Encircling Guardian

    Article

    A component in most Navajo sandpaintings, the Encircling Guardian can be a creature, object, lightning, arrow, rainbow, or animal that encircles the edges of the painting and leaves an opening to the east. In the Navajo tradition, the east, the direction of the rising sun, is sacred. The Encircling Guardian protects the opening, through which the healing energies enter the ceremony.

    Photo Credit

     
    "Third Day Mountain Chant, circa 1965," photograph, (1990.01.1774). Hubbard Museum of the American West, Ruidoso Downs, New Mexico. All rights reserved. Use with permission only.

    Published Works
    Term Type
    References

     
    Griffin-Pierce, Trudy
         1991   Navajo Ceremonial Sandpaintings: Sacred, Living Entities. American Indian Art
             Magazine 17: 58-67.

    Hartley, Eugene L. and William T. Beaver
         1989   Navajo Ceremonial Gaps and Individual Selfhood. Psychological Reports. 65: 459-66.

    Hirschfelder, Arlene, and Paulette Molin
         2000   Sandpainting. Encyclopedia of Native American Religions, Updated Edition. New
             York: Facts On File, Inc.

    Reichard, Gladys Amanda
         1977   Navajo Medicine Man : Sandpaintings. New York: Dover Publications.