The Winslow mail., 1924-08-22
SAND PAINTING
MAKES HIT At.
SNAKE DANCE.

W1nslow was pretty well depopulat-
ed Monday most everybody who own
ed car or who had friends who own
ed cars, and who could spare the time,
going out to Hotaville on the Painted
Desert to witness the ANIMAL Hopi
snake dance.
The biggest crowd ever seen at one
OF these spectacular and interesting
events was gathered ut the Indian viii
lage during the closing hours OF the
Hopis' nine-day prayer for rain. The
number being var riousIy estimated at
from 5000 to 5000 Indians and whites,
with over 500 cars parked nearly
from every section Cf the United
States.
superintendent J. p. Myers of .:9
Indian school at Oraibi, who was a
visitor in Winslow Wednesday, stated
that 5000 was a conservative estimate
of the attendance.
An attraction other than a part of
the Hopi snake dance, which attract
ed great attention, and which was ta-
ken in by many hundreds Of the visi-
tors, was rare sand painting ut
Oraibi, which was done by an cid
Navajo medicine man, at the behest
of the school officials and visitors at
the village. The old Navajo's name
was, in English, Slim Salt, and in Nav
ajo, Osh Klish. He is one Oc the mas
ters of this purely Navajo form Of
allegorical perturbation, and his work
was marveled at by all who saw it,
nd o11 Of rrrhn Ydn b,> ,;rr6+
of it alone worth the trials of the
desert trip.
These paintings are really only
paintings in effect the colors hoing
applied by masses, spots and lines of
fine colored sand evenly distributed
over a flat surface by being tlickled
through the fingers of the Greater The
desig, is not copied from experimental
drawings but the entire study is car
ried in the mind of the one doing the
work. The paintings have high
place in the religion of the NavajoS
and are most sacred, certain invari-
able customs, handed down from gen
Grafton to generation attending the
creation, worship and ultimate de-
struction of the paintings. One of the
all figures facing the east, a custom
which also applies in the building Of
Navajo hoganS, in that the only open
ing in the hogan, or dwelling, faces
east, and no other apertures are per-
mitted.
The painting made by Osh Klish
was what is regarded by the Navajos
as the original sand painting, the one
in which the art and meaning of sand
paintings was taught them. 1t was
the picture of Taat-a-Teen, or the
Pollen Boy" The pollen of the corn
is scored to the Navajo, as corn meal
is sacred to the Navajo, as corn meal
lied in Navajo religious ceremonials
as frequently as the corn meal is used
by the Hopi in their frequent religious
dances and ceremonials.
A long time ago, when the gods
were visible to earth folk, so the story
of the Pollen Boy, or Taat-aTeen
goes, the boy, while playing in a shall
low pool of water, fell into a deep
hole, from which he could not escape,
nor could his grieving parents aid him
to escape from the depths, although
three ladders reached into the under
lake cavern, as the ladders of the mod
ern Indians reach into and extend
above the entrance of the kivas. or
underground retreats for secret usage.
The ladders were for the use of the
gods only, and could not be ascended
or descended by earth beings.
The cavern into which the Pollen
Boy had fallen encompassed four
depths, the upper of which was the
world and the lower three being sub
worlds. Into the lowermost of the
four the abode of the snakes, had the
boy fallen. During the days of his in
carceration his tribesmen tried all
manner of means to rescue him, but
with no avail, even their prayers and
sacrifices to the gods being unre
warded. But one medicine man, more
full of wisdom than the rest, suggest
ed smoking him out, which method
proved effective, and along with the
boy came the snakes, which had, dur
ing his Imprisonment taught him the
method and meaning Of making the
paintings with sand.
With the boy and the snakes came
from the underworld two dragons
" HO tueI edIIeI were W SudIu dll odHu
paintings, one on each side of the
door in the hut opening eastward.
All Of this story was depicted by
old Osh Klish in his paintings done
with sands from the Painted Desert.
the lake being represented with blue
sand, the boy in the middle, the
snakes. the dragons, clouds surround
ing the lake. and around all another
Navajo religious symbol, the rainbow
in all its colOrs as conceived by the |
Indian, with head and feet. The en-
tire painting covered a space about |
12 feet across. and is now being kept |
from mutiliation by being enclosed |
and covered with glass.