Navajo sand paintings/Memory Aids

Sand paintings/memory aids are an extremely important part of the Navajo religion.  Navajo sand paintings/memory aids are the focal point of a chant; in fact, they serve as an altar with powerful magnetic forces to attract supernatural spirits.

The sand painting ceremony is one of four major parts of a “sing” or “chant way”.  Other elements are songs, prayers, and dances.  The chant ways were used to prevent sickness as well as to cure a patient.

There used to be 24 different chant ways.  Seven of these have become extinct and six are now obsolete.  Eleven are well known today and only seven are frequently performed.

Since these chant ways were so complex, the most that any individual could learn was three.

A medicine man and his immediate family shared these original designs prepared on muslin, using vegetal dyes and sand.  These memory aids must never be completed with total detail for fear the power created might cause great harm.  In this manner, the Hathale family in New Mexico have made it possible for us to share and even to have a piece of traditional religious paraphernalia.  They believe each dry sand painting should be created new and different.  Therefore, no two paintings are exactly alike.

We feel fortunate to be able to obtain a very limited number of these memory aids prepared by the Hathale family and to pass them on to you in a form that can be enjoyed today and by many generations in the future.

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