beat" That is the way it always is. When people play together, one gets beat and then they get mad at each other. There were supposed to be four games. The next was the hoop and pole game. White Butterfly said, "I've got

my own

equipment. Let's

use that." Downy Home Man said, "I've got mine too. Each of us will use our own." Downy Home Man had Big Snake in his hoop. Big Snake said, "Don't hit me hard. You might break my stomach. Just roll

PART

me

INSTANCES AND STORIES OF WITCHCRAFT

in:

off

easy.

I'll

get in the right

They placed twice

place."

there.

time neither man did anything. The second time Big Snake did some crawling and so Downy Home Man won again. White Butterfly ran after the hoop, but Downy Home Man tripped him. There was an argument again, but White Butterfly finally admitted he had lost. Next was "pushing the posts." Two posts were set in the ground, one black and one blue. The black one was White Butterfly's; the blue one was Downy Home Man's.

The

first

White

"Run

Butterfly said,

post and grab

run with

it

and

Whoever

it.

the post loses." had the Wind

at this

out and can't pull out

pull

it

Downy Home Man fix White White Butter-

People

Butterfly's post so that

couldn't move it at all. On his own post he put the worms that eat wood ["woodeaters" is the literal translation of the Navaho] under the ground, and they ate through the post so that it lacked only a little of being eaten through. White Butterfly ran at his stick. He had fly

been used to taking it out easily. But this time he got thrown back. He said, "This never happened to

me

What

before.

Then

me?"

is

the matter with

was the turn of Downy Home Man. He ran to his post and grabbed it and pulled it it

16

He won

again. three times he has won. One remains: a footrace. They bet everything: the earth, what is on the earth, flowers and trees and themout.

Now

selves.

White

ward the Out there

Butterfly

east there

said,

"To-

a cornfield. at the end of the field is a round hill called Smooth Round Hill. are going to start from the end of the cornfield and run around the hill." They got up to the starting place and started running from is

We

there. hill.

It

was quite a way to the ran, first one and then

They

173

After they got ahead. round that hill the two little Winds other

the

Downy Home Man

told him was ahead of him. "Go ahead and run ahead of White Butterfly and as you go by say, 'Why don't you run?' " He did that.

of

White

Butterfly

When Downy Home Man passed and said, "Why don't you run?" the Winds said, "Look out. He is going to shoot" right under your foot. White Butterfly wasted his shot. He was going to shoot the bottom of the foot of Downy Home Man. But Downy Home Man jumped aside and grabbed up the shot as he passed by. Then he threw it into White Butterfly's body where White Butterfly had meant to hit him. It happened that way three more times.

When Downy Home Man said, "Why don't you run, White Butterfly?"

White

Butterfly tried to shoot

and But each time Downy Home Man ducked, grabbed the shot and threw it into White Butterfly's body. Now they were only a little way from where the line was. Downy Home Man ran ahead of White Butterfly and said, "I thought White was a good runner." Butterfly

him

in the hip, in the shoulder

in the

back of the head.

Downy Home Man

crossed the line

and beat White Butterfly. Then White Butterfly came in slowly and

Downy Home Man

sweating.

sweating a

bit.

White

four shots in his body. White Butterfly said Home Man might as well

He had

nothing

left.

wasn't

Butterfly

had

Downy kill

He had

him. lost

everything, himself too. White Butterfly had an axe called "Reversing Axe." White Butterfly said, "Use

axe and chop my head off with that." That axe, whenever anyone tried to kill someone, would kil that person himself. White Butterfly handed this axe to Downy Home

my own

1

Man and

laid

down

face

to

the

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

174 ground, saying, "Hit my head with on the sharp side." Downy Home Man was just about starting

that axe to

when

swing

White

Butterfly

looked up again and said, "Be sure to use my own axe." He put his head down again and then Downy Home Man quickly substituted his own axe. So White Butterfly was killed, and when the head was

chopped off all colors of butterfly flew out of his head: white, black, green, blue, variegated. There were about a thousand altogether. That why we see butterflies all over is the world. White Butterfly got all his girls from the Pueblo Indians. These were his ten wives. Downy Home Man sent all these girls back where they belonged. They were able to go back and

with their families again. And his two wives he took back home. First, he returned home the twelve that he had borrowed from Spider Woman. Some of the goods that he won from White Butterfly

were

live

(yellow,

different colors

black, blue, light-colored) of a cloth something like calico or silk which

was

called

all

this

"sewed

cloth

fabric."

to

Spider

He gave Woman.

After they got back home she and her daughters dressed in that. That is what made the different colors of spider. They are still wearing that yet.

Downy Home Man and

his

wives came back to the lake.

two But

the girls were rather afraid to stay there so Downy Home Man took

walk from there out south. mountain called "Two Peaks Stick Up." He got on top of that mountain and looked off toward Gallup and the west. As he was looking down, he thought it was very pretty country down that way. So he wants to go down there. Then he went to Red Striped Willow. He kept on going west that way and came to Black Salt towards Chin Lee. He came back to the place where he left his first two wives,

started to

He came

to a

?ayahkingi do-bi^de-Xadi, "the notsunlight-struck ones at Walpi." This

was

main home.

his

"All the people are scared to hear this story. I don't know why. It won't hurt anybody. The man that gave for

harm

me

at

this story says it isn't

all.

"I didn't learn the chant.

I just

heard the old people telling each other the story around the fire. The

man who knows

the songs and prayers of Prostitution Way is the one who does the bad things against the people. I just heard the story, not the songs and prayers. The story

is all

Downy Home Man

right.

bad man and the good is left, and so that is carried on yet He brought all those women back killed the

to

their

homes.

"Young people get these stories and add some more and then they bring that up. Most people that about Prostitution

talk

know know

the

whole

story.

Way They

don't just

My

them back to Wide House where he had got them. He stayed there a few days and left them there. He told them not to feel badly about it that was their home. They said that was

teacher told me I'd better not learn the songs. The story is the good thing. But if a man who knows the whole Prostitution Way chant uses it against women he'll get it himself and get

all right.

dry.

—

He went back

He blew

his

to

Dark Lake.

home and

the furnish-

back into himself again. wanted to leave there again. ings

He He

parts.

"My Water

teacher was from the Big

clan.

He

lived in

Canyon de

Chelly and he knew the nine-night Night Way chant."18

APPENDIX

V:

DATURA

DIVINATION

100. One time back in the old days there was a boy, pretty good herder. Used to be herding all the

was a man in the family, Mr. Blind Man. Somebody in the family lost some good turquoise beads. They looked very hard for time. There

it,

Nobody seems

asked everybody.

know who

At last there seemed to be no more hopes for it. At last Mr. Blind Man got some Datura and had this boy chew all

to

And

got

it.

soon he's out of running out of the hogan and run, made a circle around the corral. Kept running around outside and inside. Seems like he wants to do something with the corral. At last he run inside again and break up a stick and scratch out some sheep manure inside, looks like he's looking for something. Some other people came they all standing up to the corral this boy made at the opening way a sign to the people to come down there where he was. And when they got down there he scratch out that turquoise beads from under the sheep manure. That's the way they

of

his

it.

mind.

this boy,

And he

—

start to

—

see dream and when you wake up you can go to it. Some make a

—

1

business of it Prostitution Way. 102. #If a man has lost something, go to Datura and give turquoise, go to another plant and take the root and chew it and then find where the thing is. (Q) You don't use this for diagnosis in illness just for something lost. 103. You have to have a good singer right near you the first time you eat Datura. The mind of the

—

man who

eats it will go around and go out in many directions by himself but several people will follow him and see where he is going. The

—

man

will find the thing take it out of the ground or ask person who has

Use this only if hand tremit hid. bling and star-gazing don't work. After the man comes back to the hogan do "kneading his body" to him and also the Mountain Smoke ceremony of Blessing Way and then his mind will come back. This must be done by a singer of Prostitution Way chant. 104. The first time that man is going to use Datura to find some-

found that beads. And this man who started the boy that way he did

thing, a singer of Prostitution

some more to the boy so the boy came back and got all right again. 101. If you lose something, eat

plants

a piece of Datura root.

Then

you'll

Way

chant must chew Datura and other

and give them

to the

man who

going to do the finding. This singer has to watch that man pretty is

close the

175

first

time.

After that the

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

176

man

failed because

right.

to the patient

can use Datura by himself all It won't do him any harm. He doesn't have to have a singer around any more. The first time a man takes Datura it is called naxoBi("he regained his mind"). §3il "The [Father Berard comments: stem -31I refers to hydrophobia or insanity,

and

prefix na- to regaining

The term could be any case of temporary

-xo- a condition.

applied

in

insanity or loss of mind."] 105. # Diagnosis by Datura? is done only when everything else has

it

and

is

dangerous both

to the practitioner.

connected with Prostitution Way so it is especially dangerous. The first time a man starts out to do divination by Datura he must chew it with a singer of Prostitution Way. They both chew it. Then they walk around outside. After that, the diagnostician can

It is

and

chew

it all

by

himself.

But he must

3 always have "deer eye" with him as an antidote.

APPENDIX VI: FRENZY WITCHCRAFT # Frenzy Witchcraft is they pick up dirt from a girl's track and sing a song to it. Then they give her some plants. Then the girl goes to the man. Sometimes she tears her clothes off. 107. #The Mexicans talk about women all the time. I never heard Navahos do that except around here. There is lots of Frenzy Witchcraft around That's why they have trouble all the time. 1 108. # Frenzy Witchcraft is a bad name. They use "laughing medicine." 8 They use it on the women. It is hard to get the best 106.

when

.

111. If an old man wants to marry a young girl, he uses Frenzy

Witchcraft to get her to come toward him. I have heard that this came from the Mexicans. 112. #You must never talk about Frenzy Witchcraft around the hogan where the women and children

There

are.

is

also

Frenzy Witch-

Game Way

—

at the end. don't kill people with that. You put turquoise one place for Talking

craft

in

You

women. (Q) No, the people who do

God, one for Deer Raiser, one for wind. You pray for good luck in hunting; you pray for beads and all good things, like rain. 113. # Frenzy Witchcraft makes women go crazy and tear their

Frenzy Witchcraft aren't were-aniThose things are way far off.

especially "laughing medicine"

mals.

#That man

109.

he know craft and

how how

to use

claims

Frenzy Witch-

to do it. He sure has got lots of women. Game Way and Frenzy Witchcraft come back together farther on, he says. Witchcraft was 110. Frenzy started near Fort Apache. People don't know it any more. They are

afraid

of

it.

makes a man

Use

medicine

crazy.

I

that medicine in my afraid to talk about

it.

that

haven't had

mouth so I am The people

on Black Mesa will talk about it. makes rich people crazy, they say. ( Q ) No, they aren't were-animals.

It

clothes

off.

They use

plants for

it,

8

and Datura. "Laughing medicine" makes you laugh crazily. You can't stop. It is for getting girls or for getting

sheep and money from a rich young

woman. 114.

Hunters

have

Frenzy

Witchcraft. But they always explain to the people that they don't use it to witch. They say they just do good get buckskin to the people with it or fat meat. But some people say that when anybody learns Frenzy Witchcraft, after he has learned everything else, he must sleep with

—

his

own 115.

177

sister.

You

That comes shouldn't

next. start

off

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

178 talking

unless

about Frenzy Witchcraft you know the stories and the

Frenzy Witchcraft plants and those.

They got the

pollen of these plants

prayers first. Also the man who is learning it has to get his teacher to chew the plants they use in that

and they can use that in the home there. Another man who hates you, he might send him over here [said

to put them in his mouth. they say they use just two plants: Datura and poison ivy. The other plants are hard to get you have to go way up on the mountain for them. They use to use "my thumb" 4 and "red base"6 too. (Q) They put all the plants in the mouth at one time all in a bunch, not one after the other. Use it not only for women, ( Q ) but also to get things like money

with

and

tiling

Now

—

—

that bad man might think, "Well break up that home up." there,

Also, we got medicine in our home here: mountain dirt and talking prayersticks and that's what we afraid of we don't want to break it up.

—

#

118. Frenzy Witchcraft is especially dangerous. person who

A

with.

Women

(Q)

also

—

know Frenzy

I think but hardly any them know it now. (Q) Not were-animals. It's a long ways off quite a ways apart. (Q) I think there are some yet. One man died two years ago. I heard that there are some more

Witchcraft, of

—

people.

known

think

I

is

it

You

yet.

pretty

can't

tell

wellthese

somebody's hogan or when somebody's children are tiiere. Get stories in

the plants over in the woods

you learn

it.

start to learn

Smell

it

first

when

—then

if

you are

sick from Frenzy Witchcraft is to have the Mountain Smoke ceremony from Blessing Way. There is also a prayer against Frenzy Witchcraft in

the strong prays. 116.

# Frenzy worth

Witchcraft medof

money.

You

icine

is

have

to offer turquoise to all those

Now

lots

they use those medicines only to get the best of somebody in trading. You musn't handle those plants too much. If you start to itch, you must wash off in "witch6 craft plant" right away. 117. What these Navaho wornens is afraid of is these gamblers and these poison weeds, what we call plants.

knows it can get on top of a high hill and pray a good woman as far off as Gallup, and she will come over and sleep with him. You can kill people with that your lungs. A person can hide your mind away from you. You'll run around, throw your clothes off, throw your shoes away. 7 (Q) The only medicine is mountain tobacco and the mountain It twists

too.

who knows

(Q) Way.

song.

ing

this

Yes,

it

part of Bless-

is

tell about crooked people. You musn't talk about that close to horse, sheep or people. (Q) Yes, it is connected with

119. It

it.

(Q) The best thing

all

considerable feeling]. That's see you got the best of goods all the time, good children, good wife. That man from over

when they

is

Those

that.

better not to

are

Game Way. (Q) Sometimes people laugh about Frenzy Witchcraft because the people who eat those plants, they act

so

funny.

The

trees

and the

laugh too, they say. But mosdy people don't laugh or even smile about Frenzy Witchcraft. They bushes

are too scared. 120. When the people crazy down underneath the First

Man and

sorry. if

they

First

All the people

knew nothing

went earth

Woman

got

were acting so First

as

Man

PART and

INSTANCES AND STORIES OF WITCHCRAFT

in:

Woman

First

had

do some-

to

thing for the people. So they made pipes of white shell, blue shell,

abalone shell and jet. There were seven plant people that still had their own minds. These were "chamiso," "jack rabbit's food,"

juniper"

"tall

member

—

8

can't

I

re-

The man who

the others.

Frenzy Witchcraft tried

to

get these too but he wasn't able

to.

started

So

First

Man

said,

make our smoke out

"We

will

of those plant

people that didn't get it." He also took leaves that rat had gathered for

He

his nest.

leaves

got those flowers and the smoke. He put in

for

"sheep tobacco" 9

made up

And so he too. smoke and prayed and

a

sung as he lighted it. He said, "We have got to try to help these people. We have got to get them well if we

179

When

he had learned Blessing Way, his grandfather said to him, "You must learn Prostitution Way at the end so you won't go dry get poor and starve." But his father and mother got mad again and wouldn't let him. They said, "If you do that you'll marry your sister. Which sister will you get?" My father got scared of that and cut it out. He went back to his

—

grandfather. His grandfather scolded him and said he had promised to do it. He told my father once more to learn it. But my father said, "No, I thank you for the Blessing Way you have taught me, but I don't want to learn this part of it." father split up with his grandfather

My

after that.

But

by

still

lightning.

my

father got struck a man who

He had

used to go around with him, help

can."

The

people

gathered

and

smoked. When the last man finished it, everyone fell down fainting and half dead. Soon they began to move again and one after another got up. They began to talk like they used First Man gave them another to.

smoke and they got so this

is

all

right.

And

one way of smoking. It is Smoke ceremony of

the Mountain Blessing Way. 121.

A man

tried

to

get

my

learn

—

My

"That's what the people want." father had promised that man to learn it. But he didn't go back any more. He quit all at once. father learned Blessing Way from his maternal grandfather.

My

sing.

ning one day.

half a

day that time.

My

father asked the man how much he had to put up to learn it. The man said, "Not lots of money Just put up your full your full brother. Just give them to me." 10 The man who learns it has to kill his brother or his sister

or

horses.

sister or

Frenzy Witchcraft. He said you must do it away off from home and livestock. My father said he went there just a little while and practiced half a day. That night he went back and told his mother and father. They sure told him to cut it out not to go back with that man any more. They told him to learn good songs and good medicine. father to

They were struck by lightThe man never got up again. My father was pretty sick I think that was because he too. had practiced Frenzy Witchcraft for him

himself.

So two people tried to teach my But he kept away from it.

father.

He

got none of those things. 122. Game Way has a Frenzy Witchcraft part. With that you can beat people at playing cards or other games. Especially the hoop and pole

game.

know those

who know the game They would bet high on They would use games.

People this.

Frenzy Witchcraft only when they were losing badly. At first they

would just use only the game songs and game prayers. You could put

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

i8o turquoise in a rat's nest and say a Rats used to play this game they started it. Or you could give turquoise to blue lizard. Earth Winner was the first one who did those two things. Also you could put turquoise on a spider's web and pray to the boss of the spiders. You could do all of these things when you were going home after you had lost quite a little at a game. But if that doesn't work if you lose two or three games and maybe lose your wife too, then you might try Frenzy Witchcraft. They are very careful about that. They think about that a lot. If you use it and make a mistake, even a little mistake, you won't live long. To do Frenzy Witchcraft, you have to gather poison to sprinkle on people for instance, when they take their food. Then they will start acting funny. They'll laugh and they can't stop. They'll do anything you tell them to then. You get three plants: "laughing medicine, Datura, "mind medicine." u Use any one of these plants or mix all together. Before you get the plant you must say a prayer and give it turquoise, shell and lignite before you pull it out by the root. Go to one plant, give it turquoise, but don't take it. Go to another. Grind up the plants fine and keep the powder in a litde sack. Or carry pieces of the root an inch or two long. To get girls, give them a very little bit of it in their food. Or touch it to their bodies any place. Just a tiny bit at first and they will be They will be nice to you. easy. Give them some more, and soon the girls will try to play with your penis. For winning the games, if you use all the turquoise and the Game Way songs and prayers and it doesn't work, then use these Frenzy Take a little Witchcraft plants. piece of deer from a deer that has prayer.

—

—

—

'

been shot a few days ago. Just a small piece of meat or fat. Put the meat with these plants on four sides of a firepit and put some in the middle too. Sing the Frenzy Witchcraft song. If this doesn't

sweathouse Witchcraft little

and

work, go into the

the Frenzy song and take a very sing

of these plants yourself.

You

spruce needles on the floor of the sweathouse. You can also get deer this way in the sweathouse with these plants. Pray to Talking God to see just one deer, no matter how poor. Whenever you kill a deer, then you must put a little of the Frenzv Witchcraft medicine into the deers mouth and tell Talking God that after that all the deer are going to come to you. Soon, that very same day, the deer will come to you. You can catch them just with your hand. But you must only kill two or three. Then catch a little deer alive. Put some Frenzy Witchcraft plants in his

must

put

mouth and sing some Game

Way

Blessing

and

sing.

Six

Way

Pray good songs. Then turn songs over him.

young deer loose. (Q) To be protected according to the Game Way you must go to those bad plants and talk to them. The plants are alive. Give them a good talk. Get a man who knows this way to chew some of the plants and spit them in your mouth. That And will protect you afterwards. then you must have the smoke from Blessing Way. If you aren't treated, your mouth and heart dry up and you die. You run around and try that

to fight

with a tree or a sagebrush.

You even laugh

at that.

There are five main plants Datura, Frenzy Witchcraft: for "laughing medicine," Turns Toward The Sun," Cone Towards Water 1 plant * and "mind medicine." Four more plants could work under the 123.

PART

HI:

INSTANCES AND STORIES OF WITCHCRAFT 14

big ones: "irritating medicine," 15 "my "gray irritating medicine,"

thumb" mac."

and

down

su-

16

The about

"smashed

man

who

this plant,

really

know

he eats that plant

and men who do not eat the plants and who wanted to know go to this man. When he sees this man ask him he wants to use this medicine.

And

asked the

man

for

to

taught

the man wanted to he'll say, "Yes, I'll explain everything to you before we go ahead." He says that he is going to gather all these plants. When I gather them I bring them home. Make a date so he'll be back there again. So at that time they meet again there. The man that

him.

If

wanted to know he should have ground corn made up into a circle of bread with a hole in the middle and about the size of a doughnut. The man chews one plant at a time.

After

he

gets

them

real

chewed

man that wants to learn the bread up over his mouth and the man that is teaching will spit those plants through that hole in the bread. He will spit those plants into the other man's mouth. The man that is learning he takes down will

it

that

hold

and swallows

it.

He do

that with

the plants until he gets finished. When he gets through, that man that is learning will go like drunk right away. Start running or laughing or hollering. But in a little while he get another plant, "deer eye," and give that to the man who is acting like drunk. And that'll cure him. He'll straighten up right away. Then the teacher asks the other man, "Why did you want to eat this?" The man that is learning says, "The people was telling me that it is a good thing to eat these plants. These plants when you eat protect yourself from the witch people and the big sickness, like big cough, flu. That's the reason I want to eat." all

The if

teacher say

l8l truth

it's

you know enough

all

to use

it.

right

But

am

going to explain just how you are going to have to use it from

I

now

He

on.

says

I

want you

don't

use this in any other way but what I am going to explain. He says when we are going to trade with somebody, some other tribe, Pueblo Indians maybe. When you start to trading with them, you must have some pollen of any of these plants. And you must sprinkle a little on the thing that you want to trade. When the Pueblo gets hold to

let him handle it. Pretty soon his mind will go funny way, feeling good. He can lose then. You can beat him. You can get the

of that,

best of

it

all

the time.

Same way

with the other tribe. Same way with our own tribe. But don't use it upon one who knows it. That's the way you wanted to know. Then after women people, young women and rich women, we can sure get them with that. You can just put a little of the pollen or the plant in your mouth and blow it on them. The whole plant should be used from the root up to the top. But take very little at a time, so little you can hardly see it. In

way we get young women. Without that you can't do it. In this way, they sure like you. If you start and use one upon the women the first time, when it did work for you, after that they'll keep coming to you that

without eating the plant either. And using a whole lot upon our tribe who is rich. Same way use it can get a lot of by eating it. his money or sheep or horses or

—

We

cattle.

If

and how it is

You

really it

know

this plant

in the right

way,

the very easiest way to get rich. don't have to work hard for it.

We which

And

you

to use

is

can also put wild.

And

it

upon deer

also

antelope.

they can come right up to you.

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

l82

down sumac."

You could almost catch them with your hand. We can also use it upon coyotes

three are the worst.

and

in a person's shoe or in his shirt at

bear.

And about must eat

you

plants

these

once a year

it

—every time

when the grain comes up. In that way the plant will know you all the time.

you don't eat

If

it,

if

you

let

go for two or three years, the plants will forget about you. It will be danger again if you do that. If you let it go for many years and eat it again your heart will go twisted, it

you'll get crazy.

Make the rich people sick with these plants then cure them and get lots of money. When they think they got enough, then go ahead and cure them. The man who eat plants he might have a friend over there by that rich man. After that rich man down there has been given some of this plant, he might find

—

who

"crushed

You can drop

a

woman.

125. In the moccasin game they play and play and lose all. Never

knew about

I

)

don't

know how you

use

Witch he

lots.

—

.

loco

weed

mac."

Q

losing

heard, in fourth game, do something. They use some kind of loco weed or other things. Don't play with man unless you know. If they put stuff on you, you go crazy. He don't know how they use it chew, spit on you, or how. (Q: do they use pollen of four plants?) I heard that. The way they say, more than four plant. I don't know how they call They use it, just loco weed.

plants. (

these medicines

A man can kiss a woman and put it in her mouth that way. Gamblers too can sure make a woman want a man, or a man want

games.

else

last

the neck.

does hand trembling. And by just thinking they might say, "We know who could cure that." Get rich people sick. Keep promising cure it the next day. Sheep meat soup is a good ( Q ) cure for the sickness from these

somebody

The

in

When

know about

.

