Cultural Reference

In some versions of Navajo traditional medicine, when a person is thought to have been contaminated by coming into contact with an enemy or enemy witch, he can be taken to a diagnostician known as a hand trembler. The hand trembler will determine if the Enemyway ceremony is needed to cure the patient of any ailments thought to derive from enemy contact. The blackening rite is then conducted to determine if the Enemyway Ceremony will cure the patient’s ailment. This rite consists of mixing tallow and ash and spreading the mixture over the cursed victim. By painting the patient in ash, the patient comes to embody Monster Slayer, a young warrior who fights his way toward saving the Navajo people in various tales that comprise the Navajo origin story.

Chosen by the Pekwin or head priest, the Bow priests are a warrior society linked to the cult of Ahayuda, the Zuni twin war gods. The Bow Priests care for the shrine of Ahayuda and are responsible for any depictions of the gods. The Bow Priests are conspicuous in Zuni cosmology and in the first world, it was the Bow Priests who planted the prayer stick that allowed the people to climb out into daylight, provided corn for eating and carved the hands, feet, mouth and anus of the newly emerged people. During the full moon in March, the Bow Priests honor Ahayuda by making prayer sticks. In the past, two Bow Priests were assigned to the Pekwin priestly hierarchy, to the kachina society, to the medicine society: 12 esoteric fraternities in all. As the Ahayuda are always portrayed as twins, the Bow Priests are paired as their representatives on earth. The Bow Priests organize the ceremonial calendar and choose the people marked to impersonate gods during the year ahead. They guard the secrets of rituals and act as hosts for ceremony, sprinkling sacred corn meal and leading the masked gods into the plaza.

The Bow Priests are the only priests in Zuni who attend to the civil problems of war and internal aggression, and are responsible for punishing intruders and for regulating adherence to the Zuni faith and moral codes. The Bow priests continue to be influential into modernity. In the early 1970s, two Bow Priests, Victor Niihi and Dexter Cellicion realized that A'hayuta stolen from shrines were on exhibit in the Denver Museum and attempts at reparations were made. The Bow Priests were chosen for this task because of their role as mediator between the mundane and the sacred, and over 100 sacred Ahayuda objects have been returned to the Zuni nation.

Also spelled "Shootingway," the Shooting Way is a curing ceremonial complex from the Holyway classification that is performed to heal the patient’s sickness and restore balance and beauty into the world. The Shooting Way is a complex of chants that includes the Male Shooting Way Chant (na’at’oee baką́jí), the Male Shooting Way Ugly (Na’ átoee baką́ji hochǫ́ǫ́jí), and the Female Shooting Way Chant. It should be noted that the sex of the patient does not influence which of these chants are used. Rather, it appears to be based on the sex of the characters in the myth attached to the chant.

The Male Shooting Way chants are performed to cure people who have inopportune contact with snakes, arrows, or lightning. These are dangerous as they are associated with supernatural beings. The Male Shooting Way Ugly is performed to cure illnesses caused by witchcraft and ghosts.

Although there are recorded fragments of the Female Shooting Way chant and even a sandpainting schema associated with the Female Shooting Way ceremonial, the actual practice of this branch is less well known and less practiced than the male cycles of this healing ceremonial. In general, the Female Shooting Way is meant to alleviate illnesses provoked by association with menstruating women, or when a pregnant woman comes into contact with lightning, its effects, or curing ceremonials that are inappropriate for pregnant women to attend.

A ceremonial stick used in the Navajo Enemyway ceremonial. On the first day of the Enemyway, the scalp stick is created at the patient’s home and at sunset of the stick is presented to the stick receiver. If he finds it properly made, the stick receiver accepts the stick and portions of the Blessing Way are sung.

A ceremonial stick used in the Navajo Enemyway ceremonial. On the first day of the Enemyway, the scalp stick is created at the patient’s home and at sunset of the stick is presented to the stick receiver. If he finds it properly made, the stick receiver accepts the stick and portions of the Blessing Way are sung.

A ceremonial participant in the Enemyway whose job is to shoot the ritual “scalp” of the enemy that is causing illness in a patient. The Enemyway is a Navajo ceremony performed to cure people from illness caused by coming into contact with an "enemy," typically someone or an experience outside the Navajo culture and traditional lifeways. The symbolic scalp is collected during a ritualized warpath prior to the ceremony, brought to the place of healing without being touched, and kept out of sight until it is time to be destroyed by the scalp shooter, thereby eradicating the cause of the imbalance being suffered by the patient who is the focus of the healing ceremony.

The person chosen during the Enemyway ceremonial to collect and carry a symbolic enemy scalp to the place where it will be shot and ritually defeated. The object representing the enemy scalp is tied to a pole with yucca fibers and is not touched by the naked hand. Not to be confused with the scalp shooter, the scalp carrier must not pass his burden to any other person, and he must travel unaccompanied.

In curing ceremonials, such as the Navajo Enemyway, the scalp referenced is a token object representing an enemy. The Enemyway is a ceremony performed to cure people from illness caused by coming into contact with an "enemy," typically someone or an experience outside the Navajo culture and traditional lifeways. The symbolic scalp is collected during a ritualized warpath prior to the ceremony, brought to the place of healing without being touched, and kept out of sight until it is time to be destroyed.

The portion of epidermis, or skin, that covers the dome of the human head, from the hairline above the brows back to the nape of the neck. In many cultures, historically the scalp has been harvested from slain enemies as proof of their death. Scalps can also be removed from living victims, who may or may not survive the process.

In curing ceremonials, such as the Navajo Enemy Way, the scalp referenced in some versions of the ceremony is actually a token object representing an enemy. The Enemy Way is a ceremony performed to cure people from illness caused by coming into contact with an "enemy," typically someone or an experience outside the Navajo culture and traditional lifeways. The symbolic scalp is collected during a ritualized warpath during the ceremony, brought to the place of healing without being touched, and kept out of sight until it is time to be destroyed.

In some versions of Navajo healing traditions, a star gazer completes a ceremony to diagnose the type of illness a patient has. The star gazer first creates a sandpainting in his patient's hogan. He then exits the hogan to sing star-songs and use a “glass rock” to cast light upon the hogan or the patient. The color of light that comes from the quartz crystal determines if it is a serious sickness or not. The star-gazer uses this information to give a diagnosis on the illness.

A part of the Enemyway ceremony, which is performed to cure people from illness caused by coming into contact with an "enemy," typically someone or an experience outside the Navajo culture and traditional lifeways. According to some histories of the Enemyway, it is sung in order to protect Navajos from harmful ghosts of slain warriors. In the past, this ceremonial was used for returning warriors in order to rid them of the harmful effects of these evil spirits, or chindi. The "Encounter Between the Camps" portion of the ceremony occurs on the final day of the nine-day ceremony, when the "enemy" camp symbolically attacks the patient’s group. Later, the patient’s group brings food and gifts to the enemy's camp.

There are six esoteric cults within the Zuni religion, each having their own priesthood, rituals, religious paraphernalia, and special times and places for worship and ceremony. The Cult of the War Gods celebrates the Ahayuda, the twins of A'wonawilona, who came to the people when military leadership was badly needed. The Bow Priests care for the kachinas of this cult, and can be construed as the Warrior-Priests who deal with both religious concerns and the secular issues of war, crime and aggression.