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Part 3 (2/2)

Navaho Houses Cosmos Mindeleff 39220K 2022-07-22

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During the day, while the house building was in progress, the women were busily engaged in preparing food; all now gather inside the hogan, a blanket is suspended over the door frame, all the possessions of the family are bought in, sheepskins are spread on the floor, the fire is brightened and the men all squat around it. The women bring in food in earthen cooking pots and basins, and, having set them down among the men, they huddle together by themselves to enjoy the occasion as spectators. Every one helps himself from the pots by dipping in with his fingers, the meat is broken into pieces, and the bones are gnawed upon and sociably pa.s.sed from hand to hand. When the feast is finished tobacco and corn husks are produced, cigarettes are made, everyone smokes, and convivial gossipy talk prevails. This continues for two or three hours, when the people who live near by get up their horses and ride home. Those from a long distance either find places to sleep in the hogan or wrap themselves in their blankets and sleep at the foot of a tree. This ceremony is known as the _qogan aiila_, a kind of salutation to the house.

But the _qogan bigi'n_, the house devotions, have not yet been observed.

Occasionally these take place as soon as the house is finished, but usually there is an interval of several days to permit the house builders to invite all their friends and to provide the necessary food for their entertainment. Although a.n.a.logous to the Anglo-Saxon ”house warming,” the _qogan bigi'n_, besides being a merrymaking for the young people, has a much more solemn significance for the elders. If it be not observed soon after the house is built bad dreams will plague the dwellers therein, toothache (dreaded for mystic reasons) will torture them, and the evil influence from the north will cause them all kinds of bodily ill; the flocks will dwindle, ill luck will come, ghosts will haunt the place, and the house will become _batsic_, tabooed.

A few days after the house is finished an arrangement is made with some shaman (_qacal'i_, devotional singer) to come and sing the ceremonial house songs. For this service he always receives a fee from those who engage him, perhaps a few sheep or their value, sometimes three or four horses or their equivalent, according to the circ.u.mstances of the house builders. The social gathering at the _qogan bigi'n_ is much the same as that of the _qogan aiila_, when the house is built, except that more people are usually invited to the former. They feast and smoke, interchange scandal, and talk of other topics of interest, for some hours. Presently the _qacal'i_ seats himself under the main west timber so as to face the east, and the singing begins.

In this ceremony no rattle is used. The songs are begun by the shaman in a drawling tone and all the men join in. The _qacal'i_ acts only as leader and director. Each one, and there are many of them in the tribe, has his own particular songs, fetiches, and accompanying ceremonies, and after he has pitched a song he listens closely to hear whether the correct words are sung. This is a matter of great importance, as the omission of a part of the song or the incorrect rendering of any word would entail evil consequences to the house and its inmates. All the house songs of the numerous _qacal'i_ are of similar import but differ in minor details.

The first song is addressed to the east, and is as follows:

_House song to the East_

_Qa'adje_ _biyadje_ _beqogan_ _aiila_ Far in the east far below there a house was made;