.

all

sorts

you

play,

these

of different you don't

if

things

and he 19

does, don't touch hand with tongue. 126. There are five plants:

#

Datura, 'laughing medicine," Cone

Towards Water plant, Turns Toward The Sun and 'crushed down sumedicine" isn't very used for that. They

"Irritating

strong and

isn't

with coyote and bear. 124. In Frenzy Witchcraft they 17 use blue gum and black gum and plants: Datura, "laughing these medicine," turns toward the sun,

go in pairs, male and female, and you don't have to use both, just whichever one grows there. That

Cone Towards Water

Way. Those plants didn't grow around here and besides I didn't

it

plant,

"mind

goes along with didn't learn

medicine." Use the pollen of all five and chew it with those two kinds of

want

gum.

taught

At Fort Sumner a

woman.

man

used that

She

took her off, put her dress on top of her head, and went after the man. This man knew Prostitution Way against clothes

a

chant.

(Q) Other plants they can use are "my thumb," "red base," "milk 18 "irritating medicine" and plant,"

it

Game Way,

when

I

learned

but

I

Game

it,

The man who me Game Way told me about how it went, and what you used

it

for.

to learn that.

You might go around

really rich

woman and

to a ask her to

marry you, and try a second time, and a third and a fourth, and still she wouldn't, and then you could work that against her, and then she knew how to take care of sheep and horses, but

now

she wouldn't.

Just

PART in

III:

INSTANCES AND STORIES OF WITCHCRAFT

one summer she would get kind

and lose a lot. Then they might have hand trembling or stargazing to see what was wrong with her, and then they would find out it was Frenzy Witchcraft and having Blessing Way and a cigarette and then she might be cured. If she was cured, then it would turn back against you and then you couldn't ever be cured. A man would use some of that on stick dice and pray, and pray against one particular man, his real enemy, and then he would hand those sticks first just to that man, and then that man would begin to feel good and lose and bet, but it wouldn't be to kill him. But if it went to somebody else, and he got ahold of it first, after you prayed for that one man, then that would be of crazy

really bad.

That

Frenzy

Witchcraft goes with Game Way, because you use You could take some it in hunting. of that and blow it towards the deer if the wind was that way, but if the wind was against you and you did it, the deer would blow back because they are smart and understand that. Then it would hurt you. Frenzy Witchcraft is like a stick standing up, and it would just as soon go one way as the other. So hunters carried some medicine for that, if they got it back from the deer. That was because there was no guns or anything, and arrow can't go far, and if you use Frenzy Witchcraft on the deer, you could go right up and touch them. My man that taught me said, "I didn't use those, for deer or to get rich, but just to have them to keep myself from being hurt. I don't want to teach them to you. There's lots of people that have had those plants or some of them to keep from being hurt. You don't just take one plant," my man said, "but you take all five at once and we couldn't

do

that,

l8 3

they didn't grow there, so he

do

said not to

it."

"°

127. (Q) Frenzy Witchcraft is separate from Wizardry and Witch-

Frenzy Witchcraft

ery.

is

tied

up

Game Way. A woman refuses a man in marriage. He tries it twice and then he gets mad and uses this Frenzy with

Way

on her. After the the medicine, then he gets what he wants. But her mind is not very good. But the man has a smoke for that he cures the woman himself or gets a friend to cure it for him. That will be a man that knows his way, a kind of friend with him. (Q) Yes, they use that in gambling too. Witchcraft

woman

eats

—

(Q) I don't know about horse They say all right that sometimes bad people will put medicine racing.

so that a race horse will die or get sick so it doesn't run very good. But

think it is mostly Witches and Sorcerers that does that. They pick up dirt from a horse's track just like they do from a man's track. You take Frenzy Witchcraft plants out on trading trips with you. I

Touch

a buckskin or a little of these you'll get it cheap.

with

A man who salt-gathering

take a craft

little

some beads plants and

was going expedition 21

to lead a

would

of this Frenzy Witch-

medicine and sing some

trip

songs before he started. 128. Grown people are not supposed to touch these plants, and old

men who 22 have something in minds 23 sing and pray over the chew

their leaf,

soak it in water, sing and pray for the person who is going to handle it and put it in that person's mouth, and then he could always touch it and chew it. Me, nobody didn't sing on me, and I never put it on my mouth and I can't handle it. Another way, they use Datura every year around here. At Ramah it,

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

184 or on the Reservation, some of the trading posts have rodeos and dances for the Indian women. And sometimes the ones that know how dance with the girls and put this stuff on them some way and the girls are crazy and busy at night and you have intercourse with them all you

want

to.

It

would happen

at a circle

dance.

.... to use

If

you don't know how

Datura, you'd go crazy too

(Would

it work for an old a young boy too?) old a woman and a pretty nice boy, she'd sure get him. Mostly this happens at a circle dance. Some old man tries to get hold of some girl. The ones who do are the ones who have something in their minds and use it in games and dances and try to get hold of a pretty girl. And some old woman too would try for a boy, and they sure

from

it.

woman to get No matter how

would be

on you or inside you

if

used

With the first four you will lose your mind and get weaker. ... If you want to beat somebody off if they get a mean on you (of

against you.

course only the old people really know) they gather pumpkin and squash seeds and all the growths of plants around here and all that mixture of seeds and corn meal they use and make a flat round bread and after the bread is made, make a hole in the center and then the medicine man who knows how will have the plant and chew it in his mouth and also sing and pray and afterwards he spit it through the bread into your mouth, you don't know he's doing it (?). This is all a vaccination against witch magic. Then you it and eat it, but if you eat too much, still you would feel like half drunk, and the only thing

can handle

to help that

is

mutton soup.

just

....

busy.**

129. Datura, "mind medicine," "laughing medicine" and Cone Towards Water plant these are the four you should know. "Crushed

—

down sumac" and

sores

"irritating

medi-

cine" are separate from these four. At least according to the story you should have two of these four, and they are given to you by a secret medicine man. If you have two of those ("crushed down sumac" and "irritating medicine"), you don't have to have the other four. 25 These were very secret things the old people knew. It is very dangerous to have all six of them. They didn't tell the persons who had these plants

(Sex magic?) That's right. According to the stories, that's the way. "Laughing medicine" is smile medicine, laugh and laugh. "Mind medicine" is mind medicine, you will think about the person who

worked

it.

Use the

four plants

first

Cone Towards Water plant and Datura make you lose your mind and work about the same. An old woman could use it against a young

for that.

man

too.

If

an old

man

or

woman

knows another person, a young boy or girl, and knows Navaho name, just call it, and though they were three or four miles away, they would come and meet you, just according to the story.

....

what would happen if you had all six, just told them it was very dan-

have a sing

gerous.

know how

In case a person knows, they would use some of these four on you,

knows, the person will just die. The person who has been magicked will not live with one person but just go from person to person with her mind gone. There are three ways to cure There is Game Way they use it.

and your mind would be all kind of your mind, you would get weak in mind and suffer that way The last two will put gradually. losing

Yes,

it

to treat

possible

is

to cure, it,

to

but very few and if no one

—

PART it

INSTANCES AND STORIES OF WITCHCRAFT

in:

by gathering

all

plants that are

used by deer and make a cigarette it, out of corn-husks and some and they say a prayer, when the person is smoking the cigarette. After that, if you treat it all right,

out of sage,

the person will get his

There

is

Prostitution

mind back. Way. It is

the same, only he never did hear all the plants, just heard you should use "mountain tobacco" and also "big tobacco" * that's all he heard for that one. These are the only two cures that will help a person. Blessing Way doesn't usually work so good, it helps some, but it continues again anyhow. .... And according to the stories, these four plants are just like

—

humans and understand

things.

It'll

be done that you give corn pollen to a plant you are going to pick and say a prayer too. When

have

to

185

four plants were used, the victim would not live very long. It is very

dangerous to know all four. I never heard of a person who knew all four, but it is possible to know all four if

you were able to. As for "smashed down sumac" and "irritating medicine," they do not do much harm, just make sores. If you take these two, you can't take other four. I don't know, it may be possible if a man who knows how if he already knows the two, he might have learned these two and then might afterward learn one or two of the other four, I'm not sure. According to the story, you just don't learn all six. It doesn't say what would happen. You take the same treatment to learn these two. .... According to the story, these four are really for winning game, but some use it for women, all 27

a man that knows gives it to you, you can pick and chew it. You don't

right.

have to pick in the four directions, yucca for a sing. You just give pollen and say a prayer. After you take it once that way, then you can pick it any way. I don't know much about it any other way, but I know you just can't handle it without its being given to you by someone who knows how. For instance, if I went down and picked that plant and chewed it, a few hours later it would bother me and in a few hours I would have internal hemorrhage and

130. [When playing the hoop and pole game.] Each man usually had this Datura, "mind medicine," "laughing medicine," Cone Towards Water plant in his mouth. They bet

like

The flowers are the main use, not the pollen, though they do use it and the leaf too. The flower is the

die.

main

part.

According to the story, if a person knows all four, he just wouldn't use all four because it's very dangerous. I guess a person would use just one that's enough, because a song and prayer goes with it, and he would use the Navaho name and mention the name, and soon after the person would be insane. If all

—

buckskin or buckskin shoes. They usually put it on the hoop and the thing they bet on, and so the fellow playing the game push each other like the bucks getting at the ewes, and push each other, and when they get tired and wet and spit water on each other, then they get tired and lazy or a little bit crazy so it is easy to lose the game. These fellows that eat Datura, it would not make them crazy, because they eat it, because they know medicine. Others get crazy easy. So that way it is just like drinking wine. That's the way they have done to each other. That's all. If a fellow didn't use it and eat it, he would dry up quick and is thirsty and dies easy, playing hoop and pole. The way to get cured is to get the fellow

who knows how

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

i86 and he

spits in

get back to

your mouth and you

life.

"laughing medicine" has gray blossoms, and Turn Towards The Sun has blossom like a sun.

.

.

Cone Towards Water plant has blossoms like Datura, but the blossoms are dark blue. It grows by the San Juan (river). "Mind medicine" has white blossoms and light green leaves and it blossoms like They use "laughing medicine." those plants in stick dice and if a man is trying to give love-crazy to a squaw, it is easy to do it and have the squaw: you spit it on her or touch it on at night, and she will run off with the man who spits it on or puts it on. They usually have flower.

some trouble, and some squaws eat If you never touch it and go crazy. or taste

it,

love-crazy. just

it

is

easy to go crazy or

They use two

one of these

plants.

or three or

These

fel-

lows they sure very wicked. Most of these fellows usually if they know how they are going to get rich, and if they do it to a rich woman to get her property. It is easy if you know the song: sing the song and call her by her Navaho name, and it is easy for her to go crazy; finally, they get a medicine man: a hand trembler to know who done it, and so they do it that way, and so they get medicine men to make this lady get well and pay something worth something to him. The same one who injured her would have to make her well. So he would get property. They usually have this medicine in trading posts: some of the fellows selling silver stuff have something valuable, and they would spit on the trader,

and on the bracelet or anything, and would be easy for him to go crazy, and he would be liable to give away things for cheap. If I am buying from you I put it on you. That's the way it is, and usually many Navaho while hunting deer have it

that medicine and they get a deer head and put it over their head and get a song and some stuff and sing and then while the deer is running you go round four times and the deer goes crazy and runs around till it falls down. You butcher it and get the hide and heart. Don't eat it because you poisoned it dead. That's the way they used to do in hunting, but now they don't do it, just

if

28 use a gun.

131. That "irritating medicine," you are walking barefoot in those

get all over your body, sure kill you. With "laughing medicine" you get the pollen or

weeds,

and

it'll

it'll

the leaf and use

it

some way

to

put

on any kind of game. I have no idea how they use it on a game, or what they might use it on. You put "mind medicine" in your mouth, chew it a little and put it on the game. [I ask: "I thought there were four medicines, not three?"] There they do it to you some is poison ivy way, and make you swell up. They don't use it for games, it's too dan-

—

—

gerous. There's some way they use those plants and pollen. They use them some way and they win all the

games, but use.

I

don't

know what

they

29

132.

They use some kind of put them on these stick

plants, they

and so I never touch that game. You go crazy. (What sort of dice,

The way I heard, it is Datura, soaked in water, put over them, and you go crazy. (How?) You get funny, and don't know what you are doing. (Any other plants?) The only one I heard was Datura. ("Mind medicine?") I just heard about it. It is like Datura. It might ("Laughing medibe the same. cine?") They put it on, I just heard. plant?)

Might be

it

would make you

crazy.

(Poison ivy?) I don't think so Even where the it's too dangerous. plants are, the ground is poisonous.

PART

INSTANCES AND STORIES OF WITCHCRAFT

Hi:

The only thing to fix you up from 30 poison ivy is sheep-blood. 133. Yes, people do get into game with a witch. If they got in game and the witch loses, he makes medicine and makes you crazy and you die. They use plants, don't know which ones. (Datura?) Yes. And "mind medicine" and "laughing medicine" even if you don't want

—

to laugh,

you do.

I can't

remember

seen

about heard about it. Datura makes you go crazy, like drunk from whiskey. Your mind goes off and

the

girl,

fourth.

but

I

haven't

I

you don't know what you are doing. 31 (Is poison ivy one of those, the fourth?) It's another, but there is another main one. Poison ivy makes sore some can't stand even just passing by it. If you have that plant inside you, you die of it. Some could stand it. Datura, "mind medicine," "laughing medicine" can be cured by nothing just witches can take care of that just so they get something out of you. After they take your property they cure you. 32

—

— —

*A man who wished to win everything when he was gambling would draw such a figure. He would draw it on the way to the dance with pollen. Then he would pray over it. This would bring him 134.

good luck. This represents the sun and the sun's eyes, mouth and horns.

33

&

iSS-

c

Another way to frame a

race was for a

man

to

take some

medicine and rub it on his hands. Then he would go over to the horse that was a sure winner and rub this

187

This would The man would go

medicine on the horse.

make him

lose.

over and pretend to feel the horse's legs. He would say, "This horse will win all right." All the time he would be rubbing on the medicine that would make the horse lose. 136. *Boys have love songs which they sing at home. Even though these songs are sung at home the power of the song will reach the girl and make her like the boy. .

.

.

When you

have finished your love song you take your flute and go over to the girl's house. When you get there you blow the flute once. Then you say "let me see you" and you go out. Then you blow the flute again and the girl will follow you. You walk away blowing your flute every once in a while. The girl will be following you. You walk until you get behind a rock or in a forest and then you sit down and wait for the girl. When the girl arrives you have intercourse with her. The note on the flute will make her want to.

You should not

get hold she should blow on it it would make her kind of crazy. She would get dizzy. This is because you have sung over the whistle when you made it. 34 let

the

of this flute because

girl

if

137- [The informant collected a specimen of the plant called "my

thumb" 35 and was asked its Gamble people use this.

uses.]

Take

leaves only from top end (one-half inch). Take and chew this with other medicines and rub on the

body. Then

when they gamble they

have good luck.

Poison plant. poison plants used for gambling. Good people use only pollen of poisonous plant. When you want someone to trade for horse, beads, etc., just touch pollen, put on rope, on beads when other man touches this it makes his mind wrong and he gives it to you cheap. Also used in medicine to make

AH

—

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

i88 them

stronger.

Where

real

bad hurt

broken bone) they use the root of any of these mediexample,

(for

cines.

36

[The informant was shown a specimen of Datura meteliodies DC. and asked its uses.] Never use. Medicine men use the root for a person with a very bad hurt. Rub on the hurt and give a 138.

drink (one-quarter teaspoon the patient is better, the patient should smoke the tips of the leaves and tip of the flower. This is so the plant will know him and not make him sick. This is always done after administering the root. Also, must chew a leaf make a hole in another leaf, then medicine man passed the chewed portion through the hole into the mouth of the patient, then the patient chews the rest and swallows it. After that comes the smoke. This is accompanied by songs and prayers. If the singer does not know how to do this, he must bring someone in who does, before he lets the patient go. The smoke makes all the bad effects leave the body so the man will not be crazy. First administered to kill the pain. After that you do the corlittle to

When

full).

—

recting.

When

you have had

this

done, then you do the correcting. When you have had this done, then

you can do it yourself or to someone else. Used only when badly needed, not otherwise. It is not associated with a Way but can only be used by one who knows how usually the

—

singer.

Hunters use the pollen, put a

little

in their

Smoke makes

smoke.

the deer tame and they come to you so you can get one right away. 37

[The informant was shown a specimen of Datura meteliodies DC. and asked its uses. The interpreter the Navaho name as "lucky plant, male."] Take a little before a trip. It will be lucky trip or if buying sheep or horses you will get them cheaper. In winter root is used dry. Carried by men who knows (how to use it). First use must pay medicine man he chews a small piece, puts it in your mouth, then he can communicate with medicine and tell you what to do. After that you can use translated

—

—

—

yourself and communicate with the plant medicine and it can be

it

given to someone else. [Stigma eaten by the informant at this point, and he remarked, "Tastes like chile."]

Will squeeze heart. Very good medicine but dangerous. Medicine

man must chew and

place in an-

mouth. Leaves and fruit, also used. Horses with sores on

other's

root

body; make decoction to cure. If hate a woman or man, use this and she will run away. Give it to her without her knowing it. Use seed. Seed used make one lose

—

memory and

and has curimaking drunk. Seems like a crowd no one there. Bad people use for bad purposes. Not dangerous for right people. Like drink whiskey and get drunk. Cure running away with same ous

plant.

effects

38

forgets all

—

like

—

APPENDIX VII: OTHER TYPES OF WITCHCRAFT Disease Witchcraft 140. Disease Witchcraft means gathering some clothes or hair which is dirty from a person's body. They pick that up. Where witch people hates a family. If a witch has a friend, a young fellow, he could hire him to pick up things for them. Or get dirt from moccasins and carry them out to witch people. Take out where somebody has died and stick Some pray and it into dead body. sing there. In that way they get a man where he can start to get rich. Maybe so sick a singer never can cure it. Yes, I think maybe Witch( Q ) ery and Disease Witchcraft work to-

gether. 141. In Game Way, Disease Witchcraft is the way they witch. It means "he getting for you to die." It is like Sorcery say what kind of sickness he wants you to have. Do it out hunting or at home. It is part

—

of the

Game Way

legend.

Use

it

hunting mostly. Can do it also so man out hunting can't kill anything. Will have bad luck. have a strong 142. Hunters pray that they call Disease Witchcraft. Can set animals on you too. If a hunter hates you, he treats you nice and gets you out hunting.

deer will

start to

A

run away from you

—then turn around and blow You

can't run

like in a

at you.

any more. You sweat

sweathouse.

(Q) The only way to protect yourself is to take along some "groin odor." Every hunter takes this medicine along with him.

Disease against stock.

Witchcraft is used It is connected with

Game Way. Could make

a

man

sick

you wanted to, but main thing is to use on livestock. Work it against head of home and right behind him the stock will be destroyed. Use the secret name of the man who owns sheep and get piece of meat belongif

ing to him. 143. Disease Witchcraft is to destroy somebody's luck while they are hunting. Get a piece of the heart of a deer or some other animal which has been killed and pray to it. is Witchcraft 144. Disease when someone picks up something from you and puts it in the ground. They do that to sheep 3 mostly.

(Q) Both Witchery Way and can do Disease Witch-

Game Way

craft to sheep.

knows often.

But the people that

Game Way The reason

does

it

more

that the deer made together.

is

and the sheep was is Witchcraft (Q) Disease really a part of Game Way. Frenzy 169

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

igo Witchcraft isn't. Game Way just has Frenzy Witchcraft added to it. Frenzy Witchcraft has a smoke to cure it that smoke is part of Blessing Way. Game Way has a smoke too. And that smoke will cure somebody who gets sick of Disease Witchcraft. But it won't cure any-

—

body who

gets

Witchcraft.

Only

its

from Frenzy

sick

make

Just

own smoke

worse.

it

will cure

Frenzy

Witchcraft.

(Q) No, Witchery

is

different

Disease Witchcraft. The Witchery people they meet in one place and talk about it. They go to those meetings wearing some kind of skin. Disease Witchcraft people, they don't do that. worst thing about 145. The hunting the Navaho Way is that somebody can do Disease Witchcraft to you so you won't hunt good too from

any more and

you'll

lose

all

your

horses and things. If somebody gets you that way, the only thing to do is to keep giving Deer Raiser turquoise. Then, finally, if you kill a deer, the bad luck will go back to the man who did Disease Witchcraft to you. That's the only way to get

While you are holding him, tell him you are going farther with it just to kill this man's power over you, not so's you can get some more deer. Tell the deer you want this man's Disease Witchcraft to go back on himself to kill himself or his family. Tell that young deer that when you go home you will have a

—

Game Way

Blessing Way for the things up for the deer, just like it was before. After you turn the deer loose, leave at once. Go straight home. Don't kill anything, even a rabbit. Have Talking God's Game Way Blessing Way. That's where all the hunting songs begin. Once the Deer Raiser took all the deer away. People nearly starved. Then Deer Raiser called the people together for a lesson put all the songs together into Talking God Game Way. This is the main body. This has Game Way Blessing Way. It is sung by a good hunter, not by a Blessing Way prac-

—straighten

deer

titioner.

There

smoke during

a

is

—

does Disease Doesn't make any difference what kind of deer you kill small and weak, old, just

the people smoke for all the deer in the country. There is one other way to get rid of Disease Witchcraft. That is to go into the sweathouse with somebody who knows Datura and those other plants that go with Frenzy Witchcraft. Eat those plants in the sweathouse and sing some songs.

any kind.

But most people

rid of

get

Just keep praying you'll

it.

the

who

fellow

Witchcraft to

you.

—

Or,

you can catch a young

Eagle Pit

Way

146. Eagle

Pit

Way

is

very

I

and pray

to

it, if

All

is

afraid to

do

that.

3

deer.

think it is the strongest of all the kinds of ways of witching. I don't think anybody knows how to do that any more. A man could set an eagle on you. Or a man if he hates you he can go to the eagle pit and leave some of your spit there strong.

it.

he knows your

real

name. You'll get a sore throat4 right away and begin to rot right away. Also that way they can puts some 5 sore spot on a person. The person will get skinny and bony and slowly he'll die.

147. Pit

Way

The men who know Eagle are sure bad.

knows Eagle

Way8

When

a

man

and catches an

PART

III:

INSTANCES AND STORIES OF WITCHCRAFT

eagle in a pit, maybe before this he hates a man who is mad at him all the time so he wants to get rid of him. He'll get just little bit of tiny hair off from that person or a little bit of dirt off from the body. And the eagle that he is not going to kill he puts that little piece of hair or dirt in the eagle's mouth. He have to know a man's name the name of the man he hate. Tell the eagle that the man shouldn't live any more. Whenever he turns that eagle loose and let it fly away, then

person has no more hope for him. 148. Eagle Pit Way is the worst

191

thing those old Navahos had, they say. (Q) Yes, it is much stronger

than

Witchery

—much

worse

The worst thing about

than

the eagle feather prayer (?aca bicos bi 7 sodizin). They say that is part of an old big prayer (some people say it was a chant) called "a woman's piece of wood." (?as3a. 8 bicin). That prayer or chant they say it came from the ancient enemies who lived at Mesa Verde. Some of those people up around Shiprock and Greasewood, they still that.

know about

9 it.

it is

APPENDIX AND CURE 149.

#The

with cornmeal for Witchery.

VIII

gall of eagle is

ground

the best antidote

If you didn't have Witchery poison would make your tongue black and come right out. When your tongue is black and swollen out of your mouth, that is this,

proof of Witchery. 150. #The cure for Witchery is the gall of various animals with "witchcraft plant" added. 151. **The bladder of a skunk is taken and given to a man who has been bewitched and is about to die. "He is made to drink this. This is the only cure." 151a. #You mix up the gall of eagle, bear, mountain Hon and other animals and drink that to cure you of Witchery. 152. *The gall of bear is always taken. This, plus the gall of wolf, lion

and eagles are mixed

to-

gether and used for curing dizziness

and

fainting.

witchcraft.

