The song includes several different stages. It begins with the description about a Navajo divinity, and after that, the preparation for the ceremony and the invocation to heal the patient follows. Finally, the song ends with an invocation which calls the sacredness to the space around the patient.
Tségihi
House made of dawn,
House made of evening light,
House made of dark cloud,
House made of male rain,
House made of dark mist,
House made of female rain,
House made of pollen,
House made of grasshopper, [. . .] . (Momaday129)
The night chant starts with religious and geographic description. Tségihi is one of the most important divinities in the Navajo religion, which is related with the power of the eagle and thunder bird. The prayer also refers the very balanced space occupied by Tségihi. In that space, dawn is balanced with evening light, the masculine element (male rain) is integrated by the feminine one, and the animal world and natural phenomena are calm. (21 Evers) The highly balanced and controlled place reflects religious value of the Navajo culture, and also represents a specific ideal point in the Indian land. (225 Meli)
Male deity!
Your offering I make.
I have prepared a smoke for you.
Restore my feet for me,
Restore my legs for me,
Restore my body for me,
Restore my mind for me,
[ . . . . . . . . .]
Happily I recover.
Happily my interior becomes cool.
Happily I go forth. [. . .]
Happily may I walk. [. . .] (Momaday 130)
The song includes preparation of sacred smoke, directed towards the forces of heaven and earth, as the symbol of thankfulness and purification. (Meli 225) Then the invocation follows, which invites the healing power to the patient. By visualizing each part of the body being healed, the patient restores the physical health. However, the patient still needs harmony between his body and soul. According to Gary Witherspoon, Navajo’s mental and physical phenomena are inseparable. (qtd. in Schubnell 48) So, after the restoration of happiness and well-being of the body, the patient takes the imaginative journey of returning his spirit to the recovered self.
May it be beautiful before me,
May it be beautiful behind me,
May it be beautiful below me,
May it be beautiful above me,
May it be beautiful all around me.
In beauty it is finished. (Momaday 130)
The prayer finishes with an invocation which asks sacredness from four directions, before, behind, below and above of the patient. In this space, the patient finds himself in the balanced universe, without the pain or evil in his or her appearance. With the sacredness all around, the patient is leaded once again to the beauty way, the way of balanced life. (Maness)
Through these healing processes of the night chant, Abel gains his identity which he was looking for, and also cures his physical and mental wounds that he got from his life. First of all, Abel regains physical wholeness. “He had loved his body. It had been hard and quick and beautiful; it had been useful, quickly and surely responsive to his mind and will.”(Momaday 88) However, Abel’s inner conflict affects his physical disintegration. As he realizes that he could not adjust himself in his own culture, Abel tries to overcome it by alcohol, and his body starts to be weakened. As a result, “his body was mangled and racked with pain. His body, like his mind, had turned on him”. (Momaday 89) The line “Restore my body for me” gives the strength and control over Abel’s “mangled and racked” body. After his physical restoration, the line “Restore my mind for me” integrates Abel’s spirit with his body in harmony.
After the restoration of body and soul, Abel finds his voice. Abel couldn’t articulate himself with the right words. Especially, during his experience in the war and his return after the war, Abel’s loss of identity in the Indian community is intensified and his lack of articulation occupied his ego. Both the dehumanizing mood of the war and the way his fellow soldiers treated him (they treated Abel as a chief) contribute his confusion of cultural and personal identity. (Gale research) Furthermore, after his return from the war, his loss of voice is sanctioned by the impossibility of his inserting himself into the religious and social models that mark the life of Pueblo (Meli 220). “He had tried in the days that followed to speak to his grandfather, but he could not say the things he wanted; he had tried to pray, to sing, to enter into the old rhythm of the tongue, but he was no longer attuned to it”(Momaday 53). However, the desire to regain the power over the word finds the expression in the line “Restore my voice for me”.
Finally, Abel needs to bring back the power of motion which he lost during his isolation. Gladys A. Reichard claims the importance of the power of motion for Navajos: “Man may breathe and speak, his organs may function well, but without the power of motion he is incomplete.” (qtd. in Schubnell 134) Even though the body and spirit are fully recovered, the patient still needs the power of motion. The power of motion makes the patient act and controls their restored body. The request for restoration of health and happiness returns Abel’s power of motion to his healed body.
The Navajo night chant in this novel provides the readers an opportunity to experience a part of the Navajo culture. The Navajo people emphasized the importance of the balance in their lives. Moreover, they thought that the main cause of every illness is the loss of the balance. To cure the illness, the Navajos held a ceremony which includes several chants, and the night chant was one of those. By reciting song, the patient restored the balance which he had lost and recovers his body and soul. In addition, the night chant plays an important role in this novel. Through the night chant, Abel recovers himself from his struggles and finds his identity as a Native American. The night chant also guides Abel’s soul to more mature stage. Finally, Abel goes back home with the balance of the universe in his life.
Works cited
Evers, Lawrence J. “Words and Place: A Reading of House Made of Dawn.” Native American Writers. Ed. Harold Bloom. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, 1998: 21.
Gale Research. Overview: House Made of Dawn by N. Scott Momaday. <http://www.galenet.com/servlet/LitRC?c=2&stab=1024&ai=62842&ste=17&docNum=H1430000890&bConts=16047&tab=2&vrsn=3&ca=1&tbst=arp&ST=momaday&srchtp=athr&n=10&locID=glen76009&OP=contains>
Griffin-Pierce, Trudy. “The Continuous Renewal of Sacred Relations: Navajo Religion.” Native Religions and Cultures of North America. Ed. Lawrence E. Sullivan. New York: Continuum International Publishing Group Inc., 2000: 126-134.
Hogan, Linda. “Who Puts Together.” Critical Perspectives on Native American Fiction. Ed. Richard F. Fleck. Colorado: Three continental press, 1993: 134.
Maness, Nancy. Integrating Theraplay into the Navajo Beauty Way.
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Meli, Franco. “Images of the Sacred in Native North American Literature.” Native Religions and Cultures of North America. Ed. Lawrence E. Sullivan. New York: Continuum International Publishing Group Inc., 2000: 220-225.
Momaday, Scott N. House Made of Dawn. New York: HarperPerennial, 1999: 88-130.
Schubnell, Matthias. N. Scott Momaday: The Cultural and Literary Background. Norman: U of Oklahoma P, 1985: 48-134.
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