Removing one of the smaller blankets from a cedar chest, she spread it out on the floor for the boys to see.
“This is a ceremonial blanket, often called a Yeibitchai or a sand-painting rug,” she explained. “The first of this type was made in 1910 by Hosteen Tia, a Navajo medicine-man.”
“Why do they call it a sand painting rug?” Brad asked curiously.
“Each rug is a replica of a sand painting,” Mrs. Sarazen explained.
“Say, maybe we could make our sand painting like this blanket!” Dan proposed. “It’s an awfully complicated design though.”
“It is that,” agreed Mrs. Sarazen. “Almost too intricate, I’d judge, for duplication.”
The blanket was largely woven in black and white. It was characterized by figures representing twelve rattlesnakes.
Mrs. Sarazen told the Cubs that the original sand painting from which the blanket had been copied represented a ceremony connected with a snake-bite cure.
“Take the blanket along now,” she urged. “If the design isn’t too intricate, use it for your own sand painting.”
Just then Professor Sarazen sauntered in from the garden. He told the boys more about Navajo blankets, tribal customs and habits.