Navaho Houses / Seventeenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1895-1896, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1898, pages 469-518

The first song is addressed to the east, and is as follows:

House song to the East

Immediately following this song, but in a much livelier measure, the following benedictory chant is sung:

After a short interval the following is sung to the west:

The song to the west is also followed by the benedictory chant, as above, and after this the song which was sung to the east is repeated; but this time it is addressed to the south. The song to the west is then repeated, but addressed to the north, and the two songs are repeated alternately until each one has been sung three times to each cardinal point. The benedictory chant is sung between each repetition.

All the men present join in the singing under the leadership of the shaman, who does not himself sing, but only starts each song. The women never sing at these gatherings, although on other occasions, when they get together by themselves, they sing very sweetly. It is quite common to hear a primitive kind of part singing, some piping in a curious falsetto, others droning a deep bass.

The songs are addressed to each of the cardinal points, because in the Navaho system different groups of deities are assigned to each of these points. The Navaho also makes a distinction between heavy rain and light rain. The heavy rain, such as accompanies thunderstorms, is regarded as the “male rain,” while the gentle showers or “young rains,” coming directly from the house of Estsánatlehi, are regarded as especially beneficent; but both are deemed necessary to fertilize. A distinction is also made between “hard possessions,” such as turquois and coral beads, shell ornaments, and all articles made from hard substances, and “soft possessions,” which comprise blankets and all textile substances, skins, etc. The Navaho prays that his house may cover many of both hard and soft possessions.

The songs given above are known as the twelve house-songs, although there are only two songs, each repeated twelve times. These are sung with many variations by the different qaçál‘i, and while the builders are preparing for this ceremony they discuss which qaçál‘i has the best and most beautiful words before they decide which one to engage. But the songs are invariably addressed to the deities named, Qastcéyalçi, the God of Dawn, and Qastcéqoġan, the God of Twilight; and they always have the same general significance.

After the “twelve songs” are finished many others are sung: to Estsánatlehi, a benignant Goddess of the West, and to Yol‘kaí Estsán, the complementary Goddess of the East; to the sun, the dawn, and the twilight; to the light and to the darkness; to the six sacred mountains, and to many other members of a very numerous theogony. Other song-prayers are chanted directly to malign influences, beseeching them to remain far off: to ĭntcóŋgi, evil in general; to dakús, coughs and lung evils, and to the bĭȼakúji, sorcerers, praying them not to come near the dwelling. The singing of the songs is so timed that the last one is delivered just as the first gray streaks of dawn appear, when the visitors round up their horses and ride home.

THE HOGÁN OF THE YÉBĬTCAI DANCE

Despite the ceremonies which have been performed, it frequently happens that malign influences affect the new dwelling. The inmates suffer from toothache, or sore eyes, or have bad dreams, or ghosts are heard in the night. Then the house ceremony is repeated. If after this the conditions still prevail and threatening omens are noted, an effort is made to ascertain the cause. Perhaps the husband recalls an occasion when he was remiss in some religious duty, or the wife may remember having seen accidentally an unmasked dancer, or they may be convinced that a sorcerer, a ȼĭlkúji, is practicing his evil art. Such malign influences must be due to some definite cause, and it must be found. Then, if the cause be grave, resort must be had to a very elaborate ceremony, the dance of the Yébĭtcai.

Plate LXXXIX.
A YÉBĬTCAI HOUSE

For the observance of this ceremony it is usual to construct a flat-roof hut called iyáȼaskuni, meaning, literally, “under the flat.” The roof is nearly square as well as flat, and the edifice, with its spreading base, suggests a truncated pyramid; but as it is roughly covered with earth heaped over the entire structure it is externally little more than a shapeless mound. Plate LXXXIX is an exterior view of one of these special hogáns, which is also shown in plan in figure 241.

