Cultural Reference

The Creeks were Native American tribal group copmrised of a collection of tribes, primarily the Muskogee. The Creeks were a loose organization, but did form a group based on Muskogee-language-speaking villages, mainly along the Coosa and Tallapoosa Rivers in present day Alabama. It is believed that the Muskogee themselves migrated at some point from the northwest down south. Along with the Cherokees, Choctaws, Chickasaws, and Seminoles, the Creeks were considered by non-Native settlers to be one of the Five Civilized Tribes in the 1800s.

When a man’s wife commits adultery, the husband is known as a cuckold.

A traditional greeting in Navajo, often spelled yá át tééh, which translates generally as "it is good."

Among the Native Pueblo peoples of the American Southwest, the term kachina (often also spelled "katsina”) generally refers to protective deities; either ancestors or guardian spirits. Yet the term can also be applied to masked dancers who personify and become gods or spirits, as well as to the dolls created in the likeness of these dancers and/or the actual gods and spirits. The dolls are traditionally used to teach children to recognize the characteristics and attributes of a Pueblo's spiritual belief system. The pantheon of kachinas is different for each Pueblo, although kachinas are generally understood as supernatural manifestations of elements occurring in the natural world, such as weather phenomena, plants, and animals. In essence, kachinas are perceived as reminders of the animating presence that invests all things in the universe with life, vitality, and purpose.

In the Hopi and Zuni tradition, kachinas are tied to the various clans that make up the tribe, and kachina societies are formed accordingly, each with their own origin stories, and with a variety of ceremonies and traditional spiritual practices.

A book published annually by a school within which are images of students arranged by class or grade. Also included are images of instructors and staff, as well as images of special events, clubs and their members, academic competitions, dances, alumni visits, and other noteworthy occurrences. In many cases, the school yearbook is put together by a group of student volunteers, mentored or sponsored by a faculty member, making the yearbook a portrayal of student life by and for students.

When the Navajo First People came to the present world, they did not realize that part of the time it would be very cold. In order to get warm, Coyote crafted a plan to steal fire for warmth from the Fire Man who lived and guarded his fire on Fire Mountain. Eventually, Coyote did steal the fire by tying a very long stick to his tail and lowering it down to get fire, bringing it back to the people.

Fire Man tried stop him by shooting arrows, but Coyote ran in a zig zag to avoid them. Unfortunately, this made his run back to the People longer and the stick burnt out and scorched his tail, which is why coyotes now have black tipped tails. His tail also set fire to the ground he ran on, which is why the people needed to summon Frog to put out the fire.

Zuni Consolidated Schools is a fictional school district. The real school district on the Zuni reservation is the Zuni Public Schools district and consists of two elementary schools, a middle school, and a high school.

It is commonly believed that fry bread is a result of Navajo contact with white settler colonial practices, specifically during their 1864 internment at Fort Sumner after their forced Long Walk from their traditional homelands near Canyon de Chelly, Arizona to the Bosque Redondo location of Fort Sumner in the Pecos River Valley in New Mexico . During their captivity, the Navajo couldn't grow or cook traditional corn-based foods, so they used government supplies to make fry bread, a flat unleavened bread fried in oil. Government subsidies of traditional foodstuffs continues to undermine indigenous cultural cuisine, health, and lifeways to this day.

An adjective describing something under the skin, for example hypodermic needles or tranquilizer darts.

War is significant in Hillerman's lexicon, as it is often an expression, if not the cause, of imbalance and physical and psychological illness. However, when it is used literally, war is the state of aggression between two or more groups that often ends with violent attacks against each other.