These are caused by

One

brothers Also if a witch shoots you with a bean shooter this will kill the bean. It will also cure fever. For fever it is taken internally and a pinch is rubbed on the body. plant" pro153- "Witchcraft tects you from being witched. aren't allowed to give that to anybody. My great grandfather made of

's

carries this antidote today.

We

PROTECTION

it

for the

kept

whole family.

a

it

long,

We

have

When

long time.

anybody hates you and wants prevents them. 1 154. Sorcery medicine ground dark-red corn,

hurt you of

wolfs

to

it

mountain

is

made

ground

big bear gall, badger gall and skunk gall. This is kept until needed and then take a pinch on the finger and eat it. If administered to another person, eat eagle

some

gall,

gall,

deer

yourself

There

lion's gall,

gall,

first.

also a plant called "witchcraft plant" which is soaked in water and rubbed on the body before retiring, and some is also drunk. This plant is very especially strong medicine for witch protection. Chop the entire plant and soak in cold water. Drink one cup per day. Can use it alone or mixed with is

"gray medicine." 2 Maybe you've had hand trembling several times and you do all they say you have several sings but it's no good. Finally, they decide you must be witched so you use

—

"witchcraft

plant."

They

are

also

used in the sweathouse for the same purpose. When administered you gather and cut up many roots, add water and soak, drink one cup once 3 a day. 155. The Eagle Way man he is stronger than Witchery people. He

192

PART

INSTANCES AND STORIES OF WITCHCRAFT

in:

have a strong medicine. He gathers all these eagles and cut the galls of every one. He uses that against the witch people to protect himself. Witchery people are afraid of Eagle Way people. 156. On the way to Lukachukai was disturbed because he had forgotten his witch medicine. Many witches there. Put powder on your nose in a crowd make you fresh bladcrazy. Good medicine ders of deer, badger, porcupine, wolf, bear, wildcat and so forth. With ground corn good medicine. 4

—

— —

made

Witchcraft

for

bear

plant,

is

mountain

plant, be?gocidi plant.

There will

remedy

best

a medicine of these plants: Gila Monster

Disease plant,

—

#The

157.

is

help you

lion

6

a coyote prayer that if you get witched.

Coyote is the one that knows everything on the earth. Way back in the old days when people want to know this and that, coyote always I think that's the reason they got his pray. 158. #The best thing for Wizardry is the Bringing Out Prayer. The best thing for Witchery are the

there.

Thunder and Wind good

Prayer

is

Shield

Prayer

round

for

will

Prayers. Sorcery. finish up,

The The will

off all of these.

159. Fear of witchcraft cured sweathouse. If, for example, a person were scared of were-animals, a new sweathouse would be built on north or east side of hogan. No fixed number of baths. Same type of sweathouse. Medicine taken by 6 Called "lightning herbs." bather. Ingredients: charcoal from lightning in

7

struck tree, dodge weed, sage, "bit8 food," pinyon needles, juniper 9 10 leaves, "rock sage," "ghost plant." Chopped and mixed with water. ter

This treatment given by

knows Enemy Monster

Man

paid.

Arrows

man who

Way

stuck

songs. in

up

ground around hogan

193

—

as

for pre-

11

vention of epidemics, etc. 160. Twenty years ago a singer wife. They diswitched 's covered him by hand trembling. They brought him here and tied him down and a lot of people questioned him all night. He had torn off a

piece of the woman's dress, it in a bad place and prayed to it. The man who did hand trembling first led the people to the top of a hill. He did hand trembling again there and followed an old track. He found a little pit in the ground. He dug there in the ground, took out old clothes, horse manure, sheep manure and other things. They came back, got the old singer, took him back to the place. The next morning the singer confessed, said he was sorry and would make the woman well again. The woman didn't get well for a long time, but slowly improved. The singer went poor, bony, died within a year. dirty

buried

161. #If somebody gets sick from witchcraft, they keep trying things.

If

nothing else works, they

get somebody to do one of the prayer ceremonials. This is the best thing there is for any kind of witchcraft.

But not many people know them any more. They are afraid of them because if the man makes a mistake it kills him. They usually try the Shield Prayer first. If this doesn't work, then they try the Bringing Up Prayer. Sometimes they have all three of the prayer ceremonials. The Shield Prayer is especially good for Sorcery. 162.

*The Ghost Dance never

did any harm, but the witch business did. After Fort Sumner the Navaho were very poor. The government gave them rations for ten years. Some of the families had a few sheep and they got a good start right

away. Such families, headmen who were good talkers, young men and

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

194 would

all of a sudden chanters were not able to help them. So they got suckers to suck these suffering persons. They would always suck out something, a deer hair, a piece of charcoal, a piece of bone, a wildcat's whisker or a porcupine quill. As soon as this was sucked out the patient would feel better. They would say to the sucking doctor what is this and the doctor would say this was shot into the body by some witch. Then they would lay tins object aside and think no more of it and the doctor would go home. But the patient would not be altogether well and after awhile would have a relapse. Then the family would get another sucking doctor who would suck out something else. This kept on until the people began

healthy

girls

get sick.

The

wonder who is doing all Of course the sucking doctors

to say, "I

this?"

got big pay for

this.

They would ask the sucking doctor, "Do you know who shot this?" and he would say, "Yes." Usually he would say this belongs to the first doctor you had. The family would say, "Can you shoot it back?" The doctor would then shoot it back Then star-gazers for a big price. were hired shooting.

to find out

Then hand

who

did the

tremblers

who

the signs which their hands are giving them when trembling were also hired to find the When the family ones. guilty thought they had enough evidence they went and got the guilty party. He was forced to give a ceremony to cure the patient. Later it got so bad that they were killing those doctors. It was not until this time that the sucking doctors sucked out obBefore they just sucked out jects. blood. These doctors got so numerous that they called themselves witches and offered to bewitch people in different ways. They got

figure

out

a hair of a person or any belonging that a person had touched and buried it in a grave and made people sick. Of course the people couldn't stand this so they started killing these doctors off. The agent at this time was as ignorant as the people themselves; he said that if you find a witch kill him. Finally, the government stepped in and stopped it. They used to get a witch and they would not let him eat, saliva,

urinate

drink,

or

sleep

until

he

pointed out someone who was responsible for causing the sickness. It got so bad that no medicine man

was

safe.

Wizardry Got too much

163.

once.

up

start

of

it

all

at

altogether.

People says these witch people can shoot a dead man's bone and a lot of things they could shoot with. So if any time witch man shoots a person like that, they would cut the place where it stings and take the thing out of his body and cure the patient.

Two

can

be

friends

to-

—

gether get the bone out of it. Shooter and sucker can split the money. Was getting too much of it and white people stop it. Those suckers use to hold a little piece of bone or something in the mouth when he tries to suck somebody, suck the pain out. He

can have something in his mouth before he starts sucking. And he sucks hard at this place he act like he sure work hard. After he quit and spit out quite a lot of blood, he can show that thing to the patient tell him that he has got that bone in his body that he sucked out. Somebody learned maybe from the first person who sucked out. There was a man living just across from Fort Wingate called Little Curly Hair. Pie was the man

—

that

knows how

things

three

to take these bad He has out of the body. of these olivella shells and

PART

Ul:

INSTANCES AND STORIES OF WITCHCRAFT

whenever a man is shot by a witch he can go there and give an olivella to the patient to hold in each hand and put the other one where he has been shot and he sing a song to it. These three beads can work some

way

to get those things out of the

body. Every time he sing one song he ask the Patient, "Does the thing

move?" Sometimes he

feel the thing

move, move right out sometimes. I seen this one time that this man has taken out bone from person's body. Not cutting a place, just setting the olivella shell on where it hurt. Do it

without the sucking.

report this man to the agent at Fort Defiance. People think they was going to stop him doing that because they stopped all the rest of them the ones that sucking. But the agent told him to stay with that job because he doesn't do like the others cutting the patient where

They

—

—

he is going to suck something in his mouth.

or

have

He

using

those three beads, that's all. Looks like pretty good job. Only agent asks a few questions of that man. How did he learn that and where did he learn it. He says he learned it from one Pueblo tribe. I don't know which one. They call that yo-? di^o-li baha?i-ni-l, "gathering out ['extracting'] the olivella shells.

195

and the Bringing Out Prayer are the best cures for Sorcery. sometimes out 165. Suck through live eagle feather or a reed. When they got the thing out, they

blew on it. A person who knew this was called Mr. Sucker. Sprinkle water on patient with feathers after

Would sing Hand Evil Way songs. The hand of a sucker shakes like a man who does hand trembling. He can stick his hand in the fire and not get burnt. He can chew coals in getting thing out.

Trembling

his

mouth.

's 166. The father of father was a sucker. Those suckers had medicines and songs. They also

—

had rock medicine long and smooth like flint. Looked like a bird's bill. The rock was called ?as3d- kesga"woman's fingernail." The suckers used "witchcraft plant" too. They blood out and then put some

spit the

of

"witchcraft

that

on the

plant"

bloody place. That sucking business didn't last very long. It just came in after Fort Sumner. There was sure lots of it for a while then. But the government stopped all those suckers about twenty-eight years ago. Made

them

quit.

(Q) The Navahos

didn't

get

emer-

Wizardry

until long after the

164. If a dead person's tooth or a rock crystal is shot in you, you

gence.

came

have it sucked out. The sucker rubs you all over first. Some-

they shoot you. You have to get a man to suck it out. He holds a flint club [hal] against the place where the thing is in you. He kneads that place with that club and puts "witchcraft plant" and other medicines on that place to kill the bullet.

have

to

times they suck out a

snake

too.

little

You go now

stone or a

to the Santa

Claras and the Zunis to get the stuff sucked out. The government stopped all that a while back. That's why we have to go to those Pueblo Indians now. They throw the thing they get out right into the fire. The Bringing Up Prayer is good for Wizardry too.

(Q) The Bringing

Up

Prayer

It

167.

168.

in

way

#It hurts

The

late.

like fire

where

was

father of

's He bewitched a witch. oldest sister and nothing the singers could do would cure her. Finally,

someone did hand trembling and discovered him.

They

tied

him up

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

ig6

#They

and left him in the hogan for two nights until he confessed. He did,

and made them

and then they turned him

ones that never

"If a witch says

he

loose.

one

is

—he

Even if he die right away. doesn't die, he can't be a witch any will

more." If a person bewitches you, you can find out about it by having someone do hand trembling or star-gaz-

ing. "Have two working at once, sometimes three, but not more than

four."

When you

find

out

who

the

get a real good singer to sing Shield Prayer or Bringing Up

witch

is,

Prayer or Bringing Out Prayer. If the singer is stronger than the witch, he sings the sickness back into the witch's

body and he

dies.

die.

(Q) You could alternate BringPrayer and Shield Prayer.

Up

The

patient and the sponsor are the ones that say what prayer ceremo-

used. But you the prayer ceremonials at one time. That is too strong. nials

are

to

wouldn't say

use

be

all

(Q) Coyote Prayer they to protect you against

also

the

witches. That helps the prayer ceremonials, but it isn't part of them.

tied witches

confess. tell.

That

down the going

Kill is

away now.

Q

the witch dies or if they tells, the patient can't get well, they say. (Q) Prayer ceremonials are the best thing all right. But they can't help much if it has gone down deep. They will cure the patient if they have just been doing the witch stuff a short time. Then it goes back to him the evil of the witches. When they say Shield Prayer, the very first night they pray that the Sorcery prayer they made to us won't get us will be destroyed between here (

)

If

him before he

kill

—

—

and

Some-

times the singer sucks the sickness out of the bewitched man's body and shows it to everyone. Then they throw it in the fire and burn it up. On the last night of Shield Prayer (sometimes you have Blessing Way after that) a sandpainting of the stars is made and the patient sleeps on it. "This helps him to know (through dream) whether they have 13 the right witch." 169. #Mix eagle gall, bear gall and mountain lion gall up and drink it for a cure. After that have one of the prayer ceremonials. Shield Prayer can cure you even if the witch doesn't confess. But a chant wouldn't do you any good. If you don't have a prayer ceremonial you'll

ing

170.

there.

All three prayer ceremogood for Frenzy Witchcraft Also good to make people stop

(Q) nials are too.

doing Wizardry. 171. Long years ago there was a family living like this one. A man got sick. They tried everything but Tried hand tremit didn't work. bling, star-gazing did no good.

—

Then Big Fly came and

said, "I

know

who

could cure this thing. This sickness came from Witchery. Witch people have got you pretty strong. Nobody around here can cure you. Only Talking God and hasce^o^a-n can cure you." The man went over to see them, but each said they didn't know. That's why a singer says at first, "I don't know." Finally, Talking God said, "If you have a buckskin I'll do it for you. buckskin goes with this big pray." They had figured out by hand trembling that a witch had a piece of his shoes, belt, pants, shirt, hair,

A

and put it away. Witch kept it and prayed to it. When Talking God came he did the Bringing Out Prayer to the east. Then he turned around and came back and did it to the west. The spit

there

PART

IH:

INSTANCES AND STORIES OF WITCHCRAFT

last morning he gave the patient a bath. Then he did the pollen ad13 ministration and making pollen trail. Then he made a sandpainting on buckskin. The patient sat on that. The sandpainting had corn and squash on it. This patient was sick a long time. He was thin and he could

hardly swallow. After Talking God had sung over him he got better slowly. But it took a month before he could take his first steps. Slowly he got well. 172. In somebody who has had Wizardry done to him you can feel something in that man's body that doesn't belong there. A man would cut that place with an arrowhead. Then he would suck and spit the blood out on a piece of pinyon bark. He would have to suck four or five times. I have seen people do that a lot of times soon after Fort Sumner. If white people hadn't stopped that Wizardry and that sucking, people might all be killed by witchcraft now. The sucker would get charcoal, rock, also bone out but only one thing out of one place. (Q) No, they didn't use any

—

eagle feather to get those things out. But sometimes they would take an eagle feather quill out of the body.

(Q) You ple

really can't cure peo-

who

are sick from witchcraft. helps out if they can find the

But it Wizard and make him tell. (Q) The best ceremony

is

one

of the prayer ceremonials.

173. Used into a meeting

to

bring

witches

and ask them questions try to make them confess. Most wouldn't. Only one or two would tell. That is how the people found out about what those witches do. That is how the people who

—

aren't witches got their story.

man

and falls down as if he were dead you give him some herb medicine and 174. *"If a

gets sick

197

make him

drink the contents of a sheep's bladder. Then he will get right up." (That is if he has been bewitched. 175. When they catch a witch they tie him down in the hogan and try to

make him

that

to

and

tell who all he done how he done it.

Would

let him go to toilet but give him no water or food. Tie him down for two days then he would confess. Tie any place close to doorway and

—

just question

him.

(Q) Find him

in first place by hand trembling or star-gazing or see him standing off by himself, talking to himself or marking on stone or in sand.

Sometimes a witch would go four days tied down like that without tallcing. If he didn't confess, kill him then. Then try to get boss main man this guy's working for. Try to get main man and lead him over here with a rope. This main man has to say four times he will straighten things up. Then let him go. But after that hold one of the prayer ceremonials over him. That won't do him much good. He'll die pretty quick anyway. But the people ne witched will get well. People won't confess even if they know they'll get killed because they know that if they do tell they are going to die anyway before long. 176. That day a bunch of men came over to my place and said I had to come with them to a meeting. They had guns so I went along. Over there they said I had made 's wife's baby come the wrong way so that it killed both of them. They said that while my father was singing over her just a little before the baby came (and I was helping him there) somebody saw me pick

up some of her faeces. They kept on asking me questions all day, trying to

what

I

had

make me

said against her.

tell

But

I

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

198 hadn't said anything at all. I was helping my father do the good things for the people. After lots of

just

questions,

B

walked

"There

said,

nothing to

is

He

off.

this.

I

don't want to hear any more." His brother, P followed him. Two of those old men, the leaders of the people, kept on. Finally, my ,

grandfather made a speech. He said, "Let's take this up to the agent at if the widower says there before the agent that he wants to kill my grandson, the agent

Crownpoint and

up

will

make him pay my grandson a Then they decided to let me

fine."

11

go and the meeting broke up. 177. People says it's a good thing we have that Talking Rock it [echo]. They say that's a person is something like Talking God. Talk-

—

ing Rock

who

Man

it

is

called.

A man

Way

believes

sings in Blessing

Talking Rock. He says when said a prayer near my house. While saying this prayer a dog ran between Mr. Squinter (who conducted the ceremony) and the rest of the group. One of the men remarked that the witching would be ineffective because the chain would be broken between the participants and the ceremonialist.

Next morning one of the policetold me about it and

men came and

asked what to do. I said to forget about it. But he was afraid of the effects on the people in the district. Well, that very day a horse threw the other policeman and injured him so that he was laid up for two or three months. Just before the three year old grandson of the judge had died. The judge said that while he had been away Mr. Squinter had gone to his home and asked the women about the different members who they were and of the family

—

so forth. Six

weeks or two months later who had reported it

the policeman

to

me had

fell

an accident. His horse on him and broke his leg. The

policeman's clan brother came up then and started a row. He said I had to do something about Mr. Squinter. He accused Mr. Squinter of having killed his own brother and two or three other people. He said he'd been invited to join in the witchcraft ceremony against me. Finally, as a result of my conferences with him and with the judge, a meeting was arranged with Mr. Fryer at his office in Window Rock. took twelve Indians there: Mr. Squinter, one of Twins, the delegates, the judge and the policeman, the clan brother of the first police-

We

man.

My wife and I and some of the Navahos who were our good friends came in my car. The rest went by truck via Keams Canyon. On the way, the Navahos insisted we stop and have a purification ceremony. First, everybody had to pray with pollen. Then they threw some bits of turquoise into the air and said a Then they gave each of us an arrowpoint to hold and the old man said, "Everyone who can understand must repeat this prayer after me." There was some discussion about my wife because she knows only a little Navaho. Finally, the old man said, "She has the thought; prayer.

We

each, the main thing." had an arrowpoint in our left hand. In our right hands each of us had ground white shell. had to cast that into the air three times at intervals in the prayer. (Q) I don't remember all of the prayer, but I do remember that it started with Big Snake the people had a lotta flu he takes his com white, blue, pollen and some shells black, blue pollen, sparkling rock and cat-tail plant. He goes to the cave with this and he goes to the back center of the cave and puts that

is

as I said,

We

—

PART

INSTANCES AND STORIES OF WITCHCRAFT

ni:

that there and he

call

name

he

man

there, that

Talking Rock's is

wanting

this

That's the giving this pollen

to stop all the flu.

reason that he

is

to him. He make long pray in there and he might sing two or four songs. While he is talking this echo helps him talking and while he is singing he helps him

and

shells

too.

And

away

when he

singer says

gets

out of there that that pray and that song is pretty strong for the people because the echo did the talking and the singing too for the people.

When

he

finished

that

part,

they scraped just a little bit of rock under the cave some place where water runs and makes it black. He

—

some plants as he goes back home and he chops that in little pieces and soak that takes that and gathers

—

with water let that. Put that

all his

family drink

what he from the rock drop that in They says that'll the water too. scare flu away. They do that for little

stuff

—

gets

big cough, measles or if they they think somebody is witched use that for the witch wouldn't hurt work it that way. If I em. don't know the pray at the song, I hire a man to do that for my family. (Q) The plants are spruce, ponderosa pine, "witchcraft plant" and "floating juniper." 15 And a lotta people they add some of these little plants around here. They also say that if you do that for your children or your sheep or your horses, you won't be hit by lightning or snake or getting hurt very badly. That's flu,

—

We

why we do

that.

178. It was at the time when feeling over the stock reduction

program was thirds of

the

other

my18

at

its

height.

district

third

are

Two-

are paupers; well-off.

The

crowd was fighting me, because I was enforcing the stock reduction program. One of Twins who rules that whole country was

well-off

199

the leader of the opposition. He and Mr. Squinter decided they'd get me by witchcraft if they couldn't get me in any other way. They gathered up four other men and held this witchcraft ceremony. They tried to get a bigger crowd, but they couldn't. After midnight they went into the school yard and sung. Then they Blue. started facing east and

We

They prayed

then turned south.

Woman

Changing back

to the

to

to "turn the evil

man who

sent it." I also phrases: "Keep the big blue snake in front of you; keep die big yellow snake in front of you; turn this evil away from us." The

remember the

prayer was called Shield Prayer. In Fryer's office, Fryer first gave

and said that in the past a lot had been killed as witches. Then Mr. Squinter was questioned as to what ceremony he had used. He said it was the "A Woman's Piece of Wood" prayer and that it came from die old Pueblo Indians, a talk

of people

this side of the

La

Then somebody

said he

me

Plata Mountains.

had "prayed Later he

into the gravestone."

—

said it was just Sorcery this just makes you sick doesn't necessarily kill you. It was agreed that if he would say a prayer over me to retract the evil, he would be released.

—

But he said that prayer the back on him. verse

if

he said the

evil

re-

would turn

So at the insistence of the judge they held him two or three days at Window Rock. Howard Gorman and others questioned him pretty continuously. Finally, he promised.

When we

got back home he said the reverse prayer over me at the same spot. He wouldn't allow anybody but me near and he said it so low that even I couldn't hear him. After he finished, the Indians made

him go back into my office, although two or three people out of the crowd tried

to

protect

him.

There they

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

200 questioned him again and later they took him to the policeman's hogan. They tried in the nice way and they tried in the hard way. During the night I understand he went around and shook hands with everybody and said, "I have no malice against anyone." This didn't satisfy them. At 4 p.m. the next day he said the Bringing Up Prayer with two men close to him. That starts from the feet up. Then after that the Indians just insisted that a Blessing Way be held over me. So I let them

do

it.

179. Well, he start hand trembling. He start off with one hand

and every time when he rubbed

like

(palms together) he start the (Other hand. He changing from hand to hand all the time. As he hand tremble there he mark on the ground with his fingers. People can't understand what that mark mean, and he pointed off that way (west) many that

times. (

And

pointed

this

off

way

southeast ) and also like he's throw-

ing like

down something with his hand that. He got through. When

got through, he sit back over there where his place is (south).

lie

He

says, well,

truth,

The there's

mens,

might be

this

may

not too. way I got

no medicine

he

it,

man

says,

sing

or

pray could cure this girl, but he says who's singing down over here ( west They does anybody know? last, didn't answer for a little while. Then one of the men says, yes, there is

somebody singing down there. This man Ugly Singer. He's

Who?

the one that's singing down there man. Says seems to me one or two of you could go down where this man is singing and bring him down here and the way I got it want you to ask the question this man. I think this man did someAnd thing bad about this girl. another thing he says, I point off this for a

.

.

.

so many times southeast, something like mile and half away from here. He says this man down there (witch) took something out over there and buried it over there, and that's got to be taken out, right away. Specially if you got this man down here by tonight. Want you people to ask him what he has over there buried. And tell him to change it around and cure the girl. But after he says yes that he did it here, when he says he did all this, trying to kill that girl, if you find out that much, then the girl is going to be safe. If the man doesn't want to tell about it, don't want to make it good for the girl, the girl is going to die right away. If he make it up good, before you people here, he's going to die himself. If he

way

want to tell about it, he's going to be safe too. There is only one man starting to go down after this man. These mens, they say they want to, they going to do just like he says with didn't

Man

didn't want to go one they was sending down. This man that was going down there say it's way after dark now, maybe he can't come now, maybe he say I come tomorrow or the next day. The people told him when he got down there, tell him that the people want him down here tonight. That the girl is getting worser every day and night. Tell him that we want him to do a little medicine, he have to do it tonight. Says you might get him to come this way, give the girl a little medicine, we want you to sing for her, a little not much.

that

man.

down

there, the

This

man went down there and man back towards

he brought the

daylight. Didn't want to come for a long while. He let him ride be-

hind, ride double back. When the man was brought over they give him the room there in the middle of

PART

INSTANCES AND STORIES OF WITCHCRAFT

in:

the people. There was three of the best men, asking the question. They tell him anything else, just hand trembling says about him, These like the way he says.

didn't like

just

men

three is

truth,

says they think this man hand trembling, that

tins

he did it. The way he did this, the way he know this is, he got this hand trembling way back in the old days, people all knows way back like

we know

Says

there.

there,

we

say

don't

want

to

and

also

you, but

that anything

what comes from back

that,

And we mad to us want to mad to truth.

is

have you

we don't we want

to cure this girl. us the truth about it. Tell the truth whether you, if you did it say you did it. If you got something left to cure, to cure this girl with. And we think you know. The reason we think that you know how to cure it, it's your job. They ask him the question like that, but he got mad about it, he says he

Just

tell

didn't, says,

"Who

says this?

did the hand trembling?"

