Temporal Change in Navajo Religion: 1868-1990

Journal of the Southwest
Temporal Change in Navajo Religion: 1868-1990
Author(s): Charlotte J. Frisbie
Source: Journal of the Southwest, Vol. 34, No. 4 (Winter, 1992), pp. 457-514
Published by: Journal of the Southwest
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TemporalChange in NavajoReligion:
1868-1990
Charlotte
J. Frisbie
In October 1985 the School of American Research (SAR) hosted an
advanced seminar entitled "TemporalChange and Regional Variability
in Navajo Culture." Participantsincluded David Aberle, GarrickBailey
(chair), David Brugge, Eric Henderson, Stephen Jett, Lawrence Kelly,
Stephen Kunitz, Louise Lamphere, JerroldLevy, and myself. Following
seminar presentations, discussions, and revisions, several of the essays
were published in a special issue of The Journal of AnthropologicalResearch,edited by Lamphere (1989). The current essay is yet another of
those derived from the seminar. It has been updated, revised, and expanded, but its original scope and intent have been preserved.
My job in the seminar was to document temporal change in Navajo
religion from the period afterthe 1863-68 incarcerationat Fort Sumner
to the present.1The task, once begun, became analogous, at least in my
mind, to unravelingan intricate Navajo rug, since the numerous threads
in Navajo religion have become more tangled over time. Such is the case
because the "traditionalreligion" has always been fluid and responsive
to internal and external change. Since their migration into the Southwest, Navajo definitions of and attitudes toward supernaturalpowers,
and their resulting religious behaviors, have been affected by: contact
1. I would like to thank David McAllester and the late Leland Wyman for critiquing
the original version of this essay before the SAR seminar, and all of the members of the
seminar, especially David Aberle, my discussant, for helpful comments and criticisms.
Thanks are also due to Fred York, Steve Jett, and Kay Halpern for their comments after
the seminar. Dave Brugge deserves special thanks for his willingness to continue discussions of the numerous revised versions that emerged between 1986 and the present.
Gratitude is also expressed to Harry Walters, John Adair, Eddie Tso, Orit Tamir, David
Scates, Vickie Levine, David McAllester,and FatherBlane Grein for contributing data and
useful insights, and to Don Bahr for his 1990 critique. I assume sole responsibility for the
use I have made of all of the comments in the present version.
Charlotte
J. Frisbie is professorof anthropologyat SouthernIllinois
Universityat Edwardsville.Among her numerouspublicationson Navajo
religionis Navajo Medicine Bundles or Jish: Acquisition, Transmission,
and Disposition in the Past and Present (NewMexico, 1987).
458 <
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with other Indians and non-Indians; incarcerationand domination by
an alien white government (characterizedby policy reversalsratherthan
a clearcut approachto Indian affairs;the Great Depression; the collapse
of their traditional economy; participation in World War II (and subsequent confrontations); socioeconomic and other changes on the reservation; competition from outside religions and western medicine; and
most recently,renewed interest in nationalism and culturalpreservation;
and tribally and federallyguaranteed individual religious freedom. The
survivaland continuing viability of Navajo religion in today'sworld rest
on its long-established fluidity and flexibility, and on Navajo individualism, eclecticism, pragmatism, and the willingness to support a varietyof
options in the continuing searchfor answersto contemporaryproblems.
Given the complexity of the topic and the vast body of ethnographic
literature, as well as realistic temporal and spatial restrictions, certain
decisions had to be made before I was able to undertake the task of
documenting change. Since these factors defined what the essay would
and would not address,those concerning focus, terminology, and intent
seem worth specifying here. Perhapsthe most important decision made
was that a macro-level focus would be used, one that identified major
changes rather than more microcosmic ones within specific "branches"
of given ceremonials or "ways," individual communities, families, or
personal beliefs and practices.2 It was also decided that I would use
"Navajo religion" as the translation of dine binahagha\ despite the fact
that there is no word or phrase in the Navajo language that can be translated as "religion,"in the western European sense of the term (see Frisbie
1987:xxiii). This has been done solely for lack of a more convenient
term comprehensible to English-speaking laypeople. It seems to be
necessaryuntil explorations of Navajosemantics offer other alternatives.
I both acknowledge and respect the differences of opinion among
Navajo ceremonialists on appropriate English translations of this term,
as well as about how to talk about the religion, its various components,
and their relationships. Finally, to clarify the intent of the essay, while
simultaneously making the task manageable, I also decided that my
study would not attempt to be definitive or exhaustive, would not offer
2. As Aberle noted during seminar discussions, other profitable ways to approach
discussions of Navajo religion exist. Among these are paying more attention to semantics,
considering Navajo religion as practices, making systematic inventories of problems and
practicesused while seeking their solution, and focusing on understandingthe dialectical
ideas in Navajos'beliefs and conceptions of power.
NavajoReligion *
459
resolutions of scholarly debates concerned with classification, terminology, or other issues, and would not examine the reasons for change or
evaluate the extant literaturethat does engage in this discussion.
The essay that follows begins with a brief summaryof the most salient
features of the traditional religion, both to orient readers to a complicated subject already covered by a vast scholarly literature, and to alert
them to the fact that Tony Hillerman's popularizations of fragments
thereof, while entertaining in his bestselling novels, are not necessarily
valid or even acceptable to Navajos or other Indians (See Carr 1990; A.
Walters 1990). After discussing core features, the essay moves historically (without employing periodization models3), attempting to convey
the well-established dynamic nature of traditional religion and to trace
the events that moved it from its position as the central force in Navajo
life into present times, where it is one of many options, and where
multiple religious affiliations prevail.
CORE FEATURES
The content of Navajo religion at the time of the People'smigration
into the Southwest can only be surmised on the basis of knowledge of
the religious beliefs and practicesof relatedAthabaskansin the northern
homeland and of hunters and gatherers in general. Usually envisioned
as initially possessing a shamanistic tradition, the People were quick to
develop inclusive strategies of adaptation, adopting new ideas and practices from those with whom they came in contact en route such as the
native peoples of the Great Basin and the Plains, and most importantly,
the Puebloan peoples. The borrowings were Navajoized, relabeled, and
shaped into what was meaningful for the People; thus, Navajo religion,
as it is known from ethnographic work in the Southwest, is an eclectic
amalgamation, creative reworking, and dynamic synthesis of multiple
ideas and influences.
The numerous features of this religion can be only briefly summarized here. TraditionalNavajo religion is concerned with controlling
the multiple supernaturalpowers immanent in the Navajo world, espe3. Brugge (1963, 1985), Luckert (1982), Wyman (1983), H. Walters (1990), and
Faris ( 1988, 1990) are among those who have addressed periodicity in Navajo religious
history.
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daily the area bounded by the sacred mountains. The People perceive
the universe as dynamic and orderly, and filled with living forces who
have complex, dialectical powers that enable them to act in favor of or
against human beings. The forces include Holy People innumerable,
powerful, mysterious, personalized supernatural beings and Earth
Surface People, ordinary humans, both living and dead. The former,
who are alive and thinking, appear in variable guises with different
names and characteristics;all of them except Changing Woman are unpredictableto varying degrees, since almost none is completely good or
completely bad.4
It is up to individual Navajos to know and abide by the numerous
prescriptionsand proscriptions established by these Holy People. Doing
so, living the religion on a daily basis by following individual, familial,
sacred place, and other ritual practices as well as by displaying other
behaviors and attitudes, keeps the self in harmony with other humans,
nature, and supernaturals,and helps maintain the delicate balance between good and evil. The ideal state, hozhq,is signified by continuing
good health, harmony, peace, blessing, good fortune, and positive life
events for one's self and relatives.
With good and bad extant in almost everything, hozhqis part of a
- evil,
continuum, the other end of which is hochxq'
ugliness, conflict,
disorder, disease, and misfortune. The latter results when an imbalance
is precipitated by indulging in excesses, having improper contact with
dangerous powers, deliberately or unwittingly breaking other rules, or
by the malicious intentions of unpredictable deities or evil humans
(witches). When hochxq3occurs, Navajos seek to discover its causes
through introspection, family discussions, and the diagnostic servicesof
hand-tremblers, stargazers, or listeners. The latter usually identify a
reason for the problem and suggest corrective measures. These may include use of the services of herbalistsor singers, hataati. The steps taken
often entail having a ceremonial designed to deal with the etiological
causes of the illness (infections by animals, naturalphenomena, ceremonials, and evil spirits [both ghosts and witches] [Wymanand Kluckhohn
1938:13-15]) and involving relevant supernaturalsin the restoration/
healing of the suffering person. The ceremonials simultaneously treat
the physical, mental, spiritual, and social realms and have the goals of
restoring hozhqto all environments. Described as individually oriented
4. Farella(1984:62-64)
dangerous.
does not agree, finding that even Changing Woman can be
NavajoReligion *
461
ratherthan group-centered, traditional Navajo religion can be viewed as
a medicoreligious approach to life.
The ceremonials are directed by singers who have acquiredtheir skills
and knowledge through an apprenticeship system, which for most entails years of arduous work. Requisite knowledge, which is orally transmitted, includes that of hundreds to thousands of songs, hundreds of
prayers,body and drypainting designs, myths that explain and sanction
praxis, herbal medicines, and numerous ritual actions such as emetics,
unraveling, bathing, preparing prayerstickand jewel offerings, and constructing the necessary ritual paraphernalia(jish), or acquiring the latter
by other acceptablemeans. The amount of knowledge and ritualutilized
on any given occasion is open to negotiation between the singer and the
family of the one needing assistance, just as who gets asked to provide
the assistanceand whether or not such requests are accepted are matters
of individual decision.
A number of scholars have attempted to classify Navajo ceremonials
or "ways,"5thereby generating an impressive arrayof schemes as well as
a number of discussions (see Franciscan Fathers 1910; Haile 1938a;
Wyman and Kluckhohn 1938; Reichard 1950; Kluckhohn 1960; Lamphere and Vogt 1973; Gill 1981; Wyman 1983; and Werner,Manning,
and Begishe 1983). Following Wyman (1983), the repertoire includes
chantways (Holyway, Lifeway, and Evilway curing ceremonials that use
rattles in song accompaniment), Blessingway (a prophylactic ceremony
focused on increasing hozhq), Enemyway (focused on exorcising alien
ghosts and sometimes classed as Evilway), war ceremonials, and Gameway (which does not fit anywhere, according to Wyman [1975:10]), as
well as various types of divination and prayerceremonies (see Gill 1981).
Each chantway is associated with certain supernaturals,etiological factors, and loosely, specific diseases.6 Each of the chantways (Holyway,
Lifeway, and Evilway) has a number of subgroups of related chants and
each of these, except for Hand-Tremblingway,has further subdivisions.7
5. The suffix "way"translatesvarious enclitics, the most common of which is -ji, used
to form the Navajo names of ceremonies. The Navajo names relate to the purpose of the
ceremony; for example, Evilway treats sickness caused by witchcraft, contact with Navajo
ghosts, and other sinister influences.
6. For example, Windway addresses problems caused by all kinds of winds (whirlwinds, windstorms, and so forth), but also difficulties caused by snakes, lightning, cactus,
the sun, and the moon. Ailments associated with these phenomena may manifest themselves as stomach trouble due to snake infection, eye and skin trouble, especially itching,
due to cactus infection, etc.
7. Table 1 illustrates the major groupings and subgroups in its use of headings and
subheadings in the lefthand column.
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Additionally, the chantwayscan be performed according to one of three
ritualmodes or behavioralpatterns: Holyway, which emphasizes restoration of good; Evilway, which emphasizes exorcising native ghosts and
combating witchcraft (for types, see Kluckhohn 1944); and Lifeway,
which cures injuries resulting from accidents. Some of the chantways
also have male and female branches; all have numerous other possible
variations such as length, degree of elaboration, and sometimes the use
of public exhibitions.
Depending on their abilities and resources, apprentices may learn as
much as they wish. Upon successfulcompletion of apprenticeships,ceremonial knowledge is power as long as it is used as ordained by the Holy
People. Proper use attractsthe attention of relevantdeities and ensures
their participation; the suffering person or one-sung-over becomes well
and the reestablished harmony is disseminated to all who assist and
participate. Should the performance of the ritual drama be marred by
errors and omissions, or the sacred knowledge misused in other ways,
the effectiveness of the ceremonial is seriously diminished if not eradicated. To ensure against this, Blessingway in whole or part is added to
all curing ceremonials and to Enemyway.This ceremony, which creates,
reestablishes, and maintains hozhq,celebrates the cyclical process of renewal, and enhances continual adaptation, is viewed by many as the
core, "mainstalk,"or backbone of traditional religion, philosophy, and
life. As such, it is a central, unifying force in Navajo culture (see Farella
1984, among others). Because of its powers, it is seen as controlling all
of the chantways and as having historical precedence (Wyman 1970). 8
However, it may have been developed in the stressful 1750-1800 period
after many of the major ceremonials had been crystallized, or at least
experienced a major redefinition in the eighteenth century (Brugge
1963, 1985 and further elaborated in Frisbie 1987:26-27). For a new,
and contrasting viewpoint, see H. Walters (1990).
