Blue Flint Boys

    Article

    Also known as the Hard Flint Boys, the Blue Flint Boys are playful characters that work as intermediaries between Black God, who controls the sky, and the Navajo. Sometimes represented as whirlwinds and dustdevils, the Boys run back and forth, playfully sharing healing knowledge, while their parents, Hard Flint Woman and Man, attempt to assert control over their children. The Boys are credited with passing on advice from Black God to Monster Slayer, for example, and have a ceremonial role in various Navajo curing ceremonials such as the Enemyway.

    The Blue Flint boys are also recognized in the night sky as the constellation Pleiades, adorning the forehead of Black God, appearing during planting season.

    Photo Credit

     
    "Navajo children in dance costume at Inter-Tribal Indian Ceremonial, Gallup, NM, circa 1955," photograph, New Mexico Magazine Collection (HP.2007.20.596). Palace of the Governors Photo Archive, New Mexico History Museum. All rights reserved.

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    References

     
    Haile, Berard
         1938   Origin Legend of the Navaho Enemy Way. New Haven: Yale University Press.

    Haile, Berard
         1947   Starlore among the Navaho. Santa Fe: Museum of Navajo Ceremonial.