Who

Says to

that man that he is telling lies to these people. They keep asking this man for a long while until daylight. People told him if he didn't want to tell about this we don't want to let out.

We

in here until

you

you go

want tell

rest of the

people says

drop

thing.

to

this

to

your

we

You

keep you part.

The

not going think that

you are going to get by with it, but you are not. We won't even let you go the

toilet.

After he heard that and giving more talk, this man says I'm guilty to this. First he ask the people if he did it what they are going to do with him. Told him they not going to hurt him, all they want is to hear the truth of it. And want him to use the good medicine that will cure this

And that's all they want, they not going to hang him or send him jail or anything like that. But if he girl.

201

did it they might send him back where he was raised. After that he says yes he did it. He was trying to kill that woman. He says he couldn't remember what it was this bad man said about the girl. He couldn't remember what he said about why he did this to the girl ( informant can't remember ) After he said he did it they want to take him over here where he buried these things. Lots of people didn't want to take this man over there, and a few of the people went out there and they leave the bad man there in the hogan with some people taking care of this man. But they take this man that did the hand trembling, they take him out there. He says when he went out there, he did the hand trembling two more times out there. This man while he doing the hand trembling he point off where they going, where this thing was in the ground. And they found this, they found a little tiny,

little

bundle

ground.

Just a two places

were were taken

out.

little

there

in

piece.

the

There

where these things They ask him about

these bundles and he says yes he did It was some of this girl's hair, it. says he stole the hair from this girl, And old shoes, the pull it out.

moccasins what she wear and break a piece out of moccasin, buckskin. And you know sometimes when you sweatin' you find mud and Some of that stuff. This man says he use all those things that he had. Says all this things that he buried over there,, when he use his prayer, when he

feet

is

dirt in there?

use his

bad pray about

this

girl,

says he has these things right here before him, so these things have to be in place of this girl. That's just the way he told the people. But now, right now he is going to say a few pray for this girl. And he sing, couldn't remember how many

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

202 songs, maybe four or five. Says you be well now, and he told the people that he's going to sing over this girl for nine nights, says that will correct everything up. Told the people, what they think about it? People told him they think they let that go. Says he not going to charge anything for singing. Then they let that go and they turn this man loose and let him go back where he is

singing.

These people made

talk over gone. They all say if they let him sing here, he might make it worst yet. So they go by just like the hand trembling said. This hand trembling says if man is guilty it's going to be hard for him, so they just let him go. Says the girl begin to get better every day. After then they watch that man pretty close

that after he

where he

and about one month

goes,

man

time, this

good.

is

wasn't feeling very gets poor,

From then on he

this is happen in lambing time, and from then on towards fall, about that time this man was pretty sick. When he got too sick around here, he went back home to Chin Lee. In December one of his brothers come out here, that man he had some horses out here, these horses was took back by this man. The man that came from over there says that man didn't live long after he got home over

The

there, died.

The

was

girl

girl

feeling

got

their work, says everything

now.

Still

living

now

right.

all

good and do

—was

sing last night. That is 17 wife. 180. [The scene is at a

is

O.K.

at the 's

"Squaw

Dance."] There was another wagon with some people in it come there same place. Those people got out of the wagon, they build a fire there. Little while after that these people been talking there, says one of the

womans

fall

no more.

down, couldn't get up

They

says

that

woman

know

a thing after she fall. three of them, help that woman up. They all take a hold of that woman, they didn't know what to do for that woman. They didn't didn't

They,

know what made her do

that.

They

think some of these people that are witch, sometimes those kinda people

could make people do that. These people say that. They are wanting to know who has some medicine of that kinda sickness, could cure that, and they been asking people there; nobody had any. One man had long hair, tied up. Happy says come over to us where they all were, ask for some medicine, if they had any. (Q) It is called gall medicine. and his wife they had J some, gave just a little bit to that man. Tell him how they use is to get a cup of water and drop some of this medicine and mix it up, let that woman drink it up. That man took that medicine over there and they did like they told him to use it. Use it that way. After about one hour from there, woman got well. About that time dance stars. 18 181. [Game Way is being discussed.] Some of these songs here, some of these big songs that stand for witch people, if us use that, witch people won't hurt you. Big Medicine, Game Way plants 19 what they let me learn at the end here, that is five different names for plant is there, taking the root about that size of each kind two [square inches] and chop it together in little pieces, we could keep that all the time. That is when you go to the big ceremonial, or big sings, take some of that and chew that, chew just a little

bit of

it,

and same way when

big flu comes, they says. Not just a little cough or a little flu or a little fever, but big flu, measles, sore, then it says use that. (Q: Why at big sings?) Long years ago the people had sings, they

PART

III:

INSTANCES AND STORIES OF WITCHCRAFT

some witch people used to have some kind of stuff and they look for good man, rich people. They says they can rub on a piece says there

of

stick

of

that

size

[one-quarter

he could, they says he could just kind of when he get you with that, some says they could put it, drop it into your foot (shoe) or shirt like in here [at neck]. There is a lotta ways they could do it. They used to say he could just throw it on you like that. They used to do But they that, those, that crowd. is just talking there to me, I dont know. 20 182. I want a dog around the house, because he would watch out for magic wolves. Magic wolves are about four feet high and four feet long hind legs higher, like a cow, tail just hanging down and head is stuffed out with something, and he looks out through the neck. inch],

Yes,

He

it is a man dressed in a skin. looks out through the neck, so

you shoot him

head it doesn't hurt him. They would crawl up on top of the hogan when the fire died down and throw some bad Witchery on the fire, and soon the room would fill with smoke and you would die. 21 if

in

the

183. Put coyote pollen at the base of a horse's tail and then if some witch-man will say something, in his mind, if you put those on the horse, he won't be able to do any harm, because in a long time nobody 22 has hurt coyote. followed coyote 184. ... a

him one morning when he was coming back from a sing near Two Wells. Followed about a mile right behind the horse, frisking like a dog. He first noticed it because the horse was looking back. When he got to the hogan the coyote stood in the sage just a little way off. Dave brought out a shot gun, he used to have, and shot him. Didn't kill him, trailed

203

him about a mile and lost him. In Navaho way that pretty bad to have coyote follow us. Means something bad going to happen. Your sister or your brother going to die. Dave had Singer

sing for the coyote following.

him he made mistake to shoot coyote. Coyote not meaning harm told

when he does

that. He only comes warn you, so you could look out for it and have the sing. The singer

to

put turquoise in track of this coyote to make him happy. They always do that when coyote follows one. 23 185. Peteria scoparia (A. Gray).

One

most valuable plants of collected for someone else get pay. When man wants to get this plant must give a small blue turquoise to the plant and pray to of the

Navaho.

If

—

it.

Also

give

makes plants

—

corn pollen that good. Top part

feel

—

medicine for big flu chop up, soak, drink. Take any kind of tree struck by lightning, chop up and mix with this two cups full. Also used against witches. Top burned with deer hair. In corral and drive stock around so they can smell smoke to cure a cough. Roots used split with hand into four pieces put on hogan. Four songs for this plant. Soak in water with two others. Throw over the door east, south, then sprinkle inside. west, north If you do this to hogan, big sickness hardly come around. Also used on sheep and horses with two others soak and sprinkle on them keep

—

—

—

—

—

—

big sickness away and big increases. Also keeps lightning away from All in sheep, horses and home. 24 family taste it. 186. During a visit to Chin Lee, (from Pinedale, New Mexico)

D

showed

signs of anxiety, especially

day or two. The first and L. C. W. ) camped canyon rim, and before retiring D said that we would have to perform a little ceremony. At a for the

first

night we near the

(

D

204

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

point between the canyon and camp, selected a spot beneath a juniper tree and made there a pollen painting of the sun, about three inches in diameter, with the face of blue pollen and the features of yellow pollen. Then he deposited a jewel offering and sang one song. Following this, the painting was left in place and we went to bed. No mention was made of this being a protection against witchcraft, but had remarked that there are lots of witches around Chin Lee and the general context together

D

D

with his apprehension makes it seem in retrospect that such was the purpose.

It

interesting that

is

D

had

necessary paraphernalia along with him. He dug these several sacks out of his pocket, so he must have prepared himself, without my knowledge before we started on the the

trip.

Under date of May 27, 1942, Miss Maud Oakes of Coolidge, 187.

New

Mexico, wrote

As

for the

me

as follows:

sand paintings,

I

you

asked

about; interesting things developed. Before giving them he had said they had been handed down from father to son, and that it or they were used for protection, and that When there were only two. he started doing the first, due to the reverse of black and white,

and because my instinct told me, I started telling a story about witchcraft in Africa, and a personal experience. He then admitted the paintings were used for protection against witchcraft and evil to him, his family, his flocks, etc., and that he had four sand paintings. Whether they are connected

with a chant way or not I do not know, so will describe them to you. (

1

)

Rainbow

circle in

mid-

dle with a rainbow cross in center, the interior of circle black, outside four toads dec-

orated with flint design all colors but red east, black; north, white east and west have male lightning in both hands,

— —

and crossing body two large male lightning, others the same only female. From their mouths run a rainbow line to a small rainbow inside circle, four rainbows in all. (Circle and cross symbolize hogan and fire. ) The whole surrounded by rainbow circle.

(2)

The same except

in-

side and outside circles were white, plus yellow and red. The inside interior of circle blue, and in place of lightning in

hands

they

have

four

stone

knives.

(3) The same, only colors of outside circle were white, yellow, blue and white. The toads were without armor only four four

rainbows outside

on body,

body no

and light-

nings.

(4) Both circles rainbows with the red on inside and on all other rainbows used. Four bears walking on rainbow strip that goes into circle to small rainbow, four paw prints on strip and on east side only in circle a piiion tree with cones on it. Bears have the usual grey stripe and at throat a cross and on body four rainbows. He also gave the story, and prayer and some interesting information on witchcraft.

The story is about the holy who eats ants that give him power. One day he was swallowed by a coyote, who he toad

had kindly given of his best corn, so while inside he asks the coyote what all the things he sees are for and, finally, comes to the back brain and asked what it was for, and the coyote said, "That is what I live by, leave it alone, so the toad cut it in two, killed the and came out his coyote

throat"

K

APPENDIX

IX:

BEHAVIOR AND

PARTICIPATION 188. ( Q ) Men are more witches than women. If a man knows his wife won't tell about it, then he teachers her. This is her only chance. But it is sure hard to find out about those things. Once a friend of mine and I gave a man who was supposed to be a witch whiskey, hoping to get the story from him. But he wouldn't tell it. (Q) I never heard of a woman Wizard. It is old men who do that. my grandof 189. #One mothers told me she could teach me how to kill people. She did tell me most of it. But I have never done that.

am

I

anybody

a singer.

to die

—

I

try to

alive without killing.

don't

want

keep them

Keep them

all

My

grandmother knew Witchery and Sorcery. But my mother told me not to do that.

alive.

19°- #[A singer is speaking.] Yes, they are somewhat afraid of me

now, and they

when my

will

be even more

193-

started

after

195«

We

started off today talk-

ing about chants. Now we are talking about witchcraft. It is just that way when Navahos learn chants. They work hard and learn everything. Then, finally, they start talking about witchcraft. 196. #If you get mad at a singer and tell him you are going to punish him, he will say, "You can't do anything to me. I have a

#People are

afraid of the carry medicine

people who pouches afraid they have witch medicine in them and will point them in the direction of their enemies at a sing. 192. #Some people say that singer is a witch. They say he just stole other people's songs by hearing them through a crack outside the

—

# Wizardry

Fort Sumner. You have to find out about that by hand trembling or star-gazing. But this doesn't always tell the truth. So they killed a lot of people. 194. #I've heard some people say that is a witch but I don't think he is a witch. He works hard. He has a plough and other things. A witch doesn't do anything. Just loafs around all the time.

power."

hair gets grey.

191.

old

hogan. 1 Not very many men say that, but quite a few women do.

197. It

was

in

1938

at

the

Squaw Dance. One

side was singing against the other. was leading the one side he was pretty

—

At daylight they were supdidn't posed to stop, but drunk.

want to. His maternal uncle was kinda bossing things there and so he tried

to

make them

He pushed

205

stop

singing.

out of the line

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

206 pushed

finally.

maternal

his

uncle back and they started talking

back to each other.

says

to his maternal uncle that

over

boss

that

he

is

not

And

sing.

"Get outa here. Don't come around me again." Then they started to cussing each other in says,

They

English.

for a

fight

I

die

all

telling kill

to

while and then they split them wasn't very close so I didn't

little

up. get

start

me

nephew.

his maternal

has a

Someone was

talking.

that the singer said he'd

little

a

pistol,

little

Says he gun. He won't take

if he takes the gun it a minute to kill him. If he doesn't use the gun, he says he'll kill him some other way. And of course 's family, his folks, they heard all that. See, 's family they

says

worry about

that, all that time. But two years they kinda forgot about it. Then last month

after

Before he died maybe just more days he live, his maternal uncle sung for him and died right after that. So that's how they start thinking about that and talking about it. Talking about the maternal uncle that he might use bad medicine. 2 And they start to talk about reporting that to the agent at Window Rock. But Moustache stopped that. He told them that if the agent up there didn't find anything with the uncle got sick.

like

two

he might think something to do with be up against it.

sister

's

Then

it.

had

she'd

He said man was made by people around having bad thoughts about him made him have bad dreams ... he said after a sing one recovered from the bad 198.

sick

—

thoughts of others. 199.

When

this

3 .

.

.

man

got sick,

medicine man that he got, he says this medicine man gave some kind of medicine to this man, that puts him out the mind. The people this

says back in the old days the people used to do that which they know, which these older people used to know but they all died out now.

They think in that way this man made him do that. The way they talk about these bad kind of medicine man, they do that to the rich people, they make them sick, and then they tell them they have the medicine there to make him better. When they think they got enough money, then they go ahead and cure this man with the right kind of medicine. That's the way they talk about

he

it,

says.

4

A

200.

saw B had some

cig-

A

ask for some. B reached in the other pocket and took out some tobacco bag half full, the cigarettes he just rolled himself. A says no he wants the other, already rolled cigarettes. A roll up a cigarette and strike a match and start burning. He strike two matches and it went out before he light it and about the time they start to working again, this was at noon. He run over there to the camp and he gave this cigarette to C. wanted to smoke himself, but he gave it to C, he'll smoke up. C got headache out of that after he smoke arettes in his pocket;

A

it

and

don't

his

working the

head went wrong, he

know much, right.

food

after that

like

he

mind

says,

not Besides that he feel

to

start

his

is

going out. Day begin to throwing

So five days after that at pay day again this A says something wrong with him after he smoke that cigarette. You see he told him right away when he bringing that cigarette to him, he says he got that smoke from B. When that pay day comes, after out.

Why

they leave that they left there. there is because this man is got sick there. This C started to come by himself, but made up his mind to go too. He always go with that boy

A

PART

in:

while they

And

INSTANCES AND STORIES OF WITCHCRAFT

down there at the work. man he says he home-

this other

sick so

he

just

have

to

come. (Q:

What about B?) A and C

they talk about that and they think it that cigarette must have been made for him, some kind of a smoke that B knows. (Q: What was in it?) A says he don't know that. He says he don't know one thing about that, but I can tell you the rest of it,

how much

this other boy [C] had the trouble with it when he came back. Said he was told to be down there the day after tomorrow. They sent him to Gallup, his wife died that day, two days after he came

home. He came back that same day and he went over to C's place. See, this man C says when he got there, he says he got sick of it too much, he says. He says when he was down there that sickness go up on him heavier and heavier all the time.

He

gets

more

of

it

every day.

One

he get back home says his mind, he is out of mind, he says. These things are trees and things go round like this he says, like going around him. Coming to second night he is home, the trees or wood like this [in the hogan] he is think-

day

after

these are all men people or people. All just the same like people. Throwing up, throwing out all the time. Day that he supposed to come down there in the

ing

women

morning he says he was awful weak and he thought he was going to die. His mother old lady, know this and she come up there where this sick man was and seen him. He had the medicine and soak it in the water in the cup, some kinda medicine he says he don't know. Says he didn't ask the woman what the medicine was. Or what was the name of the medicine, I didn't ask for it, he says. After this medicine was soak, the

woman

says to

up and he drunk

him

to drink this

that

up and rub

some on

his

207

head and body and had

a sweatbath after that. Says he sleep good last night. Right now he says he thinks he is well and after that

he never did heard about man never did talk about

it,

that

it

any 5

guess that man got well. 201. [The reference is to a man who had had children by his own daughter.] He made lots of money and said he didn't care how people talked, they didn't have the power, he had the power, he had the money. They didn't have nothing to talk with. People were afraid of him. I asked was he a witch. said there was some talk about that but they never were sure or had any cases that they could trace to him. Nobody dared take any action against him. [The man's death from a wasting disease ° is then related.] 202. If a man and a woman that pretty close relation if they get together and sleep together and then some of these witch people, he could put some plant pollen, some of these poison pollen, put it in smoke and let you smoke that when he hates you. Or they could do it for the money, they says. They get you pretty easy that way. But sometimes the man who did that, they say they doing that for money and that bad man might have another man, friend of his might know the hand trembling and he might go over there and do the hand trembling over that patient and he might say that this man knows the medicine that he cure the patient and they'll come back to the same man who did it and he could cure the patient. Just only him, not some-

He

more.

.

.

.

else. They says medicine and singing won't cure that man. But he has some kinda medicine, that's the way they used to work it in the old .' days. 203. Some people like

body

.

.

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

208 or this old man, here, they kind of afraid of those people about that age. They say they might be witch

went around and robbed the grave of a rich man who had died a few

and

you don't feed them, he'll go off and he'll work you some way. You or one of your children will get it. So that was more why we feed always in our way. 8 204. In the summer of 1938 the medicine man Ayodnalnezhi and I returned from Santa Fe. When we

graves of dead people. After that he went up the canyon that is just south of the Tsegi'. My grandfather hid and watched the trail that led up to the cave. He saw a lot of wolves and coyotes with straight tails sneaking up that trail. They disappeared in a hole in the

arrived at his camp near Bislakaih some half way between Fort Defiance and Chinle on the Defiance Mesa his wife handed him a small buckskin pouch. She told him that she had paid two baskets for the

canyon

if

medicine that was in lion

gall

to

it

—mountain

her from the been going on

protect

witching that has

around there. Ayodnalnezhi

manded her

repriseverely saying: "This is a bad

You have thing you have done. Haven't I always taken chances. told you to never take any medicine from anyone I don't know. How do you know that he is not the witch that has been chasing around here. Take this bag back to that fellow from the Chuskas and tell him to give you back the baskets and tell him to take back this medicine and go away from here. If he don't I know twenty-four 'ways' that will and die." 9 205. There was a man

make him

—

ple started to get sick and die.

So

grandfather decided to find out what he did to witch. On one moonlight night he followed him. First he went to the graves of twins who had died and were buried in the rocks near the mouth of the Tsegi'. He took out some of their brain. Then he cut off their finger whorls and toe whorls. After that he

wall.

After a while my grandfather sneaked up the trail. He found the way around a big rock that covered the opening of the cave. Hiding behind a rock he saw a band of some twenty witches with their wolf and coyote robes off. There was a fire burning in there and he saw that they had made sandpaintings of the rich men in the country and one of the agent at Fort Defiance. With small bows made of the shin bones of dead people that shot turquoise beads into the sandpainting while they sang the " 'Aadak'anshgii, Shooting 'ways/ " Then they spit, urinated and dunged on the sandpaintings as they sang some songs about Inzini, offal.

Some

time

father's brother

later

my

who was

grand-

a rich

man

and a headman

(hastuii) died from a strange sickness. brother (the

My

witch)

sick

near Chinle my grandfather's brother. This man was a sly one and people suspected him. He acted queer and was always threatening people. Peo-

my

days before. Witches always rob the

had been hanging around

camp

after

the

female relatives.

So

his

girls

my

—

his

own

grandfather made up his mind to kill him. There was a big 'Aanaadjih. My grandfather took his bow and arrow. When he saw his brother he got behind a horse and called to him, "Come over here, brother. I have a present for you." When the witch got near my grandfather shot an arrow right through his eye as he said, "That's the present I have 10 for witches." 206. Some winters ago C. S. and some other Navaho were sitting

PART

in:

INSTANCES AND STORIES OF WITCHCRAFT

around a camp near Lukachukai. There had been a heavy snow and they stayed inside. Late at night they heard a sound like a wolf howlEveryone was afraid, but fiing. nally C. S. got strong and went out to see

what

it

He found down

was a

all

about.

woman

crawling

trail on her hands and Every once in a while she would lift her head and howl like a wolf. When she would do this she would put her hand on her belly and act like she was in pain.

the

knees.

They took her in the hogan. After she got warm she told them that a man at Lukachukai had witched her. She knew it for the following summer he had come to her and told her that she would have to pay him three ewes or he would go up in a cave in the redrocks and make the "Medicine going down" back through Hadjinaa. He

—

would make a wooden doll from a juniper tree struck by lightning then he would shoot it with turquoise beads taken from the grave of a dead person. He would shoot right into the belly of the doll.

She

pay him so she was witched. There was an old pickup hanging around so the next morning C. S. got it started. They were go-

didn't

—

ing to take her to my father who was the old blind medicine man near Chinle. He knew some good medicine against witchcraft. The pickup froze and they had to have a team start it down the trail and after working all morning they got it running on about three cylinders. They started out towards Chinle over the road that goes by the rim of Canyon del Muerto. When they got near Tsin Sikaad the car started to howl. All the time from Lukachukai the woman was howling like a wolf. C. S. said, "This sonafabitchin chiddi is getting witched."

—

209

They made camp

right

there.

One

of the boys walked on into Chinle and got a gear for the pickup. He got a relative to let him have a horse to bring it back. He got back in three days we had a little grub,

—

—

we made it pretty good even if the woman was howling all the time and holding her funny

to f eeling

belly

(

this got us all

in our bellies

)

We

got into Chinle and went by Hastin Tososih's camp. But he ran us off he said everyone in the pickup even the pickup itself was witched. So went on to my father's. He started to "sing" over her right that night. The next morning she vomited he looked in her puke and there was a small piece of charcoal shaped like an arrow. He said, "Here is what that 'Wolf Fellow' did to you. Do you remember anything about this charcoal arrow?" The woman said, "La! Last fall just before 'the lightning went to sleep' a stroke went across the sky and struck the hok'ai hoyan in which my sister was struck by lightning

—

—

—

and

When it my belly

somean arrow. Then I knew that that medicine man had witched me." My father sang Hozhoni songs over her for four days, but she started howling around again, so he said, "Take her on over to Ozai (Oraibi) to Nasjaa, the Owl, the Aayakhinih medicine man. He is good on these things and has some killed.

thing

in

hit I felt like

strong medicine." so

I

She was feeling bad by then, had my father sing over me

before we left. When I got to feeling a little better we all started out to

go by Steamboat Canyon.

When

we got to Oraibi, the Hopi medicine man gave the woman some mediShe took some and got to feeling better. She paid him one belt, a silver belt and a string of turquoise beads. So we started home. cine.