THE LATE NINETEENTH CENTURY
Documenting temporal change in Navajo religion first requires the
identification of traditional content at different points in time. The
8. However, unlike Blessingwaysingers, practitionersof Upward-Movingwaysee their
ceremonial as the reed from which all others derived (Haile 1981).
NavajoReligion *
463
studies of early scholars such as Matthews, Curtis, the Franciscan
Fathers,Pepper, Haile, A. M. Stephen, the Coolidges, and others allow
delineation of specifics at the turn of the century, just as the works of
later individuals, including Wyman, Kluckhohn, and Reichard, and
most recently, some Navajos: Begishe, Tso, Thompson, and H. Walters
make it possible to follow content through time.
Of major importance to Navajo religion was the exchange of ideas
that occurred during the Fort Sumner incarceration.Before that time it
is known that around 1840 Hastiin Cenaskid from the Toadlena region
instituted the Enemy Monster Blessingway by combining two formerly
distinct ceremonies, Enemy Monsterway and Talking God Blessingway
(Kluckhohn and Wyman 1940:186-87). The Fort Sumner diffusion
center led to the introduction of Suckingway by Late Gladfly Man, a
Chiricahua, although some attribute it, and related wizardry, to Mexican, Pueblo, or Mescalero Apache origin (see Kluckhohn 1944:34;
Haile 1950:297; Brugge 1977:32). The same man is also credited by
some with introducing Hand-Tremblingway,a combination of divination, Big Starway, and Chiricahua and Mescalero Apache practices.
However, a few say this ceremony dates from earliestmythological times
(see Wyman and Kluckhohn 1938:28-29; Haile 1938a:640, 1950:297;
Wyman 1962:214). Further exchanges of ideas among Navajos, Mescalero Apaches, and other Apaches incarcerated at Fort Sumner also
brought about the introduction of the Chiricahua Windway, which
stimulated a redefinition of Windway into NavajoWindway and Chiricahua Windway (Wyman 1962:214-16).
While these syntheses, additions, adaptations, and redefinitions were
emerging, other components of traditional religion were also changing
or disappearing.9According to Luckert (1978:3-6), a part of 'Ajitee
(Excessway) became associated with witchcraftand was discontinued; it
was a five-night ceremony. Also during the nineteenth century the Gesture Dance (perhaps the naachid [see Frisbie 1986a]) disappearedfrom
Enemyway as did the scalp pole (Haile 1938b), and at some point public
exhibitions were dropped in Coyoteway, Down way (Plumeway or
9. It should be noted that by the late 1880s, Washington Matthews (1894, 1897a),
the first true scholar of Navajo ceremonialism, understood that Navajo ceremonies and
rites could derive from a variety of sources, and that these ceremonies changed through
time because of borrowing, abandonment, and modifications. It was thus clear to
him that when studying them, one should expect both variation and change (Frisbie
1986b).
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Featherway10),and Big Godway (Haile 1938a:646). Matthews, during
the late 1800s, noted that Beadway was becoming obsolete, the Feather
Chant was declining, and the Hail Chant was obsolete or had nearly
died out (Frisbie 1986b).11It is also clear that while the more popular
ceremonials developed numerous branches,etiological factors, and subsystems (evident particularly in Shootingway and Nightway), others
were reduced in length, from nine to five nights, or, as in Chiricahua
Windway, from five to two nights.
The early part of the reservationperiod (see Bailey and Bailey 1986)
also saw the addition to Enemyway of the Apache Dance from Mescalero (McAllester 1954:19). Other ceremonies were readaptedfor different uses; for example, Enemyway Monsterway and Monster Menway
became availableas prophylacticceremonies for epidemics and as remedies for venereal diseases. The Huntingways became useful in responding to epidemics and in treating sick domestic animals, as deer and antelope chases became less frequent (Kluckhohn and Wyman 1940:190).
Still other ceremonies were perpetuatedonly in excerpt form. Finally,in
the nineteenth century, especially from 1875 to 1890, there occurred an
effervescence of witchcraft scares, hunts, and purges (see Kluckhohn
1944), and the realbeginnings of efforts on the partof missionariesfrom
outside religions to "civilize and Christianize"the People (see below).
By the earlytwentieth century,the FranciscanFathers( 1910:361-66)
10. As Matthews (Frisbie 1986b), Haile (1938a), and others note, many ceremonials
have multiple names. Plumeway is also known as Downway and FeatherChant, and earlier, as Deer Dance; some use Bead Chant and Eagle Chant as synonyms; Chiricahua
Apache Windway is also known as Toothgumway or golaghci. Flintway and Lifeway are
sometimes used as synonyms and Flintway is also known as Hoofway or Knifeway.Kazee,
Lifeway Shaft branch, is also known as Shaft branch, Shaftway, Feather Shaftway, Corn
Stalkway,or Corn Stalk branch. Shootingway is sometimes called Lightningway, Beautyway may be called Snakewayor Reptileway, and Gameway is also known as Huntingway
(as shown in Werner,Manning, and Begishe 1983:587). Numerous other examplesexist.
11. In the late nineteenth century, Matthews (1885, 1897b) recognized seventeen
great Navajo healing ceremonies of variablelengths as well as minor ceremonies for planting, harvesting, building, war, nubility, marriage, travel, and other life occasions, as well
as those for special occasions. The Washington Matthews Papers (Wheelwright Museum
of the American Indian 1985) include two lists of Navajo ceremonies, both in the Notes,
one undated and the other dated June 3rd, 1890. Analysis (Frisbie 1986b) shows that
sixteen ceremonies were identified (complete with etiological factors), the names of two
of which were not given in English translation. One of the latter was associated with
ghosts and the other with paralysis.The others were: Nightway (five kinds), Mountainway
(four kinds, including male and female), Beautyway,Beadway,the FeatherDance or Deer
Dance, Windway, Shootingway (both male and female), Waterway, Hailway, Flintway
(both male and female), Mountainway, Shootingway, Red Antway, Apache Windway, and
Coyoteway (Frisbie 1986b:n.l3).
NavajoReligion *
465
report that the Hail Chant, the One-Day Song, the Earth Chant, and
the Gesture Dance were extinct. Infrequently practiced or not much in
vogue by then were the WaterChant, Rite of the Godmen, and Awlway.
Some of Kluckhohn and Wyman's (1940:189) collaborators believed
Awlway to have become extinct earlier, that is, by the mid-nineteenth
century. The FranciscanFathers also note Coyoteway as disappearing,
and the FeatherChant as losing popularity because of the labor involved
and the equipment needed to perform it. Decline in the importance of
hunting had already resulted in diminished popularity for the Corral
Rite. Reductions in length are noted for Evilway, Upward Movingway,
and Blessingway; the gradual extinction of ceremonies is discussed and
relatedto the disappearanceof knowledgeable singers, inadequate numbers of students, and inferioror ignorant apprentices (FranciscanFathers
1910:361-62, 365).
THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Now, at the end of the twentieth century, documentation of both the
ongoing changes within traditional Navajo religion and of the expanding options due to outside religions is an enormous task. I have decided
to present a chronology that highlights some major events, both on and
off the reservation,between 1900 and 1990. The chronology is followed
by a discussion of some changes within traditional religion (see also
Table 1) and then by brief overviews of some of the other options. The
essay concludes with a brief consideration of a few of the latest attempts
to ensure perpetuation of traditional religion and some thoughts on
future studies of temporal change.
Chronology
1900 Rain-requesting ceremonies noted in response to drought in
Navajo Mountain and Rainbow Bridge area; seen as deriving from
Protectionway and dating at least to Fort Sumner times in this area
(Luckert 1977:32-33, 145).
1918-19 Flu epidemic; Enemy Monster Blessingway popular (Kluckhohn and Wyman 1940:186-87); witchcraft accusations increase in
Crownpoint (Brugge 1980:308-9).
1920 Prophecy of imminent flood without ritual consequences (Bailey
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and Bailey 1982:207-10; Brugge 1980:313-14; Aberle 1966:34648).
1920s Rain ceremonies noted for Navajo Mountain area, where 1920,
1923, and 1924 were driest years in the decade (Luckert 1977:143,
n.l).
1923 First House Blessing ceremony for a public building; next ones
documentable in 1930 and 1938; representsexpansion of one of subceremonies of Blessingway so that public as well as private versions
exist (Frisbie 1970, 1980).
Late 1920s Drought conditions precipitate 1929 Rain Ceremony
(Brugge 1980:368).
1929 Waterwaybecomes minor ceremony with rareperformance;said
to be graduallydisappearing by 1932 (Haile 1979).
1929-39 Great Depression; earlier Navajo economy (based on farming, livestock, crafts, and some wage work) no longer viable (see
Bailey and Bailey 1986; Kelley and Whiteley 1989).
1930s Rain ceremonies noted for Navajo Mountain area; 1930, 1933,
and 1935 were driest years, with 1932, 1936, and 1939 not much
better (Luckert 1977:131, n.2).
1933 Federal policy shifts to New Deal; livestock reduction begins;
Circle Dance added to Enemyway at Shiprock replacing old style of
dancing (Brugge 1980:425).
1934 Wheeler-Howard Act or Indian Reorganization Act establishes
principle of noninterference in Indian religious rituals.
1936 Peyotism introduced (a pan-Indian, semi-Christian,nativistic, redemptive religious movement; see Aberle 1966, 1982b).
1936-41 Minor religious movements in Huerfano District and elsewhere focused on visions of White Shell Woman, Banded Rock Boy,
Christ, and skulls; some east to west spread and some entail holding
special Blessingway ceremonies for rain (see Aberle 1966:73-74;
Brugge 1980:445-46); "Rain ceremonies" reappear in the early
1950s, 1970s, and in 1981 in a variety of places (see Frisbie 1987:
433, n.12; Luckert 1977:30-33, 94-95).
1938 Arrestsof peyote users begin, January25 (Aberle 1966:110).
1940 Tribalgovernment bans use of peyote as contradictoryto Navajo
religion and traditional life, June 3 (Aberle 1966:113).
1940s During and directly afterWorldWarII, excerpts of non-Enemyway war ceremonials revived and popular (Kluckhohn 1960: 103-4);
Enemyway also popular now and afterlater Koreanand Vietnam wars.
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1949 Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-daySaints establishes its Southwest Indian Mission.
1950 Increase in fundamentalist, evangelical Protestantism begins.
1955 United States Public Health Service (USPHS), instead of Bureau
of Indian Affairs (BIA), becomes responsible for Navajo health care;
Navajo-CornellField Health ResearchProject at Many Farms 195562.
1957 Red Antway and Big Starway noted as "less common" (Wyman
1957) while Moth way and Ravenway,both extant in 1940, now listed
as extinct.
1962 Start of commercial sandpainting (see Parezo 1983).
1965 35-40 percent of Navajos are Peyotists (Aberle 1982b:xliv).
1966 B.I.A. Commissioner of Indian Affairs Robert L. Bennett issues
a freeze order that halts any and all development in western portion
of reservationsoon to be known as the Bennett Freeze Area.
1967 Navajo Bill of Rights (CO-63-67) guaranteeing religious freedom, October 9; earlier ban on religious use of peyote repealed
(CO-65-67) October 11 (Aberle 1982b :xxxviii).
1967-69 Office of Navajo Economic Opportunity (ONEO) Navajo
Culture Project in which many ceremonialists participated.
1968 Indian Civil Rights Act (Congressional guarantee of individual
religious freedom); startof Rough Rock Mental Health Training Program for Medicine Men and Women (see Frisbie 1987:259-68);
Wagner witnesses a Double Meeting wherein Big Star Evilway is
inserted into a Peyote meeting (Wagner 1975a: 167).
Early 1970s Testimony about sacredness of San Francisco Peaks begins; concerns apparentabout impact of rising water levels on sacred
sites in Rainbow Bridge area.
1972 First class graduates from Rough Rock Training Program; establishment of Navajo Health Authority (Tribal Council Resolution
CJN-44-72), June 2; NHA establishes its Office of Native Healing
Sciences; work on a directory or registry of ceremonial practitioners
begins as does formalized planning for implementation of holistic
approachto health care.
1973 End of use of sacred spring in Rain ceremonies in Navajo Mountain/Rainbow Bridge area because place flooded by water backed up
by Glen Canyon dam (Luckert 1977:148).
1974 Navajo-Hopi Land Settlement Act (P. L. 93-531); multidimensional stress in former Joint Use Area (JUA); short-term increase in
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use of ceremonialism among initial responses to relocation, but the
long-term result is reduction; native health-caresystem not designed
to deal with land dispute (see Topper in Scudder [1982:29]; Wood,
Vannette, and Andrews [1982:84, 89]); Coyoteway noted as rare
(Luckert 1979); according to Witherspoon (in Wyman 1983:536),
by 1974 the Native American Church (NAC) is viewed by "most
Navajo people as simply another chantway";NAC members are active
in traditional religion and many singers are also roadmen (a category
of spiritual leaders within the NAC).
