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Updated: June 2, 2025
He also rubbed the head and body, holding the hands on opposite sides of the body. After this rubbing, the sick man drank from the bowl of medicine-water, then arose and bathed himself with the same mixture, the filled gourds being handed to him four times by Hasjelti, each time accompanied with his peculiar hoot. Hostjoghon repeated the same ceremony over the invalid.
The song priest placed two live coals in front of the invalid and sprinkled chopped herbs on the coals, the fumes of which the invalid inhaled. The pines were carried off and placed in the shade of a pine tree, that the disease might not leave the pine and return to the invalid. The personators of Hasjelti and Hostjoghon adorned themselves for the ceremony.
These gods stand upon the mountain tops and call the clouds to gather around them. Hasjelti is the mediator between the Navajo and the sun. He prays to the sun, "Father, give me the light of your mind, that my mind may be strong; give me some of your strength, that my arm may be strong, and give me your rays that corn and other vegetation may grow."
After chanting some twenty minutes he advanced to the entrance of the house, taking the medicine gourd with him, and, after pouring some of its contents on the heated stones, took his seat and joined in the chanting. After another twenty minutes Hasjelti and Hostjoghon appeared. A Navajo blanket had previously been placed on the ground at the south side of the entrance.
The Hostjobokon, accompanied by their wives, rode upon the logs, a couple sitting on the end of each cross arm. These were accompanied by Hasjelti, Hostjoghon, and two Naaskiddi, who walked on the banks to ward the logs off from the shore. Hasjelti carried a squirrel skin filled with tobacco from which to supply the gods on their journey.
Hasjelti and Hostjoghon arrived just as the sick man emerged from the sweat house. The invalid bathed himself from the bowl of pine needles and water. Taking the sheep’s horn in the left hand and a piece of hide in the right, Hasjelti pressed the invalid’s body as before described.
After refreshment the song-priest lifted each mask with his left hand beginning with Hasjelti, and first extending his right hand, which held a fine large crystal, toward the heavens, he touched the under part of each mask with the crystal; four times he passed over the masks. The choir sang but no rattle was used. The crystal was afterward placed on the rug opposite the basket of feathers.
A short time after the entrance of the invalid Hasjelti appeared, and taking the evergreen from the gourd dipped it into the medicine water and sprinkled the feet, heart, and heads of the sand figures, after which the invalid sat in the center of the cross.
Hasjelti wore ordinary clothing and a red scarf, with a silver belt around the waist. Hostjoghon’s body was painted white, and he wore a red woolen scarf around the loins, caught on with a silver belt. A rug, composed of a blanket and a piece of white cotton, was spread in front of the song priest, and the masks of Hasjelti and Hostjoghon placed thereon.
The Hostjobokon then began boring the pine with flint, when Hasjelti said, "That is slow work," and he commanded the whirlwind to hollow the log. A Jerusalem cross was formed with one solid log and a hollow one. The song-hunter entered the hollow log and Hasjelti closed the end with a cloud, that the water of the river might not enter when the logs were launched upon the great waters.
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