People of Darkness (1980)

Named after the gun manufacturer Roy Weatherby, the Weatherby Hunting and Conservation Award was established in 1956 and is presented annually to an individual hunter for his or her hunting accomplishments, character and sportsmanship, and contribution to conservation and education. The selection committee defines an award winner as a "hunter who has ethically taken the most varied, difficult, and largest number of species in the world, and who has not already won the award." In Hillerman's People of Darkness, the character of B.J. Vines has won the Weatherby Trophy twice. It is unclear whether this discrepancy has to do with Hillerman not confirming the rules of the award, or if the rules have changed over the years. B.J. Vines supposedly won the award in 1962 and 1971. The actual winners for those years were Prince Abdorreza Pahlavi (Iran), and Juan Naude Cordova (Mexico) respectively.

The heads of the big-game animals, preserved through the process of taxidermy, mounted on the wall by the hunter as a display of hunting prowess and accomplishments.

This mountain range runs north to south and is located east of Albuquerque, New Mexico. The highest peak, Sandia Crest, is 10,678 feet in elevation. The range may have originally been called “San Diaz” or Saint Diaz. Another theory suggests that, because Sandia is Spanish for “watermelon,” Sandia could refer to the pink color the mountains reflect at sunset. The name for the mountain in Navajo is, “Dził Nááyisí” or “Mountain that Revolves,” perhaps referring to the large circular bowls that form the west-facing aspect of the range.

In 1865, in order to subdue the Navajo, the U.S. Army rounded up the Navajo and forcibly made them walk 450 miles from their homeland, centered near Canyon de Chelley in northwestern New Mexico, to the Fort Sumner/Bosque Redondo reservation in southeastern New Mexico. Known as “The Long Walk,” four primary routes comprised the forced march: two skirted the western edge of the Sandia Mountains and two cut through Tijeras canyon and across the Sandia Mountains. Therefore, this unfortunate part of Navajo history is tied to the mountain range.

Additionally, there is a Paleolithic site on the north end of the mountain range in Sandia Cave. This site includes stone tools from the ancient Sandia Culture, which were excavated in the 1930s and 1940s by Frank Hibben, an archaeology professor from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.

A non-contiguous section of the Navajo reservation located approximately 75 miles from the main Navajo reservation. Cañoncito Reservation is located in central New Mexico, approximately 30 miles west of Albuquerque and about six miles north of Interstate 40. Formerly known as Cañoncito, or “small canyon” in Spanish, the reservation changed its name to To'hajiilee in 2000 meaning "drawing up water from a natural well" in Navajo.

Colonizing excursions caused many internal disputes among the Navajo. In 1787, ancestors of today's To'hajiilee people joined the Spanish in campaigns against their own people. This group of Diné are called Diné Anaa'i or the enemy Navajo.

A forested mountain range in northwestern New Mexico that stretches southeast from Gallup to southwest of Grants. Mount Sedgwick, at an elevation of 9,256 feet, is the highest point in the range. The Navajo names for the Zuni Mountains are Naasht’ézhí Dził (Charcoal-Streaked Enemy Mountains) and Ńdíshchííʼ Ląʼí (Many Pines).

Also known as hatałii in Navajo, singers, like medicine men, perform traditional ceremonial healing cures targeted at body, mind, and spirit, and call on the patient, his kin, the singer himself, and divine people to restore an individual's harmony with the world. Before a singer, or medicine man (they are seldom women), is called, a hand trembler (ndilniihii), often a woman, will diagnose the source of illness. Through prayer, concentration, and sprinkling of sacred pollen, her hand will tremble and pinpoint the cause, which then determines the proper ceremonial cure. Then a singer who knows the proper ceremony is called and preparations for the sing are set in motion.

There are nearly 100 Navajo sings, or chants, of varying range and intricacy. Originating from the Navajo Creation Story, they are so nuanced and complex that a singer learns only one or two sings over many years of apprenticeship. Sings last anywhere from one to nine days and include chants, songs, prayers, lectures, dances, sweat baths, prayer sticks, and sand paintings. In order for a sing to be effective, everything must be done as prescribed in the legends.

A term used as a general reference to an indigenous community's spiritual leader or traditional healer. Such a person has the skills and knowledge to perform rituals, heal sick or injured individuals, communicate with ancestors and the otherworld, prepare traditional medicine, and provide spiritual counseling.

The Navajo (Diné) tribe is comprised of more than forty family lineages--or clans--that claim common ancestry. There is no indication that there is an actual Navajo clan by the name of Standing Rock. Tony Hillerman might have invented the name, or there is a possibility that translations vary. The closest real clan is probably Tséikeehé , which literally means "Two Rocks Sit."

The Navajo (Diné) tribe is comprised of more than forty family lineages--or clans--that claim common ancestry. According to traditional lore, the Áshįįhi, or Salt People, was formed after a young girl from a different tribe was captured at a place called Salt Extends Out.

The Navajo (Diné) tribe is comprised of more than forty family lineages, or clans, that claim common ancestry. While various other clan names Hillerman mentions in his novels do correspond to actual, existing Navajo lineages, there are not records showing that the Slow Talking Dine is a real one. Hillerman might have invented the name in order to provide a fictional background to the fictional character of Jim Chee, who is, in the novels, a member of the Slow Talking clan.