1976 Indian Health Care Improvement Act (P. L. 94-437); livestock
reductions begin; burning of ceremonial paraphernalia at Lower
Greasewood, March 24; start of meetings aimed at developing
Navajo Medicine Men'sAssociation, May 26 (see Frisbie 1987:27399).
1976-77 'Ajiiee Gameway noted as rare (Luckert 1978).
1977 Cultural Center Museum opens at Navajo Community College;
repatriation of Wheelwright Museum'sjish (medicine bundles), August 17 (see Frisbie 1987:341-52); U.S. District Court in Salt Lake
City dismisses Rainbow Bridge case, December 29; Dinebeiina
Nahiilna beAgaditahe (DNA) appeals (see Frisbie 1987:379-80).
1977-82 Development of Chinle Comprehensive Health Care Facility
with interior native healing science room (see Frisbie 1987:302-04).
1978 Navajo Tribal Council Resolution (CF-20-78) prohibiting desecration or unlawful destruction of religious paraphernalia,February
2; first unsuccessful attempt to get Medicine Men'sAssociation chartered; Association adopts Articles of Incorporation on August 3;
American Indian Religious Freedom Act (P. L. 95-341), August 11.
1978-79 Edisonv. Franklincase concerning jish destruction by Navajo
pastor (see Frisbie 1987:306-10).
1979 Second unsuccessful attempt to get Medicine Men'sAssociation
chartered; series of Forest Service hearings on San Francisco Peaks
begins and continues through appeals at different levels until 1984;
Enemy Monsterway rituals applied by ceremonialiststo pretestimony
contexts in Washington, D.C. (in referenceto the San FranciscoPeaks
controversy).
1980 Third unsuccessful attempt to get Medicine Men's Association
chartered.
1981 Demise of NavajoHealth Authority and its Office of Native Heal-
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469
ing Sciences; U.S. Supreme Court rules in favor of the Lake Powell
recreationalsite and flooding of Bridge Canyon.
1983 Accreditation of Chinle Comprehensive Health Care Facility;
end of National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) funding for
Rough Rock Mental Health Training Program, July 31; Big Godway
listed as extinct or obsolescent for first time (Wyman 1983).
1984 U.S. Supreme Court denies review to remaining aspects of the
San FranciscoPeakscase, January9.
1985 Reawakening of interest in Navajo Medicine Men's Association;
Lakota Sun Dance performed at Big Mountain with NavajoSundancers participating,August; separateJudicial branchof Navajo government established; release of Academy Award-winning film Broken
Rainbow.
1986 Energy extraction issues on reservation again receive attention
(see Radford 1986; Redhouse 1984, 1985); original deadline for relocation expires, July.
1987 Tribe purchases Big Boquillas Ranch; agonies of relocation process and enforced underdevelopmentin Bennett FreezeArea continue
(see Joe 1988; Whitson 1988); people in HardrockChapter continue
to turn to medicine people and NAC practitioners for help with
illnesses caused by relocation worries (Joe 1988:16-18); FBI investigation of Chairman Peter MacDonald begins.
1988 Satanism reported as a major problem on the reservation and
nationwide; U.S. Senate hearings on corruption in tribal government; political turmoil in Window Rock becomes more apparent.
1989 Tribal Council suspends Chairman Peter MacDonald with pay,
February 19; Leonard Haskie becomes interim president of the
Navajo Nation; confrontations in Window Rock lead to shooting
deaths of two Navajos, Jimmy Dixon and Arnold C. Begay, July 20;
Tribal Council resolution CD-68-89 amends Title II of NavajoTribal Code, creating separate Executive and Legislative branches and
establishing separation of powers and checks/balancesin tribal government, December 15, amendments to become effective April 1,
1990; Medicine Men's Association adopts new name, the Dineh
Spiritual and Cultural Society of Navajoland.
1990 Tribal Council resolution reaffirmssupport of religious use of
peyote by Indians who are members of the NAC, February1 (Haskie
1990); Supreme Court rules that religious use of illegal drugs, such
470 *
Journal
of the Southwest
as peyote, is not protected by U.S. Constitution and can be prosecuted by governments, April 17; states that have allowed religious
use of peyote begin to review their laws; Native American Church to
monitor process (NavajoTimes1990a: 1, 3); NAC officials vote at annual national conference to limit church membership to those at least
25 percent Native American (NavajoTimes1990c: 5); two Sun Dances
held at Big Mountain during summer; B.I.A. Navajo Area Director
James Stevens retires, July 11, after confrontation with Council
(NavajoTimes 1990d:l); prayervigils continue for those affected by
Navajo-Hopi land dispute; tribe and Department of VeteransAffairs
agree to participatein three-yearresearchproject, funded by NIMH,
to compare effectiveness of traditional healing with outpatient counseling and inpatient treatment approaches to Post Traumatic Stress
Disorder Syndrome (alcoholism and war-relatedpsychological stress)
among Navajoveterans (NavajoTimes1990e: 1, 2); Navajosand Hopi
Tribal Council, but not some Hopi religious leaders, give approval
for first film of a Tony Hillerman novel, Dark Wind,to begin on both
reservations (NavajoTimes 1990f:l); Representative Stephen Solarz
(D, NY) introduces Bill HR 53-77 to restore free exercise of minority religions in response to April Supreme Court ruling; Evilwayceremony held to cleanse Tribal Administration and Finance Building,
September 11 (NavajoTimes1990g:A- 1); prayerdays in Washington,
D.C. to promote peace in the Middle East and encourage support of
Bill HR 53-77, September 29 (NAC sponsored) and September 30
(ecumenical) (Navajo Times 1990h:A-3); United Indian Pueblo
Lawyers Association announces support of efforts of some Hopi religious leaders to block filming of Dark Wind, October 16.
TraditionalReligion
Major changes in the viability of various components of traditional
religion during the twentieth century are most easily presented graphically.Table 1, modeled afterWyman and Kluckhohn (1938, Kluckhohn
andWyman 1940),12documents what has been reported in selected pub12. In his 1983 classification, Wyman drops subgroup labels and identification of
male/female branches. Flintway is repositioned under Shootingway instead of Lifeway,
although Werner,Manning, and Begishe (1983:591) leave it under Lifeway, and Enemyway is repositioned under Evilway.Way to Remove Somebody's Paralysisis deleted (as it
is in Wyman [1957]), and Reared in Earthway is repositioned under "Of uncertain affilia-
NavajoReligion < 471
lished works in the present century as well as in unpublished data on the
Rough Rock Mental Health Training Program and the "Practitioners
Directory" compiled by the Navajo Health Authority's Office of Native
Healing Sciences between 1972 and 1981. The Navajo sources receive
additional attention later in this essay, as well as in Frisbie ( 1985; 1986b;
1987) and Frisbie andTso (n.d.). For expedience, the following symbols
are used in Table 1: X = viable; E = reportedly extinct; O = reportedly
obsolescent, rare,or not in vogue; E/O = Wyman's"extinct, obsolescent
or rare";and n.s. = branch not specified.
Information depicted in Table 1 and other sources suggests that thus
far in the twentieth century Navajo traditional religion has remained
resilient and dynamic. Never static, religious ceremonies continue to be
characterizedby: reduction in overall repertoire and numbers of knowledgeable singers; redefinitions of appropriatelength and timing; expansions of ideas about appropriate use; innovations; borrowing and absorptions; and revivalof and periods of popularity for ceremonies related
to specific kinds of stress (such as foreign enemy contact, drought, and
so forth).
Various summary statements by Wyman and Kluckhohn (1938),
Kluckhohn and Wyman (1940), and Wyman (1957, 1983) suggest a
decline in the number of viable, traditionalceremonialsduring the twentieth century. In 1938, thirty-five distinct ceremonials are identified
(excluding male, female, and other branches or variants in ritual mode
or performance behaviors). In 1957, twenty-six of these are noted as
viable (Wyman 1957:13) and more recently, the number is recorded at
twenty-four, eight of which are identified as well known and frequently
performed as of the early 1970s (Wyman 1983:542). The latter include:
Shootingway, Mountainway, Nightway, Navajo and Chiricahua Windways, and Hand-Tremblingway,as well as Blessingway and Evilway (including Enemyway).
Given the large, heterogeneous Navajo population, the different
tion." The 1983 classificationdetails only Holyway chants; as of 1972, six of these were
performed frequently, according to Wyman: Shootingway, Mountainway, Nightway,
Navajo and Chiricahua Windways, and Hand-Tremblingway.Male/female branches are
noted in the text for Shootingway, Red Antway, Mountainway, Excessway, Beautyway,
and NavajoWindway.Wyman (1983:543) also states that Red Antway; Big Starway,Evilway ritual; Beautyway; and Plumeway are still known but less common than the six Holyway chants identified above, and that Eagleway and Beadway are very uncommon, "perhaps obsolescent."
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476 *
Journal
of the Southwest
levels of interest and knowledge about traditional religion, and the oral
transmission of ceremonial knowledge, it should be no surprise that
perceptions of the components of Navajo religion are variable and diverse. As Luckert (in Wyman 1983:557) states, and the work of many
researchersinadvertentlydemonstrates, "it is misleading to view Navajo
ceremonialism as a single system." As Werner,Manning, and Begishe
(1983:587) observe, regardingvariableclassificationsof Navajoreligion
and ceremonialism, "There is probably no one correct arrangement."
Unlike Wyman'smost recent (and last) list of twenty-four extant ceremonies, Werner,Manning, and Begishe's (1983:587, 589-91) twentyeight collaborators (some of whom prefer to classify ceremonies into
major and minor ones) identify Enemyway, Evilway, Holyway, Shooting Mountaintopway, Lifeway (with Flintway and Corn Stalk branch/
Shaft branch/luazeesubsets), and NavajoWindway as major ceremonies.
Minor ones include Blessingway (with seven possible subsets),13Chiricahua Windway, and Hand-Tremblingway.
The ideas recently depicted in two multicolored charts by Eddie Tso
and Lloyd Thompson, Navajos formerly associated with the Office of
Native Healing Sciences, are slightly different.The chartentitled "Traditional Navajo Ceremonies" (1984) illustrates both diagnostic procedures and ceremonies. Rock crystal, hand-trembling, listener, and stargazing constitute the former,while the latter has eighteen components:
Blessingway, Monsterway, Enemyway, Night Chant, Shootingway,
Mountaintopway, Waterway,Navajo Windway, Featherway,Reptileway
(Beautyway), Red Antway, Eagle Chant, Deer Chant, Hoofs (Claw)
Chant (Akeshghaan'ji),Lifeway,Flintway,Beadway,and Evilway (Ghostway). In another chart entitled "Wholistic Navajo,"Tso and Thompson
(1985) depict the following "TraditionalNavajo Ceremonies": "Diili
- Secured Pathnayle- Cleansing/Restoration Ceremony; KcVchischiin
way Ceremony; T'saaHitndtyis Turning Basket Ceremony; Ndtoh Diifi
nalye- Centration Ceremony; iich'a- Mothway; Dine'ee- Deerway;
- Evil (Ghost)way." They also list
Anaa'ji- Enemyway, and Hochoo'ji
two "Herbs which have effect": "Jimson weed, Cho hojiiye'e^and Marijuana, Ndtoh tsi'na Hi ahi"
13. Harry Walters's(1990:48) work with nine Navajo elders and ceremonialists has
most recently led him to suggest four kinds of Blessingway, which emerged at different
times in Navajo history: "original Blessingway (Girl's Puberty Ceremony), Monsterway
Blessingway, Bring Back Song from the West Blessingway, and Field Song Blessingway."
NavajoReligion *
477
Despite predictably diverse ideas about extant components, it is apparent that certain traditional ceremonies have indeed become extinct
during the twentieth century. In the Holyway group, these include Hailway, and, apparentlybetween 1940 and 1957, Moth way, Dogway, and
Ravenway.Other Holyway ceremonials seem to be graduallydisappearing or becoming rare,including Waterway,Coyoteway, 'AjUeeGameway,
and Big Godway. The Awlway and Reared in Earthway (of uncertain
affiliation) have also become extinct in this century as have some deer
and antelope hunting ceremonies.