Fig. 241—Ground plan of Yébĭtcai house

When it has been decided to build an iyáȼaskuni all the young men of the neighborhood join in the labor while some of the older men direct them in the prescribed methods. The procedure is much the same as that employed in building the regular hogán, but larger timbers are required. Any kind of timber growing in the vicinity is used; but as groves of piñon and juniper are most abundant in the Navaho country, these are the kinds usually employed. The stunted, twisted trunks of these trees make it a matter of some difficulty to find the necessary timbers of sufficient size, for they must be at least a foot in diameter. When found, the trees are cut down and carried to the site selected, which must have fairly level surroundings, free from dense wood and underbrush, so as to afford a clear space for the ceremonial processions and dances. Four heavy posts are necessary—“legs,” the Navaho call them—and these must be trimmed so as to leave a strong fork at the top of each at least 6 feet from the ground when set upright. Four others, for the horizontal roof-beams, must be 10 feet long, but without forks; and two more, the straightest and longest, are necessary for the doorway passage. These ten timbers are called tsáȼi, the same term that is applied to the five main timbers of the ordinary hogán.

The four posts are set firmly in the ground in shallow holes at distances apart corresponding to the length of the main roof-beams, and so arranged as to describe a square, the sides of which face the cardinal points. The prescribed position of the doorway is the center of the eastern side, and it must face the east exactly. The post at the southeastern corner is the first to be set, then the one at the southwestern corner, with the forks arranged on the same line. The northwestern post is then set, and finally the one at the northeastern corner, and the forks of the last two are also placed on the same line. In the ground plan (figure 241) the posts are numbered in the order in which they are set up. This sequence is not always strictly followed, but the old men say that this is the proper way.

The beam for the southern side of the roof is next lifted into place and laid so as to rest in the forks of the two posts on that side, with the ends projecting a little beyond them. The beam on the northern side is similarly placed, and the western and the eastern beams are next laid so that their ends rest upon the ends of the beams already in place. Another timber is then placed parallel with the eastern beam, as shown on the plan. This forms the western side of the smoke-hole and also a support for the smaller roof-timbers to rest upon. Sometimes an additional timber is laid across for this purpose between the one last named and the next beam. The two timbers for the sides of the doorway passage are then placed in position about 3 feet apart and leaning against the eastern roof-beam. The butt ends rest upon the ground, and the space between them should be in the center of the eastern side. All the main posts and beams are stripped of bark, the rough knobs and protuberances are hewn off, and they are finished according to the skill of the builders or the exactions of the old men who superintend the construction.

While this work is in progress a great number of smaller and less shapely timbers are procured for the sides and roof. To determine a pitch for the sloping sides all the workers arrange themselves so as to encompass the square frame, and a few of the longest of the irregular timbers are placed here and there around it, leaning against the beams. They are roughly aligned, and some attempt is made to have the sides of the same slope. The floor area thus determined, the outer edge of which would fall 4 to 6 feet outside the posts, is then lightly dug over to remove all irregularities, and is made as level as possible.

As in the ordinary hogán, the upright posts of the door-frame are set near the lower ends of the doorway timbers, and the roof and sides of the doorway are covered in when the sides of the hut are inclosed, which is the next step in the construction. Small tree trunks and timbers are placed closely around the excavated floor area, with their upper ends leaning against the roof beams. They are not set very regularly and boughs are often used to fill the larger crevices, while the corners are turned in a clumsy manner, with the tops of the timbers overlapping each other, while the butts diverge in a haphazard curve.

Fig. 242—Framework of Yébĭtcai house

The roof is laid with smaller timbers, the longest resting on the smoke-hole timber and the western beam, while the shorter pieces span the smaller interval from the former timber to the eastern beam. The arrangement of the smoke exit differs from that of the ordinary hogán. In the latter an open space is left between the doorway timbers at their upper ends; in the iyáȼaskuni the doorway roof is continued up to the eastern beam, which forms the eastern side of the smoke hole. This hole is in the main roof, in line with the doorway but just beyond the ends of its timbers, and it is usually about 3 feet square. Figure 242 is an interior view of the frame, looking outward. The structure is finished like the hogáns; the frame is covered by heavy layers of cedar or juniper bark over the sides and roof, and finally with a deep covering of earth packed firmly over the whole exterior. The door frame is usually about 4 feet high and 2½ feet wide; the roof is about 7 feet high in the interior, and the floor area measures roughly 20 feet square, with the four posts standing about 5 feet from the base of the sides. Figure 243 shows some actual measurements.

