As opposed to the other Navajo [Diné] Chant Ways, which are used to effect a cure of a problem,
the Blessingway [Hózhójí] is used to bless
the "one sung over," to ensure good luck, good health and blessings for all that pertains
to them. It is sometimes referred to by English speaking Diné as being "for good hope."
Blessingway [Hózhó
jí]
ceremonies are performed for expectant mothers shortly before birth is
due. Young men leaving for the armed forces will have a Blessingway
[Hózhó
jí] given for
them by their families before they leave. The Blessingway
[Hózhó
jí] ceremony is performed frequently.
Kluckhohn and Leighton report, in their study done in the 1940's,
that a family would rarely go six months
without having a Blessingway [Hózhó
jí]
ceremonial performed at least once in their hooghan.
The Blessingway [Hózhójí] holds historical precedence
over all of the other chants, being given to
the Earth Surface People shortly after the Emergence into this world.
It is in the Blessingway [Hózhó
jí]
chant that the most complete account of the Navajo [Diné] origin
myth is recounted including the origin of the Blessingway [Hózhó
jí]
ceremony itself. The first Blessingway [Hózhó
jí]
was held by the Holy People [diyin diné] when they created mankind. They taught them both ritual and
skills; Changing Woman [Asdz
nádleehé] gave
them some songs [sin]. Blessingway [Hózhó
jí]
is most closely connected with
Changing Woman [Asdz
nádleehé] and is the only
ceremony where she is depicted in drypaintings ['iikááh].
The name of the rite, Hózhójí, is translated
Blessingway, but that is certainly not an exact translation. In the Navajo language
[diné bizaad] the term
encompasses everything that is interpreted as good - as opposed to evil, favorable for man.
It encompasses such words as beauty, harmony, success, perfection, well-being, ordered,
ideal. The intent of this rite is to ensure a good result at any stage of life, and
therefore the translation of Blessingway.
All Blessingway [Hózhójí] ceremonies begin with the
chief hooghan songs as evidence of the Navajo concern with the
hooghan as the paradigm for the ordered universe. Every Blessingway [Hózhóójí] ceremony
reemphasizes the hooghan as
"the place home." The sacred mountains [dzi
dadiyinífíí], the four cornerposts
of the Navajo universe, which support the Sky [Yáh], the roof of this world:
Blanca Peak [Sisnaajiní] in the
east [ha'a'aah], Mount Taylor [Tsoodzi
] in the south [shádi'ááh], the San
Francisco Peaks [Dook'o'oos
ííd] in
the west ['e'e'aah] and Hesperus Peak [Dibéntsaa] in the north [náhook
s], plus Huerfano
Mountain [Dzi
ná'oodi
ii] in the center
['a
níí] and
Gobernador Knob [Ch'óol'
'
] to the east of center
are all a part of Hózhó
jí.
Gobernador Knob [Ch'óol'
'
] represents the conical
type of hooghan and Huerfano
Mountain [Dzi
ná'oodi
ii] represents the
round roof type hooghan. Thus the two mountains[dzi
] which are the sites of the birth and
early home of Changing Woman [Asdz
nádleehé] and her
adopted family, the First Man [Á
tsé hastiin] group, are found well within the boundaries of
diné bikéyah.
The ceremony has the dignity of great simplicity despite the rich, complicated and
beautiful ideas upon which it is based. On the first night [t'éé'] a few songs [sin] are sung. The
next day [j
] there is a ritual bath in yucca [tsá'ászi'] suds with songs [sin]
and prayers [sodizin]. That night [t
'éé'] there
is an all night sing.
The use of both pollen [tádídíín] and cornmeal
[naad
' ak'
n] is prominent in this
ceremony. Drypaintings ['iikááh] in the Blessingway
[Hózhó
jí]
are made of only vegetal materials (cornmeal [naad
' ak'
n ],
pollen [tádídíín] and crushed flower petals, such as larkspur) on
buckskin ['abaní]. The only drypaintings ['iikááh] in which Changing
Woman [Asdz
nádleehé] appears is in the Blessingway
[Hózhó
jí] ceremony.
The Blessingway ceremony ends with the Twelve-Word (stanza) song in which the repeated
presence of the 4 words: Sa'ah naaghéi, Bik'eh
hózh
ó, which are
interpreted for us in the statement of philosophy
of the Navajo Community College, act simultaneously to correct any errors in the ceremony,
assure the pleasure of the Holy People [diyin diné], and to remind
everyone present of the goals and ideals of the Navajo culture.
In the words of the Blessingway singer, Frank Mitchell:
"So for each verse in the song, you say, 'Sa'ah naaghéi, Bik'eh hózhó.' The phrase is a holy being. You see, these songs, when they were turned over to the Earth People, were to be used in a certain way. If you leave out those words, then the holy beings feel slighted. They know you are singing, they are aware of it. But if you omit those words, then they feel it and they are displeased. Then, even though you are singing, whatever you are doing over the one-sung-over has no effect.
If you forget to mention those holy words in one song, and in the next song you think of it, then you will mention them. That makes up, somewhat, for their having been left out before. That is the reason that at the conclusion of your songs, you will say a prayer in your own words. You ask the holy beings to help you and to go through these songs with you; that also helps to make up for what you may have left out."