However, as Table 1 demonstrates, and others such as Haile (1938a)
and Wyman and Kluckhohn (1938) discuss, it is dangerous to declare
anything extinct, given the size of the reservation and its population,
and the unmonitored, fluid, dynamic nature of traditional religion. For
example, while the FranciscanFathers (1910) identified Hailway as extinct, Reichard recorded a Hailway text in 1937. Waterway, Ajiiee,
Eagleway, and Beadway, all of which were labeled as extinct or obsolescent by many between 1910 and 1983 (see Table 1), are identified as
viable in the "PractitionersDirectory";additionally,Eaglewayand Beadway were among those ceremonies taught through the Rough Rock
Mental Health Training Program (1968-83). Similar discrepanciessurround reports of the present status of Gameway.14
The numbers of knowledgeable singers have also declined during the
present century, continuing a trend practitionersfeared even in the late
nineteenth century.15While no reservation-wide data are available for
ratios of ceremonialiststo laypeople earlier in time, various community
14. The most recent assessment of the viability of various ceremonies was done by
Walters (1988a, 1988b). Based on a survey of the Fort Defiance Agency during the summer of 1988, he reports ( 1988b: 7) the following about thirty-six ceremonies: those being
actively practicedinclude: Blessingway,Mountainway, Nightway, Windway,Shootingway,
Enemyway, Chiricahua Apache Windway, Evilway, Sweathouse, Crystal Gazing, HandTrembling, Stargazing, and Refiguration (or Remaking). Those near extinction include:
Beautyway, Lifeway, Red Antway, Deerway, Beadway, Plumeway, Gameway, Crazy
Coyoteway, Flintway, Waterway, Big Starway, Coyoteway, and Up Movingway. Finally,
those he reports as extinct include: Big Windway, Hailway, Huntingway, Moth way, Gestureway,Dogway, Giant "Yei"way,Butterflyway,Lifeway (Awlway), and Hand-Tremblingwav. Excesswavdoes not appear on any of his lists.
15. Schoepfle et al. ( 1988:74-76) discuss the loss of interest in traditional knowledge
as one of the long-term effects of the stock reduction of the 1930s. Joe's (1988:16-18)
study of the effects of relocation on the Hardrock Chapter considers the health, religious
affiliations, and use of medical options of both potential movers and nonmovers. In her
sample of three hundred, there were twenty native practitioners, over half of whom are
subject to relocation. As she indicates, their removalwill diminish access to healers in this
area and bring about further deterioration of their own mental health.
478 *
Journal
of the Southwest
studies suggest some twentieth-century figures. For Ramah in 1938, the
ratio was from 1:24 to 1:28, and in Many Farms in the 1950s, it was
about 1:41 (Kluckhohn 1939, 1956; Adair 1963). On the Kaibeto
Plateau, where earlierfigures are similar,the 1980 ratio was 1 :175 (Henderson 1982:166-67). The reservation-wide "PractitionersDirectory55
(which is neither current nor complete) lists 1,029 practitioners for a
population of about 150,000 during the 1972-81 period (Frisbie and
Tso, n.d.). If one subtractsthose with single specializationsin divination
(51), herbalism (109), or Peyotism (62), 807 identified practitionersof
the prophylacticand curing ceremonials remain, or a ratio of 1:186. The
impact of the Rough Rock Training Program on the situation is unclear,
as explained below.
The "Directory,55despite its flaws, provides some other information
about the viability of various ceremonies during the 1972-81 period.
Figures derived from it indicate the following numbers of practitioners
for different ceremonies: Blessingway- 333; Evilway/Ghostway- 288;
Windways 285; Shootingways 205; Enemyway 168. Certain
ritual procedures such as hand-trembling 277, blackening- 176, and
data suggest that
"star/crystalgazing55 96, arealso popular."Directory55
the most commonly known ceremonies derive from Blessingway, Evilway, and the Holyway groups as well as the diagnostic ones. Lifeways
have fewer practitioners, with Flintway totaling 57 and Lifeway, 53.
Suckingway is identified for 38 practitioners, and another 15 practice
Ceremonies with under 20 practitioners
"removingwitchcraftmaterial.55
include Eagleway- 11, Enemy Monsterway- 11, and
in the "Directory55
Gameway 15. PractitionersofWaterway 3, Beadway 4, yAjitee 1,
Beautyway- 1, Plumeway 1, Shootingway Evilway 2, and Big Star- 1 are even scarcer.No
are
way Evilway
practitioners listed for Hailway,
Mothway, Big Godway, Dogway, Coyoteway, Ravenway, or HandTremblingway,although this does not prove their nonexistence.
Data from the Rough Rock Mental Health Training Program, as
problematical as they are at present (see Aberle 1982a:227-29; Frisbie
1987:259-68) indicate that the following ceremonies were taught
through this program (1968-83): Blessingway,Male Shootingway, Red
Antway, Big Starway,Mountainway, Beautyway, Nightway, Plumeway,
Navajo and ChiricahuaWindways, Beadway, Flintway, Evilway, Enemyway, and the "Sweathouse Ceremony.55Possibly such transmissionraised
the totals given in the "Directory,55
especially for knowledgeable Beauty-
NavajoReligion *
479
way, Plumeway, and Beadway practitioners.16
While declines and reductions are dramatic, they are neither new nor
the only noteworthy and current developments within traditional religion. In fact, to focus on the decline in numbers skews the picture since
much about traditional religion remains strong and viable. Twentiethcentury vitality is expressed through the continued transmission and
performance of ceremonies as well as through active interests in additions from external borrowings. Internal innovations and adaptations
to new uses, new schedules, new calendars, and circumstances which
include new kinds of stress also occur. The review that follows documents these developments by citing examples of ongoing changes,
characteristicof traditional religion in the twentieth century and assesses
the current vitality of Blessingway, the curing chants (Holyways, Lifeways, and Evilways), Gameways, and other religious practices.
Blessingway.The five versions of Blessingway noted in Table 1 continue in 1990. The Enemy Monster version was popular during the
1918 flu epidemic, and there is some evidence of the use of an unspecified version to combat alcoholism (see Ferguson 1982). Kinaalda
(Girl's Puberty Ceremony) became adjustable to school calendars (see
Frisbie 1967:385, 388) and increasinglypopular (Roessel 1981:80). In
1990, the author was chosen to comb, dress, and "mold" the girl in a
Kinaaldd, performed by a female Blessingway singer. A new public version of the House Blessing ceremony started in 1923 (Frisbie 1970,
1980); by the 1970s, it enjoyed expanding applications and perception
as "the traditional way35to bless public buildings. Drought conditions
in the early 1920s sporadicallytriggered Rain ceremonies (see Chronology). The relationship between these and Blessingway and/or Waterway
needs furtherstudy (see Frisbie 1987:433, n.12; Haile 1979:3-4; Luckert 1977:30-33, 90-91, 94-95, 99-103, ff.; and Luckert in Haile
1979:135-37).
HolywayChants: Shootingway remains popular and is currently the
only Holyway chant performed according to all three ritual modes
(Wyman 1983:542-43). The popularity of the nine-night version needs
reassessment;lists from the Navajo Health Authority in 1981 indicated
16. Walters's( 1988a) restudy of the Fort Defiance Agency shows that between 1978
and 1988, 19 of the 189 ceremonialists identified in the earlier "Directory" died, and
another 10 retired. However, the survey also identified 23 ceremonial practitionersin this
Agency who were not included on the earlier list.
480 <
Journal
of the Southwest
only two- and five-night versions. Mountainways continue in two-, five-,
and nine-night versions with the female branch noted as more popular,
as earlier indicated by Wyman and Kluckhohn (1938). Nightway (see
Faris 1990) remains strong. Plumeway, designated in 1910 as "sometimes in demand" and as "less common" in 1957, is still viable according
to Navajo sources. Windways remain popular, although the nine-night
version of NavajoWindway, reported as rareby 1940 but still extant in
1961 (Wyman 1962:24), is not mentioned in Navajo sources. The fivenight version of Chiricahua Windway, which Kluckhohn and Wyman
document as in existence until sometime before 1920, is still viable,
according to my 1982-90 Navajo collaborators.
Lifeways:Flintways remain strong, as does Lifeway. Haile (1938a) reports that the female branchof the former is more popular, and Wyman
(1957) says the same for Lifeway, female shooting branch.
Evilways:Enemyway and Evilways remain popular. During this century, severalchanges can be noted in Enemyway: the Circle Dance was
added in 1933 (Brugge 1980:425) and Two-step Dancing was introduced by Apaches visiting the 1936 Window Rock Fair (Bonnie 1969).
The Apache Dance evolved into the Round Dance (McAllester 1954: 10,
19), and the Skip-dancestyle was borrowed from Mescalero before 1950
(McAllester 1971:297). Enemy Monsterway rituals were applied to offreservationcontexts between the 1960s and early 1980s in conjunction
with testimony about land claims, intertribal disputes, and the sacredness of the San Francisco Peaks. Some also suggested that their use
would be appropriatein Window Rock, after the 1989 shootings amid
the political turmoil. Instead, an Evilway ceremony was held on September 11, 1990 to cleanse the TribalAdministration and Finance Building
area and restore unity, harmony, and order (NavajoTimes 1990g:A-l;
NavajoNation Messenger1990 :1) .
War Ceremonials:Enemyway and Enemy Monsterway war ceremonials remain the strongest, although excerpts of others were also revived
and popularized during and directly after World War II. Many informants comment on the secularization of Enemyway, in the minds of
some participants, and on the increased problems at these and other
large ceremonials (such as Mountainways and Nightways) caused by
drinking, drug use, and abusive behaviors. Enemyways, as well as other
ceremonies, are now usually timed so that the final night coincides with
a Saturday,when those with wage-work employment are more apt to be
availableto help. The arrivalof vendors and the use of tribal police to
NavajoReligion *
481
maintain order at Enemyways (and Nightways) are also twentieth-century developments.
Gameways:Although variously listed as obsolescent or extinct,
Werner,Manning, and Begishe (1983:587, 590) elicited Gameway (or
Huntingway) as a subset of either Blessingway or their "religion"category. The "PractitionersDirectory" also includes Gameway, and some
of my 1982-90 collaboratorsstated that it has two- and five-night versions. Some of them prefer to call the two-night version "Wildlifeway."
These developments need clarification.
Other: Frisbie and Tso (n.d.), in their essay on the "Directory,"and
Walters( 1988b) suggest that the Remaking rite continues, that Self Protection and Restoration prayerceremonies continue in two- and fournight versions, and that a Sweathouse/Sweatbath Ceremony is also
popular. Whether the latter, which was also taught in the Rough Rock
program, is now becoming self-sufficient is unclear at present. The "Directory" also includes some interesting divination entries: "crystal/star
gazing," "sun and feather gazing," and "fireplacegazing." The sun and
feather gazing was described to me in 1983 as a "very old traditional
way of divination which is almost extinct at present. It involves a picture
of the sun and two live eagle feathers that talk" (Frisbie and Tso n.d.).
Fireplacegazing was called "NAC divination" as was "watergazing" in
discussions in 1983 and later. Belief in witchcraft remains strong, being
supported by problems of drought, stock reduction, alcoholism, land
partitioning, political turmoil, and forced relocation. Besides the practice of Evilways to combat witchcraft, Suckingwayand other traditional
practices remain in use.
To summarize the "traditional"portion of the twentieth-century picture before moving on to the effect of "outside religions," it is clear that
as of 1990 traditional Navajo religion can be characterizedby internal,
conflicting trends. On one level the religion remains dynamic and resilient. Many of its components continue to meet the needs of Navajos,
and the religion itself accommodates outside ideas and internal innovations, and meets changing conditions and problems with new definitions of format and purpose. On another level, numbers of knowledgeable practitionerscontinue to decline, as do the use and transmission of
portions of the ceremonial repertoire.
In order to document and understand future changes in traditional
Navajo religion, it is clear that present and future researchersneed to be
as meticulous as possible in all aspects of their work. Specific data need
482 <
Journal
of the Southwest
to be collected from a large sample of Navajos throughout the reservation on the following: multiple Navajo/English names for ceremonial
events, perceptions of the content of Navajo ceremonialism, and the
frequency of and reasons for the use of traditional ceremonies. Singers
in individual communities need to be identified as do their specialties
and transmission histories.17Events perceived locally as "new inventions," "new combinations," "new borrowings," and "very popular"
need documentation and reservation-wide comparison. Finally,exploration of questions should be timely. Presently,just on the basis of studying Table 1 and the subsequent review of twentieth-century developments, the following seem worthy of additional inquiry: Clawsway,18
Kazee,19re-emergent Rain ceremonies, status of the Sweathouse Ceremony, contemporary divination practices, current expressions and uses
of Gameway and the relation of these to earlier practices, and current
practices aimed at combating witchcraft, to say nothing of increased
concerns about Satanismon the reservation20and contemporaryinterest
in the Sioux Sun Dance.21
17. Harry Walters'sidea of computerizing the "Practitioners Directory" (originally
compiled by the Navajo Health Authority) so that it could be easily updated has now been
brought to fruition by individuals at the Shiprock campus of Navajo Community College.
When Clay Slate demonstrated the results for me during the Fifth Annual Navajo Studies
Conference at Shiprock in October 1990 there were 997 entries and discussions were
underwaywith the Medicine Men'sAssociation to enlist cooperative support for efforts to
seek funding to underwrite a reservation-wideupdating.