Fig. 243—Diagram showing measurements of Yébĭtcai house

While the Yébĭtcai ceremony is in progress the hut is occupied by the qaçál‘i and his assistants and by the young men who assume the sacred masks and personate the various deities in the nightly dances. In the mornings the qaçál‘i sits under the western side of the hut and directs the young men in the process of sand painting, the making of curious sand mosaics delineating mythologic subjects. The materials used are dry sand, charcoal, and powdered ochers of different colors, which are poured from the hand between the thumb and fingers. Without the use of a brush or other implement the trickling stream is guided to form intricate designs. These designs are made directly on the earthen floor in a zone about 3 feet wide and extending nearly the entire length of the hut from north to south. This zone, called the iká‘, is made in front of the qaçál‘i, and between him and the fire, which is reduced to small dimensions to enable him to work close under the opening in the roof. During the process the door is closed with the usual hanging blanket, and to increase the light from above a buckskin or white cloth is sometimes suspended as a reflector on a light frame of boughs erected on the roof on the western side of the smoke hole.

The mask recess, which is found in all the larger hogáns, is always made in the middle of the western side of the iyáȼaskuni. It is usually somewhat wider and deeper than in the ordinary dwelling. The bundles containing the masks and other paraphernalia to be used in the ceremony are placed in the recess by the qaçál‘i, who then fastens a skin or cloth across it. The upper edge at a height of about 3 feet from the floor is fastened with strings to the sloping timbers. The lower edge is held by small pegs driven into the edge of the bench-like ledge of earth which marks the limits of the floor. When he needs them the qaçál‘i reaches behind the curtain for the paraphernalia he has previously prepared and deposited there. The masks must never be seen except when worn by the dancers, nor are the fetiches exposed except when certain rites demand their display.

This recess is called by the Navaho djĭc bĭnasklá, literally “mask recess.” Besides its practical use it has a mythic significance, as it indicates the position occupied by First-man, who sat there with Qastcéyalçi (Dawn) and Qastcéqoġan (Twilight) on either hand, in the house where the Corn people were made. They also occupied similar positions in the house in which they made the celestial bodies, and also in the first iyáȼaskuni, which was made by them to celebrate the occurrence of the first menstruation of Estsánatlehi.

No special veneration attaches to the iyáȼaskuni except when a ceremony is in progress. At that time it is devoted exclusively to the qaçál‘i and the other actors in the rites, and it is then known as qaçál‘ biqoġan, the song house. Perhaps the family for whose benefit it was first used may have contributed the larger share of the food for the workers who constructed it, but it is not held to be the exclusive property of any one person; it is for the use of the neighborhood. In the summer time, during which season no important rites are celebrated, the women often erect their vertical looms there and use it as a workroom. Some of the neighbors may find it convenient to occupy it temporarily, or when some occasion brings an influx of visitors they adjourn to the flat-roof house, if there be one near, to smoke and gamble and sleep there. But it is rarely used as a dwelling in winter, as it would have to be vacated whenever one of the neighbors wished to have a ceremony performed. Moreover, owing to its large size, it would be more difficult to keep warm than the more compact hogán.

Plate XC.
DIAGRAM PLAN OF HOGÁN, WITH NAMES OF PARTS

HOGÁN NOMENCLATURE

Terms applied to different parts of the floor area

Yébĭtcai house nomenclature2

Fig. 244—Interior of Yébĭtcai house, illustrating nomenclature

larger view

The numerals in this figure were redrawn in red for greater visibility. The enlarged view shows the numerals in their original form.

FOOTNOTES

INDEX