They Sang for Horses: The Impact of the Horse on Navajo and Apache Folklore
By: LaVerne Harrell Clark; illustrations by DeGrazia.
Publisher: The University of Arizona Press
Published: 1966
Place of publication: Tucson, AZ
Language: eng
Format: Paperback; Hardcover
Number of pages: 225
ISBN-13: 9780816508105
Copyright date: 1966 by The Arizona Board of Regents.
Subjects: Apache Indians; Indian ponies; Indians of North America -- Folklore; Navajo Indians
Description: Among the Indians of the Southwest, none placed more emphasis on the horse than did the Navajo and the various Apache groups which comprise the Southern Athapascan linguistic family.
Now the great horse age of these peoples — an age which had its beginning in the seventeenth century — is coming to an end.
In this book Mrs. Clark examines for the first time at length the impact of the horse upon traditional forms of Navajo and Apache folklore during more than three centuries of influence. She shows how the horse, an acquisition from the Spaniards, became the "gift of the gods," and how the storytellers, singers, medicine men — even painters — transformed the new elements in their folklore after the likeness of the old. Using translations of recorded material, she defines or clarifies the horse's symbolic significance in ceremony, song, prayer, custom, and belief.
Poetic in tone, scholarly in treatment, its beauty enhanced by six full-color horse paintings by the well-known Indian artists Harrison Begay, Adee Dodge, Andy Tsinajinie, and Beatien Yazz, this book is truly one to be treasured and enjoyed.
Notes: Bibliography: p. 213-220.
Table of contents: label: Preface
title: xi; label: The Acquisition of the Horse
title: 1; label: The Horse of the Gods
title: 11; label: The Gift of the Gods
title: 43; label: The Magic and Ritual of the Raid for Horses
title: 85; label: The People's Ways for Keeping Horses Holy
title: 123; label: The Horse's Powers Over the People's Health
title: 166; label: The Horse's Role in Folk Customs and Other Ceremonies
title: 190; label: Conclusion
title: 209; label: Bibliography
title: 213; label: Index
title: 221