The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-04-13
NAVAJO CUSTOMS
THEY ARE PECULIAR IN SHUN-
 MING MoTHER-LN-LAW.
Every Navajo Believes That It is Blight Upon Husband's Life to Have Any Communication or
 Association With His
 Wife's Mother.

Wife's Mother.
 New York Times.
 Ws were chatting in the Indian trad CTS store at Gallup. N. M. group Of Navajo Indian bucks and squaws were squatted closo by outside squabbling in their own tongue about the value or lot of blankets they had brought from the reservation for selling to the trader. Sud- denly there was warning screech from one of the sQuaws. and instantly one Of the squaws, and instantly one Of the stalwart Indians-a powerful six-foter. who would seem a match for man or beast almost anywhere-sprang to his feet and dashed into the store and ran Tin fear behind pile of wooden boxes. The remaining Indians in the group grim ned and chattered at the sudden change of base. while wretched little. wrinkled, driedup. old squsw came hobbling down aside street and joined the sauatetrs on the sunbaked earth. The big Navajo buck remained secrcted few. minutes. and then, reassuring .ninself that po red face followed him. he shamcfacedly came out firm behind the boxes. but did not go out of doors while the little old souaw was in sight.
 Whats the matter?' said the trader as he iaughingly repeated our exclama- ton. oh. nothing but a mother-n-law "n the scene"
 Then he told a custom among the Ma vajos, centuries old--a custom which we found later is universal among tho great Indian tribe all over it's reservation. All Nayajos have a belief that it is a blight upon a husbands life to have any com munication with or association with his l,ar Tho of tba Navajos believe that 4 husband who looks upon his mother-in-law is tempting all the evil spirits upon himself, and many are so intense in the blief as to say that husband who gaZes at his mother-in- law vii surely have lis cyeballs wither and drop out of their sockets. Navajo lore is fuSl of legends about great war rors in the past wit" have had visit ations of bideous physical ailments and help lessness upon them for for defiance of the law of the tribe. But while no Ma va jo can cite a modern instance of blind ness or bad luck or paralysis or decdepi- tude because of husbands accidentally looking upon his mother-in-law. the superstition is just as potent. The Navajo who accidentally comes in contact with the first labor for Christianity among Is. or concerning it's origin De Vargas, his mother-in-law is the subject of com- much pitied by the mother-in-law herself
 No one knows how old the tribal belief miseration b yall his relatives and is very a Spanish Jesuit missionary, who was the Nacajos. wrote in his diary in 1593 that the custom dated from remote an- tiquity. In De Vargas day mothers-in- law were frequently burned to death by angry Navajos because they had uot been sufficiently careful to warn their unsus- pecting sons-in-law. of their approach, and they (the mothers-in-law) had there- by brought dreadful suffering upon the unfortunate husbands of their daughters. Some twenty years ago a Navajo sduaw. who had a dispuate with her married daughter, and had avenged herself by walking deliberately in upon her son-in- law as he lay in the family hogan (hut) so that he involuntarily spoke to her and looked her full in the' face. was beaten to death by her own husband and chill dren for her fearful act The fact that this victim of a mother-in-law's anger died year later Is ample proof in the Navajo logic that he had beeh fnyste- riously cursed by his wife's mother.
 Marriage amongt he Navajss Is mat ter of purhacse, and the mother Of tine prospective bride Is pact.aularys consult, agreeable to her. and. If he is agreeable. whether she will make his life happy and prosperous by keeping out oe his sight and and Isau giving hin him fpH . ~.fains whenever Navajo sends constant gifts te his moth er-in-law for her kindly consideration by her avoidance of his sight The purchase price of a Navajo bride ts almost univer. sally horse. Any sort of hcree goes. The more attractive the Navajo girl the better the horse. Here and theye Ia 'tll girl whose proud parents, demand scveral1 horses for her hand in marriage and. thsi x1I1 .aft ArIt fr iNxr &I and heln her son-in-law by keeping away from him. Here and there are also some Navajo maidens whose marriage price is fixed at any rawbones of superannu- ated hag that may be found in the ress-- vation.
 Naturally one would think from the universality of this custom among the Nayajos that women's place in the tribe case. The NavaSos are not strictly an agricultural people, Their farmin goper- ations are limited and of recent origin. and the young women very seldom work Most of the wealth of the tribe is in sheep and horses. principally the for mer, and the sheep belong exclusively to the mother and are members of her clan. the father having no rights in the matter.
 The purchase money, or .dther purchase horses. are of no direct benefit to the parents. Payment Is made to the uncles ana DTOlneTs or the DTlOe III ctIldiH pfo- portions. Should domestic troubles arise which are due to some fault or the wo- men. the horses are returned, but should the failure lie with the man, the woman can and does leave him and return to her people. In that "asc tho horses are retained in her family,
 The mother. theI efore. has no direct in terest in her daugTter's welfare, but the inte-est arising from maternal love might often compicate or even make impos- sibIe the usual procedure. and as people in primitive society always seek and uss the most direct means to an end. m" possible III egtCtS of maternal ahectlpn upon esta hlished ways and customs were reduced to q minimum hy the csta blish- ment of the mothcr-in-la law taboo. which graduil1v grew tp be nNed custom or law What harm could an irate mother in-iaU do if shc were absolutely prohib- lied from speaking 10 her daughters nus hand? And. on the other hand, what show would a man have 1T left unpro- tccted to the mercy ot three or Tour mothprs-in-law. for pplYgamy is common it. nrarticed in the tribe? Some such law is an actual necessity in primitive so- cieties, -
 The complications brought about by this particular condition are many and various. An accidental meeting, for eX-
 ample, is very awkward for both. II other Indians are present, frantic warn jnes to hide himself are shouted to the man, and if he is on horseback he will strike out as if for his life. The wo- man is warned and threatened. and. If possible, hurried off and concealed behind a rock or bush. If no way of escape is possible the man drops down upon the ground. huddled up into as small a space his head. remains thus hidden until the dangar Is mast Should the woman who