Browse by Title: W

A noted anthropologist who worked with Clyde Kluckhohn on an ethnographic study of the Navajo and subsequently assisted in writing the seminal text NAVAJO MATERIAL...

A city located along the Brazos River in central Texas. A group of Wichita Native Americans known as the Huaco resided in the area for thousands of years before the...

A four-wheeled wooden vehicle that is pulled by draft animals such as oxen and horses. They generally have metal wheels and a suspension system to help navigate. These...

A two-track path created by four-wheeled wagons drawn by draft animals such as oxen or horses. The wheels created two ruts, marking routes that other travelers could...

A secure box installed into a wall, used for locking away and safeguarding valuable objects against theft or damage.

Walpi is one of three villages located on First Mesa within the larger network and community of the Hopi people spread out across the three mesas within Black Mesa,...

A stick, rod, or baton, sometime imbued with symbolic significance. Can be used as a weapon for striking or even throwing.

Wand can...

War is significant in Hillerman's lexicon, as it is often an expression, if not the cause, of imbalance and physical and psychological illness. However, when it is used...

In the Navajo tradition, a war name is a one of several secret names given to children at birth by their parents. The war name is used only in ceremonial situations and...

The portion of a missile, torpedo, or similar weapon that contains the material, explosive, biological, or nuclear, that hits the target first, detonating upon impact...

A person who engages in warfare. In stratified armies, warrior can refer to a specific rank, or it can merely refer to one who fights with no predefined role. ...

There are six esoteric cults within the Zuni religion, each having their own priesthood, rituals, religious paraphernalia, and special times and places for worship and...

Also known as an arroyo seco, gulch, or gully, a wash is a dry stream or river bed that does not hold water most of the time, but that is subject to seasonal flooding....

A long stretch of unmaintained dirt road that is corrugated by closely-spaced ripples. The rippling occurs on some old unpaved roads over time as a result of dry...

Water resources flowing in abundance such as rain, sleet, snow melt, and rushing rivers. As her husband readies for planting by sharpening his planting stick and...

A very large bovine found in Asia's tropical and subtropical habitats. Water buffalo spend much of their time submerged in muddy waters of wetlands and creeks. The...

A mythic being who helped the Zunis in their search for the Middle Place, or what is now understood as Zuni Pueblo. Water striders are graceful-looking insects that,...

The water table is the line between groundwater and unsaturated ground. Beneath the water table the soil, rock, and sediment are saturated with water, whereas above it...

Named after the gun manufacturer Roy Weatherby, the Weatherby Hunting and Conservation Award was established in 1956 and is presented annually to an individual hunter...

Navajo weavers are considered masters in the art of weaving, the art and craft of twining fibers together to create a variety of textiles.

Designated as a stream by the U.S. geological survey, this wash is a tributary of the larger Polacca Wash. It is located near First Mesa on the Hopi Reservation within...

The werewolf is a mythological creature in common in folklore traditions around the world, and the term generally refers to a man who can change form at night and turn...

Also spelled whip-poor-will, which is a colloquialization of a bird species commonly referred to as the nightjar. The whip-poor-will is a bird from North and Central...

An alcoholic beverage, distilled from fermented grains and aged in wooden containers. Whiskey is made in many countries such as Ireland, the United States, Scotland,...

A social, cultural, and political category that refers to the "dominant" culture of the U.S., a category primarily understood as a racial construction that expresses...