Navajo Sand Painting

Sand Painting as a Healer

Among the Navajo, sand paintings are not just a form of art. They are a piece of a much larger healing ceremony. This ceremony is performed for a sick person in an effort to heal the patient. Interestingly, the Navajo believe that by sitting on the painting and having a chant sung over them, the sickness of the patient will be transferred to the painting itself. This is done by attracting the the Holy People (the Navajo gods). These spirits interact through the sand paintings that are created. In order to gain the attention of the Holy People, a specified "chanter" recites a chant specific to the painting that the sick person is sitting on. For the Navajo, the physical nature of the illness is not nearly as important as the spiritual meaning. "The performative power of sand painting creation and ritual use reestablish the proper, orderly placement of the forces of life, thus restoring correct relations between the patient and those forces upon which the patient's spiritual and physical health depend." (Navajo Sand Paintings, N.D.) At the end of the ceremonies, the paintings are always destroyed because of the illness that they now possess.

Process of Sand Painting

When a Navajo person starts to make a sand painting, they first start by making a clean palette of sand. They then use a variety of natural pigments to create the figures. Charcoal, sandstone, pollen, mud, and turquoise are a few examples of the resources they use to create the color in the paintings. The figures themselves typically follow a geometric pattern, sometimes displaying stick figures to represent the Holy People as well. Each symbol and figure will represent a religious depiction.

Attitudes Towards Sand Painting

The created sand paintings are looked at as being extremely holy. Many Americans view them simply as art; however, this is insulting to the Navajo. The Navajo believe no one can simply view the paintings. Instead, one must either make the painting or enter into it for healing. The painting is to be considered as a living entity that follows the process for healing. Yet, the Navajo aren't blind to the economic benefit of these sand paintings. Although the paintings are very sacred, the Navajo have started to see them as an opportunity to showcase their culture to tourists in Arizona. There are often displays in museums of sand paintings or even the Navajo peoples themselves working on a sand painting.

Learn More

*A short video showing a Navajo person doing a sand painting: https://www.pbs.org/video/kued-documentaries-we-shall-remain-sand-painting/

*The Navajo people website: https://navajopeople.org/navajo-sand-painting.htm

*New York Times article: https://www.nytimes.com/1988/10/02/travel/the-art-of-navajo-sand-paintings.html

*General background on Navajo: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Navajo-people

*Navajo Nation government website: http://www.navajo-nsn.gov/history.htm

Works Cited

Artsology. (n.d.). Navajo Sand Painting: Native American Indian Art: Sand Painting as Healing Ritual. Retrieved from https://artsology.com/navajo-sand-painting.php.

Berlo, J. (2011). Navajo Cosmoscapes—Up, Down, Within. American Art, 25(1), 10-13. doi:10.1086/660025

Cummings, B. (1936). Navajo Sand Paintings. Kiva, 1(7), 1-2. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/30246835

Griffin-Pierce, T. (1995). Earth is my mother, sky is my father: Space, time, and astronomy in Navajo sandpainting. UNM Press.

Hardt, A. L. (1988, October 2). The Art of Navajo Sand Paintings. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/1988/10/02/travel/the-art-of-navajo-sand-paintings.html.

Navajo Sandpaintings. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://navajopeople.org/navajo-sand-painting.htm.

Sapir, E. (1935). A Navaho Sand Painting Blanket. American Anthropologist, 37(4), new series, 609-616. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/662644

Wyman, L. C. (1983). Navajo ceremonial system. Handbook of North American Indians, 10(536-557).