The Blessing Way (1970)

Referring to the very beginning of earth or the first age of an event.

The sheer face of a cliff or mountain.

Belonging to the squirrel family of rodents, the prairie dog is a very social burrowing rodent who lives in colonies, called towns, that can include up to several hundred individuals. Communication occurs quickly throughout the town, as prairie dogs communicate via a range of physical contact, vocalization, and drumming patterns they beat into the earth's surface with their paws. The prairie dog language is believed to be the most advanced form of natural animal language.

Prairie dog numbers have declined drastically due to shootings, plague cycles, and poisoning.

A mechanical tool used to fell trees or cut wood using a loop of chain that is driven around a bar by a motorized power head. The chain of a power saw is comprised of links that have alternating "teeth" that, when properly sharpened, bite through wood and other substances one small piece at a time. Depending on the size of the bar, the length of chain necessary to run around the bar in a loop, and the size of the power head, the power chain saw can work much more effectively and efficiently than crosscut saws, axes, and other felling tools.

More commonly referred to as "pot sherd," pot shard is a colloquial term for ceramic sherds, common artifacts found in archaeological sites. Currently, archaeologists in the U.S. use the term "sherd" to refer to a fragmented piece of a prehistoric or historic ceramic vessel, while the term "shard" refers to a fragmented piece of glass.

A drum that is made by filling a ceramic pot with water and then covering it with a buckskin. A pot drum is played by hitting the stretched hide with a looped drumstick made of branches. The pot drum is used during ceremonies, such as the the Navajo Enemyway.

Porcupines are large herbivorous rodents with a coat of sharp spines, also known as quills. These quills are actually strands of hair coated with layers of keratin, a form of protein found in skin. The quills function both as camouflage but also as protection, as the hard sheath of keratin tapers into barbed points, making the porcupine appear sort of like an elongated pincushion.

Unless stated otherwise, Hillerman's use of "pollen" refers to yellow corn pollen (or tádídíín in Navajo), which is a sweet tasting, yellow-colored powder that is collected from the tassels of mature corn plants. Because corn, or maize, has traditionally been a life-giving staple of indigenous groups throughout the Americas, the pollen, which is necessary for corn's own survival via pollination, has attained a sacred, life-giving status of its own. Often kept in small leather pouches, corn pollen is used in ceremonies as a blessing and offered in prayer.

Also known as the North Star, the Pole Star is actually three stars whose light merge to create a single bright glow, the brightest star of the constellation Ursa Minor. This star appears stationary in the sky and comprises the end point of the handle of the Little Dipper constellation. As the Little Dipper's handle always points "up" or "north," it is often used for navigation in the Northern Hemisphere.

A cluster of seven stars located outside of our solar system. Historically, the Pleiades were very important to many world cultures. For people in the Northern Hemisphere, when the Pleiades rise above the eastern horizon, it marks the beginning of spring and the beginning of planting season. For the Ancient Greeks and other mariners of the ancient world, the appearance of the Pleiades in the night sky signified sailing season in the Mediterranean.

The Pleiades are also known as the Hard Flint Boys in some versions of Navajo tradition. According to these versions of Navajo mythology, after the earth was separated from the sky, Black God had a cluster of seven stars, the Hard Flint Boys, on his ankle. Every time Black God stamped his foot, the Flint Boys would jump up to his knee, hip, shoulder and finally his forehead, where eventually they remained. When this happened, it revealed to everybody that Black God was in charge of the sky. In fact, today, we still can see the Flint Boys, namely the Pleiades, high in the sky in autumn and winter.