The Blessing Way (1970)

In several Pueblo traditions, the Mudhead Clown is a masked figure who works as disciplinarian, joker, and village cryer. The early Hopi variation of this figure is called Tachukti, meaning “Ball-On-Head”; however, around 1860 the Zuni variation, known as Koyemsi or Koyemshi, rose to prominence in cultural studies of the western Pueblos. The anglicized term "Mudhead Clown" derives from the appearance of the Koyemsi mask, which is covered with loosely-formed mud balls that form vaguely human-like features. Mudhead Clowns can be garbed in a black dress with a red or brown-clay painted body.

According to the Zuni origin legends, the father or head Koyemsi incestuously produced nine children with his sister. In his remorse for this heinous act the father beat himself and rolled in the mud until his head was covered in bulbous welts coated in mud. Upon their birth, the children of this union resembled their father, appearing with faces and bodies disorted by various mud-covered protuberances. The incestuous nature of their conception bars the Koyemsi from becoming kachinas themselves. Instead, they act in secondary roles, such as spokespersons for the other kachinas. While neither a priest nor ceremonial dancer, the Mudhead Clown is a part of many social gatherings, performing as curers, directors, warriors, messengers, sages, and tricksters.

A reference to the character of Othello in Shakespeare's tragedy of the same name. Othello, who was referred to as "the Moor of Venice" in the play, was a black general tormented by racial insecurities who eventually murdered his white wife, Desdemona, in a fit of jealous rage.

A historically anachronistic reference from the medieval period, the word Moor typically refers to North Africans who invaded the Iberian Peninsula in the eighth century as the vanguard of the Islamic Empire. The Moors were expelled by force from Spain by the Catholic queen Isabella in 1492.

Known as Nayé̆nĕzganĭ in Diné, Monster Slayer is the eldest of the twins born of Changing Woman. In Navajo mythology, the twins Monster Slayer and Born of Water were born to rid the earth of the monsters who were killing the people. They began their task by visiting their father the Sun and, after passing through many trials, were given weapons. The younger twin, Born of Water, was given prayer sticks and told to watch them as the older twin, Monster Slayer, fought the monsters. If the prayer sticks began to burn, Born of Water would know that Monster Slayer was in danger and needed help. Monster Slayer went alone to kill some of the monsters, and Born of Water accompanied him while killing others. The twins serve as a model for young Navajo men today.

Words with only one syllable. Monosyllabic can also refer to a person who speaks only in one-syllable words.

Moenkopi, in northeastern Arizona, is a Hopi cultural stronghold embedded within the Navajo Reservation. Moenkopi has been an agricultural center for the Hopi people since the thirteenth century, a "suburb" pueblo to the village of Oraibi on Third Mesa on the Hopi Reservation, one of the oldest continuously inhabited pueblos on the continent. Because of Moenkopi's relative isolation from the rest of Hopi lands, it has been subjected to intensive outside influence, and, as a result, has split into two factions: Lower Moenkopi, the more traditional community interested in mainting traditional social and cultural practices, and Upper Moenkopi, the "younger" community interested in pursuing modern pursuits.

A bird (Mimus polyglottos) that mimics the songs of other birds and that can reproduce up to 20 different songs in a short amount of time. The mockingbird is a gray bird with white markings on the tail and whose habitat extends from the northern U.S. to Mexico.

A multiple intercontinental re-entry vehicle (MIRV) is a kind of ballistic missile that is capable of firing multiple war heads simultaneously at a single target. This kind of weapon is often more effective than a single warhead at hitting targets and can be used to stop the flight path of other ballistic missiles. The warheads attached to these missiles are often nuclear and very destructive.

The discipline of collecting, analyzing, and utilizing information, or intelligence, gathered from an enemy state or region. This kind of information gathering and analysis has existed since antiquity, but it was not until the advent of computers, unmanned planes, radar, and satellite imagery that intelligence gathering became the huge undertaking it is today. In the United States there are 17 intelligence gathering agencies, most notably the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the National Security Administration (NSA), and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). These agencies are all members of the United States Intelligence Community, founded in 1981.

A shiny, variously colored, often transparent mineral commonly found as flakes or even sheets in granite and other sedimentary and metamorphic rocks.

The Navajo (Diné) tribe is comprised of more than forty family lineages, or clans, that claim common ancestry. According to traditional lore, the T ł 'ízí lání (Many Goats) clan was a group of herdsmen who subsisted mainly on livestock, especially goats.