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

210 The pickup broke down all towhen we passed Salina. We

gether tried

to

fix

so

we

got

—

it,

but

it

of

relatives, an old lady called Astzaa Lapai. Just after we started she came running after us on a

horse, yelling, "Stop! Stop!"

stopped she said, "Get

horses

before

you

get

When my

off

them

all

witched up." So we got off and started to walk in carrying our stuff. We reached Chinle after sleeping out one night. Right there we left that witched woman. I heard later that she started howling again and went to the witch medicine man. He said she would have to have a Mountain Top ceremonial in the Female Way before she got well. So that winter she had one. I hear that she got better after this. u now dead 207. Hastin Tsoni had a Piute slave boy whom he

clothes

—we

will

both

witch

you."

"We

wouldn't go

some horses from one

my

we

your

won't take

off

our clothes!"

answered Selow Sani, "we are going to put more on and we will then stand right up to you. When we do this you witch us and see if it will go through." Chazh said nothing more. Selow Sani said, 'How many kinds of witchcraft have you?" Chazh answered, "I have four kinds both of us know them." Selow Sani asked, "What kind of songs do you witch with?" Chazh answered, "Hdtaa bazh-

—

—

niazh, Father goes to it (home of the sun); Tachai ayoli yagi, sweathouse putting into the ground that's where I get the four songs." Selow Sani asked again, "Have

Peter

you any more?" Chazh answered, "A place on Mt. Taylor where a man turned to a deer that's where I get the four more that what we witch with." Selow Sani asked, "Maybe yours joking with me. Your's not a very good witch. I witch with

was Agent. When the news got around Paquette called Chazh in. The police brought him

twenty-four different songs." Chazh answered, "We have the same as you that's not for witching

—

—

and when he grew up he was

raised,

taken into the Txodichiini. just

He

died

two years ago. They called him He was mean a witch fel-

—

Chazh.

He

low.

started

witching.

Paquette

— —

—

into the Fort.

—

Chazh told Paquette he sure was a witch. He said, "You take off your clothes and I'll witch you!"

where he learned

But Paquette didn't take

off his

clothes.

Then old Selow Sani who had brought Chazh in said, "If you stand back of Paquette will you be able to shoot through him?" Chazh answered, "It will go through all right." There was another witch with Chazh a fellow from Tsalee and who now lives on Black Mountain.

—

He

is

called Aadishkonishlitsoui.

The two were sitting there. They said to Selow Sani, "Take off

that's for ourselves."

They

asked

the

other

witch

to witch.

He said, "I learned it from another fellow. I killed my grandfather by witching to pay him for learning. His name is Tseginiyazzih. I sang Hozhoni, also Dzil Kedzhi, Hozhongi and Chishigi. He died and also my sisters died from my After that the one who to witch took the shin bone of one of my sisters and made a bow out of it." That's what he told Paquette.

witching!

taught

me

Also Paquette told them to bring in their bags, but they didn't. So Paquette put them in the stone

PART

in:

INSTANCES AND STORIES OF WITCHCRAFT

guardhouse across the Bonito Creek and questioned them every morning and every night. Paquette didn't believe he was witched, and told them if they brought in their bows he would believe them. Chazh told Paquette, "You'll find out after

Day

maybe

a long while." after day Paquette ques-

tioned them, and finally let them go home. After that Paquette got sick and went to a hospital some place. They took some stones out of him (sixteen of them). And then maybe Paquette believed that Chazh had

witched him? 12

Cabezon, N. M. April 30, 1913. S. F.

Stcher

Say Mr. Stcher I am going to tell you some thing going on around here. Some Navajos are blaming my grandfather on some trouble. One girl is sick I suppose you Felipe Toled. He has been there some time this summer, his sister is sick and his people say that my grandfather is the one that is killing her. that's why I want to tell about it he was the one to tell us to write, and they said that they are going to kill grandfather, no reason why they should kill my grandfather, and please see about it for us. that is when the girl dies they say that they will kill him. Antonio Toled carried some whiskey the very next day when he came back from Crownpoint. he carried nine bottles of whisky every

my

body saw him and lots of them know him to Did you excuse him, That's why my grandfather went over there to tell you about it. They are the ones that are always tightening each others and are always drinking whiskey. This is all we

to

you.

tell

know Heronimp

I

suppose you he is my

Castillo,

around there some Margaret Castillo this boy is Emilio Castillo my uncle. 13 14 On Feb. 14th, 1940, a 209.

he

brother place.

I

is

am

delegation of Navajos, Tribal delegates and district supervisor came to Window Rock and appeared before the General Superintendent, E. R. Fryer. The Delegation were very much concern regarding an unusual incident that accured recently at Pinon, Ariz. (In the Black Mt. region). Among the delegation a man by the name of Hosteen Gani Choii

(Mr.

208.

Mr.

want

211

of

Arm

rasal)

practising

who was

accused

(The en-

witchcraft

chanter with evil spirit type) The chant being the basterized and Chant corrupted Beautiful Way ( Hozoji ) intruduce by a man named Tsi ta a ghal (Head top rattler) in 1300 a.d. claiming to be ordain in

—

Way Ceremony yet practhe beautiful Way ceremony to gain the evil-end His version of Beautiful way ceremony was contrued to mean "protection," and can be used against any person regardless of clan or kinship The athentic beautiful Way ceremony is the sacred protection (blessing) not used

beautiful tised

—

to

condemn. Hosteen Gani Choii (Mr.

Arm

man

about sixty-five yrs. of age. He appeared to be partially unbalanced mentally. Apparently a small fry in the medience men's world and boasts of being ordain in Beautiful Way ceremony but for a matter of fact he knows enough chants to pass as a sweat-house chanter or can be compared to a rasal)

is

a

—

man who knows enough

—

chants to earn a Navajo-corn sweet-cake. He is a toughy and is very bitter to any one who inclines to favor the Government politics and hates any thing

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

212 coming from Window Rock and the Navajo leaders endeavoring to cooperate with the Government. At the final horse-branding work at Pinon Hosteen Gani Choii intigated to witch Mr.

(the

supervisor), Boy School (Navajo Policeman), Chiishi Bekis (Navajo policeman), Hosteen Tom Klaw (ex-Tribal delegate) Hosteen Gani Choii contacted Naki Soni Beyi (Old Mexican's Son) Askeh, Bilinal Ghadi Beyi (Son of Bucking Horse) Hosteen Tse ni nol dol zahei (Verticak Corrigated Rock) fibe in all consented to perform a witch craft ceremony thinking that if Mr. Policemen and other Navajo leaders were witched the tribal Horse reduction program would be done away with. According Hosteen Gani Choii, Nakai Soni Beyi, Askeh, Bilinal ghadi Beyi, and Hosteen Tse ni noldol zahei left with him after dark from the Pinon Trading Post entering the premises of the Pinon Day school on the west side. Hosteen Gani Choii then instructed the men 's to sit in line parallel to Mr. house and the Navajo Policemen's Hogan Hosteen Gani Choii then left the men, walked directly towards Mr. 's house about 150 away Hosteen Gani Choii yds stopped fifty yrds within Mr. house because Mr. dog came out Hosteen Gani Choii confessed that he used beesh ni tlizi sin ( Hard steel chant) then followed with asdzani Beyin (Woman's song) Then prayered two prayers of Lhe iyah t'egeh (praying person or persons into the ground) Starting at the vortex at the top of a person head downward mentioning hair brain. Then the scalp, head bones eyes, ears, nose tongue, teeth, jaw, district

—

—

—

—

—

—

neck,

shoulders,

arms,

hands,

fin-

gers, nailes, the prayer of reversing

at terminal points whorles at finger

tips.

Then

chest, hips, thighs, knees

nails, prayer passing through the whorles into the ground through into the sulpicre of the firstdead The whole ceremony was short then Hosteen Gani Choii came back to where the other Navajos

toe

feet,

—

were

in passing the rest him. Askeh asked Hosteen Gani Choii what he said. Hosteen Gani Choii answered "I used Beesh ni tlizzi chant followed with Asdzani beyin Then two Tie iyah ¥ eyeh prayers. Askeh then asked "whose name did you mention in your lkei yah t'eyeh prayers?" Hosteen Gani Choii answered " [the Christian and family sitting,

joined

—

—

names

of the district supervisor]. Shortly after this chiski bikissi,

the policeman, was thrown from his horse and was hurt. Scoolboy, another policemen's horse fell and broke his leg and was taken to Ft. Defiance Haspitl. Several of the grandchildren of Tom Tla (ex delegate) died. Happened every time that Hasthin Gani Choii came to the hogans and asked how many children were there. Hastin Gani Choii was turned loose because he promised Mr. Fryer

he wouldn't do

it

any more and was

allowed to return home. He called the Navajos together (his partners) and held a "sing." He offered up medicine to counteract the witchcraft. Took a red hot charcoal at

him and made him spit it out. Threw it to the north dismissed

—

from the north. He sang the whole thing backward. His medicine ( bag, etc. ) should be burned. working in the 210. While Lukachukai vicinity in 1936 I noit

ticed the rotting remains of a pilestick hogan beside the road near a

over a creek between Lukachukai and Greasewood. I asked my interpreters to enquire about the ford

PART

in:

Tom

me

this

which he said he had

also

hogan. story,

INSTANCES AND STORIES OF WITCHCRAFT

Later

told

heard several years before when he

worked

in the same vicinity. This man's wife got very sick. They held a sing for her and she didn't get any better. Then they

knew something was wrong. viner

was

called in.

He

A

told the

di-

men

to ride over toward that mountain, over where the star was. They all rode over that way and pretty soon they came to a cliff. They got off their horses and then they saw something on the rock. Somebody had scratched a human figure on the rock. It wasn't very well made but they could see it was a woman. There was a little hole where the heart should be but it was empty. They looked around and then they found a turquoise bead at the foot of the rock. They talked about it and decided somebody had shot the

bead

at that

woman. Maybe

it fell

out of the hole when they rode up. Then they rode back to the hogan and when they got there that woman was well again. The people said she got well all at once and they knew that was when the bead fell out of her heart. They looked at that bead

and it was one of that woman's beads. It fitted right in her string of beads. Somebody had stolen it from her and she hadn't known it. They talked about it and that

woman remembered

letting

one

man

look at her beads just before she got sick. That man wasn't there and they remembered he hadn't ridden up to the mountain with them. So they said, "Don't say anything," and everybody went to their hogans. But everybody knew and that man knew too but he didn't say anything. Just a few days later something happened. It was almost dark and that man was standing in the door of that same hogan. His wife and kids were outside getting in the

213

sheep. All at once lightning struck that man and killed him. His wife and kids ran right away and didn't even go back in the hogan to get

They never went back is still there where him. Nobody was sur-

their things.

and that man they

left

Witches always they are found out. prised.

My

interpreters

said

woman who had been

die

when

that sick

the still

lived there pretty close by and some of the others who had been there

They promised

also.

to see this

woman

but

to

take me before

I left

the trip could be made. 15 211. Slender man was also a witch. He used to go back and forth between here and Lupton, just used to do. That's how as he got rich too. One night going along to a sing he hollered in a coyote voice. His son now living in Two Wells Canyon has about fifteen hundred sheep. grandfather told a 212.

#My

story about

how he was witched by

a man who first treated him as a and sucked blood out. patient Later he incorporated some of this same blood into a Wizardry pellet. 213. #Last year, in 1939, the Navahos near Chin Lee killed a That witch used to stand witch. still on top of Canyon de Chelly and watch someone down in the canyon. Or, he would sit still a long time on his horse and do the same thing.

Then, something would happen to the people he looked at like that. So, finally, they couldn't stand it any longer and they killed him. 214. My father told of seeing a were-wolf on top of an oak tree. My father was going to shoot him, but he called out "Don't shoot, my brother," and then my father recognized him as [a clan brother].

215. If that

B

somebody kept saying [a

well-known singer]

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

214 was a witch, then Bget mad finally and try

—

would

to kill that

person. 216. #It was in 1918, just before the big influenza epidemic, that a witch in the Tsalee country was chopped to pieces with axes and hatchets. could not decide 217. what ailed me. I had a pain beneath my heart, and I feared that some wizard had shot a dreaded thing into my body. I tried Blessing Way, but I got no relief. Finally, cut and sucked it out

#We

for

me.

218. I don't know where Witch Way goes in. Only witches hunt this way, and it is against all the other hunting Ways. I don't want to know it. They are against all the

people. too.

Witches ate bear and

men

16

219.

Once

much and

her

wove

J

shoulder was

too

"be-

witched." Her mother had a sing for her and the man sucked a little piece of wool from her shoulder which had gone in her hand somehow and up her arm and lodged between her 17 bones. "I was sure sick then."

was a witch. He sister and nothing the singers could do would cure her. Finally someone did hand trembling and discovered him. They tied him up and left him in the hogan for two nights until he confessed. He did, and then they turned him loose. "If a witch says he is one, he Even if he will die right away. doesn't he can't be a witch any 220.

J's

father

bewitched B's oldest

more." a person bewitches you, you out about it by having someone do hand trembling or stargazing. "Have two working at once, If

can find

sometimes three, but not more than four."

When you

find

out

who

the

witch

is, get a real good singer do Self-Protection prayer. ...

to If

the prayer-maker is stronger than the witch, he prays the sickness back into the witch's body and he dies. Sometimes the singer sucks the sickness out of the bewitched man's

body

and

shows

Then they throw burn

to

everyone.

in the fire

and

On

the last night of the ("which goes its own

up.

it

it it

ceremonial way, but you sometimes have Blessing

Way

a sandpainting the patient "This helps him to

after it")

of the stars

is

sleeps

on

know

(their

it.

made and

dream) whether they 18 have die right witch. 221. Magic wolves come down from the reservation and are to be 19 feared. That's why I keep a dog. 222. Way back the old Indians The used Game Way Sorcery. Witch man used that. I don't know

what

it

witch

man

they start to race, a way away and say some sing and pray and bad spell and say what's going to happen. The same as for hunting deer. The same you use on a horse. Just the ones who know do that, and don't Long ago, the one tell anybody. man used to do that, and all stopped racing on account of that man. That man sure knew how. ... At the base of a horse's tail put coyote pollen, and then if some witch man will say something, in his mind, if you put those on, he won't be able to do harm, because in a long time no20 body has hurt coyote. got killed by a 223. J witch after a visit to Bluewater to He came back, and a yeibichai. four days later the blood poured from his mouth and he died, and a hand trembling woman said Two 21 Wells witches had killed him. handle that 224. If you want to [Datura] and eat it, and not to get crazy, get a fellow who eats it, the first day he makes corn-bread about is.

If

will sit

PART

INSTANCES AND STORIES OF WITCHCRAFT

Hi:

four inches across, hole in the middle, cook it, and he puts it in his mouth, hold corn-bread right on his mouth, and you get right close and

he spit it in mouth, and just after you swallow the spit, and that is one day. Next day come, and the next till four days, and then the medicine knows you are a friend and knows how and doesn't make you crazy. In two years you come back and so keep on and do it every two years. Each plant comes separately. Don't eat bread, put it where no one could get it. [Laughs] Might use baking powder but nothing else in the bread but corn. Just one man would give you all four; he would do you four times. If you asked him, he would do it, but you would have to pay much. You don't have to use it after having had it only once, or it is liable to kill you. You use any one you like to. If you want Datura, that's the one you take, and not the rest, or they would kill you. On the reservation, might find someone who would tell you, but as we heard, they just use for the one you want. Usually you learn one song, and you have to sing it just right to .

.

.

.

.

.

spit

another.

into

singer doesn't want to, he won't unless he has to. A prayer, but no story. No pollen or prayer when you pick it it

a

If

up. Earth Winner was the first to use this, and it was called Frenzy Witchcraft. If you knew how, you

might do

but not while some-

it,

body knew about

A

it.

It is

a secret.

would teach you. If you had no relation and wanted to get it, you would have to pay big money. 22 225. Her oldest daughter marclose relation

ried

No

killed,

ter

Hat,

and

who

the

man

this

woman's daugh-

T's

father

periodically goes crazy.

Hat was didn't

it is

also

know

it

this

when they B says

marriage take place.

No

way, but they let

the

it is

his

witching

still

215

going on that makes

his daughters like that.

that time.

was

like

B

also says

that

at

one

of the No Hat daughters out of her mind since she

One

has been had a baby

last winter. The only thing she says that they can understand is "Is it time to go to bed?" and "Is it time to get up?" She makes sounds of other sorts but "the words aren't right." She doesn't go very wild if there aren't too many people around so only her mother and one odier woman stay with her. The other sister who goes crazy gets really wild. They have locked her up in this hogan sometimes. They never know when she will go off in 23 one of these spells. 226. While they were making the sheep, Coyote wanted to make a sheep too. They said no but finally they gave him some wood because

they were afraid of him.

He knew

Sorcery. Then Coyote tried but he couldn't roll it out right. He tried four times but failed. Then he put the mud in his mouth and swallowed "That's what I'll do to any sheep it. I find,"

he

said.

B

24

a turkey can kill an eagle. Once his father was up hunting in the mountains. He came into a clearing and saw a lot of turkeys running around in a circle and looking up sideways and hollering. He looked up but couldn't see anything. Finally he saw something It fell right in the falling down. 227.

says

He went over to was and found a big

circle of turkeys.

see what it eagle dead.

He

scared the turkeys up. Then he cut the eagle open to find out what was wrong, and right through the eagle's heart he found a turkey's beard. He thought maybe the tur25 key shot the eagle. my years 228. #Two ago mother was sick all the time for a long while. They couldn't figure out

away when he came

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

2l6 what the trouble was. Finally a man who does hand trembling told us that one man who used to sing a lot around here was causing it. Well, we had several sings for my mother but they didn't do any good. Finally, we got an old man from way off in the Black Mesa country and he did the Leading Up from Below prayer. While this was going on my father and several other people could hear just as plain a man outside catching for his breath as if he were drownding. When the old man had finished the long prayer, he asked all the people if anybody

had heard a sound like that. My and some others spoke up and said yes, they had. Then that old man told us that the witch would drownd soon. Before a month had gone by the singer who we thought was doing it drownd right here in the San Juan River while he was helping hunt for the body of a relative of his who had just drownd there. That old man who prayed over my mother had told that that would happen too. After the singer was drownd, then my mother got father

well right away. 229. # After my mother and father died I went to work for a man who lived over at Many Farms. After I had worked for him a few months, one night he told me to go to sleep in the hogan next to his daughter. Then he made me marry that girl. Not till after I had married her did I find out that she was my clan sister. Nobody told me

As soon as I found it out, I her and came back to live over here at Lukachukai with my uncle. Pretty soon a young boy near here died, and they claimed I was that.

left

a witch.

Everybody, even

my own

was very mean to me. I was scared and got the priest to protect me. That's why I went back relatives,

—

away from all those was a witch. 230. I was at the Squaw Dance right there when it happened. Somebody, one man, came from to school

people

to get

who

said

I

there excited and said for us to gather close around, so we all gathered there and listened. First he said he was coming toward the

Squaw Dance and he heard a gun, maybe two shots so he decided to what was happening over there. guess he went over there to find it out. Then he say he went in one of those hogans and found a lady in there was shot and found a man in there also. He said the man was dead already and the woman was still living and told the man's name that shot them, Custer Badoni. That's all that man told us. He just see I

came at

after

the

two policemen that were (Q) How

Squaw Dance.

do

people explain this tragedy? Well, there was a boy that was sick, Custer Badoni's boy, and his wife was at the Squaw Dance. Custer

Badoni was at home with that litboy was sick for a long time, maybe TB. Anyway, that boy and his father were staying at home. That boy wanted to go but they said for him to stay home and his father, too, to take care of him. His mother went to the Squaw Dance and was there when that happened. I guess after they left that boy died and his father put him away in the hogan and went to another place, another hogan that was there and killed that man and woman. Somehow, he blamed it on them that they were the cause of it that that little boy die. This is how it is they found out there is a woman over there toward Huerfano, and I guess they go over there and ask her why that boy is sick. She told them that another family cause it. Maybe with some tle

PART

in:

INSTANCES AND STORIES OF WITCHCRAFT

don't know, but Custer Badoni believe it because others in his family die. And he blame the

magic.

I

family because that woman tell him who does it. That woman in Navaho they call her "The woman that something tells here." Well, after he killed the man and woman he went again.

off

Then he went toward

about two and a half day school. There was another hogan there that belong east.

I'd say

miles to

past

that

woman

the

woman was that

was

killed.

killed's father

The was

and that man went in that They say he knocked on the door and asked that man if he was there. That old man say "yes," and Custer Badoni say for him to come out and talk about something. So he did and they talked a while. The there,

place.

people

inside

could

hear Custer family was to

Badoni say that this blame because that boy and others in his family die. That old man, Grey Horse, he said, "What's the matter with you? Are you drunk?" C.B. says, "No" and got a pistol out and shot Grey Horse. Grey Horse died in another day and a half. Custer Badoni ran off from there to his home and went off on a hill about four miles and then he came back to one tent that belongs to someone else and that's where he shot

himself,

through

the

head.

and when these people came home there he was. (Q) Do your own folks and others think that Grey Horse's family were to blame? People think that, There was nobody

there,

sister

that died.

217 She was

sick

my

mother say that woman tell her to sit down one place in a hogan, and then my mother asks and right away the answer come from back of her. There is nobody there but the answer come. My mother was scared. That's what she told me. All those people sitting around they could hear that answer. The answer say my little sister was sick because my mother or my father went to a movie before she was born. My mother said she did not go to a movie, but maybe my father did, but he said he could not remember that he went to a movie. (Q) Well, do they believe the answer then? Yes, they believe sister

it

because

when my

was dying she went

little

just like

a movie, hands shaking and her eyes back and forth just like a

movie. Just like when it flickers not in focus good. (Q) Does anyone think that Custer Badoni was just

drunk?28 No. 231. There was a lot of talk and excitement at the time. People don't like to have things like that happen. Everyone felt sorry for Custer Badoni. He has had a lot bad luck which everyone knows

of

Yes, everywhere you went around the Hogback and Shiprock, people were talking about that. Most of them believe that witch at Huerfano. Some have gone clear over there to ask her about things.

about.

(Q) What kind

of

things?

Well,

family

(he laughed in an embarrassed way) oh, love and about if it's good luck to do something or other! No, I cannot say who has gone over there. Maybe they don't advertise it. I mean, like if a man goes, he doesn't say so maybe even goes at night. (Q) Why? Well, maybe he just doesn't want people to know

witch

he's

They think that that family cause those children to die. Everyone was worried because five people died that time. They were afraid it would be bad maybe Chindi yes.

—

around

after

that.

(Q)

Do

your

know anything about that woman? Yes, my mother went there one time when my litde

like

—

been over there. Maybe they'd be afraid then. (Q) What kind of

NAVAHO WITCHCRAFT

2l8 power does the witch have? Well, what I hear is that that witch

woman

uses peyote. Lots of people get peyote from her. Maybe that is not true. People say that, anyway. Maybe she just uses that peyote and knows what advice to give people. (Q) Is there much peyote around? Well, quite a lot. Isn't that so,

Mary? Mary: May be not so much as used to be. I'm not sure. Seems like I haven't heard so much about it as years ago,

except for this case.

(Q) Do you think Custer Badoni

May

be.

Brother, do you think so? Charky: May be. (His

only

used

peyote?

Mary:

Both seemed

be becoming ill at ease, so I changed the subject to medical care for TB, instead of witchcraft. Both expressed approval of the white man's methods answer.)

to

and C added, "Well, you see, it's going to take these Navahos a long time to learn. Most of them got their old belief right along with what their education tells them, even the educated ones." 232. Mr. Left-Handed, Crownpoint, New Mexico: "I heard that all the Navaho who had died at Fort Sumner and all those who had been killed by enemies were coming back to all to

living

life.

The Navaho were

go back where they had been before

and

all

the

whites

go back to their own country. This came from a round Tohatchi. There was no dance connected with the coming of the ghosts. As a rule it was not be-

would have

lieved

to

by the

majority.

people thought that

by the witches."