18. The Clawsway listed in the "Directory"('akeshgaan)appearsto be relatedto or derived from Flintway, or a nickname or a branch noted earlier (FranciscanFathers'"Branch
of Claw Dance" and Haile's [1981] "Toenail Flintway"). Wyman and Kluckhohn
(1938:6), translating 'akeshgaqjias Hoofway, found it to be another name for Flintway.
However, Tso and Thompson, in their "TraditionalNavajo Ceremonies" chart ( 1984) list
and as separatefrom both Flintway and Lifeway.
it as Hoofs (Claw) Chant, 'Akeshghaan'ji,
Buck Navajo (in Luckert 1977:98) mentions holding zjisb for "the Big Toe-nail (Akeshgaari) and the Toe-nail or Clawway (Akeshgaanji)"
19. Kazee, listed variously as Kazi, Kase,Kasebeshee,presents another interesting problem. Listed initially as Lifeway,Shaft Branch, Haile (1981) notes it as Shaft Flintway,Kasi
beshee.In the "Directory"it appearsas Lifeway,Shaft Branch.However, some of my 198284 collaboratorsused Kazee or KaseHataai as "Corn Stalkway"or "BlessingwayPlanting
Ceremony" (kHdidiilye) (Frisbie 1987:466, n.27). Werner,Manning, and Begishe (1983:
589) report it as a subset of Lifeway,Corn Stalk or Shaft Branch, and note that in 1973 a
Navajosaid it was "probablyonly known in the Canoncito area."I did not hear of it before
1982, and then, from collaborators in Lukachukai, Fort Defiance, White Cone, Saint
Michaels, Tsaile, and Rough Rock. Its relationship to the seed planting Blessingway (see
Mitchell 1978:219-21) needs clarification.Whether it is unique and spreading, or a renamed version of something formerly extant is unclear.The care needed in making such
determinations can be illustrated by comparing Werner,Manning, and Begishe's (1983:
589) perception of the Mountainway Shootingway combination as a "possibly unique
combination" in the 1970s with its nineteenth-centurydocumentation by Matthews (Fris-
NavajoReligion *
483
Other Religions
An account of the temporal changes in Navajo religion from 1868 to
1990 would be incomplete without consideration of the introduction
of, competition with, and, in some cases, acceptance of religions from
the outside. Missionization efforts became serious after the onset of the
reservation period. Sometimes supported by federal policies (when
these favored assimilation rather than preservation of cultural diversity
[see Shepardson 1982]), these efforts established a pluralityof religions
ratherthan spelling the demise of traditional practices. Despite periods
of strong resistance by the Navajos in some instances and exclusivist
positions by the missionariesof some of these religions, many pragmatic
Navajos responded by joining, exploring, and trying combinations and
multiple affiliations that might offer broader options and solutions, or
at least relief, from personal, tribal, or cultural problems. To date, the
main result has been to move traditional religion from center stage to
one now shared with a number of other options.
bie 1986b), its early twentieth-century mention by others (see Table 1), and Wyman's
(1975:14) discussion of Mountain-Shootingways as phases of Shootingway.
20. The reported increase in Satanism or "worship of the devil" among the youth on
the reservation also needs to be critically evaluated {NavajoTimes 1988a: 1, 4; 1988b: 1).
By the end of 1988, law-enforcementofficials on the reservation,as well as in many other
places within the United States, were reporting that Satanism was becoming a major
problem. As reportedly practiced on the reservation (in 1988, 1989, and 1990), the
phenomenon includes cult groups, which continue to grow; blood sacrifice of animals;
use of the pentagram and other symbols in medallions and other jewelry,T-shirt decorations, signs, and tattoos; and a preoccupation with death. In the fall of 1990, 1 observed
expressions of concern about Satanism in the Many Farms, Chinle, Rough Rock, Tsaile,
and Lukachukaiparts of the reservation.Churches sponsored sessions to educate parents
and other community members about the phenomenon, and some school boards banned
T-shirts decorated with such slogans as "Die," "Murder,"and "Kill."Our Lady of Fatima
Catholic Church in Chinle hosted two such meetings in 1990 (Grein 1990), and the
Baptist mission in Many Farmshosted one on October 17, at which police captain Steve
Nelson from Kayentawas the main speaker.
21. The new interest in "Sundancing" among some Navajos needs documentation
and study. As reported in the NavajoTimesToday(1985: 1-2) on the basis of an interview
with Felix Charging Whirlwind, a Lakota Sundancer, the Lakota "Sundance" has been
among the Navajos for four years, and for "several"of them, "Navajo Sundancers"have
been participating in the rite led by Lakota medicine men. The Big Mountain Sun Dance,
"the only sanctioned Sundance in the Southwest," meets with the approvalof both Navajo
medicine people and Lakota chiefs, as long as it is conducted in the traditional Lakota
way. Despite four Navajos' 1985-86 vehement claims to the contrary,"NavajoSundancers" do exist and have continued to emerge since 1985. Some of them sought permission
to perform prayer/blessing/offeringrites at a significant historical site during the June
1986 solstice (Brugge 1986). During July 1990, severalNavajowomen (MK, RS, ES, and
CL) expressed concerns to me about male friends who had vowed to be pierced and were
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of the Southwest
The present essay is not the place for extensive discussions of the
competing religions and their doctrinal differences, since they are available elsewhere. Nor is it the place to examine the frequency of "soft
conversions," instability of affiliations, or the major changes in social,
economic, educational, health-care, and other conditions which have
enhanced the attractivenessof "outside religions" (for relevantliterature
see, among others: Aberle 1982a; Blanchard 1977; Rapoport 1954;
Hodge 1964; Wood 1982; Henderson 1982; Levy and Kunitz 1974;
Callaway, Levy, and Henderson 1976; and Levy 1978). Instead, the
focus is on historical documentation of the arrivaland impact of other
religions. At present, traditional religion continues to survive the influx
and remains viable despite the waxing and waning of other, options.
Should the Navajos decide that it is no longer important enough to
perpetuate, only then will it disappear.
Mainline Christianity
Catholics began the first missionary efforts among the Navajosin the
1620s (Hodge, Hammond, and Rey 1945:85-89, 306). However,
these were not formalized until 1898 with the establishment of St.
Michaels Mission. In 1869 the Presbyteriansestablished themselves, at
least temporarily, in Fort Defiance. By the end of the century, these
following through on their vows during the Sun Dance at Big Mountain, reportedly held
on the weekend of July 20-22 "when the Sioux came to do it."These individuals reported
that as far as they knew, Navajos had "started to be pierced" at the Big Mountain Sun
Dance in 1988.
Brugge ( 1990) was told that two separate Sun Dances were held in this community
during the summer of 1990, one for people on Hopi Partitioned Land (HPL), probably
in June, and the other for people on Navajo Partitioned Land (NPL), timed to end on July
4th. Reportedly, the Sioux leaders and the rituals were different at the two events, and
there was pressure to exclude non-Navajos/non-Sioux from participation, something not
typical of the Sun Dance when it is held in Sioux country. No mention of either Sun Dance
at Big Mountain was to be found in the NavajoTimes,perhaps because of extensive Presidential primary coverage.
During the Fifth Annual Navajo Studies Conference, I was able to discuss the Big
Mountain Sun Dance with Orit Tamir,whose knowledge is based on ethnographic work
in that part of the reservation. According to Tamir (1990a), since the arrivalof the Sun
Dance, Big Mountain has always hosted two, with different Lakota chiefs in charge. The
firstone, in June, is always at the same, well-markedsite; the site for the second one is not
set. Tamir reported that anyone can be pierced and that non- Sioux have been joining in
the piercing for longer than the last two years. She also reported that in 1989, Navajos
composed the Opening and Closing Songs, which were then sung by the Lakota.
Levine (1990), on the basis of information from her students at Colorado College,
confirms that non-Navajos as well as Navajos have participated in Sun Dances at Big
Mountain at least since 1988.
NavajoReligion *
485
Protestants were joined on the reservation by Methodists, Episcopalians, and missionaries of the Christian Reformed movement and those
of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-daySaints (LDS, Mormons).
The twentieth century has brought new denominations, more active
proselytizing, and, in some sects, an increased use of Navajo pastors.
But growth in mainline churches has been slow; by 1950, twenty-six
mainline Protestant missions existed; by 1977, there were sixty-two
(Dolaghan and Scates 1978:41). Approximate numbers of converts in
the 1970s were between six and eight thousand (Aberle 1982a:221,
224). For the same period Catholics recorded eighteen thousand baptisms and a growth from three centers in the 1930s to between twentytwo and thirty-six congregations (see Aberle 1982a:221; Beaver 1979:
365). Most of the mainline churches now view traditional Navajo religion as compatible or reconcilable with Christianity (see Wilken 1955;
Liebler 1969) even though this has not always been the case. For some,
the interest in encouraging indigenous culturaladaptations is recent and
reflects national ecumenical and civil-rights movements and Red Power
activism (see Beaver 1979:45-49; Deloria 1969, 1973; Bowden 1981:
200-1). At present, many mainline churches use the Navajo language,
arts and crafts, and even ceremonial practitioners'services to make their
messages more accessible. Some are also adopting hogan-type architecture when rebuilding sanctuaries. Replacement of one tradition by
another is still the goal but the pace is slow,22and common attitudes
stress adaptation, tolerance, accommodation, culturalblending, and cultural conservation (see Gray 1986; Frisbie 1987:216-17).
Expanding Religions
In addition to mainline Christianity,the Navajoshave also been influenced by other religions.23Three of these have been actively proselytizing among the Navajos, one since 1936, and the others since about
1950; unlike their mainline counterparts, these are rapidly expanding.
22. In a study of major importance to missionaries, Scates (1981) examines, among
other things, the cultural factors that have led to variable success rates among different
denominations on the reservation. Believing that Navajos are now in a second period of
"tremendous religious change," he also identifies principles, formats, and approaches
which can lead to mission growth and expansion.
23. The present essay does not address many religions that are represented on the
reservation, although not necessarily included in Dolaghan and Scates (1978), Scates
(1981), Williams (1989), or Rodgers (1990). One of these is the Baha'i faith which
emerged in Iran (Persia) in the nineteenth century, first as a syncretisticmovement with a
Shi'ite background. An independent religion devoted to world peace and the unity of
486 <
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of the Southwest
The three, the Native American Church or Peyotism, the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS or Mormons), and evangelical
Protestants, have many similarities despite definite differences in doctrine and degrees of exclusivism (and thus, different attitudes toward
traditional religion). As Aberle (1982a:219) indicates, they all promise
access to new sources of supernatural power which are transcendent,
useful in healing, and effective throughout the world. They actively oppose drinking while supporting the use of Navajo language and the
participation of Navajos in key roles. They all also offer the potential of
new contacts with the non-Navajo world.
The Native American Church. Of the three, the Native American
Church, or Peyotism, is presently the best documented (Aberle and
Stewart 1957; Aberle 1966, 1982a, 1982b, 1983; Wagner 1974, 1975a,
1975b). It is also the earliest and the only one derived from other Indians, namely the Utes at Towaoc in 1936. Entering the northern part
of the reservation, this redemptive, nativistic, pan-Indian movement,
which combines Christian beliefs with Native American ritualpractices24
spread and became established in the western part of the reservation
between the 1950s and 1970s. The traumasof government control; livestock reduction; relative deprivation of possessions, status, and power;
new diseases and disorganization; and economic recession coupled with
active proselytizing by non-Navajo Peyotists, provided a ripe climate
within which the NAC initially took hold (see Aberle 1982a:221-22;
1982b:xxxvii).
humanity, its U.S. headquartersare in Wilmette, Illinois. A Native American Baha'i Institute is located near the old BurntwaterTrading Post in Arizona. In May 1990 the Institute
hosted a "SpiritualGathering of Tribes"and its second annual "Healing Arts Gathering"
(NavajoTimes1990b: 7). According to Brugge ( 1990), Baha'imissionizing among Navajos
has been ongoing since the 1950s, and by the early 1970s, active groups were apparentin
several locations, including Chinle. During the 1985 SAR seminar, Aberle reported observing Baha'i activity, especially along the southern edge of the reservation. During the
Fifth Annual Navajo Studies Conference, John Adair told me that the Baha'iAssembly in
San Francisco raised the funds necessary to bring piped water to its sister group at Burntwater. Later, on the basis of discussions with various members of the Kahn family in Pine
Springs, Arizona, Adair ( 1990) reported that according to Ben Kahn, the Baha'ifaith was
introduced among the Navajos in 1953 by Amoz Gibson, a black teacher at Pinon, Arizona. His first convert was Sadie Joe Vicenti of Lukachukai.
