essay
Ritual drama in the Navajo House Blessing Ceremony
Southwestern Indian ritual drama • Albuquerque • Published In 1980 • Pages: 161-198, 345-360
By: Frisbie, Charlotte Johnson.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
The Navajo House Blessing Ceremony is a prophylactic rite, part of the Blessingway Ceremony, used to consecrate new or reinhabited dwellings. While much has been written on the Blessingway, prior to Frisbie's dissertation on which this article is based, little had been written on the House Blessing Ceremony, in spite of the great significance afforded the Hogan in Navajo life. Frisbie discusses the literature on the Blessingway and historical development of the House Blessing Ceremony. She distinguishes between a private and public ceremony. The later is a recent development rising with construction and dedication of public buildings on the reservation. Frisbie also discusses the ritual components of the House Blessing Ceremony, including the storylines and prayers, for both private and public ceremonies. She concludes that the House Blessing Ceremony has remained a viable, dynamic, and traditional ceremony, one able to accommodate social change.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Dwellings
- Public structures
- Prayers and sacrifices
- Organized ceremonial
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Navajo
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2004
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- North America
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Southwest and Basin
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- essay
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Ethnologist
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Ian Skoggard ; 2003
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1964-1971
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1923-1977
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Navajo Nation, southwestern United States
- NotesAdditional notes
- Charlotte J. Frisbie
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 345-360)
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Navajo Indians