The Boy Who Made Dragonfly (1972)

The Apache are Native American peoples who historically lived in the Great Basin, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. In popular culture they are remembered as being fierce warrior people and their name, Apache, is an Anglicization of the Zuñi word, ápachu, meaning “enemy.” The Apache were nomadic, meaning they traveled around seasonally following game. Women gathered vegetables, fruits, and grasses, while men hunted deer, hare, and antelope. Clothes included skirts for women and for men breechcloths of buckskin, and both wore hide high moccasins with pointed toes. They lived in ephemeral structures which included tipis and, most often, wickiups, a temporary cone-shaped hut. In addition to being great hunters, the Apache were known for being strong warriors. They had a raiding economy, which involved taking weapons, supplies, and occasionally captives.

In the 1500’s the Apache first made contact with Coronado and his troops during their exploration of the Southwest. This began a new era for the Southwest and the Apache. When the Spanish settled in the Southwest the Apache both traded with and raided their settlements. After the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, much of the northern holdings of the United Mexican States was ceded to the United States, who then considered themselves the rulers over much of the Apache historic territory. This led to a long bloody conflict known as the Apache Wars (approximately 1860-1886). Apache leaders during this long conflict included: Cochise, Victorio, Geronimo, and Mangas Coloradas. The last Apache resistance fighters, led by Geronimo, participated in the last Native American uprising in the United States. Eventually, the U.S. Army was able to force the Apache onto various reservations throughout the American Southwest and Oklahoma.

Acoma has been translated into English as both the "people of the white rock" as well as "a place always prepared." The Acoma are descended from Anasazi and earlier Mogollon cultures, and their pueblo has been continuously inhabited since the thirteenth-century. The primary community of the pueblo, Haaku, has existed on top of a sandstone monolith since at least 1200 CE, and is surrounded by a valley which the Acoma have farmed successfully for almost 1,000 years. Because of the pueblo's prime location, the Acoma were subject to periodic raids from neighboring Utes and Navajos and have also been subjected to Spanish, Catholic, and Anglo-European influences since the 16th century. Today, the Acoma are actively involved in the preservation of their culture in an approach that includes the Acoma Language Retention Project, as well as the conception that they are on an ongoing journey that demands engagement with the changing world around them.

Hillerman alternates the definition of "Beloved Ones" and sometimes it is a way of referring to ancestors and sometimes to the gods of the Zuni creation story. In Zuni belief, ancestors are supposed to serve as mediators between the mortals and the gods. The Beloved Ones, or ancestors, provide protection, spiritual comfort, guidance and sustenance. The cult of the ancestors is invoked in all ceremonies.

Masks mediate between the living beloved and the beloved ancestors. The masks are carefully guarded, given offerings of food every day, and are inaccessible to children. Masks are sacred possessions that bless the house and can channel the energy and joy of the dead beloved ancestors to the living beloved ones, assauging loneliness.

In The Boy Who Made Dragonfly, "Beloved Ones" is initially used as a reference to the "Beloved Two" or "Beloved Twins." When Sun-Father impregnates the Earth Mother with a cup of foam, the Beloved Two are born. As the twin brothers of light, Úanam Achi Píahkoa and Úanam Yáluna are the elder and younger, the right and the left, the Beloved Preceder and the Beloved Follower. Braiding grasses for ladders, the twins aided the people in climbing out of the caves of the first, second and third worlds.

This is another way of referring to the A'shiwi, or Zuni, people before they had earned, or learned, their name. This type of naming convention suggests a pre-formative state, as if the A'shiwi had not yet matured enough to know who they were. In fact, that is one of the morals of the Zuni myth called The Boy Who Made Dragonfly, and many other origin stories: the people, whomever they are to become, make many immature and foolish mistakes that often necessitate their having to move from one place, or world, to another. These mistakes and associated journeys comprise the foundational structures of many creation stories, and in almost every case suggest a narrative of maturation as wisdom is gained through a combination of spiritual guidance and mundane experience.

The people known as Zunis call themselves A'shiwi, which translates to "the flesh people." The A'shiwi speak the language isolate called Zuni, and have maintained their unique linguistic integrity for 7000 years. The A'shiwi lived in six different villages before the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, and moved to their present day single location following the revolt. The Pueblo of Zuni lies 35 miles south of Gallup, New Mexico and 150 miles west of Albuquerque. The A'shwi, or Zuni people, fought the introduction of new coal mines in the early 2000s that would have affected the aquifer of Zuni Salt Lake.

The Zuni learned silversmithing from their Navajo neighbors, and artisans are renowned for intricate turquoise stone inlays. Jewelry making, fetish carving and pottery-making are important enterprises for Zuni artists.

The Spanish borrowed Zuni from a Keresan word for the Zuni Pueblo.

A flying projectile shot using a bow, a curved piece of wood held in tension by string, gut, or plastic tied between the two ends. Traditionally, an arrow consists of a straight shaft, made of wood, with a stone “arrow head” projectile point attached on the front. Additionally, the back of the shaft is hafted (indented) and covered with feathers to facilitate the flight and direction of the arrow once it is shot. The bow and arrow are primarily used for hunting and the use of this weapon in the Four Corner’s region began during the end of the Basketmaker time period (A.D. 300-800).

Because of the important advantages that the arrow gave to those peoples who mastered their manufacture and use, the arrow also gained symbolic value. Worked onto the surfaces of ceramics and into textiles and sandpaintings, arrows can represent strength, virility, defense, protection, and courage.

In Puebloan culture, fraternities are associated with "medicine," curative powers, and the ability to conjure or control natural phenomena to benefit the health of individuals or the community. In this sense, members of fraternities can be considered traditional, ceremonial, spiritual, and biological healers, who acquired their specific knowledges, traditions, and ceremonies from kachina (spirits) over time. These different knowledges and ceremonials are carefully guarded and maintained by the different fraternities, but their effects are shared broadly throughout the pueblo to benefit the community.

In the Pueblo tradition, one is born into a clan, and that clan may historically associate itself with a specific kiva society, but fraternities transcend the more static social associations of clans and kivas. It is typical for one who has benefited from a fraternal healing to petition to join that fraternity; in part, the specialized knowledge of that healing has been imparted to its benefactor through his or her experience. Many fraternities, therefore, are open to men and women. In addition, one can move between fraternities, or belong to several at once. With their discrete specializations, fraternal participation in the life of the pueblo occurs on almost daily occurrences, as needed. Kiva society ceremonials, on the other hand, tend to have annual cycles, and rather than focusing on treating the symptoms of an individual, they work to maintain natural equilibrium and universal balance.

A type of deciduous shrub or tree that can be used for medicinal purposes, for erosion control, or timber, in addition to many other uses. Willows are located throughout the world, and in the U.S. Southwest, one can find several different species of willow, including the arroyo, desert, and Navajo willows. Their shoots have been used by Native Americans for basketry purposes and for the construction of temporary structures.