Another religion on the reservationis the Quakers,or Society of Friends.With a focus
on peace, justice, and social service, Friendshave been missionizing since their seventeenthcentury beginnings in England. In the United States, the Board of Missions has its headquarters at the Friends United Meeting, Richmond, Indiana. According to McAllester
(1990), the Friends mission work among Native Americans includes work camps and
international service seminars to promote cross-cultural understanding; on the Navajo
reservation, at least some of the Quakers involved in missionizing are primarilyinterested
NavajoReligion *
487
As the first major challenge to traditional religion since the advent of
western medicine and mainline Christianity,Peyotism arrivedbefore the
Navajo Bill of Rights and was initially met with strong opposition, arrests of members, and a tribal ban instituted in 1940 and not repealed
until 1967. Despite these conditions and decades of criticism, competition, and conflict with traditionalists and Christians, Peyotism experienced a steady growth, and today is both popular and strong. While
membership figures are shaky,Aberle (1983:558) suggests that in 1951,
12 to 14 percent of the tribe, or 8,400-9,800 people were NAC members. By 1965 the figures were 35 to 40 percent, and by the 1970s, a
little more than 50 percent (Aberle 1982a:222; 1982b:xliv). Most recently, Interim Vice President of the Navajo Nation Irving Billy (1990)
estimated that 20,000 on- reservationNavajos belong to the NAC, and
many, many more participate.Rodgers's(1990) report on Navajo Chapters (which covers 98 of the then 109) includes the following statement
for all Chapters except Tonalea and Chichiltah: "traditionalNavajo religion and Native American Church [are] active in the Chapter."In the
Chichiltah case, the usual civic listing (which includes churches) and the
commercial listing are omitted from the report. The NAC's appeal rests
in part on its better fit with Navajo wage-work economics (with its
shorter ceremonies and lower costs), the easier route it provides to individual prestige, and its nonexclusivist attitudes toward traditional religion, language, and culture, and nonexclusivist Christian churches.
Other reasons for popularity include its pan-Indian nature, nativistic
in saving souls in a conservative, evangelical sense. Rodgers's (1990) report on Navajo
Chapters (which is based on responses from 98 of the then 109 Chapters) lists Friends
missions in the Many Farms, Black Mesa, and Rough Rock Chapters. In the latter two,
they are the only church group noted. Scates (1981: Appendix B) shows them in Rough
Rock, Mariano Lake, and Forest Lake. My own efforts during the fall of 1990 to track
down the history of the Quakerson the Navajo reservationled to the identification of four
churches that currently function under the administrationof the Evangelical Friends Mission in Arvada, Colorado. The Rough Rock church was built first, in 1954. The two on
Black Mesa are known as the Oak Ridge Church, built in 1966 near the Samuel Dalton
camp, and Baa nina'ilyahii ("Restitution"), built in 1971-72 near the Amos Redhair
camp. The fourth, on the road between Rough Rock and Many Farms, is located at the
Tom Harvey camp and was dedicated in 1982 (Comfort 1990; Benton 1979). At the
national level, the Friends Committee on National Legislation, a nonprofit Quaker lobbying organization, is currentlyinvolved in supporting Bill HR 53-77 (NavajoTimes1990h:
A-3).
24. Bowden (1981:211) describes Peyotism as a blend of native religious forms with
trinitariantheology, cruciform symbolism, sacramentalliturgy, and syncretistic morality.
It has no authorized body of doctrine and no single symbol system. Farella(1984:198,
200-201 ) and others consider how Peyotism enhances adaptation to the broaderAmerican context.
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qualities, and, as Bowden (1981:214-15, 220-21) discusses, its "accommodation orientation."
Since 1936 the NAC has experienced internal organizational differences,25legal battles over the narcotic or non-narcotic nature of peyote,
and the emergence of variants on the traditional "peyote way."Aberle
(1966:157-69) discusses such variants as V-way, Waterway, Starway,
and Eagleway,which emerged between 1942 and 1952 in the ShiprockSanastee area. The April 1990 Supreme Court decision (see Chronology) indicates that legal battles over the Native American right to use
peyote in religious contexts are not over,26despite the American Indian
Religious Freedom Act of 1978 (see also Pavlik 1990). The NAC immediately announced plans to increase their efforts to educate federal
and state officials about their organization and to introduce congressional legislation to protect their members during interstate travel
(NavajoTimes 1990a: 1, 3). As of October 1990, the NAC was among
those lobbying for support of Bill HR 53-77 (see Chronology), which
was then in the conference stage (NavajoTimes1990h:A- 3).
While Kunitz (1970) documents a decrease in the use of traditional
ceremonies in the Kaibeto Plateau area in conjunction with an increase
in Peyotism, other fieldworkersstress the tolerant attitude of the NAC
and the growing tendency on the part of Navajos not only to accept
Peyotism, but to see it as another kind of "traditionalreligion." Some
also note the syncretism that is now occurring between the two. While
differences between the religions are numerous (see Aberle 1966:19598, 204ff.) and while most preferredto keep Peyotism and traditional
religion separatein the initial years, since then more fusion has become
apparent.27Among the wide-ranging examples are: the inclusion of
Peyote paraphernaliain items blessed during Blessingways, joint meet25. At present, there are three branches: the Native American Church of North
America, the Navajolandbranch, and the Oklahoma branch.The latter is the oldest and is
not controlled by the Native American Church of North America, which has now instituted a 25 percent Indian blood requirement for membership.
26. The legality of peyote use by Anglo members of the Oklahoma branch of the
Native American Church is under scrutiny at present in the U.S. District Court in Albuquerque, in a federal drug case involving Lawrence Robert Boyll (NavajoTimes 1990j:
A-2).
27. During the Fifth Annual Navajo Studies Conference, Scates (1990) confirmed
continuing NAC/traditional religion syntheses in the Red Mesa area, and also noted some
interesting NAC/Catholic syntheses. His own view is that furtherexpansion of the Native
American Church among Navajoswill be hampered by the fact that it offers no remedy for
witchcraft and no substitutes for Kinaaldd, the Girl's Puberty Ceremony, which remains
strong.
NavajoReligion *
489
ings (see Wagner 1975a; Wolf 1973), and the increased use of the term
"medicinemen" as a gloss for both traditionaland NAC practitioners(as
illustrated in post- 1976 work on the "Directory55at the Navajo Health
Authority [see Frisbie 1987: 199] ) . Joe ( 1988 :17) uses the terms "native
healers55and "native practitioners55
to include both "medicine men and
in
the
Native
American
Church.55
practitioners
Witherspoon (in Wyman
1983:536) suggests that by the 1970s most Navajosviewed Peyotism as
"simply another chantway; yazeeyji,or Medicine Way.55
Many traditional
have
become
while
NAC
NAC memleaders,
roadmen,
singers
spiritual
bers are active in traditional religion. Aberle ( 1982b :xlv) also remarks
that Peyotists see themselves as traditionalists and supporters of Navajo
religion and view both the NAC and Navajo religion as traditional.28
Ferguson (1982:161) is among those who suggest that the future will
bring the incorporation of Peyotism into the traditional system with
Peyoteway being consecrated by Blessingway.
The "Directory55discussed by Frisbie and Tso (n.d.) identifies 176
NAC practitioners among a total of 1,029 ceremonialists. Of the 176,
62 practiceonly Peyotism; the rest have multiple skills and thus practice
Blessingway,curing ceremonials, divination, and herbalismeither singly
in combination with NAC, or in multiple combinations. The highest
numbers of NAC practitioners listed in the "Directory55were recorded
for the Chinle and Shiprock Agencies and the lowest for the Tuba City
Agency. Labels used by recorders show that some individuals prefer
listings as specialists in caring for the fire, drum, or both (Fireway,Fireplace, Drumway). The Eagleway and V-Fireplacevariants noted earlier
by Aberle are also occasionally mentioned, as are female "roadmen,55a
phenomenon that Navajos say was not uncommon by 1983.
Despite increasing acceptance and willingness on the part of some to
define the NAC as traditional, it would be incorrect to imply that all
Navajos share these sentiments. Some traditional ceremonialists remain
actively opposed to the NAC, and frequently voice resentment of tendencies to gloss the NAC as the "same as traditional religion, or roadmen as the same as true traditional medicine men.55Some employers
discriminate against NAC employees while some households continue
28. Tamir's(1990b) paper at the Fifth Annual Navajo Studies Conference illustrated
these ideas. In it, she addressed the medicinal and sacramentalviews of peyote, its perceived power to cure, and the importance of the transmission of traditional religious
precepts, myths, and values that takes place during peyote meetings run by roadmen who
are also traditional ceremonialists.
490 *
Journal
of the Southwest
to experience deep-seated conflicts because of the NAC affiliations of
some members. Some non-Peyotists frequently verbalize fears that the
NAC will, "by deliberate planning, take over the tribal government and
traditional religion."They also often voice concerns about "the growing
Navajo abuse of peyote" or use of it outside of religious contexts (see
Frisbie 1987:198-200, 294-95, 311).
The Churchof Jesus Christ of Latter-daySaints. The second religious
group, LDS or Mormons, began mission work among Southwest Indians in the 1850s and baptized its first Navajo converts by 1877 (Blanchard 1977:108, 111, 112). However, work among the Navajos did not
reallybegin to expand until 1949, when the churchestablished its Southwest Indian Mission (Blanchard 1977:113). Recent estimates of LDS
churches and missions among the Navajos range from fifteen (Dolaghan
and Scates 1978:xi) to forty-seven (Beaver 1979:365), and baptisms are
noted at about twenty thousand (Beaver 1979:365). According to a
NavajoTimesreport ( 1978: A-2), the growth rate of Navajomembership
in the LDS church is five hundred to one thousand per year and steady.
While not necessarily encouraging the perpetuation of Navajo traditions and culture, the church does tolerate them, at least until one becomes fully educated in the doctrines of LDS, and wishes to enter the
priesthood of Melchizedek. Thus, for most Navajos, while LDS opposition to tea, coffee, alcohol, tobacco, and peyote may precipitate some
behavioral changes, there is little pressure to abandon traditional religion because of LDS membership (see Blanchard 1977; Rapoport
1954; Aberle 1982a; Frisbie 1987:200-201).29
EvangelicalProtestantism.The third religious movement, evangelical
Protestantism, began in the 1950s and thus, as of 1990, is the most
29. Dr. George Lee, Peter MacDonald's chosen running mate after the August 1990
primary, is a former president of Ganado College and was the highest ranking Indian in
the LDS Church until his September 1, 1989 excommunication. After MacDonald's October conviction, the MacDonald/Lee team was removed from the Presidentialballot. Lee
petitioned the Navajo Board of Election Supervisors, and was allowed to run as one of
two write-in candidates in the November 20th Presidential election. Although his choice
of Anderson Tully, who had just lost his bid for reelection to the Council as a delegate
from Teesto-Dilkon Chapters, as his running mate was viewed as unwise by some (Navajo
Times19901:A-5), Lee actually won in more Chapters than Leonard Haskie. When hindsight facilitates the untangling of all of the threads, the impact of Lee's political associations and choices, and his status as an excommunicated Mormon will need to be assessed.
It will also be worth monitoring what effect, if any, Lee's activities have on Mormon
missionizing efforts on the reservation. It is interesting that his first half-page ad in the
NavajoTimes( 1990k:A-5), designed before he selected a running mate, included preservation of cultural and traditional values (preserving and protecting Navajo language, history,
NavajoReligion *
491
recent (Dolaghan and Scates 1978; Scates 1981). Unlike other types of
Protestantism, this movement is characterizedby an emphasis on fundamental, charismatic religion. While few of these denominations/sects
existed on the reservationbefore 1950, since then they have multiplied
rapidly.Over half of the Navajoswho now see themselves as Protestants
identify with evangelicalchurches;from 1950 to 1977, 308 new congregations were started and over 8,000 new members became affiliated
with them. Pentecostals account for at least 100 of these missions (see
Dolaghan and Scates 1978:41ff; Beaver 1979:365). At present, evangelical revivals,camp meetings, miracle-healing crusades, gospel-music
jamborees, and fellowship meetings continue to be popular and apparent. Advance notices of their activities are usually found in the Navajo
Times,and, during the last fifteen years, some have become annual summer events.
Unlike most of the religions discussed earlier,evangelical Protestantism is usually exclusivist and opposed to traditional religion, as well as
other beliefs and practices. Belief in Satan'spower is strong, and traditional religion and its paraphernaliaare defined as evil, symptomatic of
the Devil, and in need of destruction (see Frisbie 1987:201-16).
In addition to revivals,evangelisticmovements have other characteristics: the renewal and heightening of faith; the promise of acquiring a
number of special gifts of the Spirit through conversion; and a sense of
liberation and experience of shared spiritual ecstasy.There are nine special gifts of the Spirit: glossolalia (speaking in tongues), prophecy,
new interpretations of the Bible, faith, wisdom, knowledge, power of
healing, recognition of spirits, and performanceof miracles (see Rosten
1975:592).
Originating from schisms in establishment churches, these small sects
in America have been assisted by freedom of religion, and within Protestantism, free access to the Bible. As McLoughlin (1959:465) notes, by
the 1930s America was characterized by two national Protestant religions: liberal Protestantism and pietistic Fundamentalism. The latter
stresses literal interpretationsof the Bible, and the seeking of perfection
and lifeway) and spiritual values ("strengthen relationship with religious and Deity")
among other campaign concerns. The next week, a brand new ad targeted none of those
issues (NavajoTimes19901:A-5).