27

this

Most of the was started

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NOTES

NOTES Arabic numerals in footnotes view excerpts in the appendices.

will always refer to the

numbered

inter-

Introduction 1

a 8

Morgan, 1936. Goddard, 1933. Hill,

1938b.

Kluckhohn and Spencer, 1940, pp. 52-53, have provided a fairly complete concordance to these scattered references. Hence, they will not be listed here except when the text requires citation. A few additional references are, *

however, cited in this book. 6 Such terms as "idea patterns," "ideal patterns," "behavioral patterns," "pattern assemblage" and 'configuration" are used in this book as defined in Kluckhohn, 1941b. For certain modifications and developments of these concepts, see Kluckhohn, 1943. "While there are occasional references in the field data to witchcraft directed against Spanish-Americans, Anglos and members of other Indian tribes, these are very few in number. Father Berard informs me that there is an esoteric name of address for Mexicans in witchcraft but none for Anglos. In aboriginal times the war rites provided a set of supernatural techniques for aggression against outgroups. See W. W. Hill, 1936. T That the Navaho tend to think of both ceremonial practitioners and "witches" as, in a larger sense, placed in the same category namely, those

—

persons who are able to influence the course of events by supernatural techniques is evidenced by the circumstance that the same linguistic term is sometimes applied to the two groups. Cf. Kluckhohn and Wyman, 1940, p. 15. Cf. also the statement from Van Valkenburgh's field notes: "Witchcraft or 'poisoning' is the turning of good medicine into bad medicine."

—

(

Van Valkenburgh, 8

8

1937, p. 52.

See Haile, 1942, pp. 411-417. Cf. Kluckhohn, 1942, pp. 58, 61, 63, 66,

226

ff.

NOTES

227

PART

I

Section

General Discussion of Data

1:

1

This statement must be qualified lest misunderstanding result. It must not be supposed that every reference to witchcraft is made in an atmosphere of solemnity. On the contrary, a casual mention of most (but not all) types of witchcraft in most contexts is almost invariably greeted with ribald laughter. A white man, at least, can make jokes (especially about wereanimals) and what is apparently real merriment follows. Navahos will themselves often jocularly accuse a white man of witching them. But any attempt at extended discussion, and particularly any attempt to question any single Navaho intensively results, almost without exception, in manifestations of uneasiness: replies are evasive; there are long pauses between utterances; excuses are made to leave the locale; chips of firewood or twigs or pieces of paper are torn apart. 2 Cf Part I, Section 10. 3 For further information on how the data were recorded, see the Introductory Note to the Appendices. * The Navaho idea pattern is that older persons, especially those with grey or white hair, can discuss dangerous subjects with relative impunity. 5 All place names in the Navaho country throughout this book will be spelled in accord with Van Valkenburgh, 1941. 6 Cf. Kluckhohn, 1941b, pp. 109, 124, for further details on the collecting of witchcraft data. .

Section 2: Distinct Categories of Witchcraft 1

For an explanation of the phonetic spellings of Navaho words used book see "Key to the Phonetic Spelling of Navaho Words" in this volume. For a complete and more technical explanation of the phonetic usage consult Navaho Phonology, by Harry Hoijer, University of New Mexico Publications in Anthropology, No. 1, The University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, 1945. (Ed.)

in this

2

Cf. fn. 6, Part

8

Cf Part

I, Section 7. Section 3, para. 4. Cf. Part I, Section 7. .

4

6 6

I,

Cf. 19, 52, 53-

Cf

.

6, 8.

NOTES

228 7

Cf. 74, 106, 118. Cf fn. 3 supra.

8

.

Section 3: Witchery

Way and

Were-Animals

1 Father Berard Haile writes me: "^arit'i' is both active: he is a witch, and passive: witchery or 'witchery is being done.' Etymologically, it would appear that we have ?a-something, -n- terminatively, with the connotation of 'fatally/ and -ti', action. Instrumental be- 'with it' may be

witchery or the means used to refer both to this practice of witchcraft and also to the "poison" or "medicine" which these Witches administer. 2 It will be convenient to reserve this term "corpse poison" as a

employed employed

in colloquial be-nt'i'

in witchcraft.' "

(or be^erit'i')

The term

?ant'i'

'his

is

technical designation for this preparation. 3 1 did not hear stories of one spouse witching the other as in Morgan, feeling is that in this and other respects Morgan's material is 1936. slighdy specialized and aberrant that is, it departs from the central

My

—

tendencies which do prevail in most of the data, in spite of individual and local variations.

who trots along here and there on all fours with it." possibly refer to the Witch's power, or, more plausibly perhaps, to the Witch's hide and "outfit" in general. 6 Cf the tracking of ghosts the morning after a ghost incident. See 4

Literally,

"With

it"

(

ye-

)

"one

may

.

Wyman, a

Hill

Who

and Osanai, 1942, pp. 22-23.

Follow One Another

( ?alke -na^aSi) masks are employed in Cf. Haile, 1938, p. 30. This doubtless explains the fear of these reported by Wheelwright, 1942, p. 169. On heads in the cave, cf. the

witchcraft.

masks Night Way chant as recorded by Matthews where it is said that when Monster Slayer distributes corpse poison there are "a heap of twelve human skulls ornamented with turquoise earrings" as paraphernalia. Matthews, 1902, p. 202. 7 Cf 205. .

8

For example, Van Valkenburgh ( 1937, p. 52 ) speaks of "the brains of dead twin infants" as well as skin whorls. Two of my informants did refer to human brains but not specifically to those of infants. Note that the "yeibichai" who punish children also cut off their heads and eat the brains. Cf. Dyk, 1938, pp. 34-36. 9 Confirmed by Dyk, 1938, p. 273. 10 11

Cf. Part

Section

I,

6.

Wyman

and Harris, 1941, pp. 19, 70. Throughout this study, plants which have been listed by Wyman and Harris will be given the English equivalents which Wyman and Harris use and will be referred to by their serial numbers. (Cf. footnote 10, Appendix I.) Thus, "runs into the mouth" is Wyman and Harris, 39. However, most ethnobotanical information will be segregated in the appendices. 12 18 14

Cf.

Cf. 9. Cf. 97.

Newcomb,

1940a, pp. 47, 52, 57.

NOTES 15

229

For a detailed study of ghosts and

tendency see

Wyman,

Hill

fuller data on the syncretistic and Osanai, 1942. Cf. footnote 23, Appendix

VIII. lfl

Cf. 21.

"Wyman,

and Osanai, 1942, p. 29. That there was a linguistic is ruled out by the circumstance that the interview was carried on both in Navaho and in English with Navaho technical terms Hill

confusion in this case

used throughout. 18 Reichard (1939, p. 19) speaks of ghosts shooting "witch objects." This was emphatically denied by all of my check group. Objects taken from a ghost hogan are, of course, often mentioned. 19 Here again the matter is not perfectly clear-cut. I know of prayer ceremonials being given as a cure for ghost sickness and vice versa. But the trend of the behaviors is consistent, and the statements on the theory of the matter overwhelmingly make the differentiation. Nevertheless, a fairly consistent tendency to associate Evil Way chants and witchcraft is unquestionably manifested. Cf. Matthews, 1902, p. 5. "In legends that refer to the underworld, or place of danger (and, it is said, in the rites of witchcraft), the east is black and the north white; the south and west remain unchanged."

Section 4: Sorcery 1

Cf

> .

f

an3in or ?an3j "evil- wishing"; ^i-nzi'de- "evil-wishing by witch-

would be following the Navaho more closely Wishing Witchery," but this is a cumbersome term. craft."

It

to call this "Evil-

Mr. Robert Young contributes the following linguistic examples: dine

"two nearly died because someone (a man) did Sorcery to me"; si?i-nizi-n "my evil mind," "my malevolent desires or thoughts"; the Christian "devil" is commonly called in Navaho bi?i-nizi-ni*. 2 Cf Section 5. 3 Bourke (1884, p. 75) speaks of a "charm of human hair and saliva, human flesh, cow-manure and powdered glass." Powdered glass seems quite congruent with Navaho configurations relating to witchcraft, but I find cowmanure less plausible. It was not mentioned in any interview, and my check group uniformly laughed at the idea. However, Bourke also refers to it in another place (Bourke, 1888, p. 50). 4 Cf. 209. 5 Cf 207. 8 One informant associated this practice with Witchery ( cf 52 ) 7 Cf Sapir and Hoijer, 1942, p. 83. 8 Cf. 210.

la? shinO'3ingo kasd4*dasec4

.

.

.

.

9

Cf 206. .

10

is

The

flood episode described

by Gillmor and Wetherill (1934,

p.

86)

comparable. 11

Cf. Dyk, 1938, pp. 261-262.

Yellowjackets and ants are the only inof my informants mentioned the witching being done through the stings of the insects, a practice stated in

sects ordinarily referred to.

However, none

NOTES

23O

legend to have occurred in the second world (Goddard, 1933, pp. 127-128). However, I did not specifically question my informants on this point. 12

Cf. 61, 71.

Newcomb

(1940a) who associates Four check informants said, do Sorcery." The remainder refused to connect cats with Sorcery in any way. Several insisted that since cats had come with white people they could have nothing to do with any kind of Navaho witchcraft. However, one of Goddard's texts indirectly links cats with witchcraft (Goddard, 1933, p. 139). 18

There was one disagreement with

cats importantly with this kind of witchcraft. in effect, "Oh, yes, any kind of animal can

Section

$:

Wizardry

1 Actually, ?adilga.s ["he is a Wizard"] is the term I have heard more frequently. Father Berard writes me: "the stem -ga.s reminds of 'emaciation'

which 2 3

caused by these injections."

is

Cf. 84, 90, 93, 96, 98. Cf 227. .

4

B

Coolidge, D. and

M.

R., 1930, p. 143.

Cf. also 205.

Section

6:

Prostitution

Way

1 This seems justifiable because Father Berard writes me that the stemwhile today usually used to designate prostitution, primarily refers to any form of recklessness. It was clear that all informants felt that "losing their mind," i.e., getting into a state of abandon or frenzy, on the part of bewitched women, gamblers and trading partners was the dominant feature of this type of witchcraft.

Bil,

Wyman and Kluckhohn ( 1938, p. 25 ) state that there is a slight difference between the words referring to the chant and to witchcraft. This a

is

an

error.

3 4

6

See Appendix IV. and Kluckhohn, 1938,

Wyman

p. 5.

Kluckhohn and Wyman, 1940, p. 8, footnote 2. "These are Female Pointed Sand Hill, (sai hi-cozi ba^a-d) between Wheatfields and Whiskey Creek, Male Pointed Sand Hill on the east bank of Whiskey Creek and White Cone (literally, "penis head" in Navaho) near Indian Wells. Cf. Van Valkenburgh, 1941, pp. 170, 171. 7 One informant spoke of Moth Way as "the Rabid Coyote branch of Coyote Way." Father Berard writes me: "Moth Way and Prostitution Way link together because they originated at the same place and may use medicines found in that surrounding. The reason I think your informants linked Moth Way with Coyote Way is that the genital parts of brother-sister coyotes, yellow coyotes (foxes), blue foxes, badgers and bears are added to the Moth Way medicine. You have three distinct chantways here." 8 Old Soldier of Stony Butte said: "They used to put Moth Way and Prostitution Way together. In Moth Way they made sandpaintings on the Cf.

NOTES

231

west side of the fire, with the coyote picture facing towards the north. Facing south was the woman who slept with her brother. South of the The patient fire is another coyote and the man who slept with his sister. wore a fox skin or a coyote skin or a desert fox skin. They used one of these skins for a G-string. (Q) Yes, it was just the same if the patient was a woman. You see coyote can do it to his full sister or to his mother. That's why the patient has to wear coyote skin. A singer of Prostitution Way didn't have any real equipment. He just had a coyote skin and some

medicine." e

Cf.

10

Wyman

and Kluckhohn, 1938,

18.

p.

The following remarks by informants

in this connection are

worth

quoting:

Way is bad and it isn't bad. If you didn't have Blessing would be bad. Blessing Way is all good. Yes, you have to learn Blessing Way on top of Prostitution Way. It dangerous to know Prostitution Way without Blessing Way. Blessing Prostitution

Way is

Way

with

is

it it

good. Prostitution

Way

is

bad. If a

man

has Prostitution

Way

alone

he can't protect himself or the people.

knows Prostitution Way first will learn Blessing Way to But a man who knew Blessing Way first would never bother

A man who save himself.

to learn Prostitution

Way.

Way

comes from before the emergence. The Navahos used it ever since, but now most of the people who know it have died off. A person will get out of his mind and go crazy. Have to have some way Prostitution

part of Prostitution Way has a also has a smoke for this. In both kinds everybody takes a smoke out of a hunting pipe you get those from the Utes or find them in a ruin. If they haven't got a pipe, they can use a corn husk and several plants together with mountain tobacco. The man who knows Prostitution Way will go to Cone Towards Water Man (probably White Cone near Indian Wells. Cf. fn. 6 supra. However, to cure those people.

smoke

The

Blessing

to cure the patient with.

Way

Game Way

—

one informant insisted Towards White Streak was south of Holbrook. "It is high and round." Another informant simply located it as "somewhere in the White Mountain Apache country") and gather Datura and bring it to the sing. There he chews it up and gives it to the patient. If the patient gets better, then they put Blessing Way on top of that.

like a red ant house,

11

Hill,

1938a.

12

See Appendix V.

13

In Appendix

subject lishing

V will be found all excerpts from my interviews on this which add anything to Hill's published material. I am not pubdata which merely duplicate those he has published.

"Parsons, 1916, reports that in the Zuni state they obtained this type from the Navaho. It must be noted, however, that what her Zuni informants told Parsons was "the Navaho method" of divination hardly shares more with the techniques described to Hill and to me than the use of Datura. Taken detail by detail, the practices seem very different. of divination

The historical origins of the various types of Navaho divination are interesting but at present obscure. highly intelligent and sophisticated

A

Navaho has

me

that he believes hand trembling to be aboriginal Navaho, whereas star-gazing and listening he believes to have been borrowed from the Pueblo Indians. told

NOTES

232 16

See Appendix VI. "Plant identifications are given in Appendix VI. 17 Datura is, of course, the connecting link between the chant, the form of divination and the form of witchcraft which are all referred to in Navaho by the same word: Pa^ile-. 18 Kissing is probably not an aboriginal Navaho practice but is certainly practiced by some Navaho today. 19 Cf. Wyman and Harris, 1941, p. 7. 20 David Aberle observed that fear of actual specimens of stick dice was manifested by some informants. Some others said in a joking way that the sticks might be witched, while still others made no comment, movement, nor seemed affected. 21 22

28

Cf., e.g., 123, 126, 130. Cf. 114, 121. Cf. 123, 129.

2* At a recent Navaho gathering a Navaho leader in a speech to the assembled crowd said, "There are three main things we want to avoid: Frenzy Witchcraft, Witchery and Peyote. The worst of these is Frenzy

Witchcraft." Incidentally, a study of inter-connections

among

between peyote and witch-

Navaho would be

a most rewarding investigation. It is said that the most common peyote vision among the Navaho is that of someone (usually a relative or an in-law) doing witchcraft against one! I have little direct information on this matter, for in the regions where I have worked intensively since peyote has recendy found favor among the craft

the

Navaho, there has been little or no interest in peyote. Remarks of this kind are common: "I don't see why they use that. I don't see what they get out of that." "Why do they do that? They don't get anything out of that. They can't make a living out of that." * A brief synopsis of the chantway legend of Plume Way indicates that the hero came to the home of a witch (who was also a cannibal), married to his own daughter. The hero gave the witch some tobacco with which he had mixed the pollen of certain Frenzy Witchcraft plants. Smoking this sent the witch into a swoon. Cf. also Matthews, 1897, pp. 176-177. 28 The Franciscan Fathers, 1910, p. 172, note that Deer Grower, "used the crow as a spy for his victims of witchcraft." See also Matthews, 1897, pp. 186-187.

Section 7: Other Types of Witchcraft 1

See Appendix VII. "wishing somebody an epidemic or a disease." Father Berard writes me: "the stem -1-ni? reminds of na-lnih ('disease') which the verb form seems to express is thrust upon a person." 3 A valued English-speaking informant who knows 3 Hunting Ways read the passage in Hill and commented as follows: This is the ? ana?a7a-3i branch, the "chasing branch" of Wolf Way. I know it, but I don't use it. If you make even a little mistake in the prayer or if you can't follow the tracks all the way, it is especially dangerous. You can't ever go hunting again. 2

Literally,

—

NOTES

233

from the deer tracks has to be from where a deer has stepped in a gopher hole. You get the dirt from way out of the bottom of that hole. Some people say that if only two people are there, nobody needs to go away. The man can do it in front of his partner. If there are three or four there, you must do it by yourself. But if it is a bunch of brothers or maternal uncles and nephews, you don't need to hide it from them, even if there are three or four of them. Especially if you are teaching your younger brother or your maternal nephew then he has to be present all

The

dirt

the time.

He

—

We 4

this

got good guns now.

Hill,

8

has to see everything you do.

We

don't have to chase like that any more.

1938b, p. 132.

Cf. 178, 209.

"Franciscan Fathers, 1910, p. 421. Morgan, 1936, p. 39, also mentions but on the basis of data from a strongly acculturated region. 7

Cf.

Wyman

and

Harris, 1941, p. 59.

Section 8: Protection Against 1

See Appendix VIII.

2

One informant seemed

and Cures

for Witchcraft

to regard galls as "witchcraft poison." Dr. Wyman informs me that his experience confirms my generalization that the Chin Lee and Cafioncito regions are feared as loci of witches. Van Valkenburgh (1941, p. 17) also observes: "Eastern Navahos say their witches come from the Cafioncito people." 8

4

6

Cf. 186, 187.

Wyman

e

Cf.

7

Cf.

8

and Harris, 1941, pp. 28, 69. Kluckhohn and Wyman, 1940, pp. 52-53. Wyman and Harris, 1941, pp- 26, 72.

Cf. 128, 130.

8

Cf subsection on Frenzy Witchcraft .

10

in Section

6 supra.

Cf. 177.

11

Van Valkenburgh, "See Bourke, 1884,

1938a, p. 45. pp. 76, 77; the Coolidges, 1930, p. 143; Van Valkenburgh, 1937, p. 51, 1938b, p. 47; Weber, 1916, p. 41. 13 Wetherill, 1932. 14 Cf. Morgan, 1936, pp. 33, 38. For one interesting confirmation by one of my informants of Morgan's view, see the final paragraph in Interview 6, Appendix I. See also Wyman, Hill and Osanai, 1942, p. 39. The first two sentences in my paragraph above are almost a direct quotation from Wyman, Hill and Osanai. 15 See Kluckhohn and Wyman, 1940, pp. 101-102; also Wyman, Hill and Osanai, 1942, p. 31; Haile, 1942, p. 417. 16 17

18

Cf. Reichard, 1939, p. 5. Cf. and Harris, 1941, pp. 28, 69. Gila Monster songs according to one informant.

Wyman

See Kluckhohn and

Wyman, 19 20

1940, p. 169. Hrdlicka, 1908, p. 240. Dr. A. H. Leighton calls to

my

attention a case in

which an abscess

NOTES

234 was treated by a

sucker. But from the Navaho point of view the treatment consisted in sucking out the instrusive object. 21 Father Anselm speaks of Navahos being afraid to sleep in the same room with a sucker and says that they would have killed the sucker if he had left the Mission. Father Anselm Weber, 1916, p. 41.

Section g: Observed Behaviors Relating to Witchcraft I

2

8

See Appendix IX. Cf. Opler, 1939, p. 439. "Insanity" ( "losing your

—

mind" ) is prominent here especially with reference to Frenzy Witchcraft but also for other types (cf. 81). 4 There is considerable variation in one respect here. In the neighborhood of many hogans one never encounters human stools while wandering about in the timber they are all carefully buried. In other cases, they may be seen, although they are almost always at quite a distance from the hogan.

—

6

See Kluckhohn and

e

Cf. Hill, 1938b, p. 179.

Wyman,

1940, p. 69.

7

Bourke (1884, p. 75) and Wetherill (1934) do report unqualified avowals of witchcraft knowledge and direct threats. See also excerpts 92, 207. 8 Father Berard, after reading this passage, assured me that he was even more convinced than I that some Navaho actually practice various forms of witchcraft and cited actual individuals who, he felt certain, had carried out such activities and whom he knew to have offered to sell such knowledge to rich Navahos. Since Father Berard speaks Navaho fluently, has lived continuously for more than forty years among the Navaho, and, in my opinion, knows much more about them than any living white person, his judgment must be given great weight. "Dr. A. H. Leighton comments: "It seems to me likely on the basis of the laws of chance and the range of human nature, that if a pattern of any sort exists in a culture, no matter how it may be socially disapproved, if it exists, there will be some individuals in the population who will try it. Somebody at some time has done everything the human mind has been able

is physically possible. Added to this, in the case of witchcraft, not too hard to see in theory how for certain individuals in certain circumstances such practices might well contribute to their equilibrium and adjustment to life." 10 A number of supposed cases have been reported to me and described in great detail with apparent sincerity. In every case, however, the possibility seemed to remain that the disturbance of the grave might have been produced by coyotes or other animals, and also that pack rats might well have been responsible for the disappearance of jewelry. II Since some Navahos are skilful at sleight-of-hand, it is conceivable

to devise that it

is

that an individual could put on a sleight-of-hand performance which would convince helpers that he was actually able to shoot objects out into the air. Sleight-of-hand is certainly practiced by suckers. 12

Cf 178, 209. .

NOTES

235

Section 10: Participation 1

See Appendix IX.

2

Cf. 34, 51.

8

See A. H. and D. C. Leighton, 1942. This article does not give the have quoted (kindly supplied me by the Leightons from their volume of tables), but does describe the method used in categorizing the figures I

data. *

Cf.

6

The

Newcomb and Reichard, old man in question is

1937, p. 16.

probably the

"Many Hats"

of interview

excerpt 42. 6

Haile, 1933, p. 38.

7

Cf

8

.

28.

Cf. 206, 142, 144, 92, 72.

PART

II

Section

Introductory

1:

1

The circumstance that quite a number of traits described for another Southern Athabascan people (see Opler, 1941, pp. 242-257) do not appear at all in the material at present available strongly suggests the possibility that the sampling for the Navaho is still inadequate. It is of course possible that the discrepancies reflect the differing contacts with other cultures

which the Navaho and the Chiricahua Apache have had during recent centuries. Likewise, differing pressures and hence differing characteristic needs of individuals in the two groups may have brought it about that they have dropped different traits from a common complex which the Southern Athabascan-speaking peoples may once have shared. Still, in default of specific testing, I would not venture the opinion that no Navahos share at least some of the divergent beliefs reported by Opler. Unfortunately, his material became available after I had finished the field work for this study, and the demands of other aspects of my field program suggest that it would be better for me not to delay publication of this study in order to investigate witchcraft further. 2 3

Morgan, 1936,

p.

11.

Jones, 1931, pp. 196, 218, 232, and passim. *Two facts possibly support the connection with cessation of sexual

NOTES

236

Women

activity.

accused of witchcraft are almost invariably past the

menopause. Frenzy Witchcraft material speaks of old men "getting" girls and of old women "getting" young boys. Cf. Ill, 123, 128. 6 Roheim, 1940, p. 56. It may well be the case that Navaho animals, for example, are, in part, symbols of old fears arising out socialization process and act as "bogeymen" reinforcing the real

young wereof the

parent

figures.

Morgan, 1936, p. 14. will be noted that

7

have here used "sorcery" without a capital para. 1.) For the word was used by the anthropologist whom I am quoting in the same general sense in which I employ "witchcraft." The convention whereby "sorcery" applies to the socially disapproved manipulations of the supernatural by males and "witchcraft" to that by females would not apply at all satisfactorily to the Navaho case and does not seem to me to be a useful convention in general discussion. 8 By "structural analysis" I do not mean mere descriptive anatomy. I do mean: (a) description of structure but also (b) analysis of what that structure means in terms of dynamics the implications of structure for process. This is a study in "functional dependence" in Chappie's sense. See Chappie, 1940; Chappie and Coon, 1942. It

letter.

