Salicaceae Salix sp.

Navajo - Other, Ceremonial Items

Use documented by:
Elmore, Francis H., 1944, Ethnobotany of the Navajo, Sante Fe, NM. School of American Research, page 38

View all documented uses for Salix sp.

---

Scientific name: Salix sp.
Common names:
Family: Salicaceae
Family (APG): Salicaceae
Native American Tribe: Navajo
Use category: Other
Use sub-category: Ceremonial Items
Notes: Sticks used for the Night Chant and Mountain Chant. For the first day's ceremony of the Mountain Chant, willow sticks were gathered to make the emblem of the concentration of the four winds. A square was made with these sticks, leaving the ends projecting at the corners. The square was then placed over the invalid's head. For the rite of charcoal painting in the Night chant, a quantity of willow sticks, together with several pieces of pine bark, were burned to charcoal. The ashes of two different kinds of weeds, together with the ashes of two small feathers, were then added to the fat of a goat, mountain sheep or other animal, made into balls and daubed on the usual parts of the body.

RECRD: 2762 id: 36231

---