Introduction to Navajo culture by a storyteller.

The two sandstone monoliths towering over the southern Colorado landscape are wrapped in ancient mystery. To the local tribes, they are the Twin War Gods, sons of the moon goddess, White Shell Woman. Legends tell of strange happenings in their shadows, of lost treasure and Anasazi blood sacrifice. But it is a much more recent history that troubles former Ute policeman-turned-rancher Charlie Moon, specifically the fresh corpse of a young Native American woman unearthed at an archaeological dig.

Features over four hundred entries that explore such topics as the core beliefs of various tribes, creation accounts, and recurrent themes throughout North American native cultures. The beliefs of many Native American peoples emphasize a close relationship between people and the natural world, including geographical features such as mountains and lakes, and animals such as whales and bison. Therefore, many of the myths of these peoples are stories of strange occurrences where animals or forces of nature and people interact. These stories are full of vitality and have captured the attention of young people, in many cases, for centuries. Native American Mythology A to Z presents detailed coverage of the deities, legendary heroes and heroines, important animals, objects, and places that make up the mythic lore of the many peoples of North America from northern Mexico into the Arctic Circle. A comprehensive reference written for young people and illustrated throughout, this volume brings to life many Native American myths, traditions, and beliefs. Offering an in depth look at various aspects of Native American myths that are often left unexplained in other books on the subject, this book is a valuable tool for anyone interested in learning more about various Native American cultures. Coverage includes creation accounts from many Native American cultures; influences on and development of Native American mythology; the effects of geographic region, environment, and climate on myths; core beliefs of numerous tribes; recurrent themes in myths throughout the continent. The beliefs of many Native American peoples emphasize a close relationship between people and the natural world.

A cycle of poetry and stories by the Navajo writer explores her memories of home in Shiprock, New Mexico; of significant events such as birth, partings, and reunions; and of life with her family. By the author of Seasonal Woman. Simultaneous.

Susan Seddon Boulet: The Goddess Paintings brings together the magnificent paintings of Susan Seddon Boulet with insightful, scholarly text by Michael Babcock, a San Francisco Bay Area writer who has studied mythology extensively. Set against Babcock's backdrop of history, mythology, and psychology, Boulet's luminous paintings of Psyche, Athena, Gaia, and forty-two other goddesses come to vibrant life. These paintings are among the best known and most highly regarded of the artist's oeuvre. While gazing at these paintings I found myself becoming mesmerized, captivated, and enthralled. -- NAPRA Trade Journal

Through 70 color photographs & accompanying text, the author relates the sacred rites by which an Apache girl becomes a woman.

What might result from hearing a particular song, wearing used clothing, or witnessing an accident? Ethnographic accounts of the Navajo refer repeatedly to the influences of events on health and well-being, yet until now no attempt has been made to clarify the Navajo system of rules governing association and effect. This book focuses on the complex interweaving of the cosmological, social, and bodily realms that Navajo people navigate in an effort alternately to control, contain, or harness the power manifested in various effects. Following the Navajo life-course from conception to puberty, Maureen Trudelle Schwarz explores the complex rules defining who or what can affect what or whom in specific circumstances as a means of determining what these effects tell us about the cultural construction of the human body and personhood for the Navajo. Schwarz shows how oral history informs Navajo conceptions of the body and personhood, showing how these conceptions are central to an ongoing Navajo identity. She treats the vivid narratives of emergence life-origins as compressed metaphorical accounts, rather than as myth, and is thus able to derive from what individual Navajos say about the past their understandings of personhood in a worldview that is actually a viable philosophical system. Working with Navajo religious practitioners, elders, and professional scholars. Schwarz has gained from her informants an unusually firm grasp of the Navajo highlighted by the foregrounding of Navajo voices through excerpts of interviews. These passages enliven the book and present Schwarz and her Navajo consultants as real, multifaceted human beings within the ethnographic context.

The life of We'wha (1849-96), the Zuni who was perhaps the most famous berdache (an individual who combined the work and traits of both men and women) in American Indian history.

This is the most complete version of the Navajo creation story to appear in English since Washington Matthews' Navajo Legends of 1847. Zolbrod's new translation renders the power and delicacy of the oral storytelling performance on the page through a poetic idiom appropriate to the Navajo oral tradition. Zolbrod's book offers the general reader a vivid introduction to Navajo culture. For students of literature this book proposes a new way of looking at our literary heritage.

Presents detailed coverage of the deities, legendary heroes and heroines, important animals, objects, and places that make up the mythic lore of the many peoples of North America.