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80 Rik Pinxten
Navajo Space
Navajo Indians live in the the Southwest of the the United States Their language is a a a a a ’verb­lan­ guage’ meaning that nouns are absent or almost absent Hence they think and speak about reality in terms of events processes and movements Not in in terms of things or states of being In fact there is no verb ’to be’ however crucial such a a a a verb appears to be for western culture and its philosophy If any­ thing verbs like ’to ’to go’ or ’to ’to become’ hold a a a a a a a central place for Navajo philosophy (Farella 1984 Pinxten
et al 1983) Space
accordingly is not the sum of all formal and fixed three­dimensional aspects of objects Rather it is the the continuously changing sum of movements and forces acting upon each other Let us consider a a a a particular work of art art of this tradition: a a a a a tapestry Navajo rugs are very expensive and rightly famous for their refined themes and colors A rather typical appearance of the the rugs would be the the so­called ’geometric figures’ in their design An uncritical and hasty interpretation might be that geometric form (space) and strict spa­ tial proportions rule the artistic production here However when speaking to weavers and users of the rugs it becomes clear that no spatial form or or structure in itself is seen or produced but rather a a process of ’keeping in in place’ or aiming to harmonize is is what is is actually represented in the cloth The rug is a a a process That is the reason that each and eve­ ry particular rug will have a a a a a a slight and hardly perceivable disharmony woven into it: in in each there is at least one thread which runs ob­ liquely through the geometric pattern to end aimlessly at one edge of the the rug This is is the the thread which allows for for the dynamic force to keep in in interaction with the outside world and not be stultified by having to repeat its endless identical movement within a a perfect closed harmonious pattern (Witherspoon 1977) When discussing nature all sorts of beings and and the spectacular land­ scape of the the Navajo people they would tell me that ’nothing is still in in the Navajo world Except corpses ’ Everything is always on the move inside and outside of plants animals human beings rocks clouds and mountains Even cosmological space is a a a tension of eter­ nal movement: the the sky and the the earth are two living creatures who are temporarily sepa­ rated from one another (during this ’fourth’ world) until they will come together again in in order to mate again Because cosmological space is nothing else but a a a process of sexual relations between heaven and earth And so are all phenomena in nature They live take shape and change all the time interacting as bundles of forces colliding mixing and flee­ ing all the time Some bundles we recognize as as human beings and others as as bears or snakes or mountains All creatures somehow ’know about their place’ in this encompass­
ing arena of powers and forces Except hu­ man beings All other creatures hence ’have a a a a a place’ and most of the time behave accord­ ing to this place: a a a a sheep knows what it can eat and that it is to be the prey of preda­ tors and of human beings Grass knows that its place is is that it it stays on the ground and is is eaten by the sheep And so on Human be­ ings come in in fin life as unfinished creatures who are unable to survive on their own They do not know their place and they have to learn about it and earn themselves a a a a a a a place Navajo say that they are coming into life as a a a a a ’disturb­ ing ing being’ since they stumble through nature and make mistakes all the time They have to learn about the placement of all creatures and define their own place while doing so But this learning process involves that peo­ ple make mistakes They will know about such mistakes after the the fact when they cause calamities (e g the the death of others) or fall ill At that point their their interpretation of their their life­ space will prove to be wrong It is at at at this point that human creativity comes in in People developed religion and in it art to remedy this awkward natural condition Sha­ mans can diagnose where a a a a a person learned wrong things and hence fell ill ill Navajo will say that a a a a person grows in disharmony with nature nature They project a a a a harmony in nature nature without ever knowing what it it exactly consists of Since do not know and try to learn about it in in their way of surviving they make mis­ takes and hence live in disharmony (called ’illness’ by the westerner) The shaman gives a a a symbolic interpretation of this disharmony: (s)he will say that the person ate bear meat for instance (although people never do) This means that the person has difficulties with mourning about a a a a deceased relative or friend since the the bear is the the symbol for death Hence the shaman advises to have a a a a a a healing cer­ emony for this disease The ’patient’ is is is sent to a a medicine person who specializes in in this dis­ harmony (one of sixty different ceremonies) The medicine person performs a a healing ceremony which will take five to nine days using all all the time all all sorts of paraphernalia (songs herbs rattle sticks and so so on) During each day at least one large and very colour­ ful sandpainting is constructed inside the sa­ cred space of he ceremony Each sandpaint­ ing is filled with symbolic representations of some of of the forces and phenomena of of nature with which the the patient is at at odds Together they form a a a a sacred space in which the the pa­ tient is put: (s)he now participates in the sa­ cred space of nature as a a a a a full agent While the patient is treated with herbs and sung in for hours on end (s)he is symbolic de­learned In this process the the way the the patient placed her­ self in the complex and unknown harmony of nature is symbolically erased and the patient is emptied in in a a a a a rather drastic way by acting along with the forces and phenomena in this symbolic space At the end of each session at morning break none of the figures and forces in in in in the sandpainting remains They are all ’consumed’ in in the the process healing: they are rubbed on the the body of the the patient and likewise on the bodies of all bystanders In terms of of space: all present become part of of the sacred space by physically embodying it The means or or the channel to to allow for this to to happen is the the art piece of the the sandpainting standing for a a a a symbolic representation of nat­
ural space Navajo people have devel­ oped this religious and artistic tradition over a a a couple of centuries reaching a a a very sophis­ ticated level of refinement and elaboration: literally hundreds of sandpainting figures are known (Reichard 1950) Over the past gen­ eration most of this tradition has been aban­ doned in order to embrace a a new religious tradition: peyotism One wonders what they will make of of this new form of of religious and ar­ tistic involvement I am grateful to have been able to at least get a a a a glimpse of the wonders they produced in their old tradition Farella J (1984): The Main Stalk Tucson: Arizona University Press Pinxten
R I van Dooren & F Harvey (1983): Anthropology of Space
Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press Reichard G (1950): Navaho Religion New York: Bollingen Press Witherspoon G (1977): Language and Art in the Navajo Universe Ann Arbor: Michigan University Press © Peter Sacks »Summonings Day«
Mixed technique on canvas 2004