Ye'ii bicheii season begins

By Kathy Helms
Diné Bureau

CHINLE — Friday night was the kickoff of Ye'ii bicheii season, a time of healing which traditionally begins with the Shiprock Fair. Ninety-eight years ago, a "bilagaana," or Anglo agent called "The Tall Leader" by the Navajo people, combined American and Navajo tradition. He probably observed Ye'ii bicheii dances in the fall and possibly even attended some.

According to Johnson Dennison, a traditional medicine man and coordinator of the Office of Native Medicine at Chinle Hospital, The Tall Leader introduced the celebration of crops, usually in the autumn, and fairs at which to exhibit produce such as melons and squash.

"Navajos were into sport horse racing," he said. At the time that The Tall Leader introduced the fair, the rodeo started. It was also the beginning of the Ye'ii bicheii season, so he combined that concept American and Navajo tradition. He sponsored a Ye'ii bicheii dance for a patient, any patient. Since then, the Ye'ii bicheii and the Shiprock Fair have become a tradition, he said.

"As early as I know, when I was a little boy, people always talked about the Shiprock Ye'ii bicheii dance. Since then, we always attend the dance and then turn around and look at the fair and the rodeo. There are some contemporary Navajos who object to it. They say it shouldn't be with the fair, which I agree with that, but it has become the Shiprock tradition," Dennison said.

The fair begins Oct. 1. The Ye'ii bicheii started Sept. 24. "There is no Ye'ii bicheii dance prior to that," he said.

The Ye'ii bicheii ceremony means "Night Way" in Navajo and is translated as "Night Chant" in English. It takes nine nights and involves a lot of commitment, cooperation, and support from family, relatives and community members who sponsor it.

The Night Chant is a healing ceremony for a person who has a vision problem, or a hearing problem, "or their mind's all screwed up, or sometimes prolonged illness," Dennison said, "but basically it's for the vision problem blindness."

A Navajo diagnostician, or "hand trembler," is usually sought to diagnose the illness. After consultation with the hand trembler, the patient is prescribed to have the Night Chant. "If the family is inexperienced with the Night Chant ceremony, a medicine man specialized in the ceremony is consulted for advisement and clarification," Dennison said.

Preparation for the ceremony begins usually three months to a year in advance. The ceremony can be done only in autumn to mid winter months. There are few medicine men specialized in the Night Chant, and finding someone to do the ceremony can be difficult. Once located, the medicine man is paid in advance, a fee called "ookaah," for the Ye'ii bicheii.

To prepare for the Night Chant the family builds a ceremonial hogan and a shelter under which to feed visitors, Dennison said. When the ceremony is finished, the hogan can be taken down or used for future Night Chant ceremonies. The shelter for food preparation and cooking is built within walking distance of the ceremonial hogan. Visitors are welcome to come eat.

"Getting together all the needed materials takes a lot of time," Dennison said. "Four to five ceremonial baskets are needed. The patient has to get these baskets. Other needed materials could be fabric, shawls, robes, blankets and buckskin."

In Navajo, the concept of bringing people together to help each other do ceremonies is "ahilka'e'elyeed," meaning "to help each other." It is an important concept that holds Navajo society together." Based on this concept and teaching, people come together to contribute and donate materials needed," he said.

The Night Chant begins with the arrival of the medicine man and his helpers to get everything ready for opening night. "This section of the ceremony is done with three to four beautifully dressed ye'iis doing the purification rites while the medicine man sings," Dennison said. The rites are done in the hogan with visiting singers and helpers. Once completed, everyone goes home. The sponsor of the ceremony pays the performing ye'iis as well as serving food to everyone. "Ye'iis dress in costumes and wear masks. They are sacred. Only initiated and trained persons can perform as ye'iis, and they have to know how to perform and do the purification rites," Dennison said.

The daytime ceremony begins at sunrise, with the patient treated with sweats. A hole is dug into the ground early in the morning," the hole is heated and cleared but the hot coals are left in it. These then are covered with various evergreen leaves and herbs to make a bedding," he said. The patient lies on the bedding and is covered with blankets and buckskin. The medicine man sings songs and an offering ceremony is done after the sweat ceremony. The medicine man then conducts a prayer service. The daytime ceremony is repeated for four days and is followed by the Blessing Way ceremony on day four.

"The purpose of the Blessing Way is to bless the masks to be used for dancing. It attracts many visitors. During the night of the Blessing Way ceremony, the masks are all laid out on the finest materials and the medicine man and his helpers will sing blessing songs all night. A number of Blessing Way chanters also participate," according to Dennison.

Following the Blessing Way is the sand painting ceremony, which is done daily for the next four days. "The sacred sand painting is constructed by the skilled sand painters every day in the morning. When the sand painting is done in the afternoon, the patient is treated while sitting on the sand painting. These sand paintings are a particular design learned by the medicine man. The evening activities of the sand paintings are the four main dancers, called 'atsaleeh,' who dance every night until it's over," Dennison said.

The seventh day is popular for an event called "ye'ii yi'aash," which literally means "two ye'iis are coming." The largest sand painting is done in the hogan that day.

"Many sand painters, under the supervision of the medicine man, do the huge and detailed sand painting. It is started in the morning and completed by late afternoon," Dennison said. "When the sand painting is completed, two male ye'iis and one female ye'ii perform their ritual rites outside the hogan. People watch the event. The patient is in front of the hogan with a basket of corn meal. The ye'iis perform sacred rites while the patient stands in front of the hogan facing east. Next the patient and the ye'iis go inside the hogan where the patient sits on the sand painting and the ye'iis bless the patient."

That evening, dance teams arrive to sing and dance four times in front of the hogan. Each team is given a sheep on the morning of the final day for their participation. The final day, the ye'ii masks are decorated with fir branches and taken to the cedar shelter east of the ceremonial hogan. The shelter, the home of the ye'iis, is the site of the final afternoon of dancing.

That night, all dancers are painted with white clay, and while the dance is going on outside, inside the hogan the medicine man and his helpers sing sacred songs throughout the night. "The beauty of the singing is the rhythm and togetherness," Dennison said.

Dawn is the time for the sacred Blue Bird chant and dance, which closes the ceremony. The dancers perform the final dance with everyone participating with offerings and prayers. The dancers then remove their masks and place them back in the medicine bundle. The Night Chant ceremony is complete and the dancers and spectators will return home. The patient, however, will stay another four days before returning to normal life.