Other Mormon news has been sparse in recent issues of the Navajo Times.The one
interesting exception is a letter to the editor (NavajoTimes 1990g:A-5), protesting the
claim that one of the satanic symbols, the "devil cult pentagram," is a Mormon emblem.
492 *
Journal
of the Southwest
or holiness within personal life. Achieving perfection is usually facilitated by adopting a "puritan"morality and by an experiential approach
to religion, which typically includes strong emotional reactions. It is
important to realize that Fundamentalistsinclude numerous denominations and sects and a wide variety of attitudes toward Biblicism, emotionalism, millennialism, social withdrawal, and mysticism. Among such
groups on the reservation are the Church of the Nazarenes, Christian
MissionaryAlliance (both Perfectionistsin Clark's[1937:51-84] terms),
and the charismatic or Pentecostal sects, which seek reception of gifts
from the Holy Spirit, including those of trance, vision, speaking in
tongues, and so forth. Pentecostals are also divided into myriaddenominations and sects.
On one level, the surge of evangelism on the reservationreflects the
national surge in both Pentecostalismand charismaticmovements within
the Catholic and most Protestant faiths in the 1960s and 1970s (see
Rosten 1975:590-97; Beaver 1979; Anderson 1979; Williams 1989).
The success of the evangelical movement among the Navajos has been
attributed to increased numbers of Navajo pastors, camp churches, and
revivals; strong Navajo leadership; people-centered preaching; instruction of entire families; the ability to meet a variety of felt needs; and an
emphasis on the supernaturalpower availableto Christians (Dolaghan
and Scates 1978:53-60). Holmes (1985), who labels these congregations "NavajoNative ChristianChurches,"characterizesthem as "autochthonous, autonomous, and autocephalous" and discusses how they are
distinguishable by the participants5perceptions of the nature of these
groups. Beaver (1979:38-41) notes that the Navajoversion of the evangelical movement is uniquely characterizedby a large growth of nonaffiliated, independent congregations led by unordained, charismatic
Navajo pastors; he feels that this development is potentially divisive.
Of all of the religions currently representedon the reservation,from
my experience, the evangelical Protestants presently pose the strongest
challenge to the future of traditional religion. In part, this stems from
their exclusivist stance that leaves no room for multiple religious affiliations. In part, it derives from the position that traditional religion and
its paraphernaliaare the work of the Devil and thus, are in need of active
destruction. In response to evidence of the latter,late in 1977 concerned
traditionalistsand others formulated a resolution against furtherdesecration and destruction; it receivedTribal Council approvalon February2,
1978. While such activities have apparently now diminished, many
Navajos who are not "new Protestants" remain concerned about the
NavajoReligion *
493
exclusivism and intolerance of these sects/denominations. Although
some additional information is available (see Hodge 1964; Lamphere
1977; Blanchard 1977; Rapoport 1954; Bowden 1981; Beaver 1979;
Frisbie 1987; Dolaghan and Scates 1978; Scates 1981; Aberle 1982a;
and Holmes 1985), to assess their growth and impact, anthropologists
and others remainin serious need of a comprehensive study of all aspects
of these ever-emerging congregations.30
RECENT ATTEMPTS TO PRESERVE AND PERPETUATE
TRADITIONAL RELIGION
In addition to the changes alreadydiscussed, severalother post- 1950,
on-reservation developments need at least brief mention. Among these
are trends toward holistic health care, the Rough Rock Mental Health
Training Program, and the Navajo Medicine Men's Association. All of
these developments were stimulated by concerns about the future of
traditional religion in view of inroads made by other religions, socioeconomic developments, changes in lifestyle, and increasedutilization of
western medicine. In the late 1960s and early 1970s there was a resurgence of interest in ethnic and cultural identity, preservationof cultural
heritage and resources, Red Power, and other phenomena. Together the
developments represent attempts to perpetuate traditional religion by
training singers in "a new way,"by increasingcooperation between practitioners of Navajo and western healing arts, and by increasingthe political influence of ceremonialists31while simultaneously preserving and
promoting the traditional religion.
The trend toward holistic health care, which is now defined as an
30. Scates reported during the Fifth Annual Navajo Studies Conference that among
his current activities is work on a book on indigenous churches. Rodgers's(1990) report,
which is based on responses from Chapters, includes lists of churches. It shows no
churchesin the Shonto, Coalmine Mesa, White Cone, Hogback, and Chichiltah Chapters;
as noted earlier, in the latter case there are no civic or commercial headings on the data.
Just looking at the plethora of names for churches in this report, of which Arthur Jake's
Church, The Door, Potter'sHouse, and God's Army are only samples, should alert readers
to the magnitude of the problem. It is important to remember that sometimes independent churches change their names when pastors change. In one case known to me, in the
past eight years the same group has had at least five religious leaders and five names,
including Potter'sHouse, The Door, Victory Chapel, and Grace Fellowship Full Gospel.
31. Ceremonialists have always had political influence. See Frisbie 1986a for a discussion of the situation before 1970, as well as Frisbie 1987. Present indicators are numerous
and include the involvement of medicine people in published exchanges of opinions about
a potential Navajo Constitution.
494 *
Journal of the Southwest
integration of the holistic Navajo healing arts and the western medical
system (known first through the services of BIA doctors and medical
missionaries), had its seeds in cooperative attitudes of a few doctors,
singers, and political leaders in the early 1900s. For the most part, however, until the 1950s, mistrust and competition between the two approaches were the norm (see Shepardson 1982:203-5; Iverson 1983:
42-44; Bergman 1983).
After 1950, improvements were made in the deliveryof western medical services on the reservation and by 1953 progress was evident in
treating tuberculosis and other infectious diseases. Through the efforts
of Annie Wauneka and others, Navajo utilization of both health care
systems was encouraged. The Navajo-Cornell Field Health Research
Project at Many Farms,Arizona (1955-62), included a serious attempt
to educate both Anglo and Navajo healersabout one another'sskills and
knowledge (see Adair and Deuschle 1970) and to facilitatecooperation
ratherthan competition.
The interest in a biculturalapproachto health carecontinued to grow
thereafter,being reflected in the use of practitionersfrom both systems,
both outside and, as of 1962 in Tuba City, within hospitals. Singers are
being asked to bless medical facilities, and ceremonial hogans are being
constructed adjacent to medical facilities. Tribal government support,
first expressed through the Navajo Health Authority (1972-81), continues through the Division of Health Improvement Services (1977 to
present). The Health Authority, established by TribalCouncil resolution
CJN 44-72 on June 2, 1972, and its Office of Native Healing Sciences
promoted integration of the two approaches as well as the protection,
transmission,and preservationof traditionalhealing arts.32Among more
recent examples of continuing interest in holistic approaches are the
Kayenta Community-based Cancer Control Program (1978) and the
Chinle Comprehensive Health Care Facility (1982), the firstNavajohospital to include an interior hogan-shaped native healing science room.
Utilization policies for the room were hammered out by lay Navajos,
ceremonialists, and Indian Health Service (IHS) personnel, and were
approved in June 1983. The publication of Nanise*(Mayes and Lacy
32. For a while, Oswald Werner'sNIMH-funded Navajo Ethno-Medical Encyclopedia project was contracted to the Navajo Health Authority. During the Fifth Annual
Navajo Studies Conference, Martha Austin Garrison summarized the contents of the ten
volumes that resulted from this project.Transcribedin Navajo, to date they remainunpublished. For the resultsof another project, see Begishe, Austin, Werner,Werner,et al. ( 1981).
NavajoBjdigion *
495
1989) makes accessible the results of another Navajo Health Authority
project, that on Navajoethnobotany. While much remainsto be done in
the areaof holistic health care (see Kunitz and Levy 1981; Kunitz 1983;
Levy 1983), the trend is established,33and traditional Navajo religion
has won respect from many outsiders as a viable medico-religious approach to life (see Shepardson 1982; Fillmore 1988). Navajoshope that
the 1990-93 NIMH-funded, comparativestudy of variableapproaches
to treating alcoholism and war-relatedpsychological stress among veterans (see Chronology) will result in similar respect from the U.S. Department of VeteransAffairs.
Another recent development designed to help perpetuate the traditional religion and to increase cooperation between western and native
healing arts was the Rough Rock Demonstration School's Mental
Health Training Program for Medicine Men and Women. The program,
begun in 1968 as a pilot project after a year of discussion, was based on
a "need recognized by the Public Health Service and the local people for
the continued services of the Navajo medicine men55(Dahlberg 1968:
18). As such, it focused on the preservation of ceremonial knowledge,
the teaching of principles of Navajo therapeutic healing, and the preservation of Navajo psychotherapy.
The program had NIMH support from 1969 through July 31, 1983.
While reports and statistics are problematical and contradictory (see
Aberle 1982a:228-29; Frisbie 1987:259-68), funds supported a director, instructors, and trainees as well as occasional seminars for Anglo
and Navajo medical practitioners.The instructional model was triadic;
ideally each instructor hired by the all-Navajoschool board worked with
two students and each taught a different ceremony. Except for the outside funding, the triadic feature, supervision by a director, and the omission of the usual gifts to teachers during apprenticeships because of
stipend support, training formats were traditional. Apprentices learned
by oral transmission34at the instructor'shogan, and at ceremonies the
teacher performed. Procedures for signaling successful completion of
33. The work of Dr. Roger Greyeyes (1990) is just one example of the continuing
trend. At the Fifth Annual Navajo Studies Conference, he shared his efforts to integrate
Navajo and western medicine in understanding and treating panic disorders.
34. See Aberle (1982a:228) for comments on why taping was frowned upon; some
students did use mnemonic notebooks, however, with instructors' approval (see Frisbie
1987:262), and some graduates continue to use such notebooks during ceremonial
performances.
496 *
Journal of the Southwest
were traditionalexceptfor the awardingof graduation
apprenticeships
certificates.
The firstclassgraduatedthreenew medicinemen and one medicine
womanin 1972; at thattime,eightmorewerebeingtrained.After1972,
figuresvary;Aberle(1982a:228), on the basisof 1981 data,reports91
graduates,81 of whom were still alive. Hadley told me in 1983 that
since 1969, therehad been 104 graduates,"14 or 15" of whom were
women, and "16 to 20" of whom were dead as of November1983
(Frisbie1987:264; see also 266-67 for other statistics).In 1982-83
therewasone instructorandthreetrainees,one of whomfinishedby the
time NIMH fundingended.
While outsidersdo not havethe dataneededto ascertaineitherthe
short- or long-termeffectivenessof the Mental HealthTrainingProgram,it is obvious that despitecriticism(see Frisbie1987:265, 268),
duringits existenceit perpetuatedtraditionalnativehealingartsto some
degreein the portionsof the reservationit served.It is alsoobviousthat
in a wage-workmarketeconomy,somekindof supportmustunderwrite
apprenticeshipsif interestedNavajosare to learnto become qualified
Whilelearningdoes continueon a one-to-one
ceremonialpractitioners.
in
basis,as was true the past, the numberscurrentlybeing taughtand
the ceremonialsbeing transmittedare unknown. It is impossibleto
knowif the numbersaresufficientto perpetuatetraditionalreligioninto
the twenty-firstcentury.35
Two other significantdevelopmentsrelatedto traditionalreligion
began in the 1970s: the firstattemptto assemblea directoryof ceremonialistsand the firstattemptto organizesingerspolitically(see Frisbie 1985, 1987; FrisbieandTso n.d.). Both effortswere among those
undertakenby the Officeof NativeHealing Sciences(OHNS) within
the NavajoHealth Authority(NHA). Data collectionfor the "Directory"beganin 1972 underthe leadershipof CarlGormanandwas continuedby his threesuccessorsat ONHS through1981,when the NHA
was disbanded.The idea was to have an agency-byagency list of all
and
their
ceremonialpractitioners,
specialties,locations, so forth.When
35. The hope of establishing a comparable training program at Navajo Community
College, Tsaile,Arizona (see Walters 1988b), remains, although after the 1988 administrative, faculty, and program changes, realization will be long-term, at best. A recent feasibility study done to assess the impact of the Tribe beginning to contract some IHS functions
identified the Mental Health Training Program as one of the "past, lost, successful programs"possibly open to reestablishmentin a contracting situation (NavajoTimes1990g: 1).
NavajoReligion *
497
work on the "Directory35came to a halt in 1981, 1,029 specialists had
been identified, as mentioned earlier.These included herbalists,diagnosticians, singers of Blessingway and curing chants, and NAC practitioners.
