Church of the Month: Navajo students discuss traditional beliefs

Friday, March 4, 2011  

The Logan Herald Journal interviewed Jeorcinda Slick and Dawnelle John, both members of the Navajo Nation, about their traditional beliefs. Slick and John are students at Utah State University and are attendants to Miss Indian USU Cassie Largo.

"Describe the Navajo belief in God or a Supreme Being.

Slick: When we're done praying, we say Johaneeh. It means ‘HolySpirit' (or the sun).

How do you pray?

Slick: Basically, you should go pray before the sun comes up, with cornmeal. I have some cornmeal and then just go like this (she demonstrates the motion of sifting the cornmeal through her hand to the ground) and then start praying towards the sun before it comes up. They say that if you don't wake up before the sun, he knows that you're sleeping and he puts white dots on you, that's why some people have white dots on them. It's like the sun tries to wake them up.

You do the same thing in the evening, but this time you're faced towards the sun towards the (west). You follow the sun. This time it's a different corn. You use yellow in the morning and you use white in the evening. It's just something our grandma taught us to do that we just do.

How often do you pray?

Slick: Depends on why you want to pray. Some people do it every day, some people do it once a month. We pray for health, for someone to guide us (Slick said there are certain memorized prayers for certain things, and that they are passed down from generation to generation). You can make up your own prayers, but it has to come in four. When we're praying you say it four times so you acknowledge all four directions: East, north, south, west (but you always face towards the sun)."

Get the Story:
Church of the month: Navajo beliefs include celebrating ancestral traditions (The Logan Herald Journal 3/4)