Spiritual Perspectives
Navajo Night Chant

By Johnson Dennison
Special to The Independent

The Ye'ii bicheii Ceremony is called Tleeji in Navajo. It means "Night Way." Normally, it is translated into English as "Night Chant." It is considered a distinctive and popular ceremony. This ceremony is complicated, attractive, and expensive. It attracts many people during the nine nights it is done. It takes a lot of commitment, cooperation, and support from family members, relatives, and community members to sponsor the Night Chant.

The Night Chant is a healing ceremony. It treats a patient who is experiencing problems with his or her vision, hearing, and mind. It is also used to treat a prolonged illness. A Navajo diagnostician, who is called "tinilei yeena'idilkidigii" or the "hand trembler" is usually sought to diagnose an illness. After a consultation with the diagnostician, the patient is prescribed to have the Night Chant Ceremony. First, the patient notifies his or her parents or close relatives who head the family. A discussion is usually held with relatives to make a final decision to sponsor the ceremony for the patient. During the discussion, everyone is in consensus on sponsoring the ceremony. If the family is inexperienced with the Night Chant Ceremony, a medicine man specialized in the ceremony is consulted for advisement and clarification. After the final decision is made, the preparation for the ceremony starts. It usually takes a long time to put everything together for the ceremony. It could take from three months to a year to get everything planned and prepared. It is a ceremony that can be done only in autumn to mid winter months: October to January. There are not many medicine men who are specialized in the Night Chant which could cause the family difficulty finding a medicine man to do the ceremony. Once a medicine man is located, the patient's family requests the medicine man to perform the Night Chant Ceremony. It is appropriate to pay the medicine man in advance, which is called "ookaah." Once the ceremony is scheduled, the preparation begins.

Preparation for the Night Chant includes setting up the place, buying needed materials, informing relatives, friends, and community members, and informing ye'ii bicheii dancers. Setting up the place takes time and work. The family builds a ceremonial hogan and a cook shed. When the ceremony is finished, the hogan can be taken down or used for other future Night Chant ceremonies. The cook shed is built within walking distance to the ceremonial hogan on the southwest side. Food preparation and cooking are done in the shed. The visitors are welcome to come and eat in the shed.

The materials needed for the ceremony are obtained by the family members of the patient. Four to five ceremonial baskets are needed for the ceremony. The patient has to get these baskets. Other needed materials are fabric, shawls, robes, blankets and buckskin. Some of the needed materials are donated by relatives and friends. Obtaining needed materials could become a financial burden to the patient and family, but the generosity of relatives and neighbors help ease the stress through donations.

After months of preparation, the Night Chant is finally started with the arrival of the medicine man. He arrives with his helpers to get everything ready for the opening night of the ceremony. This section of the ceremony is done with three to four beautifully dressed ye'iis doing the purification rites while the medicine man sings. These rites are done in the hogan with visiting singers and helpers. Some people just watch as well. Once the purification rites are done, everyone goes home.

The ye'iis dress in costumes and wear masks that are sacred. Only an initiated and trained person can perform as a ye'ii. He has to know how to perform and do the purification rites.

The daytime ceremony begins at sunrise. The patient is treated at a sweat a short distance from the hogan on the east side. A hole is dug into the ground early in the morning for the sweat. 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. The patient gets to lie on the bedding and is covered with blankets and buckskin. The medicine man sing songs. An offering ceremony is done after the sweat ceremony. A prayer service is also done by the medicine man at this time. This daytime ceremony is repeated for four days.

The Blessing Way Ceremony is performed on the fourth day. Many visitors show up for the Blessing Way. The purpose of the Blessing Way Ceremony is to bless the masks to be used for dancing. During the night of the Blessing Way Ceremony, the masks are all laid out on the finest materials. The medicine man and his helpers will sing blessing songs all night. There are a number of Blessing Way chanters participating as well.

The sand painting ceremony is done daily after the Blessing Way Ceremony 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 of a particular designed learned by the medicine man. During the evening activities of the sand paintings, the four main dancers call "atsaleeh" dance and they dance every night until it's over.

The seventh day of the ceremony, "ye'ii yi'aash," is an important and popular event. "Ye'ii yi'aash" literally is "two ye'iis are coming." The biggest sand painting is also done in the hogan the same 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. 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 patients is in front of the hogan with a basket of corn meal. The ye'iis perform a sacred rite while the patient stands in front of the hogan facing the East. Then, the patient and the ye'iis go inside the hogan. Inside, the patient sits on the sand painting and the ye'iis bless the patient.

That evening, various beautifully dressed male and female dance teams arrive to dance. Each team sings beautiful songs and dances four times in front of the hogan. Many people watch the dances and listen to the songs all night.

The final day the ye'ii masks are decorated with fir branches. The decorated masks are taken to the cedar shelter east of the ceremonial hogan. The shelter is called "ye'ii bighan," or "the home of the ye'iis." During the final day, there will be some dancing in the late afternoon hours. It is a good time to watch the dancers dancing in the shelter. The final night is when the dancers sing and dance wearing masks. All the dancers are painted with white clay. While the dance is going on outside, inside the hogan the medicine man and his helpers sing sacred songs throughout the night. They, men and women, sit in a circle around a ceremonial basket used as a drum to sing. This is called "ts'aa' yaasita." The beauty of the singing is the rhythm and togetherness.

The Blue Bird Chant and Dance is a closing ceremony at dawn. It is a sacred chant and dance. The dancers perform the final dance and everyone will participate with offerings and prayers during the process. The dancers will remove their masks and place them back in the medicine bundle.

The Night Chant Ceremony is completed and the medicine man is off to another place to start another Night Chant Ceremony. The dancers and spectators will return back to their homes. The patient will stay for another four days before normal living again. The medicine people usually inform the patient to have reverence for the ceremony for four days. If the patient is employed, he or she may be informed not to go back to work until after four days.

Johnson Dennison, a Navajo medicine man, is a coordinator in the Office of Native Medicine for the Indian Health Service in Chinle, Ariz.

This column is the result of a desire by community members, representing different faith communities, to share their ideas about bringing a spiritual perspective into our daily lives and community issues.

For information about contributing a guest column, contact Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola at the Independent: (505) 863-8611, ext. 218 or lizreligion01@yahoo.com.