MINDELEFF] HOUSE DEDICATION SONGS 509 
rain and light rain. The heavy rain, such as accompanies thunder- 
storms, is regarded as the “‘male rain,” while the gentle showers or 
“young rains,” coming directly from the house of Estsanatlehi, are 
regarded as especially beneficent; but both are deemed necessary to 
fertilize. A distinction is also made between ‘‘hard possessions,” such 
as turquois and coral beads, shell ornaments, and all articles made trom 
hard substances, and ‘‘soft possessions,” which comprise blankets and 
all textile substances, skins, etc. The Navaho prays that his house 
may cover many of both hard and soft possessions. 
The songs given above are known as the twelve house-songs, although 
there are only two songs, each repeated twelve times. These are sung 
with many variations by the different gagdl‘i, and while the builders 
are preparing for this ceremony they discuss which ga¢dl‘i has the 
best and most beautiful words before they decide which one to engage. 
But the songs are invariably addressed to the deities named, Qastcé- 
yalci, the God of Dawn, and Qastcéqogan, the God of Twilight; and 
they always have the same general significance. 
After the ‘twelve songs” are finished many others are sung: to 
Estsdnatlehi, a benignant Goddess of the West, and to Yol‘kai Estsan, 
the complementary Goddess of the East; to the sun, the dawn, and 
the twilight; to the light and to the darkness; to the six sacred moun- 
tains, and to many other members of a very numerous theogony. 
Other song-prayers are chanted directly to malign influences, beseeching 
them to remain far off: to intcoygi, evil in general; to dakus, coughs 
and lung evils, and to the bi¢akuji, sorcerers, praying them not to 
come near the dwelling. The singing of the songs is so timed that the 
last one is delivered just as the first gray streaks of dawn appear, 
when the visitors round up their horses and ride home. 
THE HOGAN OF THE YEBITCAI DANCE 
Despite the ceremonies which have been performed, it frequently 
happens that malign influences affect the new dwelling. The inmates 
suffer from toothache, or sore eyes, or have bad dreams, or ghosts are 
heard in the night. Then the house ceremony is repeated. If after 
this the conditions still prevail and threatening omens are noted, an 
effort is made to ascertain the cause. Perhaps the husband recalls an 
oceasion when he was remiss in some religious duty, or the wife may 
remember having seen accidentally an unmasked dancer, or they may 
be convinced that a sorcerer, a ¢ilkuji, is practicing his evil art. Such 
malign influences must be due to some definite cause, and it must be 
found. Then, if the cause be grave, resort must be had to a very elabo- 
rate ceremony, the dance of the Yébitcai. 
For the observance of this ceremony it is usual to construct a flat- 
roof hut called iyd¢askuni, meaning, literally, “‘under the flat.” The 
roof is nearly square as well as flat, and the edifice, with its spreading 
