The Mountain Chant, A Navajo Ceremony : Fifth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1883-84, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1887, pages 379-468

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Matthews, Washington, 1843-1905

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource : multiple file formats

Place of Publication:

Salt Lake City, UT : Project Gutenberg,

Summary:

"The Mountain Chant: A Navajo Ceremony" by Dr. Washington Matthews is an ethnographic account written in the late 19th century. The work focuses on the ceremonial practices of the Navajo tribe, particularly the Mountain Chant, which involves intricate rituals performed by shamans or medicine men. The text provides insights into the cultural and spiritual beliefs of the Navajo people, showcasing their connection to the land and the supernatural through various ceremonies and myths. The opening of the text introduces the Mountain Chant ceremony, describing its significance as one of the major Navajo rites intended for healing and invoking blessings for good harvests. Matthews notes that while the ceremony features a series of public performances, it also comprises numerous secret rituals that span several days. He begins by recounting a myth that explains the ceremony's origins and the importance of the characters involved, particularly a family that discovers a life-sustaining spring and their subsequent adventures. As the narrative unfolds, readers encounter themes of survival, spirituality, and the transmission of knowledge within the Navajo community, setting the stage for a deeper exploration of these cultural practices throughout the text. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Credits:

Produced by Louise Hope, Carlo Traverso, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (BnF/Gallica) at http://gallica.bnf.fr and by First-Hand History at http://www.1st-hand-history.org)

Notes:

Reading ease score: 76.2 (7th grade). Fairly easy to read.

Release date is 2007-03-17