The Boy Who Made Dragonfly (1972)

The Spanish word for oven is horno. In the pueblos, hornos are adobe earth structures built separately from dwelling structures. With a distinct, bee-hive shape, hornos stand about 2-3 feet tall. Generally used for baking bread, the oval pyramid shape of the oven was appropriated by early Hispanic settlers, who brought the horno inside their adobe brick homes and sited it in a corner of the sala, or great room. Traditional hornos are still in use today, as are the beehive-shaped, or kiva-style, fireplaces found in the mission-style architecture of Santa Fe.

The Hopi are a Native American tribal people, who comprise a sovereign nation located in northeastern Arizona. They are also known as one of the Pueblo peoples, as named by the Spanish colonizers in the 1500s because of their clusters of modular dwellings, which reminded the Spanish adventurers of their own small towns, or pueblos, back on the Iberian peninsula. Hopi is a shortened version of Hopituh, meaning "Peaceful ones," and in earlier periods were also called the Moqui, most likely named as such by another tribe. As a Puebloan group, the Hopi are considered traditional agriculturalists and farm a mixture of maize, squash, beans, chili peppers, and onions. Hopi life is situated around ceremonials, of which each village has its own variations, that consist of the veneration of some 300 kachinas.

Many Hopi people live on the Hopi reservation, which is encompassed by the Navajo Reservation. The Hopi reservation consists of twelve villages located on three mesas: First Mesa, Second Mesa, and Third Mesa, all of which are located upon the even larger Black Mesa. The Hopi consider this land sacred and part of their tribal history and origin.

In many tradtional cultures, the Holy People are immortal beings who can take the form of ancestor spirits, universal guides, landscape elements, animals, plants, and celestial bodies. When things become imbalanced and sickness or discord manifests, the Holy People can be summoned through ceremonies with rituals and prayers. If the ceremony is performed in the correct way and the Holy People are pleased, then they, through the concept of reciprocity, feel obliged to right the wrong that is disrupting the harmony the Navajo seek in their daily lives, restoring order, health, and hózhó.

On the Hopi Reservation in north-central Arizona, which is completely surrounded by the Navajo Reservation, there are twelve Hopi villages. These villages are not in the exact same places as they were in the 1500s, but the people there still live in tune with the traditional ways. The Hopi are a Pueblo people, named as such by the Spanish colonizers because of their traditional building style, which reminded the Spaniards of their own small towns, or pueblos, on the Iberian Peninsula. The cluster of Hopi villages are located on three peninsular mesas, First Mesa, Second Mesa, and Third Mesa, that form the southern edge of Black Mesa. Although the customs, language, and rituals of the tribe across the villages and mesa are intertwined and similar, the villages do have their own unique variations and specific customs. First Mesa includes the villages of Walpi, Sichomovi, and Tewa (Hano). Walpi is the oldest village and has had inhabitants since 900 AD. Second Mesa is the home of the villages of Shungopavi, Mishongovi, and Sipaulovi. Third Mesa includes Kykotsmovi (New Oraibi), Old Oraibi, Hotevilla, and Bacavi.

The essential but non-physical aspect of a living being, that which leaves the body after death. Depending on the context, "soul" can refer to the spirit, personality, consciousness, mind, or entirety of the being ("another poor soul," as Leaphorn refers to Horseman in Tony Hillerman's 1970 Navajo detective novel THE BLESSINGWAY).

Frost forms when objects at the earth's surface are colder than the air around them. Not only are the objects cold, they are cold enough to freeze the water vapor in the air that condenses, and then freezes, onto these surfaces. Sometimes this looks like a dusting of snow.

A hard frost refers to a frost that occurs when the surface temperature of the earth remains below freezing for several hours. In this case, the water vapor in the atmosphere freezes into larger crystals than the dusting, rime, or layer of frost that forms at slightly warmer temperatures.

Because of their beauty and mobility, dragonflies have earned a special place in various cultures around the world. Although European cultures have tended to associate dragonflies with evil and darkness, many indigenous cultures throughout Asia and the Americas associate the dragonfly with good work habits, happiness, good fortune, and, of course, the essence of life itself, water.

The dragonfly is a large predatory insect generally found around watery areas. The dragonfly can be found hovering near lakes and swamps as the dragonfly larvae (the nymph/baby) is aquatic. The dragonfly nymph is capable of producing a painful bite for humans, where the adult dragonfly poses no threat.

The dragonfly is best known for its beautiful colors and the way its body and wings sparkle when the dragonfly is flying around the water. Dragonflies have long, thin, and generally colorful bodies. They have large eyes and two pairs of transparent wings. As with other species of insects, the dragonfly has three body parts (the head, thorax, and abdomen) and six legs, but it is unable to walk on solid ground. In flight, however, the adult dragonfly can propel itself in six directions which are upward, downward, forward, back, and side to side.

In many Native American cultures, dancing is a common part of spiritual, communal ceremonies. Dancing can be a form of supplication to spirits or deities, for purposes that includes seasonal festivities, celebratory events, healing rituals, or the blessing of certain feats such as important battles or hunting trips. While dance is a common practice among various Native American groups, the form these dances take changes between cultures, as do traditions regarding who is permitted to perform them.

Among the Pueblo peoples of the Southwest, some of the most common dances are the masked kachina dances. Kachinas are guardian spirits, often associated with dead ancestors, who are believed to reside in a separate but parallel realm. According to traditional lore, kachinas return to the pueblo villages during special ceremonies. Ritual dances, in which the dancers don sacred kachina masks and embody the kachina spirit, are performed in order to invite and please the spirits. The dances often involve offerings and reverence for which the kachinas, in return, would guarantee protection and sustenance for the community, especially through bringing the rains needed for raising crops. In Puebloan cultures, both men and women can participate in ceremonial dances, although women are often excluded from surrounding spiritual practices, such as kiva societies' gatherings. Little boys who are initiated into kiva societies are often taught the dances before they have a chance to even learn the prayers.

In the Zuni tradition, the Council of the Gods consists of a dynamic grouping of significant deities, each representing a powerful natural phenomenon or a cardinal direction and the characteristics associated with that direction. During the winter ceremony of Shalako, it is believed that the Council enters the Zuni pueblo to visit and to celebrate the turn of the year with the people. During this ceremony, only five members of the Council actually participate, personified by men who train carefully for the event. The Gods who pass through the pueblo are Saiyatasha, or Longhorn, Rain God of the North, Hu-tu-tu, deputy to Saiyatasha and Rain God of the South, two Yamuhakto (wood gatherers), one from the East, and the other from the West, and lastly the Fire God, a deputy to the Sun Father, usually personified by a young boy. These figures are the primary Council members and lead the dancing processional through the pueblo, but they are also accompanied by two Salamobia warrior figures and a group of Mudhead dancers, or Koyemsi, who work together to oversee the procedures and maintain order during the ceremony.

Also known as Dowa Yalanne in the Zuni language, Corn Mountain is the mesa located southeast of the current Zuni pueblo in central New Mexico. The mesa has historical as well as spiritual significance for the Zuni. In the early sixteenth century, the Zuni took refuge from Spanish conquistadors atop the mesa. Later, during the period of the Pueblo Revolt at the end of the seventeenth century, the Zuni again retreated to the mesa top. In addition, the mesa is the site of several living shrines and cultural routes, and it retains astrological significance from which the Zuni ceremonial calendar is derived.