Navajo Community Beliefs and Traditions
The following chapter focuses on the lives of the Navajo or known as the Navaho community who are the Native American people of the Southwestern United States. They became a popular community among various anthropologists for the purpose of understanding their community, their beliefs, traditions, culture, and lifestyle. The Navajo community reflected a dense and rich culture which has enabled anthropologists to focus particularly on the religious and intellectual dimensions of the Navajo life. The Navajos call themselves the Dineh or The People and were originated from the four regions namely, New Mexico, Utah, Arizona and Colorado. Arizona and New Mexico consist of the largest population of the Navajo people speaking their native Navajo language. The Navajos were mostly dependent on hunting and gathering. Sheep herding and horticulture became a crucial part of their livelihoods. The Navajos were also influenced by their neighboring community Pueblo in terms of living standards and adoption of farming techniques.
The Navajos pay utmost importance to their culture and beliefs. They believe women should be the heads of Navajo families and the owners of their crop lands. As a part of their culture, the dominance of women in higher than the men of that community. Men marry the women and live at their wives’ places. This community follows the exact opposite of what the world generally follows. Men mainly take part in various ceremonies the community largely follows. They call their ceremony as Sings which is a nine-day long event featuring prayers, singing, reciting of their ancient mythological stories and shampooing their hair with yucca suds. Sandpainting is a part of their ceremony where the artists depict their stories and events. The Navajos people built their houses in round shape known as the Hogans. The nine-day ritual is completed only when their chant their ceremonial chant Hozho, which means conditions of the beauty have been restored. Nevertheless, anthropologists believe that Hozho is a fundamental part of Navajo aesthetics and the intentions is to foster their beliefs in the creation of Hozho (Thompson & Towner, 2017).
Navajos are also known for their beautifully hand-woven textiles made from wool. The learned this art from their Pueblo neighbors and started weaving beautiful Navajo blankets (Fallon, 2015). Silversmithing is an important art form Navajos possess which they learned from a Mexican man named Nakai Tsosi. They expertized in the art of making silver jewelry including necklaces, bracelets, earrings and buckles. Navajos were fond of their passion for music which originated as a part of their rituals to cure sick patients. They believed music is a medium to heal the heart, soul and the body. Their culture also has songs to sing informally such as walking songs, planting songs, harvesting songs, riding songs and so on. They emphasis on constructing these songs to count their wealth. The Navajo people strongly believed that the beauty lies in their activities and not in materialistic products. It is also believed that their sings require preparing sand paintings which takes several hours and efforts of more than 40 Navajo men. Although constructing a sand painting is a tiresome process, they dispose the beautiful painting at the end of their ritual. This means that till the time something is constructed, it holds a significant amount of importance. But, the according to their beliefs, a final product carries no significance and hence it is disposed.
Yoruba Art and Culture
According to various anthropologists, the Navajo culture is different from any other culture in terms of looking at the world and protecting what nature has given to humans. Navajos foster harmony and a balance in their lives to protect their community from the evil effects of the outside world. In the present scenario, Navajos have survived well due to their beliefs even in this hostile environment and living their lives in harmony, peace, art, rituals and a rich heritage that believes that the world was built in a state of beauty, harmony and happiness.
The Yoruba people are the ethnic people of the Southwestern and North-Central Nigerian region. They also come from the Southern and Central Benin and the entire region is called as Yorubaland. Most of the Yoruba people are from the Nigerian region and are believed to be the largest community in Africa. They speak their native Yoruba language but with different regional dialects. Nevertheless, before the arrival of the British colonial people, Yoruba people has well-constructed cities. The Yoruba art and culture are also famous as its people and cities (Abiodun, 2014). They are famous for their African carvings of human faces and figures. This was very popular in the western cultures and anthropologists and famous artists were intrigues by this kind of work of art. The carving of these masks or piece of art was a critical process yet beautiful. The ceremonious events are taken place to prepare a new creation and make replacements for the ones which are unusable. The ceremony or the ritual requires the gathering all the elder members of the community who are honored and inspire the younger crowd by showcasing their masks that symbolizes supernatural figures.
