Photograph

Museum number:

13-6854

Permalink:

ark:/21549/hm21130006854

Alternate number:

13-5989

Accession number:

Acc.4704

Description:

Navajo masked dancer standing on sandpainting, Night Chant (Yeibichai). Totso Trading Post, Lukachukai, AZ; December 13-21, 1963. Per Door Book/Accession Record: Man standing on sand painting, Yeibichai, Arizona, 1963.

Donor:

William R. Heick

Collection place:

Arizona

Verbatim coll. place:

Arizona

Culture or time period:

Navajo

Collector:

William R. Heick

Collection date:

1963

Object type:

ethnography

Object class:

Masks (costume)

Accession date:

March 22, 2000

Department:

Still and motion photography

Dimensions:

width 26.035 centimeters and length 36.195 centimeters

Comment:

Per labels provided by Ira Jacknis: Navajo masked dancer standing on a sandpainting, Night Chant (Yeibichai). Totso Trading Post, Lukachukai, Arizona; December 13-21, 1963. Commonly called "sandpaintings," these ritual designs are more properly called drypaintings, as they are made of charcoal, cornmeal, pollen, flowers and other plants, and ground shells and minerals as well as colored sand. Made by the singer or his assistants, the drypainting may take four to six people working three to five hours to complete, depending on its complexity. The average size is about six feet in diameter. They depict the Yeis or Holy People involved in the myth relevant to the ceremony.