Cultural Reference

A type of whiskey usually made in Scotland. Scotch whiskys (which are spelled without the "e") have a distinctive smokey flavor, a result of the distilling process, which includes heating malted barley over a peat fire. Because of its unique distilling and aging processes, Scotch is often preferred to other types of whiskey by connoisseurs.

An elected police official who is in charge of enforcing the law in a county or town of the U.S.

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.

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.

A small pouch, usually made of deer skin, which contains a few items that have totemic, spiritual, or ceremonial value. These items can consist of small objects such as special rocks, animal parts, or carved amulets, in addition to a small quantity of sacred pollen, which is commonly used in a variety of prayers and rituals. Believed to provide protection and healing, a medicine bag is usually worn next to the skin, either on a string around the neck or under a waist belt.

The Navajo word for medicine bag is jish, which applies to both the small bag and its contents.

A rifle that shoots a 30-gauge, or calibre, bullet that was oiringally packed and fired with 30 grains of gun powder. In general, a .30-30 rifle is effective at killing mid-to large-sized game at mid-range shots. In other words, for folks who hunt for food, the .30-30 is an accessible tool for hunting game like deer and elk.

One of the clans of the Navajo people. There are at least sixty known Navajo clans, many of which are named after specific places located on or around what is today the Navajo Nation Reservation. The Red Forehead clan might be named not after a locality but after the red head of the Sandhill cranes that are commonly found along the rivers and marsh area of the American Southwest.

A coarse or indecent statement made in an attempt to be humorously provocative.

The colloquial name for wool hats that started showing up in Indian Country around the time of the Civil War. The hats, in different colors, were modified by U.S. Army campaign forces by altering the brims, the crowns, and their accessories. The rez version remains relatively unadulterated, as in the brim remains flat and the crown free of "dimples," other than local variations on the hat band, which could be beaded, of tooled leather, and even strands of silver conchos.

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.