(Cf. Part

I,

Section

I

2,

—

Section 2: Distributional

and

Historical

Comments

1 "Pattern" and "configuration" are used throughout this book as defined in Kluckhohn, 1941b. For certain modifications in developments of these concepts, see Kluckhohn, 1943. 2 In this study, any trait which does not appear in either Part I or in one of the appendices may explicitiy be assumed to be absent so far as the existent evidence goes. 8 See, for example, Osgood, 1937, pp. 177-183; Drucker, 1937, pp. 259261; Nomland, 1938, p. 116. 4 See Goodwin, 1942, pp. 400, 417-425. 6 See Opler, 1936, p. 83; 1941, esp., pp. 242-257. 6 Parsons, 1927.

—

7

Cf. 188.

Clements, 1932, p. 240. On the near-universality of exuviae and of intrusive objects (and sucking) see Tylor, 1870, pp. 129-133, 280 ff. "Buck, 1936, p. 3. 8

10 11

12

Cf. 114, 121. Cf. 123, 126. Cf. 129.

13 Castetter and Opler (1936, p. 55) comment on the fact that the Chiricahua and Mescalero Apache have never used Datura meteloides. The Ute and the Zuni are the two nearest neighbors of the Navaho for whom the use of this narcotic has been reported. 14 In that objects taken from a ghost hogan are among those shot. 15

Cf

.

26, 50, 94, 186.

"Hill, 1938b, p. 51. 17 Hill, 1936, p. 3. 18 Cf. Kluckhohn, 1939a, p. 64.

no-des 19 20

237

Cf. Kluckhohn, 1939a; see also, Reichard, 1928, p. 14. Hill, 1936, p. 3-

Navaho Witchcraft as Providing Culturally Defined Adaptive and Adjustive Responses

Section 3:

1

These interpretations were

partially

developed

in

the

course

of

participation in the seminar on Culture and Personality conducted by A. Kardiner and R. Linton in Columbia University, 1939-1940. For the op-

portunity of sharing in this seminar I am grateful to the Carnegie Corporation. While I benefited markedly from association with Dr. Kardiner, it is only fair to him to state that few of his psychoanalytic interpretations of Navaho witchcraft material are here incorporated, and that he has not commented upon many of the hypotheses in this section because they have been formulated subsequent to the time of my contact with him. Membership in Dr. Sandor Rado's seminar on psychoanalytic theory at the New York Psychoanalytic Institute during the same period should also be mentioned as an important influence underlying the type of analysis attempted. But for direct revisions of this section I am most indebted to a painstaking criticism (both factual and theoretical) by David Aberle. 2 Frank, L. K., 1940, pp. 344-3458 Radcliffe-Brown, 1940, p. 10. * The differentiation is basically that between "purposed function" and "non-purposed function" (cf. Davis, 1942, p. 313). 6 See Kluckhohn, 1942, esp., pp. 66-69. * Lee has argued that "An analysis of Trobriand ( 1940, pp. 356-357 ) behavior and language shows that the Trobriander, by custom, focuses his interest on the thing or act in itself, not on its relationships ... he deduces no causal connection from a sequence. The Trobriander has no linguistic mechanism for expressing a relationship between events or acts. Culturally, causation and teleology are either ignored or non-existent." She is, however, careful to say, "By this I mean, not that the individual Trobriander cannot understand causality, but that in his culture, the sequence of events does not automatically fall into the mould of causal or telic rela.

.

.

tionship."

Whether or not all peoples employ a category which may be roughly equated with our "causation" or even our "mutual interdependence," all human beings whom I have known or read about seem to go to considerable trouble to find and to express "reasons" for what they say and do. The giving of justifications which are "rational" with reference to the logics of that culture seems to be one of the most universal of adjustive responses. This does not mean, of course, that "the function" of such behavior is usually that of "satisfying intellectual curiosity," although this motivation must not be too dogmatically and cavalierly excluded in every case. (Cf.

Kluckhohn, 1942, p. 56, fn. 46.) So far as the Navaho are concerned, the statement hardly needs qualification. For the Navaho language is marked by elaboration and refinement of causative categories.

NOTES

238 7

In Kardiner, 1939, p. 270. Linton, 1939, pp. 303-304. Mead, 1939. 10 The Leightons, 1942, p. 206. 8 9

n See Kluckhohn, 1942,

p. 74.

12

The Leightons,

16

Murray, 1938, pp. 40, 122. Cf Homey, 1937, pp. 43-44-

1942, p. 205. 13 See Kluckhohn, 1942, pp. 72-73. 14 1 am aware, of course, that anxiety and hostility are not always particularly intense where a realistic food problem exists and that the food anxieties of some peoples are distinctly non-realistic (cf. Du Bois, 1941, But it seems important to point out that the p. 279; Benedict, 1940). Navaho have a realistic source of anxiety from this direction. 19

.

"Hallowell, 1938, p. 38. As Maslow has recently pointed out (Maslow, 1941) the term "frustration" has come to be used in a fashion which is too loose and too broad in some contexts. For some purposes a clear distinction must be made between those interferences with gratifications which are relatively iinimportant to the organism and those which constitute threats to the personality (to life goals or to the security system). Otherwise, the mistake will be made of attributing to the relatively minor deprivations the effects which are commonly thought to result from threat situations where the whole personality is involved. The terms "deprivation" and "threat" will be used occasionally in this book as a reminder that the differentiation is often significant, but the term "frustration" will be used also to cover both of the types of situation in which organisms fail to get what they desire. 19 Consciousness that the younger organism is not neutral to the socializing agent crops up not infrequently in Navaho material. For instance, when Left Handed is being instructed and admonished by his foster father, the foster father remarks: "When I talk to you, it seems to me you hate me 18

(Dyk, 1938, p. 236.) See Kluckhohn, 1942, p. 73, footnote 93. Mowrer and Kluckhohn, 1944, pp. 95-96. See Kluckhohn, 1939a, p. 74.

for it." 20 21

22 23

Ibid., pp. 77-80.

24

The term "consumption group" was originally used by the Navajo Soil Conservation Service. I use it to mean "a group of Navahos related by blood and marriage, who live most of the time within easy walking distance of one another and who habitually co-operate in many economic activities/' 26

See Dollard, 1938.

28

Cf. 84, 93-

27

See Mead, 1940, p. 353. See Fortune, 1932, chapter

28 29

Cf.

Homans, 1942,

III.

p. 403.

30 Failure of whites to grasp the fact that the Navaho did not constitute a "political" unity accounts for much that was said and done by representatives of the United States government in the middle nineteenth century. Army officers or others would make a treaty with the "chief" and leading men of one or more bands of Navaho. Then members of other bands would

NOTES

239

which the whites assumed to have been made with the whole "Navaho nation." White leaders then voiced recriminations against the "perfidy" of the Navaho and instituted reprisals. From the Navaho point of view these incidents well illustrate the Navaho tendency for one local group to regard another as an out-group. Navahos from the interior (Black Mesa or de Chelly region) would pillage, knowing well that Mexican or United States troops would probably punish the Navahos nearest at hand rather than marching all the way into the interior. The Navaho local groups closest to the European posts reacted with indignation against their fellow tribesmen (cf. Hill, 1936, p. 4) and

make

raids or otherwise violate the treaty

why they should be held responsible. Reichard, 1939, pp. 7, 8; also Newcomb and Reichard, 1937,

failed to understand 31

Cf.

p. 16. 82 83

Cf. 208.

It is

.

84

x

a nice illustration of this situation. 10, para. 10.

Cf Part I, Section Morgan, 1936, p. Ibid., pp.

43.

5-8.

86

As Fenichel ( 1934, p. 461 ) says, "A person who unconsciously hates fellow-men has every reason to dread them, or their possible revenge." 37 "Projection" as a technical psychological term may be simply defined as follows: "Projection is escape from repressed conflict by attributing our emotional drives to the external world." 88 Morgan, 1936, p. 5. 89 Hostile talk against relatives may seem to contravene the generaliza-

his

tion that expressions of aggression against relatives are not tolerated. it

is

But

overt acts that are primarily interdicted. Responsibility for gossip can

be denied or evaded. 40

Cf. the case reported by Freud where the noise of a clock ticking whole chain of misinterpretations. Freud, 1924.

off a

"Sherif,

1935.

"Morgan, 1936, pp. "Buck, 1936, p. 3.

5, 6.

"Kardiner, 1939, p. 99. 46 Out of seven interviews where a returning ghost was identified, specified brother or sister, one maternal uncle, one father. 4a 47

set

five

Cf. 8, 12, 25, 27, 88, 121. Cf. 25, 205, 207.

"There sister.

is at least one reference in legend to a hero killing his witch See Matthews, 1897, pp. 236-237, note 151. Other mythic material

reflects the

the

Maiden

submerged hostility between sisters and brothers. The myth of Who Changes into a Bear is a particularly good example of this.

See also Kluckhohn, 1942. Cf. also 45, 56, 214. 48 It should be remembered that three signally important events are often approximately coincidental: birth of sibling, "loss" of a mother, learning that faeces and urine must be concealed. That the birth of a new sibling is even anticipated by the nursing child as a trauma is shown by the statement of one of Hill's (1938b, p. 56) informants, "A child, before its mother gives birth to a second child, will act childish and cry all the time." 50 Cf. Kluckhohn, 1941b, p. 126. 61 For stimulating discussion of various aspects of such problems see Loeb and Toffelmier, 1939.

24O

NOTES 62

1

have in mind here primarily the unpublished dreams in my own Evidence will, however, also be found in Lincoln, 1935, pp.

collection.

207-208. 63 Manuelito

(1818-1893) was a Navaho headman who for a time between 1879 and 1885) was the effective "chief" of most of the eastern Navaho. Although his authority was limited to the east, his influence extended over a much wider area. Manuelito, Narbone and Barboncito come about as close as any Navahos of whom we have record to having been leaders for the whole Navaho tribe. (especially

64

Kardiner, 1939, p. 104.

M Kluckhohn, 1941b, M Cf. 67.

p. 125.

65,

Wyman, Hill and Osanai, 1942, p. 21. A complication here is the position of those who die "of a good old age." There are no days of mourning for these; they are not assigned by native belief to ghostland; and fear 67

of their remains

at least, at a

is,

minimum.

Wyman,

Cf.

Hill

and Osanai,

p. 1368

Wetherill, 1934, speaks of a witch threatening his mother. This is the only allusion of this kind I have ever heard. 68 Warner, 1937, p. 230. 60 Cannon, 1942. Stewart and Winser ( 1942 ) have recently provided dramatic evidence of the extent to which external stimuli (in this case the heavy air-raids over London) can influence the incidence of a somatic condition (perforated peptic ulcer). For other important evidence of the connection between emotional states and somatic conditions, see Mittelmann and Wolff, 1942; Wolff and Wolff, 1943. 61 Cf. Radcliffe-Brown, 1933, p. 332. 62 Kardiner, 1939, p. 309. 83 In a few cases I have good evidence that blatant protestation of scepticism was, in fact, compensatory. 84 As Hallowell says (1935, p. 23), "Once indoctrinated with such concepts, human individuals tend to interpret particular events and experiences in a manner which offers empirical support to the traditional

dogmas." See also Hallowell, 1934, pp. 39 1 "393 for an excellent extended discussion of this point.

* Homey, 1937, p. 89. Cf. also, p. 106, ". anxiety is generated by a repressed hostility and ... it in turn again generates hostility." 88 It is necessary to say "malicious destructiveness" to avoid the implica.

tion that all destructiveness

^Reik, 1941,

^.54, 89

is

.

necessarily "evil."

p. 8.

77, 81, 97in chants.

Cf "disposal" .

70

Cf. also fn.

71

Van Valkenburgh,

72

Cf 232. For an excellent discussion of witchcraft as a device for

1,

Appendix IX. 1938b, p. 47

.

73

social control

see Gayton, 1930, pp. 409-411. 74 Cf. 6, 19, 83, 162, 166, 193. 75 See Sapir and Hoijer, 1942, pp. 337-397 for an excellent example. 78 Hill, 1940b, p. 24.

NOTES 77

241

Hill,

1936, p. 14.

Cf. the Coolidges, 1930, p. 145: "In

war medicine

." they sing downward, in the witchcraft way, 78 Cf. Part I, Section 4, para. 2. 79 For an interesting discussion of the problems of an Indian Service administrator in dealing with Navaho witchcraft see Leupp, 1910, pp. 260-268. 80 The question immediately arises is it just that they have been talking more freely to the observer during this period? It is true that this has been the case, but the talk has been as much about the past as about the present. Navaho memories for gossip are long. And remarks of this kind have been frequent: "so and so started to be a witch just lately." "We never used to have trouble with witches like this. It seems like everybody just began to do bad things." "We all used to get along just fine. But now the white people have got us all mixed up. hate each other now." "It used to be that if anybody began to get mixed up in this witch business his relatives would make him stop. For the last few years everybody acts like they didn't have any relatives." 81 The overt issue upon which the two factions are split is that of whether to remain under the jurisdiction of the Navajo Central Agency or to transfer to that of the United Pueblos. But it could be shown that the alignment is in terms of interests and sentiments which are much more abiding. The relevant point here, however, is that to a very considerable extent the leaders of faction A are talked about by the members of faction B as witches and vice versa. Thus each faction is further solidified, for a common hatred is usually a rallying point for unity. The sentiments of the members of faction A are worked upon in this fashion by their leaders: "You know you can't trust those other people. Some of them are all right, but they don't know what they are doing. And the boss people are all witches." Such behavior, while producing solidarity of factions, is, of course, disruptive to .

.

:

We

group solidarity. For a hint from another Navaho region that increasing white contact has brought increased ceremonial activity, see Dyk, 1938, p. 262. 83 About twenty years ago there was a very dramatic witchcraft incident at Navajo Mountain, culminating in the shooting of a woman "werewolf." And I do know that one man at Navajo Mountain at present is rather generally suspected of being a witch. 84 It is true that I have not found any single Navaho word which lumps together Witchery, Sorcery, Wizardry and Frenzy Witchcraft. So far as "conceptual category" is concerned, the category "witchcraft" is probably the observer's and not a native category. I do think that evidence has been presented that the Navaho do treat the separate varieties as a "feeling category." In any case from the standpoint of the observer attempting a structural analysis, there can be no doubt that all of these patterns are crystallized around a common focus: private manipulation of the supernatural for socially disapproved ends. Moreover, there are more explicit elements common to each. For example, the use of the personal name enters in all four techniques. As one informant remarked, "They used to say you can't witch a person until you know his name." 66 Cf. Rosenzweig, 1941. local

82

w 87

lbid.

Cf. Part

I,

Section 3, fn.

8.

NOTES

242 88

89

Levy, 1941,

p. 356.

Homey,

1937, pp. 171-175. Power, prestige and possessions serve not only as a reassurance against anxiety but also as a means of releasing Cf.

hostility. 90

The

constant association of witchcraft with the dead is a problem at present as only partially understood. The explanation is doubtless historical, in part. That is, the generalized complex of witchcraft idea patterns which has been transmitted to the Navaho contains this as one element for the witch-ghoul notion has a very wide distribution. But the Navaho have intensified and reified the association. The linking of almost all types of witchcraft activity with the dead or with objects connected with the dead is approximately to be explained as part of the pattern which attributes all the Navaho "worst things" to witches. Likewise, the association is to be understood on the ground of the partial equivalence of witches and ghosts ( ghost =: witch from the company of the dead ) In this connection, Opler's (1936) hypotheses of ambivalence may, in my opinion, profitably be invoked. The peculiarly morbid Navaho fear of the dead, however, is a topic which deserves an essay of its own. Among other things, this almost pathological (as it seems to the observer from our culture) fear may perhaps be related to the configuration of individualism and its sub-configuration of modesty. These are manifested in many other witchcraft data. Note that modesty and privacy are to some extent preserved even in a witchcraft context (54, where the boy is allowed to be apart while he urinates and thus escapes ) I suggest that such dread of the dead is likely to be at a maximum in a culture which glorifies the individual. The later Middle Ages where the salvation of the individual was the great goal and where St. Thomas Aquinas expressed the dominant attitude as "persona est, quod est perfcctissimum in natura" is a good parallel. Here also the macabre, the gruesome, the dismal aspects of death seem to have been deliberately exploited. (Cf. Huizinga, 1927, esp., chap. XI, "The Vision of Death.") One may contrast cultures where societies are extended by generations as in India and China. 91 1 am indebted to David Aberle for suggesting to me this concept of "cost" to balance that of "function." 92 Cf. Part II, Section 3, "Differential Frequency of Witchcraft Manifestations in Navaho History," paras. 3, 4.

which can be regarded

—

^Dyk, 94

1938, p. 357.

See Kluckhohn, 1939b, p. 100. ^Lasswell, 1935. 98 Cf. Kluckhohn, 1942, esp., pp. 59, 60. 87 See footnote 82, supra; also Kluckhohn, 1938. "Redfield, 1941, pp. 332-333-

NOTES

243

PART

III

Introductory Note to the Appendices 1

Cf. Kluckhohn, 1941a, pp. 6, 7.

Appendix

I:

Witchery

Way

1

In order to differentiate between statements written down at the time, and given in the exact words of informant or interpreter, and my paraphrases (written down later) or rough translations from the Navaho these latter are preceded by this sign: #. a I have this story from 6 different informants with only very slight

same

variations.

My renderings of bird names from the Navaho are principally on the advice of Father Berard Haile. The Navaho word which was used by my informant was talftah xa?ale-h. *I have also this story from 8 different informants with only the one major variant (3). Cf. also Matthews, 1902, p. 202. 6 Actually, Father Berard informs me, they were assembled at many localities in the Navaho country by the local headmen at the instigation of Manuelito. This was in 1884. 8 Cf. the fact that the spirit is believed to escape from the body at death 8

through the cutaneous whorls. See Wyman, Hill and Osanai, 7 The man who gave this interview was a singer who widely believed to be a witch. Gossip had it that only a few viously he had killed his maternal nephew while singing over

known

this singer for

many

1942, p. 15.

was himself months prehim. I had

had resolutely refused few widely known generalities. brought him back from a long trip in my autoyears and heretofore he

to discuss witchcraft except in terms of a

On

this occasion I

had

just

mobile. 8

indicates interruption and question by the investigator. ( Q ) Dr. Wyman tells me that he has seen one adult Navaho man manifest eagerness to leave a locale where a "blue lizard" appeared, and that he has observed two others make pollen offerings on seeing a "blue lizard"

(collared lizard). 10

in

Where

plants referred to by the same Navaho name have been listed Harris, 1941, they will be referred to the numbered list of species and "form genera," pp. 17-35 of this publication. Thus the

Wyman

Navaho

and

NOTES

244

plant in question here may be cited: Wyman and Harris, 39. It will be understood, of course, that unless an actual specimen has been collected and identified the concordance is only on the basis of the same Navaho term.

The same Navaho word

often designates plants of different botanical species,

and the same botanical species will often be assigned more than one Navaho name. Where the Navaho recording I obtained corresponds to that given by Wyman and Harris, their translation or English designation (usually set off by quotation marks except in cases where their English term corresponds with common usage) will be used in the text to avoid expensive setting of linguistic type. In this case the difference is very slight; the word I have uniformly heard is simply the shortened, colloquial form. In cases where I have myself collected specimens of plants supposedly used in witchcraft, the identification of such specimens will be given following the reference to Wyman and Harris. Thus a specimen of this plant was identified by L. C. Wyman and S. K. Harris as Sitanion hystrix (Nutt.) J. G. Smith. u Woman speaker ( "chief" ) is often referred to in discussions of witchcraft. In the eleventh world, before the emergence, she was a victim of the Witchery of First Man. She was the first person to die and became the first ghost, and, as Father Berard says, "Because she was a 'chief she is the chief of ghosts to whom mortals must return in time." (See Haile, 1942, p. 420.) It seems, however, misleading to refer to her, as does Matthews ( 1888, p. 167), as "the goddess of witchcraft." Nor have I obtained confirmation of the view that the saliva, hair or whatever is used in Sorcery is thought of as "a lost element ... in possession of the goddess of witchcraft in the lower world" (ibid. p. 164). The following interview excerpt I have not included in the text of the appendix because its significance, if any, is obscure to me: "Woman speaker she was working with the boss man people. don't have that any more. That might be one reason why people at this time don't listen very well to their bosses. Woman speaker was with the witch people. People used to say way back, 'You must know something before you be boss over the people.' What they meaning is that know some kind of a big pray or witch that will protect himself with that much so people won't hurt him. If he didn't know anything and becomes a boss won't last long. Woman speaker didn't last long just stayed a little while with the people and we don't have much story of her." Perhaps the point is that Woman speaker, though a "chief," wasn't able to cope with First Man who knew Witchery? "Interviews marked with an asterisk come from the field notes of

We

—

—

—

W. W.

Hill.

13

The usual

14

Cf. the "Introductory

result of incest

Note

is

believed to be insanity.

to the Appendices."

16 This is perhaps a functional equivalent for the "inoculation" against Frenzy Witchcraft. Cf. 115. 16 This statement was denied by all of my check group, except one who said, "Not only witch people but those who know the bear's prayer and song can get the bear out of a cave. Also the person who knows the sacred

name

of the bear."

NOTES

245

17

This interview Leighton. 18

1

have

fer only in the 19

this

from the

is

story

amount

This notion of

from 9

field

notes of Drs. A.

different

informants.

H. and D. C.

The

versions

dif-

of detail.

wound

in the

same place

in animal

and man

is,

of

course, a common European belief. 20 Cf. Part I, Section 3, "Witches' Sabbath," para. 1. 21 1 have two briefer but substantially identical versions of this story from younger brothers of the informant who gave this one. The only variation is that one brother stated his father had seen the witch first on top of an oak tree. 22 Actually, clan sister as later context indicates. 23 For additional material on witchery see 149, 180, 181, 182, 205, 211,

214, 223.

Appendix 1

a

II:

Sorcery

From the field notes of Harry Tschopik, Jr. The reference throughout this sentence is to Frenzy

Witchcraft.

See

Appendix VI.

"From

the field notes of David Aberle. the sign of a ghost. See Wyman, Hill and Osanai, 1942, p. 19. B Cf. 134, 186. 6 From the field notes of David Aberle. In the absence of a definite Navaho term it cannot be certain that the anecdote does not refer to Disease Witchcraft (see Appendix VII). The hunting context would make Disease Witchcraft plausible. For additional material on Sorcery see 160, 164, 171, 176, 179, 187, 206, 213, 226. *

This

is

Appendix HI: Wizardry 1

David Aberle reminds

me

that

Navaho informants

will often speak

of "arrowpoint seat poisoning" [kasda be-g41 as porcupine quills, burnt ash, etc.

An animal shot with one of these arrows is said to swell and die. [< ka*? arrow, ?asda seating > — sda, be* by means of it, — g4 killing

done.] 8 This material comes from the field notes of Dr. Leland C. Wyman. * Variants of this story were independently volunteered me by informants from Ramah, Pine Springs and Stony Butte. The variants agreed in all save small details. However, excerpt 207 seems to be the same incident but with considerable variations. Father Berard informs me that the story has some basis in fact, in that an Indian agent did submit to sucking and then sent the sucker to prison in Fort Leavenworth. But both the Navaho and English names of the agent are given incorrecdy by my informant, according to Father Berard. is

me by a boy who was a senior in an Indian high most respects he was highly acculturated and professed contempt for chants and Navaho ceremonialism generally. But there was no doubt that he firmly and fearfully believed in Wizardry. *This story was told

school. In

NOTES

246 6

This counter-clockwise order

Kluckhohn and Wyman, 1940, 6 Wyman and Harris, 39.

that of

is

Navaho chant

practice.

Cf.

p. 59.

