Dramatic Elements in American Indian Ceremonials 15 



To know the reason for the type 

 of costuming employed in this alili 

 or show, it is necessary to recall 

 the juncture in Dsilyi' Neyani's su- 

 pernatural experiences where the 

 Butterfly woman cleansed the Nav- 

 ajo and adorned him in such man- 

 ner "as the akaninili . . . is painted 

 and ornamented to this day " — all 

 preparatory to his visits to the 

 abodes of the divine ones. 



Speaking of the prophet and his 

 supernatural guide, the myth re- 

 lates, " They went to ' Valley-Sur- 

 rounded-on-All-Sides-by-Hills' . . . 

 where they found the house of the 

 ' Holy Young Men,' of whom there 

 were four. ... A number of plumed 

 arrows were hanging on the walls, 

 and each young man (one standing 

 in the east, one in the south, one 

 in the west, and one in the north) 

 held such an arrow in his ex- 

 tended right hand. . . . He [Dsilyi' 

 Neyani,] was bidden to observe well 

 how the holy young warriors stood, 

 that he might imitate them in the 

 rites he should establish amongst 

 men." 



And later — " They journeyed to 

 ' Broad Cherry Trees,' where in a 

 house of cherries with a door of 

 lightning, there lived four gods 

 named . . . ' Reared-within-the 

 Mountains ' [the Prophet's patron 

 gods, so to speak, in whose form 

 the Butterfly Woman had recently 

 molded him]. . . . Each held an 

 arrow made of the cliff rose in his 

 extended right hand. The head of 

 the arrow was of stone, the fletch- 

 ingof eagle feathers, and the 'breath 

 feather' of the downy plume of 

 the Tsenahale (Harpy of Navajo 

 mythology). As they held the ar- 

 rows they ejaculated, 'at, ai, ai, at,' 



they all succeeded in burning the 

 downy balls from the ends of their 

 wands. As each accomplished this 

 feat, it became his next duty to 

 restore the ball of down [a jug- 

 gler's trick]. When he succeeded, 

 he held his wand up in triumph, 

 yelped and rushed out of the corral." 



Second Dance 



"After an interval of three quar- 

 ters of an hour, the dance of the 

 kdtso-yisgan, the great plumed ar- 

 row, the potent healing ceremony 

 of the night, began. There were 

 but two performers. They were 

 dressed and arrayed like the akani- 

 nili [' meal sprinkler ' frequently 

 acting in the capacity of sacred 

 messenger], but they bore no meal 

 bags, wore no beaver collars and 

 the parts of their bodies that were 

 not painted black — legs and fore- 

 arms — were daubed with white 

 earth. Instead of the wand of the 

 akaninili, each bore in his hand one 

 of the great plumed arrows. While 

 they were making the usual cir- 

 cuits around the fire, the patient 

 was placed, sitting on a buffalo 

 robe in front of the orchestra. 

 They halted before the patient; 

 each dancer seized his arrow be- 

 tween his thumb and fore-finger 

 about eight inches from the tip, 

 held the arrow up to view, giving 

 a coyote-like yelp, as if to say, ' So 

 far will I swallow it ' and then 

 appeared to thrust the arrow slowly 

 and painfully down his throat as 

 far as indicated. While the arrows 

 seemed still to be stuck in their 

 throats, they danced a 'chasse, right 

 and left' with short, shuflfling steps. 

 Then they withdrew the arrows, 

 and held them up to view as before 

 with triumphant yelps, as if to say, 

 ' So far have I swallowed it.' Sym- 

 pathizers in the audience yelped in 

 response. The next thing to be done 

 was to apply the arrows to various 

 parts of the patient's body. . . . This 

 finished, the sick man and the buf- 

 falo robe were removed. The bear- 



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