Show Ds sand saik es famous pictures made by indian artists are preserved for posterity gallup N AL athe the famous sand paintings of the cavajos navajos lime have been preserved for posterity poster and the old indian prophecy of tile tho holy ones that when all the sand paintings are forgotten and all religious chants die out the end of the world will come can be hid aside in tile the minds of those who bellevo believe in ill it for the time being at least for tho tha sand paintings have been transferred by artists to tho the walls of the hotel el navajo recently dedicated here in placing the paintings on the walls the artists were particular not to depart in the slightest degree from falm the original paintings made by white singer and other eminent ch jofs in the art of the cavajos navajos Nav Nava jos painting music the dance poetry and the drama ore are indivisible and nil all are the or expression oppression of religion the medicine man Is high priest physician singer dancer and sets the stage for no menn mean drama ile he depends upon his memory for every detail and teaches the cult in turn to his followers tho the legend reads that when the holy ones gave the ceremonies to man the priests were enjoined to me memorize them and destroy the originals this was done not only to avoid their falling into sacrilegious hands but principally to write on the hearts of living men made in colored sand they were therefore made in colored sand and destroyed the same day they were made thus both paintings and charts passed on from generation to generation changing gradually and many of 0 them fading from the memory of even the oldest priests thus many indian medicine men were called upon to assist in furnishing jhc thc th true paintings that remained in their memories and these were cheated che cited by sam day jr of st ml all chmels on an authority on navajo customs who contributed the originals of the paintings end superintended super intended tho the work so that no detail was overlooked these paintings all of the sacred rituals of the navajo are not intended to be pictorial but every figure every line and every dot Is a symbol by the use of symbols only their painter priests appealed to the imagination and the heart one of the most prized paintings adorning the walls 0 el navajo 13 that of the nan man who killed fear it Is I 1 sand ennd painting of pecullar peculiar sacredness to the navajo and has been made but rarely second in religious importance Is the picture of the ascension of danae c e dl or young holy one among tile the other sand pictures now painted on the walls of the hotel are those symbolizing the clouds the arrow ceremony the eagle ceremony the sky man tho the earth barth mother the dear bear the pollen boy boi and the harvest beetle dedicated by navajos cavajos Nava jos when the navajo tribe heard beard that the sand pictures were to be transferred and perpetuated they insisted on dedicating the hotel with the ritual of their race and performed the ritual of the blessing of the house in a previous ceremony the evil spirits had been thrown out and the ritual contained no words of any evil or unlucky thing or spirit instead nil all that Is good and beautiful was invited to take possession of the dwelling and its occupants and leave no room for evil spirits to return the initial chant sung during the procession of tho the medicine men was an invocation to the unnamed god ue ile was petitioned to bless not only the house but nil all its occupants and nil all tint that per tallied to it as fur far ns as tile the mountains on the lie four sides aides of it the paintings wore were blessed with a special ceremony the procession going from picture to picture stopping for the lenders leaders to sprinkle each picture with the sacred corn pollen after these particular blessings cro invoked a number of other chants were sung and the medicine men sprinkled the from the sand pictures over oer the build building inq and the spectators and to the four corners of the earth tile the remainder of tile alie sand was mas placed in buckskin bags and couriers rode forth to places remote from the gatherings of men where chero they could hear the echo and there burled buried the bags |