Cultural Reference

A child born out of wedlock (marriage), who is therefore considered "illegitimate." Often used as a vernacular insult, suggesting that an individual is somehow less than fully deserving of the rights and protections associated with membership in a community, regardless of the marital status of his or her biological parents.

Fornication is the sexual act between two people who are not married to one another.

Anthropology is the study of human cultures past and present and includes the four sub-fields of physical anthropology, cultural anthropology, archaeology, and linguistics.

Gall medicine is made of the gall bladders of eagles, mountain lions, bear, and skunk. Occasionally the gall bladders of sheep, wolf, badger, and deer are also used. Navajos carry this medicine with them, sometimes in small bags or pouches, for protection against witches, corpse poison, and strangers. It is most often carried on their person when they are in a crowd, for example during ceremonies, or when traveling outside their home territory.

A person who makes, smuggles, and sells illegal objects. Historically the term referred to people who smuggled alcohol concealed in their boots.

More often spelled bilagáana, this word is an Anglicization of the Navajo word used to refer to people who have white skin.

An amphibious creature surprisingly populous in the arid west, found in ephemeral waterways and during the summer monsoons. In the Navajo tradition, Frog (or First Frog) is the deity who can make floodwaters recede, spread water over fire, and who plays a role in fertility. The Navajo believe that when the First People came to the present world, Frog volunteered to release the black rain from one of his coats to put out the fire started by Coyote when he stole it from Fire Man. Crane volunteered to fly and carry frog over the fire to accomplish this task.

Also found in some versions of the Navajo tradition, it is taboo to kill a frog, or any other amphibian, due to their strong association with the curative and destructive powers of water. It is believed that to take the life of a frog would result in devastating floods and ruined crops, and the frog killer would require a healing ceremony. Another Navajo taboo associated with frogs is watching a frog eat, which would result in difficulty swallowing and other throat conditions.

In contemporary scholarship, the Anasazi are also referred to as Ancient or Ancestral Pueblo peoples. Neither Navajo nor modern Pueblo society condone the use of the word Anasazi, which is a Navajo word meaning "Ancient Enemy." Ancestral Pueblo culture was concentrated in the Four Corners area of the Southwest, including the present day states of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona, and is known for the range of structures it left behind, especially its cliff dwellings, many of which are found in Many Ruins Canyon (Canyon de Chelly). These ancient Puebloans are also remembered for their extensive use of irrigated agriculture, especially maize (corn), and their intricate pottery designs.

Both prehistoric and modern Puebloans are noted for their masonry structures, known as pueblos. These structures are built in room blocks, generally with a central plaza. These room blocks are stacked upon one another as individual apartments and storage facilities and are accessed from the roof via ladders. In addition to storage and living quarters, within the pueblo complex there are also subterranean ceremonial structures known as kivas.

In Navajo mythology there is a difference between the sun in the sky and the Bearer of the Sun, also known as Tsohanoai in navajo. The Bearer of the Sun is the holy being who carries the sun across the sky every day. He is symbolically represented as a blue disk with mouth eyes, and, occassionally, horns. Sometimes, however, he is represented in sand paintings as a person. He has an acknowledged wife, Changing Woman (Estsanatlehi), but much like Zeus in Greek mythology, Bearer of the Sun has relations with many other women, and as a result has many illegitimate children. The illegitimate children are only acknowledged as his own when they have completed a difficult task. In one such instance, Changing Woman’s children, the Hero Twins, are challenged to complete a series of tasks when they confront Bearer of the Sun at his house.

The number four is sacred to many Native Americans. There are four sacred directions, four sacred mountains, four sacred plants, and four times of day. It is believed that attempts to create new things are usually unsuccessful the first three times but are successful the fourth time. The Navajo believe that the four directions are alive and places where sacred things happen. Each direction has its own star or constellation, a color, and various associations.

East Direction is associated with the Great Divine or Big Star, positive thinking, and the development of concentration and the senses. South Direction is associated with the Pleiades or the Flint Brothers, planning, and with organization, communication, comprehension, and the planting of seeds. West Direction is associated with Cluster of Stars, Many Stars, and the Milky Way, life, and the clan system, kinship, social development, and life cycles. North Direction is associated with the Horned Star, spirituality, hope, strength, the natural order, sacred songs, prayers, ceremonies, and protection.