The number four is sacred to the Navajo. They assume all earth’s cycles are harmoni- ous and come in fours: four winds, four seasons, and four directions. The center of Dinetah (Navajoland) is Canyon de Chelley in Arizona. Four sacred mountains protect Navajoland. The four sacred mountains represent the four directions and are Mount Hesperus (North), La Plata Mountains, Colorado; Mount Taylor (South), Laguna, New Mexico; Mount Blanca (East), San Luis Valley, Colorado; and San Francisco Peaks (West), Flagstaff, Arizona. There are also four basic colors: black, blue, yellow, and white. The Navajo also believe that they have journeyed from a dark world full of perils to the fourth world of light, the turquoise world. The Dine call Navajo Mountain in southeast Utah “Turquoise” Mountain and consider it a sacred place. Achieving the four ideals of beauty, peace, happiness and righteousness leads to Hozho (spiritual balance and harmony with the Creator and nature). The Navajo have developed an extensive set of customs, prohibitions, songs, and ceremonies to help them maintain Hozho. Sickness is believed to derive from lack of spiritual balance or failure to follow the customs or prohibitions that maintain Hozho.
Overall, the Navajo have a real fear of the spirits or ghosts of their dead. The spirits of the dead are thought to be able to take the shape of natural objects. For example, spirits may take the shape of whirlwinds or lightning. Contact with these spirits or dreaming about someone who has died may result in lack of Hozho (spiritual balance) and sick- ness. To re-establish Hozho, a hand trembler (a spiritual diagnostician) will determine the cause of sickness. Then a singer (medicine man) will perform an appropriate cer- emony to bring about the cure, restoring spiritual harmony and balance. Some specific ceremonies that are thought to remedy contact with spirits of the dead include
• Enemy Way: checks the influences of ghosts or living enemies • Shooting Way: counteracts influences of lightning • Wind Way: removes sickness resulting from whirlwinds • Upward Reaching Way: fights ghost movement up from the underworld
General bereavement customs. One custom that some indigenous people retain is not talking about an impending death to family or friends. To do so would mean the speaker wishes the person who is ill to die. Discussions about death can occur but should be indirect and use the third person. In addition, because some tribes also fear the spirits of the dead, talking about the dead may be considered impolite and the deceased’s name is never spoken aloud. Any discussions about the deceased that must occur are indirect and use the third person.
Giveaways are another tradition; some or all the belongings of the deceased are bequeathed to friends. Personal effects are given away because they have been important in the person’s life. Families usually give belongings to those tribal members who have influenced the life of the deceased or provided support to them over time. In times past, when a male inmember of the Sioux tribe died, it was the custom to give away his home and all of his belongings. Someone in the tribe then became responsible to provide for the surviving family.
Some tribes may also believe that an infant becomes a formal member of the clan or tribe only when the baby has received a clan name. If the infant was given a tribal name, a tradi- tional funeral is held. If the naming has not taken place, a small family funeral is planned.
VOICES FROM THE COMMUNITY: CROSS CULTURAL EXPRESSIONS OF GRIEF AT THE LOSS OF AN INFANT 19
This covers it all
The Earth and the Most High Power whose ways are beautiful All is beautiful before me All is beautiful behind me All is beautiful above me All is beautiful around me
—NAVAJO SONG
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