Navajo Night Chant

Navajo Nation: Night Chant The Navajos are people that live in the Southwest of the United States, some of the most well-known Native Americans. The Navajo land—or the “Dine Bikeyah”— in the Southwest is quite large, larger than one-fifth of all the states in the United States and has its own government, and still, to this day, maintains a few of the same traditions and myths that their ancestors did. As in most tribes, for the Medicine Men—who are similar to healers—there is a ritual that is done during what is called a medicine ceremony. How long these last depend on the tribe, but for the Navajo—also called the Dine, meaning “people”—their “Kieje Hatal”, or Night Chant, is based on a legend. There were once three brothers who were also Dine—a rich older brother, an insubordinate middle brother, and the growing, youngest brother. The middle problem would gamble away his brothers’ things and come back with fantastical stories which earned him the …show more content…
The Night Chant could be classified as a therapeutic ritual, as it is one meant for healing the people of the tribe. The sand painting of the Navaho tribe is one we learned about in class, and the legend depicts a lot of the knowledge we’ve learned about indigenous tribes as well, such as the origins of sacred items—which is why it is classified as an etiology—and even though the sand paintings are not meant to last, it shows great insight into the Navajo culture. There are several deities in the legend, or “Holy People”, who are called on by the Dine people in the ritual to heal the patient and help them rebalance the world, as it is not uncommon for indigenous religious traditions to have more than one holy person or spirit or god. There are also the themes often heard of in indigenous cultures—that of a harmonious world, one that must remain balanced or the people will face the consequences, such as by getting