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Native
American Indian Navajo Sand
Paintings |
| The Navajo
Sand Painting is a symbolic representation of some portion of Navajo mythology and is a big
part of the lengthy curing rites, sand paintings are used
by most tribes in the Southwest. The Navajo Indians have developed
the sand painting art
to the
greatest degree and have between 600 and 1000 separate sand painting
designs. |
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Native
American Indian Navajo Sand
Paintings |
| In the sandpainting of southwestern Native Americans
(the most famous of which are the Navajo), the Medicine Man (or Hatałii)
paints loosely upon the ground of a hogan, where the ceremony takes
place, or on a buckskin or cloth tarpaulin, by letting the colored
sands flow through his fingers with control and skill. There are
600 to 1000 different traditional designs for sandpaintings which
are known to the Navajo. They do not view the paintings as static
objects, but as spiritual, living beings to be treated with great
respect. More than 30 different sandpaintings may be associated with
one ceremony. |
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The Navajo
Sand Painting is a symbolic representation of some portion of Navajo mythology and is a big
part of the lengthy curing rites and is used by most tribes
in the Southwest. The Navajo Indians have developed them to
the greatest degree and have between 600 and 1000 separate
designs.
What are Sand Paintings made from?
The Navajo Sand Painting is
made using pulverized minerals and charcoal to form patterns, at times pollen
and corn meal may also be used. The size of the Navajo Sand Painting can vary
so much that it may become so large that it requires a dozen or more persons
working all day to create. The Navajo Sand Painting is created and destroyed
between sunrise and sunset of one day. |
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| Is there meaning to the colors used
in Navajo Sand Paintings? |
| Colors used in the Navajo Sand Paintings are usually
symbolic of direction; as a general rule white is east, yellow is
west, black (a male color) is north and blue (female) is south; red
represents sunshine. |
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| What are Navajo Sand Paintings used
for? |
| The person for whom the Navajo
Sand Painting is being created is usually seated on the Navajo Sand Painting after it is completed
and parts of it are placed on his body. Through the rituals the
person becomes purified and by identifying in this way with the
deities invoked thru the sand paintings, he gains power from them
and overcomes the evil causing the illness and thereby walks again
in beauty and is in harmony with the universe. The sand painting
absorbs the evil and then the Sand Painting is
ceremonially buried. |
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