The Blessing Way (1970)

The Blessing Way (1970)

Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was an English playwright, actor, and poet who is the author of some of the world’s most famous plays. He was born in 1564 in Stratford-Upon-Avon in Warwickshire, England during the Renaissance. He authored 154 sonnets, 38 plays, and other poems and verses. The plays touched on such topics as comedy, tragedy, and historic persons and events. His most famous plays include: Romeo and Juliet; The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark; The Tragedy of Macbeth; The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice; and King Lear. Shakespeare was the partial owner of the playing company, The Lord Chamberlain’s Men, and they had exclusive rights to perform his plays. This company was later renamed The King’s Men upon the coronation of King James I, after the death of Queen Elizabeth I. Shakespeare died in 1616 in Stratford-Upon-Avon.

shoulder holster

Generally made of leather or canvas, a shoulder holster is sling for a firearm that is worn around the shoulder, with the gun resting just under the armpit area. If worn beneath a coat, the shoulder holster can conceal the firearm from view.

Big Dipper

A group of five stars that create the major constellation also known as Ursa Major. These stars appear to rotate around the North Star, also known as Polaris. For the Navajo, the Big Dipper and the North Star are a part of the same constellation known as the Whirling Male, as a reference to the fact that the Big Dipper revolves around the North Star.

fox

Foxes are canines that tend to be on the small size, with large upright ears and a large, bushy tail. They are opportunistic, ominvorous, and highly adaptable. In addition, although they can survive in a pack, they also do well on their own. As such, they have found a niche on every continent, except for Antarctica, where they have earned a variety of reputations as hunters, pests, and even beloved domesticated companions.

In folklore, because of their similarity to both coyotes and wolves, foxes tend to get lumped under the characteristic attributes of the other two. Seen as cunning tricksters, foxes are perceived with ambivalence, similar to coyote figures, whose nature is neither good nor bad. In the Navajo tradition, for example, foxes are viewed as a good animals that represent material goods. In addition, the fur and tails are used in different ceremonials such as Night Way and Coyote Way. Yellow and Blue Fox are mentioned a few times in the Navajo origin story. However, it appears that the larger gray fox or desert fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) can sometimes be associated as a Skinwalker or were-animal. Clyde Kluckhohn in Navaho Witchcraft asserts that, along with bear, owl, and crow, witches can take on the form of desert foxes.

cultural anthropologist

A sub-field of anthropology that focuses on the study of human cultures, including their religion, laws, worldviews, food, and folklore.

handbrake

A component in an automobile that is used either as a brake for emergency stopping or keeping a car in place when parked on a steep slope. This brake is engaged by pulling a hand-lever that is generally located next to the driver.

clansman

A European word and concept used to describe a member, often male, although the term is often considered gender neutral, of the same genetic or relational group.

The Navajo kinship system, similar to other indigenous cultural groups, is based on clans. Because Navajo culture is matrilineal, children belong to their mother's clan, while they are born for their father's clan. For the Navajo, the idea of kinship and the extended network of clansmen is broadened by taken into consideration their maternal and paternal grandfathers' clans.

caliche clay

Also called hardpan, this is a hardened layer of soil formed by calcium deposits. Caliche develops over thousands of years in arid and semi-arid regions when calcium from groundwater collects as the water evaporates.

Desdemona

The wife of Othello in William Shakespeare’s play OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE. Othello murders Desdemona after he is convinced by the villian, Iago, that she is being unfaithful. This play is one of the most famous tragedies written by William Shakespeare.

Hamlet

In the tragic play, THE TRAGEDY OF HAMLET, PRINCE OF DENMARK, written by William Shakespeare between 1599 and 1601, Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark, returns home because his father has died. Hamlet then learns that his mother, Queen Gertrude, has married his uncle, Claudius, only months after his father’s death, and that Claudius is now the king. Later on in the play, the ghost of his father warns Hamlet that he was murdered by Claudius. During the course of the play, Hamlet plots his revenge against his uncle and the play ends in tragedy. Hamlet is most famous for the soliloquy, "To be, or not to be: that is the question" (Act III, Sc. I).

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