7 From the field notes of David Aberle. For additional material on Wizardry see 162, 163, 164, 165, 167, 172, 193, 207, 210, 212, 217, 219, 227. See also Appendix IV.

Appendix IV:

Prostitution

Way

Chant Legend

1 This would be nothing unusual in Navaho ceremonialism. Cf. Kluckhohn and Wyman, 1940, p. 155. 2 However, this may conceivably be simply an alternative form of reference to Cone Towards Water [presumably White Cone (secularly called "Penis Head" by the Navaho), 12 miles north of Indian Wells, Arizona, and west of Beshbito Wash], which figures prominently in an early episode of

the version here recorded. 3 Old Soldier first gave me an abbreviated form of this story ( 35 pages of notes). Two months later he gave me a longer version (91 pages of notes). At a third interview he straightened out certain minor discrepancies between the two versions. Since the interpreters were not the same in all three interviews and since the legend as presented is a composite, I have not here adhered strictly to the interpreter's English. For the most part I have used words which occurred in at least one translation, but I have corrected grammar and made tenses consistent so that this fairly long

document

will read easily in reasonable English. Nevertheless, the flavor of the original is, I believe, preserved. 4 The psychological background for the almost obsessive preoccupation with the details of travel, the minute specification of an endless series of place names in Navaho legends is an interesting problem. It may be sug-

gested that, in part, the psychological function performed is that of adding to the verisimilitude of the story and of enhancing the sense of security which the familiar provides. (Cf. Kluckhohn, 1942, pp. 66-70.) 5 This dance is normally connected by Navahos today with the final night of the Night Way chant. But presumably any chant of the God Impersonators sub-group could have such a dance. Cf. Wyman and Kluckhohn, 1938, pp. 6, 26. 6 The translation of this and other terms from the Navaho follows the "Glossary of Ceremonial Terms" (pp. 191-196) in Kluckhohn and Wyman,

1940 7

Cf.

Appendix VI, footnote

17.

8

Literally, "Not-Sunlight-Struck."

9

For the technology and

lore of these pipes, see Tschopik, 1941, pp.

55-66. 10

This

is

presumably White Cone between Wheatfields and Whiskey

Creek. 11

This and other names mentioned subsequendy are familiar designaPueblo ruins in the Chaco Canyon region. Cf. Van Valkenburgh,

tions of

1941, pp. 29-37. 12

These

ens) again.

are, of course, do bi?de \a d, "Not-Sunlight-Struck" (maidFather Berard comments: "Some of their dwellings in legends •

•

•

NOTES

247

are underground, others are provided with transparent ceilings to allow light but not sunlight, to enter and strike them directly." 13 The reference is, of course, to the Hero Twins, Monster Slayer and Child of the Water. 14 Father Berard tells me this is the tanager. 15 A Navaho singer may not later marry a woman who has been his Cf. Kluckhohn, 1939a, pp. 57, 58. This and a number of other incidents in this legend occur also (in abbreviated form ) in the emergence legend recorded by Goddard ( Goddard, 1933, esp., pp. 142-143). Likewise, a number of parallels may be found in Wetherill and Cummings, 1922. In both of these instances it is Earth Winner who is the central figure. Certain tale elements ( big Snake-as-Hoop, ball game, etc.) which appear in this Prostitution Way chant legend are also found in the story of Earth Winner recorded in the Chaco Canyon by Gretchen Chapin (Chapin, 1940). It is interesting that here Earth Winner uses "weeds" which make people "crazy" ( p. 65 ) ( This and other material, cf. 224, suggests that Cone Towards Water Man and Earth Winner are patient. 10

.

same figure [as Changing Woman and White Shell Woman.] Subsequent remarks by the informant made it clear that it is Wizardry "shooting" which is referred to in this episode. 18 Only when this book was originally in galley proofs did I discover that Pepper had, in 1908, published a brief version of the Prostitution Way Legend. Except for a brief additional episode at the end, the events and practically the 17

which is here published. very truncated, omitting most of the earlier

details follow very closely those in the version

Pepper's recording, however, episodes. See Pepper, 1908.

is

Appendix V: Datura Divination 1

From

2

A

the field notes of Dr. Leland C.

Wyman.

informant and designated by him with the Navaho name usually assigned to Datura meteloides (see Wyman and Harris, 1941, p. 25) was identified by L. C. Wyman and S. K. Harris as

specimen collected by

Eriogonum racemosum 3

(

Nutt.

this

)

For botanical identifications see

Wyman and Harris,

1941, p. 30.

Appendix VI: Frenzy Witchcraft x

This informant has recently married into the community he was disparaging, and at the time of making these remarks was having serious trouble with his wife and his in-laws. Local gossip accused him of witchcraft against his father-in-law and other of his wife's relatives. 2 A specimen of ?aze-?Xo?i, "laughing medicine" was identified by L. C. Wyman and S. K. Harris as Eriogonum microthecum (Nutt.) var. rigidum, East w. The Franciscan Fathers (1910, p. 185) identify this plant as a "yellow thistle," Erisium Neo-Mexicanus. 8 Cf. fn. 2 supra. 4 Wyman and Harris, 262. A specimen collected by me was identified by L. C. Wyman and S. K. Harris as Lotus Wrightii (Gray) Greene.

A

248

NOTES

specimen collected by Paul Vestal and called by his informant "my thumb female" was identified by Vestal as Hackelia floribunda (Lehm.) Johnston. 6

Ibid., 191.

183. A specimen collected by me was identified by L. C. and S. K. Harris as Wulfenia plantaginea (Benth. ) Greene. This seems to be the botanical species most frequently used against witchcraft. 7 David Aberle points out that those who gamble to excess always finish by losing their clothes. Parents say, "Don't gamble or you'll lose everything, Ibid.,

Wyman

even your shoes." 8 Wyman and Harris, 147, 160 and 155, respectively. 9 Ibid., 138. A specimen collected by this informant for me was identified by L. C. Wyman and S. K. Harris as Aster oblongifolius (Nutt. ). 10 This paying of the teacher by sacrificing a sibling gives a "rational" sanction for the arbitrary and otherwise rationally unexplained necessity of killing a brother or sister.

u

I

have been unable

to secure a

Fathers, 1910, p. 201, also

list it

specimen of

this plant.

as "unidentified."

The Franciscan

A number

of informants

have described it as being only slightly different in appearance from Datura meteloides. DC. 13 Father Berard tells me that it is impossible to etymologize sai^-nalali* and that "Turns Toward the Sun" is a folk etymology. A specimen of this plant collected by me was identified by L. C. Wyman and S. K. Harris as Petalostemum oligophyllum (Torr. ) Rydb. This plant is the "basic species" for Wyman and Harris, 249. Another plant (pointed out by linguistic term but not collected for identification) in the Chaco Canyon region appeared to be a sort of sunflower. 13 A specimen of this plant collected by me was identified by L. C. Wyman and S. K. Harris as Pericome caudata (Gray). 14 Wyman and Harris, 47. A specimen collected for me by this informant was identified by L. C. Wyman and S. K. Harris as Phacelia crenulata (Torr.) var. ambigua (Jones) Macbr. One of Aberle's informants characterized this plant as follows: "It's pretty dangerous; if you put it in your mouth, it'll kill you, and if you just touch it, it will burn your whole " body. It means 'don't touch it.' 15 1 have been unable to obtain a specimen of this. 16 Wyman and Harris, 209. Two specimens collected as "witchcraft plants" for me by two different informants were identified by L. C. Wyman and S. K. Harris as Gymnolomia multiflora ( Nutt. ) B. & H. [now changed to Viguiera multiflora (Nutt.) Blake; cf. Wyman and Harris, 109, 103] and as Rhus Toxicodendron L. 17 1 did not collect a specimen of this plant, but several were collected by Dr. Paul Vestal. One has been identified by him as Lygodesmia juncea (Pursh) Don, three others, one of which was called by the informant "big blue gum," was identified as Stephanomeria pauciflora (Torr.) A Nels. The following remarks about "blue gum" were made to Dr. Vestal by various informants: "Make chewing gum out of root. Four or five plants used for this purpose. This is the best one." "Cut root. Leave in the sun until gum comes out, then chew this like regular gum." "Chew the root. Gum will come out. It tastes good." "When woman has a baby, boil whole plant. Give to her when baby comes, two or three cups. Cleans all blood out. Use either fresh or dry."

NOTES

249

my

informants seemed to connect "blue gum" closely with Datura. Indeed, some seemed to feel that the two Navaho names were synonyms. Cf. Appendix VI, footnote 17. All

18

of

A specimen collected by neomexicana (Greene). From the field notes of David Aberle.

Wyman

by them 19 20

and

Harris, 102.

me was

identified

as Ptiloria

Ibid.

21

See W. W. Hill, 1940a. Note how "grown people" [i.e., mature adults] are contrasted with "old men." 23 "Have something in their minds" is a frequent euphemism for "know 22

witchcraft." 24

From

the field notes of David Aberle. Note by David Aberle: Henceforth, the first four plants are called "These four" by the informant, and the last two, "these two." They are considered by him as two separate groups and so distinguished. 26 Wyman and Harris, 235. 27 From the field notes of David Aberle. The informant is generally believed to practice Frenzy Witchcraft (he had had a succession of wives and "mistresses") and is said to have boasted to other Navaho that he knows Frenzy Witchcraft. 28 From the field notes of David Aberle. 26

29

30 31

Ibid., Cf. fn. 32.

Ibid.

Poison ivy

which

is

normally the plant referred to in Navaho as kirns 31 •§ by English-speaking Navahos as "crushed-down

often translated

is

ki-? (sumac).

Father Berard, however, comments: "This nasal stem -Ji-s

or -31- z has no relationship with -i^is to to

sumac

it

should not lose

its

smash or

to crush.

If ki- refers

nasality."

82

From the field notes of David Aberle. These notes contain a great deal more material than I am here publishing, most of it simply confirmatory of material in my own interview. I publish here only those excerpts which add something new or which confirm doubtful points. 33 Dry paintings of this type were also used in Sorcery (cf. 81), as protection against witches (cf. 186). A similar figure, but made as a sandpainting, is also used in Chiricahua Wind Way chant (cf. Kluckhohn and Wyman, 1940, figure 19). 34 Cf the magical use of the flute in the Prostitution Way chant origin legend ( Appendix IV, para, 73 ) 86 Wyman and Harris, 262. Cf. also fn. 4, supra. M From the field notes of Dr. Paul Vestal. .

87

Ibid.

^Ibid.

For additional material on Frenzy Witchcraft, see 224.

Appendix VII: Other Types 1

Wyman

2

cube ye^elni. See also 222. As David Aberle reminds me,

8 4

and Harris,

of Witchcraft

3.

it is

a

Navaho major behavioral pattern

250

NOTES

.

man

does not feather arrows inside his hogan. If he did, the children of Eagle feathers in their mouths and throats and these sore. In other words, Eagle feathers are thought of as intrinsically dangerous. 5 Cf. Wyman and Kluckhohn, 1938, p. 29. e Cf. Newcomb, 1940b, p. 65. Cf. also: 155. 7 Father Berard comments: "I suspect that this has some relation to that part of Bead Way which concerns ?aca ^axi-nM^A, way of trapping eagles (throwing them in one after another; viz., into the ?o-d, eagle trap). Naturally, songs would be sung. The pet eagle had to be released with an offering of jewels after sufficient eagles had been caught and plucked of their feathers. This part was performed if one suffered after entering the eagle trap, which was made in the shape of a pit." that a

would get the slivers parts would become

8 9

Cf. 178, 209. See also 155.

Appendix VIII: Protection and Cure 1

From

2

Wyman

8

From

the field notes of Flora Bailey.

and

Harris, 40.

the field notes of Flora Bailey. The first a composite from interviewing and checking with 7 The last paragraph comes from a single informant. 4 From the field notes of Dr. Leland C. Wyman. 6 1 have not been able to obtain specimens of any Vestal has collected a specimen called "bear plant" Pedicularis grayi ( A. Nels )

Dr.

of these plants.

and

identified

it

as

Kluckhohn and Wyman, 1940, pp. 52-53. and Harris, p. 113.

e

Cf.

7

Wyman

8

two paragraphs are different informants.

Ibid., p.

101.

9

Ibid., p. 75. 10 Ibid., p. 122.

u From the field " Ibid. "This and other glossary given in

notes of Harry Tschopik, technical terms for

Jr.

Navaho ceremonialism follow the

Kluckhohn and Wyman, 1940, pp. 191-196.

"Accounts substantially similar to that of the accused (save as to the evidence for his guilt) were independendy obtained from several eyewitnesses. The accused added that the real witches were his accusers. 15

Wyman

"The

and

Harris, 156.

was a white man who had been brought up on the Navaho Reservation and spoke Navaho fluently. At this time he was narrator

supervisor of one of the Reservation districts. For another account of this same incident cf. 209. 17 From the field notes of Drs. A. H. and D. C. Leighton. 18

Ibid.

"Wyman 20

From 21 From 22

Ibid.

and

Harris,

146.

the field notes of Drs. A. H. and D. C. Leighton. the field notes of David Aberle.

NOTES

251

23

From the field notes of A. H. and D. C. Leighton. Reading this excerpt out of context, one might be inclined to think that fear of ghosts rather than witchcraft was the referent. In this case, however, the material was very definitely given in a witchcraft context. 24 From the field notes of Paul Vestal. In discussing this, the informant commented to me, "Not many people know this plant at all. The Navaho name they gave your friend [Dr. Vestal] is its sacred name the one they use when they pray to it. Usually we call it ? aze*? coh ('big medicine'). It has a lump like potatoes." Cf. Wyman and Harris, 52 (p. 20). However, Wyman and Harris include this botanical species under their 52 "globular medicine." Dr. Wyman tells me that the plant is well-known in the Pinedale-

—

Thoreau area. 25 For additional material on protection and cure see

8, 22, 53, 82, 92, 115, 116, 117, 120, 122, 123, 129, 132, 133, 142, 144, 145, 204, 205, 209, 210, 212, 217, 219, 220, 221, 222, 228.

Appendix IX: Behavior and Participation 1 Saying in one breath that a singer has obtained his knowledge improperly and that he is a witch makes definite sense from the Navaho

point of view and is a fairly common pattern. Both attributions are modes of manifesting hostility to a singer. Moreover, the pairing of improperlytrained-singer and witch tends to preserve the belief that singers who have gained their knowledge by culturally approved means are altogether good the "bad singers," who become witches are then, after all, not really true singers anyway. Cf. Part II, Section 3, fn. 70. 'It is interesting that a rumor (entirely without foundation in fact) has grown up and been widely believed to the effect that after the man died (in a government hospital) "his body and some fluid" was sent to Alburquerque "to be studied" and "a big doctor there said 'some medicine man there must have used some kind of poison on him.' " 8 From the field notes of Drs. A. H. and D. C. Leighton. 'Ibid. B

Ibid. Ibid.

7 B

Ibid.

Ibid.

9

10

u

From

the field notes of Richard

Van Valkenburgh.

Ibid. Ibid.

"Ibid.

This seems to be a variant of the story told in 92. (which I was able to copy from the government files through the kindness of Mr. Van Valkenburgh) is typical of many similar documents I have seen wherein Navahos have appealed to government

"This

letter

officials either for protection of members of their families who are accused as witches or for protection against witches. Mr. S. F. Stacher was for

many

years superintendent of the Crownpoint Agency. This deals with the same incident covered in 178. But this account was written by a highly acculturated Navaho in the government service who acted as interpreter in the meeting with Mr. Fryer. With the exception of 14

NOTES

252

the last three paragraphs, the notes were written down immediately after the meeting (the white district supervisor's version, given in 178, was obtained from him by me some six months after the events). The last three paragraphs represent notes made by the interpreter within a few days or weeks after the meeting, as a preliminary to submitting a complete report to Mr. Fryer. In view of the unusual and many-sided interest of this document, the version presented here is a careful transcription (preserving all details of orthography, etc. ) of the original pencilled manuscript of the interpreter.

It

may be added

that

Navahos

(

and whites!

)

have made much

of the "run of bad luck" (serious automobile accident, shooting off of his foot) which "pursued" the white man in question within two years after he

was "witched. 15

Contributed by

18

From From 18 From 17

19

J. Charles Kelley. the field notes of Harry Tschopik, the field notes of Helen Bradley. the field notes of David Aberle.

Jr.

Ibid.

"Ibid. 21

22

23

Ibid. Ibid.

From From

the field notes of Dorothea Leighton. the field notes of Harry Tschopik, Jr. 26 Ibid. Note that hairs from a turkey's beard are commonly part of a singer's equipment. Cf. Newcomb and Reichard, 1937, p. 11. 28 This and the following document (231) are accounts of the same incident. Both are interviews of a school teacher with former pupils, conducted entirely in English. Names have been disguised. The incident was reported in the Farmington, New Mexico, Times Hustler, September 18, 1942, under the title "Custer Badoni Slays Three Navajos, Then Shoots Self, Monday on Fruitland Project." This article is representative of the information and misinformation on Navaho Witchcraft then current, in the surrounding white population, and is also representative of the interactions with whites in the witchcraft context. It is to be noted that J. C. Morgan, the Navaho who writes the accompanying "explanatory article," entitled "Navaho Witchcraft Has Significance in Navaho Life," was highly accultured and himself a Christian missionary. The two articles appear in full below. Typographical pecularities have not 24

been corrected.

Custer Badoni Slays Three Then Shoots Self Monday On Fruitland Project Navajos,

Grim tragedy stalked the old farming section of Navajo lower Fruitland Project west of Farmington early Monday a "hex" murderer took the lives of a young Navajo man fatally wounded an elderly Navajo man, and then blew off own head.

The dead: Mr. and Mrs. George Nice

Gray Horse,

sixty year old father of

Mrs. Nice.

Indians on the morning when and wife, and the top of his

NOTES

253

Son In Law Seven year old son of Custer's

Custer's

Mr. and George Nice, a couple in their early thirties, and neighbors Son In Law, were shot while in bed around two o'clock Monday morning, and both died soon afterwards. Gray horse was the next victim, being called from his home in the early morning, and was shot thru the thighs by Custer's Son In Law, he stated. Jack Leonard of the trading store at the Fruitland Project called Sheriff Andy Andrews to the scene, and accompanied Andrews and his deputy O. L. Chapman to the scene of the crimes. The party tracked the killer from the Nice home to Gray Horse's place, and then the tracks doubled back down the river for some three miles. Finally they led off to a tent owned by the father of the hex killer. After a cautious approach, it was discovered that the young father they had been tracking had taken his own life some time before they reached the place. He had reclined on two sheepskins on the dirt floor of the tent, place the rifle he was carrying of Custer's

against his forhead, and literally blew the top of his head off. Pieces of skull were scattered about the tent, and brains had stuccoed the tent wall

near his head. Sheriff Andrews then returned to Farmington to pick up officials to hold an inquest. He was accompanied by Assistant District Attorney, Harold Palmer, Justice C. R. Bolton, and Editor Orval Ricketts of the Times Hustler. After selecting the coroner's jury, a study was made of the slain Navajos, the bodies having been left where they were discovered. Indian police were also at the scene making an investigation of the crime. Mrs. Custer's Son In Law stated that she with the other members of the family, with a number of neighbors, had gone to a Squaw Dance held down the river Sunday night, and did not return until daylight Monday morning. They had left the husband home with the invalid seven year old

from T B for the past year. the night the child died of a hemhorrhage. Testimony developed that two other children of the family had previously died and that the father had had interviews with a so-called Navajo Wich Woman at Huerfano, who had named several Navajos as having placed a curse on the Custer family. The widow of the killer informed Navajo police that her husband had on several occasions declared that he would kill the "hexers" should the invalid child die. Evidently this is just what occurred. The body of the child was found in the tent where he had been left with his father when the others had gone to the Squaw Dance. The home of the murdered couple was less than two hundred yards from the tent. Following death of child, Custer evidently went straight to

son,

who had been Some time in

suffering

home, stepped into the adobe hogan where the Nice couple were sleeping on a mattress on the floor. Custer's Son In Law flashed a light at them, then shooting the husband thru the stomach, the bullet being found imbedded in the mattress. Mrs. Nice was also shot thru the abdomen. Mrs. Nice's sister Lydia, who lives in a hogan fifty yeards away, was awakened by a shot around two o'clock and rushed over to the Nice hogan. She found her sister had dragged herself out side the hogan, and was still conscious. The husband was also conscious but lay just within the hogan door. Lydia rushed off for assistance, finding Russell Simpson. Upon his

NOTES

254

returning to the Nice hogan they found George had also dragged himself out of the hogan door, but he was dead, altho Mrs. Nice was still conscious and able to talk. She said they had been shot by Custer's Son In Law. She died soon afterwards. The dead mother was expecting a child within a few weeks. George Nice had been working for Santa Fe railroad in California and had returned home two weeks ago, planning on leaving again soon for the job, his wife wishing to remain at her home with her relatives. Navajo Indian police are working on the hexing angle of the case.

Navajo Witchcraft Has Significance In Indian Life

The T-H asked

a Navajo Tribal Council Chairman J. C. Morgan, a full blooded Navajo, to write an explanatory article on just what it is that Navajos of the old school believe about witchcraft, or "chindi" as the white man call the superstition. Mr. Morgan very kindly wrote the following, which throws light on the thinking of Custer Badoni, who killed three of his tribe members believing them to have exerted some power over his children causing them to die. Anit'in or Enizin is the word for witchcraft. Enizin has been considered as a practice of evil thru evil spirit. A person of evil mind or intention is considered dangerous. A man or woman who has a bad look or who has a peculiar action is suspicious. is a bad poisonous medicin that can be blown thru the believed and feared by the most superstitious, by some magic power in the direction of a person Be-'e-ni-zi-ni- (witchcraft) wish to

Anit'in really

air,

as

it

is

injure. It also has been believed Anit'in dinei (witch organization) go in wolf skin which are known as Yenal-dlo-si which means to go around as an animal. These were the class of grave robbers. It has been told that when a well-to-do person dies it is buried with all the valuable jewelry and the best robes which the grave robbers dig out from the grave. A person who is considered as Anit'in be'e-nizin can also shoot, a most dangerous secret arrow so tiny to be seen, but presumedly a piece of charcoal wrapped with human hair, or a piece of a bone of the dead, or even rock, into the body of a person they wish to die.

There is a woman not many miles from Farmington who became famous almost overnight because she has learned ventriloquisim. Indians say she throws her voice; she been fooling the people and at the same time is dangerous. She charges some big fee for her medicine (peyote). All in all such a practice or belief is considered as Enizin or Anit'in. 27 An interview of Dr. W. W. Hill with an informant on the Ghost dance.

h?.^,™ PUBLI

C

LIBRARY

3 9999 01805 144 g

Boston Public Library

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The Date

.«« pocket indi-

cates the date on or before

book should be returned

which

this

to the Library.

Please do not remove cards from this pocket.

CLYDE

KLUCKHOHN (1905-1960) Photograph hy John Brook

Clvde Kluckhohn's interest in the Navahos began with boyhood pack through the Indian country while a guest at a New iMexico ranch, and he visited the Indian country nearly every summer of his life when he was not abroad or engaged in government work. He came to know their language and became a confidant and, on occasion, adviser, during the intervals through thirtv-eight years when he was studying their culture. Among his books inspired by the Navahos are To the Foot of the Rainbow (1927), Beyond the Rainbow (1933), The Navaho (1946) and Children of the People (1947), the latter two written in collaboration with Dorothea Leighton. trips

Navaho Witchcraft, published originally as a monograph in 1944, is, in the words of George Peter Murdock of the University of Pittsburgh, " generally regarded by his professional colleagues as his most original and profound project."

graduated from the University of Wisconsin, studied at Oxford Rhodes Scholarship, and later enrolled for anthropological and psychiatric studies at the University of Vienna. He spent some time as Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of New Mexico, and joined the staff of Harvard University in 1936, where he was Professor of

He was

under

a

Anthropology

at the

time of

BEACON PRESS

his

death in i960.

Boston