Maud Oakes facts for kids

Maud Van Cortlandt Oakes (1903–1990) was an ethnologist, artist, and writer. An ethnologist is someone who studies different cultures. Maud Oakes wrote books about her research into the cultures of Native American groups. These included the Navajo in the American Southwest and the Mam people in Guatemala. She became well-known for her books that shared the ceremonies, art, and stories of these groups.

Early Life and Interests

Maud Oakes was born on May 25, 1903, in Seattle, Washington. She was the youngest of three children. Her mother was Mary Beekman and her father was Walter Oakes. Her grandfather, Thomas Fletcher Oakes, was a president of a big railway company. Her father helped start a shipping company and ran a fuel company.

Maud grew up in Manhattan, New York. Her family had enough money for her to travel. She became very interested in Native American cultures when she visited Washington State. She also vacationed on Bainbridge Island in Puget Sound. These trips inspired her to study different cultures, especially Native American groups. She also drew tribal art.

Studying the Navajo People

In the 1940s, Maud Oakes received money from a group called the Old Dominion Foundation. This money helped her study the traditions of the Dine (Navajo) people. She lived on the Navajo reservation in 1942 and 1943. During this time, she saw a special ceremony performed by a Navajo singer named Jeff King.

Her first book, Where the Two Came to Their Father, A Navaho War Ceremonial, came from this research. In the book, she wrote about the Navajo creation story. She also described the ceremony she witnessed. This War Ceremonial was brought back by the Navajo people in the 20th century. It was used to send off young Navajo men who were joining the US military during World War II. The ceremony was meant to protect the spirit of the warrior. Many Navajo served in the war, including about 400 Code Talkers.

Maud Oakes also copied the beautiful sand paintings used during the ceremony. In 1943, 18 stencil prints, called pochoir prints, were made from her copies of the original sand paintings.

Living in Guatemala

From late 1945 to early 1947, Maud Oakes went on another important trip. She lived for 17 months in a small village called Todos Santos. This village was in a remote, high-up area of Guatemala. She was the only outsider living there.

She wrote down information about the art and spiritual practices of the Mam tribe. She also studied their ancient cultural roots from pre-Columbian times. One of her books, The two crosses of Todos Santos, described a religious ritual. This ritual had survived from Mayan times. In another book, Beyond the Windy Place, Maud Oakes wrote about her daily life in the village.

Her research papers were published by Princeton University in the 1940s and 1950s. They were later published again in the 1990s as part of a collection.

Later Life and Philosophy

Later in her life, Maud Oakes became a student of Carl Jung. He was a famous psychologist. She made his ideas the topic of her last book, The Stone Speaks. This book shared her personal thoughts about a large carved stone. The stone was in the garden of Bollingen Tower, which was Carl Jung's home in Switzerland.

Maud Oakes became an honorary member of the C. G. Jung Institute in San Francisco. She also became good friends with actress and researcher Natacha Rambova. They studied Egyptian artifacts together. Maud Oakes also attended classes at Natacha Rambova's apartment. These classes were about symbols, myths, and different religions.

Maud Oakes passed away in 1990 at her home in Carmel, California. She was 87 years old and passed away after an illness. She was survived by her niece and nephew.

Selected Works

• Oakes, Maud. The two crosses of Todos Santos: Survivals of Mayan religious ritual. 1969.
• Oakes, Maud. Stone Speaks: The Memoir of a Personal Transformation, Chiron Publishers, 1987.
• Henderson, Joseph Lewis, and Maud Oakes. The wisdom of the serpent: The myths of death, rebirth, and resurrection. Vol. 38. Princeton University Press, 1990.
• King, Jeff, Maud Oakes, and Joseph Campbell. Where the two came to their father: a Navaho war ceremonial given by Jeff King. Princeton University Press, 1991. (With commentary by Joseph Campbell)
• Oakes, Maud. Beyond The Windy Place -- Life In The Guatemalan Highlands. Read Books Ltd, 2016.