Initial discussions concerning a medicine men's association were
spearheaded by Gorman and Miller Nez, and organizational attempts
were begun in the spring of 1976 in response to increasedcomplaints in
Window Rock about the destruction of sacred paraphernalia(jish) by
evangelical Protestant church leaders (such as in Lower Greasewood in
Marchof that year). The goal was to establish a formal, nonprofit organization that would have political clout and support, and would, among
other things, identify and license qualified singers.36After a series of
reservation-wide meetings, an interim committee approved the name
"DineBe>AzeeIilHini>
Tee'Ahofa??"The Unity of NavajoMedicine Men."
The Plan of Operation and Bylaws were approved on February2, 1978;
on August 3, 1978 the Articles of Incorporation were adopted and the
first officers of the board were elected.
Attempts to secure an approvedcharterfrom the Council failed in the
spring of 1978, in 1979, and most recently on February 14, 1980. Despite these failures and the fact that some Navajos, both singers and
laypeople, remained opposed to the idea, the Medicine Men's Association became socially and politically active. They fought to preserve the
San Francisco Peaks and other sacred areas, provided religious services
to New Mexico penitentiary inmates, drafted the Tribal Council resolution CF-20-78 against the destruction and desecration of religious
paraphernaliaand succeeded in getting it passed on February2, 1978.
In addition, the Association encouraged implementation of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act after 1978, requested the return of
medicine bundles from museums (1979), served as an informational
resource during a lawsuit against a minister for jish destruction (1979),
worked with culture resourcemanagement people, and assisted the IHS
to develop policies for the use of the native healing science room in the
Chinle hospital. Their efforts have continued despite the disbanding of
the NHA/ONHS; while board meetings have become less frequent because of finances, the group remains extant and, as of July 1985, reported four hundred members (see Frisbie 1987:291-93).
36. The question of whether NAC roadmen should be licensed was brought before
the thirty-sixth intertribal annual NAC conference in Window Rock, Arizona, in September 1985. After much discussion, the group established a task force to study the issue
{GallupIndependent1985: 1). The idea was later abandoned.
498 <• Journal
of the Southwest
Subsequent years have brought new officers, revision of the Articles
of Incorporation, and a new name, The Dineh Spiritual and Cultural
Society of Navajoland. In 1990, the group conducted a summer symposium, continued efforts to document and protect sacred areas, provided religious services to penitentiary inmates, and held prayers for
world peace and the safety of Navajosoldiers serving in the Middle East.
The group continued discussion of the appropriatenessof increasingly
popular traditional song and dance contests (which some view as commercialization of religion),37implemented the ceremonial cleansing of
the Window Rock site of the 1989 shootings,38and supported the proposed Tribal-U.S. Department of VeteransAffairs comparative evaluation of treatment modes availablefor Navajo veterans.The commitment
to educating others about the value of Navajohealing arts also continues
to be apparent in individuals' participation in seminars, symposia, and
the now annual culture conferences. The conference held June 16-17,
1990 focused on jealousy (Navajo Times 1990c: 12; 1990d:2; 1990f:
A-2).
While Navajo medicine people understand the importance of educating others, to date I know of no ceremonialists who have become actively involved in the New Age Movement, which continues to grow as
more people seek alternative realities, new ultimate truths, and more
esoteric answers to questions of personal healing, power, and wellbeing. Navajo medicine people have yet to set up institutes to teach
37. In the past few years,traditional song and dance contests have become much more
frequent. In many places, they are being viewed as the easiest, most efficient way to raise
money to support school class trips, band trips, community causes, and the like. As AS
said, "they'rethe big way to raise funds now." Sometimes they are even called "Benefit
Song and Dance." It should be noted that powwows can also be used as fund raisers,
sometimes to support other powwows.
38. In a Navajo Times(1990g:A-l) photograph, Taylor Dixon, current president of
the group, is shown assisting Nevy James, Sr. during the September 11th performanceof
an Evilway cleansing ceremony. Coverage of the event in the Navajo Nation Messenger
(1990:1) indicates that this is the first in a series of ceremonies and prayersthe group has
decided to conduct in order to cleanse, heal, and restoreorder. In this same article, Dixon,
while explaining the responsibility medicine people have for restoring order, is credited
with saying their concerns are not political but rather involve praying and singing for
individual Navajos and for the government. As Brugge ( 1990) noted, it may be possible
to draw analogies between this use of an Evilway cleansing ritual for effect on a tribal scale
and the earlier naachid.To do so, however, would entail further clarificationof the problematic naachid (see Frisbie 1986a:83-85), which I no longer think is possible, and an
explanation of how this use of Evilway differs from other uses of Navajo ceremonies, the
results of which radiate out beyond the one-sung-over and that person'srelatives to ultimately encompass all Navajos.
NavajoBxligion *
499
curing ceremonies or "shamanism"to international outsiders; they have
yet to become leadersof spiritual pilgrimages, or to respond to the New
Age Movement in any of the other ways identified by Joralemon (1990).
Perhapsone could argue, however, that the commercialization of sandpainting (see Parezo 1983), and the fact that some ceremonialistsadvertise or arewilling to performoff-reservationfor non-Navajos (see Frisbie
1980, 1987), indicate that responses to this movement are among the
possibilities that some of today's ceremonialists may find appealing in
the future.
THE FUTURE
The future of Navajotraditional religion, or any religion, is not easily
predicted, especially by outsiders. While social scientists may feel that
investments of time, energy, emotions, and careers enhance their own
predictive skills, the future of Navajo religion ultimately rests in Navajo
hands. However, outsiders seem to feel obligated to make predictions if
for no other reason than to enhance or perpetuate scholarly dialogue.
Severalpredictions about Navajo religion have been made; some see
Peyotism becoming incorporated into the traditional repertoire as just
another chantway. While it is clear that many Navajos now include
Peyotism in their definitions of "traditionalreligion," I do not foresee
complete fusion of Peyotism with the older religion. Despite joint meetings and examplesof ideological or conceptual incorporation, at present
there seem to be enough people interested in keeping the NAC and
traditionalreligion separate(for a varietyof reasons) to make me suspect
that these will remain so, at least for the rest of this century.
Aberle ( 1982b :xlvii-xlviii) discusses his expectations of a future
polarized situation wherein traditionalists,NAC members, and mainline
Christians (with or without multiple affiliations) will constitute one
side, and exclusivist, evangelical Protestants, the other. I not only concur, but would also suggest that at least through 1981, various factions
in the former side were attempting alignments in order to oppose the
latter side more effectively. Since 1981, more compartmentalizedopposition has prevailedwithin what appearsto be an increasingly pervasive
religious tolerance and complacency. Whether stimulated by the widespread discussion of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act, the
severity of external pressures,or other factors, I now sense an increased
500 *
Journal
of the Southwest
willingness among many Navajosto let each individual pursue whatever
options make sense as long as these do not destroy options others want
to preservefor themselves or for future generations.
Some predict that the evangelicalProtestantswill successfullydestroy
all other religious options. I find this hard to imagine, given the multiplicity and instability of the religious affiliations now characteristicof
the Navajos, and the fact that evangelical exclusivism contradicts the
tolerance, accommodation, and flexibility exemplified by traditionalreligion, as well as guaranteed religious freedom and Navajo pragmatism.
Some, such as Wood (1982:184), include total syncretism in scenarios of the future, or a Navajo religion that consists of a fusion, blend,
or combination of all previously separate, thriving options. To predict
such syncretismseems to me to ignore the basic fact that Navajoreligion
has significance beyond that of providing a set of answers to universal
questions and needs; it is Navajo, and in its distinctiveness expresses
identity, uniqueness, integrity, and cultural heritage. Interest in expressing such nationalism has been strong since the late 1960s, and one of the
most direct ways of promoting it is through the preservationof Navajo
language and traditional culture, including traditional religion. It is no
wonder that the secular uses of this religion can be identified and discussed (see Fransted 1982) or that political, social, ecological, health
care, and other uses of this heritage remain important.
Since 1985, one of the most powerful uses of traditional religion to
emerge is in the field of education, with the development of the Dine
Philosophy of Learning (DPL). Explicated in TheJournal of NavajoEducation,DineBeHina\ and increasinglyin the organization and content of
Navajo studies conferences, the DPL is holistic and stresses the connectedness of knowledge. As Benally (1987) explains, the foundations of
the DPL are in the Navajo creation story, which underscoresthe importance of traditional values and beliefs for sustaining harmonious, balanced living and personal as well as culturalresilience.The DPL balances
four categories of Navajo knowledge associated with the four cardinal
directions. When the four categories meet, they produce the desired
condition, hozhq,wherein individuals live in harmony with others and
with nature. As McNeley (1988) indicates, the DPL provides a\culturally sensitive, professionallyvalid, and exciting answerto the nationwide
call for educational reform.The Fifth Annual NavajoStudies Conference
(October 1990) was organized around the four categories of knowledge: "in the East, knowledge for sound decisionsderives from weighed
NavajoReligion *
501
values; in the South, knowledge for earning a living is learned and practiced; in the West, knowledge for socialwell-beingand human relationship
is nurtured; and in the North, knowledge for respectfor and reverence
for
nature is learned and maintained." It also included plenary sessions and
symposia dealing with the relationships between religion and science,
Navajo culture and western science, and between the four bodies of
knowledge and harmony/balance.The DPL is now guiding educational
reform at Navajo Community College, and the intent is that, in the
future, it will become the guiding principle for Navajo education at all
levels. Needless to say, it stresses the importance of traditional Navajo
religion in a number of ways.
During the 1985 School of American Research seminar dialogues,
which were off-reservation and prior to the emergence of DPL discussions, some of my colleagues predicted the demise of traditional religious beliefs and practices within the present century. Others, without
dating the demise, focused on what they saw as an ongoing "inward
collapse" of traditional religion. Some, while predicting reduced complexity, argued for the maintenance of a "basic polarity" reflected in
Blessingway and Enemyway (Henderson 1982: 174). As the seminar participants know, I am more optimistic, perhaps because of stronger conditioning to think in terms of continuity!
Given the pragmatism, individualism, eclecticism, and heterogeneity
of the Navajos and the continuing fluidity, flexibility, and strength of
traditional religion, which can be historically documented as well as
contemporarily illustrated, I suspect that traditional religion will continue into the next century as one of the many options to which the
People can turn for healing, support, solace, and answers. There is no
immediate reason to suspect that traditional religion, which has already
withstood a variety of enormous internal and external pressures, will
suddenly lose its resilience.Why should age-old flexibility, accommodation, tolerance, and inclusiveness cease? Why should traditional epistemology, which has long supported the continual process of adaptation, fail?Why should traditional ceremonialists and those who depend
on their services lose interest in supplementing their repertoirethrough
innovation, borrowing, reviving older "extinct"practices,or by expanding etiological factors,extending use to new situations, reevaluatingcontent, or redefining performance frames?Competitive options will continue to come and go because the future will not be static or devoid of
new problems, new experiments, new religious movements, and new
502 *
Journal
of the Southwest
strategies. Likewise, the skills the Navajos have now developed that enable them to balance the numerous demands of time, energy, and money
from multiple religious affiliationswill continue to be utilized until such
time as the Navajosthemselves decide that one or more of these options
have become powerless, meaningless, and thus no longer worthy of belief, practice, participation, and perpetuation.
Documenting temporal change in Navajo religion in the future so
that we may eventually understand it will continue to be an enormous
task. There is much we do not know about the changes that have already
occurred, and the future will undoubtedly bring expanded complexity.
As we perpetuate our own needs as outsiders to understand and document the future of Navajo religion, it seems clear that our efforts must
become more united, comprehensive, expansive, and detailed. We need
to address a number of issues; a few of these have already been mentioned in this essay, and several more follow. For example, we need to
do a more comprehensive job of documenting religious affiliations
across the reservation and the motivating factors that support them as
well as taking note of their stability or instability through time. Somehow we need to be able to document the quantity and quality of ongoing efforts to transmit traditional ceremonialism to future generations
and to gauge the amount and importance of political support for "traditional culture."Without concrete data it is next to impossible to move
beyond generalizations about broad trends into more comprehensive
understandings of such issues as innovations, variable rates of change,
reasons for successes and failures, secularization, syncretism, resilience,
resistance, resurgence, and renaissance.
Likewise, it is important to understand that religious changes do not
occur in a vacuum, but instead are intricately interwoven with broader
changes in both external and internal forces, such as socioeconomics,
education, health care, politics, values, and the quality of life. Additionally, since today's Navajos are caught up in the same mainstream issues
that are affecting many of the world's peoples, understanding their future and the future of their religious options rests on understandingthe
impact of the following forces: environmental destruction; ethnicity;
the ecumenical Christian movement; energy extraction; the acceptance
of psychosomatic medicine; religious freedom and Supreme Court interpretations thereof; evangelical fundamentalism; external political
domination and internal political turmoil; enforced relocation; missioni-
NavajoReligion *
503
zation efforts; poverty; and the welfare dole. The job ahead is a large
one; given its multifaceted challenges and the continuing resilience and
dynamism of both traditional religion and the Navajos, it is clear that no
single researchstrategy will provide all of the answers. *
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