Enemy Way
Encyclopedia
The Enemy Way or is one half of the major Navajo
song ceremonial complexes, the other half being the Blessing Way. The Enemy Way is a traditional ceremony for countering the harmful effects of alien ghosts or chindi
, and has been performed for returning military personnel.
The Enemy Way ceremony involves the patient identifying (through chant, sandpainting
, and dance) with the powerful mythical figure Monster Slayer
. The ceremony lasts three days; on the second morning a mock battle is performed.
Associated with the Enemy Way is a Girl's Dance (sometimes called "Squaw
Dance"), to which young men are invited by marriageable young women. This derives from an aspect of the Monster Slayer myth, in which two captive girls are liberated.
The Enemy Way ceremony is described in Tony Hillerman
's novel The Blessing Way
.
Navajo people
The Navajo of the Southwestern United States are the largest single federally recognized tribe of the United States of America. The Navajo Nation has 300,048 enrolled tribal members. The Navajo Nation constitutes an independent governmental body which manages the Navajo Indian reservation in the...
song ceremonial complexes, the other half being the Blessing Way. The Enemy Way is a traditional ceremony for countering the harmful effects of alien ghosts or chindi
Chindi
In Navajo religious belief, a chindi is the ghost left behind after a person dies, believed to leave the body with the deceased's last breath. It is everything that was bad about the person; the "residue that man has been unable to bring into universal harmony". Traditional Navajo believe that...
, and has been performed for returning military personnel.
The Enemy Way ceremony involves the patient identifying (through chant, sandpainting
Sandpainting
Sandpainting is the art of pouring colored sands, powdered pigments from minerals or crystals, and pigments from other natural or synthetic sources onto a surface to make a fixed, or unfixed sand painting...
, and dance) with the powerful mythical figure Monster Slayer
Navajo mythology
, the Navajo creation story, describes the prehistoric emergence of the Navajos, and centers on the area known as the Dinétah, the traditional homeland of the Navajo people.This story forms the basis for the traditional Navajo way of life...
. The ceremony lasts three days; on the second morning a mock battle is performed.
Associated with the Enemy Way is a Girl's Dance (sometimes called "Squaw
Squaw
Squaw is an English language loan-word, used as a noun or adjective, whose present meaning is an indigenous woman of North America. It is derived from the eastern Algonquian morpheme meaning 'woman' that appears in numerous Algonquian languages variously spelled squa, skwa, esqua, sqeh, skwe, que,...
Dance"), to which young men are invited by marriageable young women. This derives from an aspect of the Monster Slayer myth, in which two captive girls are liberated.
The Enemy Way ceremony is described in Tony Hillerman
Tony Hillerman
Tony Hillerman was an award-winning American author of detective novels and non-fiction works best known for his Navajo Tribal Police mystery novels...
's novel The Blessing Way
The Blessing Way
The Blessing Way is the first of the Navajo Tribal Police series of crime fiction novels by Tony Hillerman and introduces on-going series character Joe Leaphorn.-Plot summary:...
.
External links
- Native Words, Native Warriors, from the National Museum of the American IndianNational Museum of the American IndianThe National Museum of the American Indian is a museum operated under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution that is dedicated to the life, languages, literature, history, and arts of the native Americans of the Western Hemisphere...
- The Navajo Enemy Way Ceremony
- Twin Rocks Trading Post: The Navajo War Dance