Kí̆nya Ánĭ - Houses in the Cliffs
Bĕ Aánĭ - Fallen Leaves
Tzĭlh Tad - In Front of the Mountains
Kí̆nya Ánĭ - (An inferior clan of the same name as the first of this group)
Cliff people already occupying the country formed three clans: Tsĕnĭjĭkĭnné̆, In the Rock Houses; To Hĕt Klí̆nĭ, Where the Waters Come Together; and Tzĭlhnúhodĭnlĭ, Beside the Mountain. An old woman joined the Navaho from the salt lakes to the south, heading the Ashĭhín clan. People from Jemez formed the Mai Dĕshkís, or Coyote Pass, clan; Apache from the Cibicu cañon, the Dĕschínĭ clan, or Red-light People, and families from Zuñi the Nashtĕzhé̆, Blackened Eyebrows, clan, and Tŭh'chínĭ, Red Heads, clan, so called from their painted faces and bodies. There are numerous other clanship groups derived from adopted peoples now recognized as being distinctly Navaho; the first sixteen clans here named are accepted in the tribe as being strictly Navaho in origin.
Marriage—The girl's consent is necessary to marriage, but tribal custom demands that the intended husband compensate her parents, the usual price being fourteen horses and a silver belt. Indeed, the bringing of the horses is a part of the ceremony. When a young man[pg 138] desires to marry, but does not have the necessary number of horses, his friends aid him by presenting horses until he has the required number. The marriage ceremony takes place at night under the direction of a medicine-man.
Ganaskĭdĭ - Navaho
From Copyright Photograph 1904 by E.S. Curtis
Origin—Mythical First People produced from corn, rain, pollen, and precious stones in a miraculous manner by four gods and the Winds.
Persons of Miraculous Birth—Nayé̆nĕzganĭ and Tobadzĭschí̆nĭ are the sons of the Sun and Water respectively, and the virgin Yólkai Ĕstsán, White-Shell Woman. Man-destroying monsters, symbolic of earthly evils, infested the earth until destroyed by these two miraculous personages.
Ceremonies—The Navaho life is particularly rich in ceremony and ritual, second only to some of the Pueblo groups. Note is made of nine of their great nine-day ceremonies for the treatment of ills, mental and physical. There are also many less important ceremonies occupying four days, two days, and one day in their performance. In these ceremonies many dry-paintings, or "sand altars," are made, depicting the characters and incidents of myths. Almost every act of their life—the building of the hogán, the planting of crops, etc.—is ceremonial in nature, each being attended with songs and prayers.
Burial—The Navaho dead are buried by others than immediate relatives in unmarked graves. No ceremonies are held, for the dead are considered evil and are feared. The hogán in which death occurs is forever abandoned, often burned. Sometimes a hogán is demolished over the dead and then left to decay.