The ceremony is called the Efe night where the masked members sing to honor their ancestors, mothers and his words are listened carefully by everyone attending the ceremony. The entire ceremony goes on for the night till the time onlookers do not disperse. The second night is followed by the Gelede Dance which again symbolizes the honoring of the ancestors. The same performers perform the dance. The younger and the cult members perform the dance by wearing their masks and costumes which is highly praised by the onlookers who may offer them with gifts and other offerings. This shows the enthusiasm of the Yoruba community and their rich culture which is appreciated by natives and visitors.
Yoruba Religion and Literature
The Yoruba community lead their livelihoods on several occupations. The traders sell chickens, goats, medicines, ingredients, spices, etc. The Yoruba people mostly follow the profession of farming, weaving, dyers, carving, leather works, pottery, woodcarving, and iron working. Apart from their livelihood, Yoruba people believe in kinship and their religion to be superior as it plays an important part in their daily lives. According to their belief the Yoruba people should remain under their clan and not in a nuclear family. The authority lies in the hands of the oldest male member of the clan known as the bale. Yoruba people mostly follow Christianity, Islamic and their traditional culture and their religion is very important to them. The Yoruba religion is a mixture of both traditional values and spiritual practices which is followed by most of the Yoruba community.
The music of the Yoruba tradition is known for their excellent drumming tradition. These drums are known as dundun hourglass tension drums. The folk music of the Yoruba community is popular worldwide and is one of the most prominent forms of music of the Western African music. The literature depicted on the Yoruba art and culture is rich and the credit goes to the way the social and ethical messages are being delivered to the world. In the Yoruba culture, Ase is a term which symbolizes that all substances have Ase in them, but the concentration lies in only few good things. Ase means wind in Yoruba culture. Yoruba people believe that words are powerful when they are uttered with utmost devotion in form of their ritualistic songs in the Efe ceremony where people come together to chant their songs and create the supreme force. The chapter also mentions about the dependency of Ase on another concept known as Ora which is formed by elements wisdom and knowledge. The Yoruba people look at their art and culture as divine wisdom, understanding and knowledge.
The Yoruba people also has the notion of distinguishing between people living on the earth and people residing in the heaven, but both the types of people require the need of each other. According to them, the both should help each other. It is the divine god who dwells in the heaven and the mortals residing on the earth should seek help from the deities to perform their daily jobs. There are number of researches going to determine the exact meanings of Ase and Ora and their significance in the lives of the Yoruba community. The Yoruba art though plays an important part in making it popular worldwide and making the Yoruba culture intellectually a rich society.
The bear dance is considered to be an important and even the largest spiritual gathering held by the Mountain Maidu as a part of their New Year celebrations which comes in the month of June. In old days, it was believed to be celebrated in the month of April. The importance of Maidu Bear dance is self-realization and learning the way of living. A person may not feel the spiritual energy around them while continuing their daily lives. But, once the person understands and realizes the power of that energy, he/she follows the right path to live their lives. The elders closely monitor the younger ones and later on they get an advisor called the Yeponi who offers them different roles in the spiritual Maidu Bear Dance. The dance starts with cleaning the dance ground and collecting the materials required for the rattlesnake flag. Some young people will be chosen to collect firewood and light the fire. The whole point of the Bear Dance is to connect with the spiritual environment without getting distracted with the thoughts in one’s mind. The Yeponi advisor takes the young dancers to significant places where they can connect with the environment leaving behind their older ways of living life. Beyond this ritual, many of the young people may chose the path of becoming a Yeponi singer, Yeponi Flag, Yeponi Bear or a Yeponi leader. According to this ritual, a Yeponi advisor plays a crucial role in helping the young minds choose the right path and gain highest level of understanding that equals to the Prayer Warrior level.
References
Anderson, R. L. (1990). Calliope’s Sisters. New Jersey: Englewood Cliffs
Manlove, Robert F. (2009) The Mountain Maidu Bear Dance. News from Native California 22(3): 14-18.
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