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In a post you made on the site, you said 'I do not believe in Ghosts or Chidiis because I am Navajo..
Personally I dislike the term 'Ghost' as it is more accurate to say Spirit entity.
Do you recall Wovokas Deam and the Ghost Dancer movement he started and I know he was not navajo.
But I cannot find any reference to 'Chidiis' on the internet so perhaps you can tell us what this please..
Last edited by Star Wolf Medicine Woman (8/01/2016 10:27 am)
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We believe in Ghosts, but we like to avoid them, because they can bring sickness. The Navajo never really adopted the "Ghost Dance" when it was popular with other nations in the early 1900s. The Dine' word "Chiidii" means Ghost or evil spirit.
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Ok thanks for the intepretation.. The Ghost Dance was around 1889s.. The idea was the warriors would paint their faces white and rub wood ash on the clothes. They would bait the US Cavalry by taunting, calling, leaping and dancing, just out of range of their guns.. So when the soldiers fired at them, another warrior popped up so it confused the army. Wovoka was a Paiute Medicine man and he wanted to empower his warriors to give them confidence and the Ghost Dance as it became known did do this..
My Navajo is limited to the greeting Ya'ah Teh... You must teach us some more..
Last edited by Star Wolf Medicine Woman (8/01/2016 10:28 am)
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Ya'at'eeh = Hello or It is good
Hagonii = Good Bye
Nizhoni = It is beautiful
Hozho= Harmony
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Thanks for the language lesson... Always good to know a few words of as many languages as possible even for poiteness sake..
This last week I have been checking out Medicine Wheels in various tribal groups.. Over 700 tribes at one point, yet where ever I look the Medicine Wheel colors are always the same. .Yellow. Red, White and Black.. the only variation is some times Blue is substituted for Black.. I have checked out so many First Nations sites yet they are the same.. Yes I know they denote the 4 directions and the 4 mountains.. But I felt I had to ask as none I know of has ever asked this...For all these tribal groups to have something like this to unite them is amazing. Your thoughts on this would be appreciated..
Last edited by Star Wolf Medicine Woman (8/08/2016 12:12 pm)
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We Navajo have four Sacred Mountains. Mt Taylor in western NM, The San Juan Mountains in SW Colorado. The Mountains near Flagstaff AZ, and Mt Blonco in NM.
The Medicine Wheel is of the Plains Tribes. The best source of information about the Plains Indian Medicine Wheel is the book Seven Arrows by H. Storm. There are to many versions of the Medicine Wheel on the internet for me to comment on.
Last edited by Thunderbow (8/10/2016 12:10 pm)
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Thanks for the clarification.. I do tend to research the Plains people.. Even the Dine...
Last edited by Star Wolf Medicine Woman (8/11/2016 11:17 am)
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Because of Hollywood movies, the Plains Indian gets center stage. Their ways has spread has spread into almost every Nation in modern times, to some degree. The Dine' are not related to the Plains Indian, although we adopted their regalia and such.
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The Navajo used to be farmers didn't they?
I have an interest in the Lost Tribe the Anasazi of Mesa Verde..They were truly far more advancedeven 10,000 years ago.. I mean Multi story dwellings, even disabled were lifted up in baskets to be safe from their enemies.. I never found out what happened to them, they had so much going for them too..
The way they preserved vegetables and meat for the winter was amazingly advanced.. Packing it in snow in a small clay Kiva and then sealed with mud and bear grease to make it air tight.. They were so advanced..
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We Navajo were hunters gatherers. The Pueblo People are what you are speaking. They were the Hopi, and other Pueblos found in NM and AZ. They had better corn than we do. Today, Farming sheep and corn can be found on the Navajo Nation.