The Ghostway (1984)

Navajo weavers are considered masters in the art of weaving, the art and craft of twining fibers together to create a variety of textiles.

In the early 1600s, the Navajo learned weaving from their Pueblo neighbors in what is now the Southwestern U.S.. It was men who mastered first mastered this skill, although women eventually absorbed the task. Weavers in the U.S. Southwest used wooden looms, sheep's wool, and natural dyes to make hand-woven blankets that were used in everyday life as cloaks, covers, and saddle blankets, among other items. Throughout the 1700s, Navajo textiles became a major commodity in trading with the region's other indigenous groups, as well as the Spanish and Europeans. Over time, weaving techniques improved, patterns became more elaborate, and Navajo textiles came to be desired for their aesthetic value. As the market developed, blankets became interchangeable as rugs and were valued as decorative, rather than utilitarian, pieces. Today hand-woven Navajo rugs are highly prized and are often purchased by wealthy collectors to be hung on the wall rather than used as the daily objects they originally were.

An alloy is a metal that is made by combining at least two other metals or a metal and a nonmetal element. The characteristics of an alloy are different than the characteristics of the separate elements. Aluminum alloy includes mainly aluminum. By combining aluminum and copper, in the right amounts, results in a lightweight metal that is stronger and lighter than either aluminum or copper were before they were combined. Because they are relatively light, aluminum alloys are commonly found in transportation technologies including aerospace equipment, automobiles, and cycling frames.

People of various Native American tribes often carry with them a small pouch, usually made of deer skin, which contains a few items that have totemic, spiritual, and ceremonial value. This bundle is believed to provide protection and healing, and is carried under the person’s clothes, either on a string around the neck or under the waist belt. It may contain small, natural objects such as special rocks, animal parts, or carved amulets, and usually also includes sacred pollen, which is commonly used in a variety of prayers and rituals. The Navajo word for medicine pouch is jish, which applies to both the small bag and its contents.

Approximately 56.2 million acres of land within the United States are designated as Native American reservations, areas of land set aside for the perpetual use of indigenous groups, many of whom were forcefully relocated onto them. Sometimes reservations are sited on land traditionally used by the people before conquest and colonization. In other cases, Native American reservations are located away from their traditional lands as a result of 18th-, 19th-, and 20th century federally-supported practices that expropriated natural resources, throughfares, and lands under the premises that the land was "vacant," its resources were not being properly exploited, and because of racial biases that privileged European settlement patterns based on ownership rather than fluid and multiple landuse practices.

A rifle is a firearm with an extended barrel that is generally raised up to the shoulder for firing. The interior surface of the long barrel is carved with spiral grooves down its length. The length of the barrel, in combination with its interior grooves, improves the accuracy of the shot fired by increasing the stability of the projectile as it spins out of the barrel. The rifle, as opposed to another long-barreled firearm, the shotgun, fires a single projectile at a time.

A continuous elevation of land that extends in a line between higher mountain peaks. Sometimes ridges descend from a higher peak toward lower elevations, giving a mountain a vertically-grooved appearance. Occasionally, ridges occur as singular components of the landscapes.

Resin is a liquid hydrocarbon secreted by some plants as a form of protection. If the plant is damaged, resin seeps from the wound, hardening as it dries into a protective layer. Natural resin can be harvested sustainably from trees, after which it is rendered into a variety of substances such as varnishes, glues, perfumes, and incense.

Dried resin, known as rosin, in a powdered form is used to increase friction between surfaces, such as between a bow and the strings of an instrument, or the hands of gymnasts and rockclimbers and the surfaces with which they engage. Rosin, which is also known as colophony, is a man-made substance that is produced by distilling the liquid resin until it condenses and solidifies. The final product can range in color; it is usually yellow or orange, but can be almost white or, alternately, close to black. While rosin is solid at room temperature, it melts easily and is used as an ingredient in a variety of products such as soaps, varnishes, adhesives, and sealing materials.

In Tony Hillerman's 1980 Navajo detective novel PEOPLE OF DARKNESS, rosin is mentioned in a natural setting, and probably refers to hardened resin rather than the chemically-produced substance.

In traditional Native American cultures, "religion" is an alien concept. Rather than religion, these traditional societies acknowledge, respect, and participate in what can be understood as a reciprocal relationship between the individual and other individuals, the community, nature and natural phenomenon, and sacred beings. This reciprocity has attained the level of ceremony and spiritual tradition over centuries of observance. It has also been augmented, and sometimes replaced, by the imposition of Christianity, especially, although not exclusively, Catholicism.

When Tony Hillerman writes "Zuni religion," for example, he is referring to the traditional Zuni way, one that predates Christianity or European influence.

A police record for an individual that records his or her criminal history, including arrests, convictions, misdemeanors, and warnings. This term is primarily used in the United States and Canada. Synonyms for this word include: police record and criminal record.

An individual who is authorized to perform as a mediator between the people and a transcendent power. The priest's authority enables him or her to perform in both a spiritual and administrative capacity within his belief system's influence and jurisdiction.