Navajo medicine facts for kids
Navajo medicine refers to the traditional healing practices of the Navajo people, an Indigenous group in the United States. For thousands of years, many Navajo people have used these traditional methods as their main way of healing. Today, people living in the Navajo Nation also use modern medicine, thanks to hospitals and clinics built on their land over the last century.
Healing and medicine are deeply connected to the Navajo people's religious and spiritual beliefs. They believe that good health comes from a balance and harmony with the world and spiritual forces. This spiritual importance allows traditional Navajo healing and Western medical care to exist side-by-side, with traditional practices honored as a long-standing way of life.
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Medicine Men and Women
Navajo Hatááłii are traditional medicine men (or women) who lead healing ceremonies. To become a medicine person, someone trains as an apprentice with an older, experienced singer. During this training, the apprentice learns to gather special items for "medicine bundles" (called jish). These bundles are needed for ceremonies. They also help their teacher until they are ready to practice on their own.
Learning the chants and songs takes a lot of time and effort. A medicine person might only learn a few chants in their lifetime. These songs are passed down orally from one generation to the next. Unlike some other Indigenous healers who rely on personal visions, a Navajo healer acts as a guide. They help transfer power from the Holy People to the patient to bring back balance and harmony. Healing ceremonies usually happen inside a traditional Navajo home called a hogan. Medicine people are often paid for their services. In the past, they might have been paid with sheep. Today, money is a common form of payment.
Hand Tremblers
Hand tremblers are like medical detectives. They are sometimes called upon to figure out what illness someone has. They get their power from the Gila monster. Hand tremblers might offer songs, prayers, or suggest certain herbs.
During a diagnosis, a hand trembler might draw symbols in the dirt while holding a "trembling arm" over the patient. The movement of their arm can show a new symbol or help identify the cause of the illness. Once they find a solution, the patient might be sent to a herbalist or a singer for a healing ceremony.
Traditional Healing Methods
Healing Ceremonies
Navajo healers perform different ceremonies depending on what the patient needs. Here are some examples:
- The Blessing Way ceremony is often done for pregnant women or anyone to promote good health and prosperity. It is the most common ceremony and shows how the Holy People created the world and brought harmony.
- The Enemy Way ceremony is performed to remove bad spirits, violence, and negative energy that can cause sickness and harm.
- The Night Way is a healing ceremony that lasts for nine days. Each day, the patient is cleansed through different activities. These activities are meant to attract holiness or get rid of evil. They can include exorcisms, sweat baths, and sand painting ceremonies. On the last day, the person breathes in the "breath of dawn" and is considered cured.
Herbal Medicine
The Navajo people use about 450 different plant species for medicine, more than any other Native American tribe. A medicine man, often with an apprentice, collects the herbs for healing ceremonies. Patients can also gather these plants for minor illnesses.
Once the necessary wild plants are collected, an herbal tea is made for the patient, along with a short prayer. In some ceremonies, the herbal mixture might cause the patient to vomit to cleanse their body. Cleansing can also involve the patient soaking in a bath made from yucca root suds. Spiritual chanting always accompanies the giving of medicinal herbs to a patient.
The Navajo people understand the importance of protecting plants when they gather healing herbs. When a medicinal plant is taken, a prayer is offered to the nearby plants of the same kind as a sign of respect. However, collecting medicinal herbs has become harder in recent years because plant spores are moving to new areas.
Some popular plants used in Navajo herbal medicine include Sagebrush (Artemisia species), Wild Buckwheats (Eriogonum species), Puccoon (Lithospermum multiflorum), Cedar Bark (Cedrus deodara), Sage (Salvia species), Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja species), Juniper Ash (Juniperus species), and Larkspur (Delphinium species).
Sand Paintings
Sand painting is a way to transfer strength and beauty to the patient during a ceremony. A medicine man creates various drawings in the sand using colorful crushed minerals and plants. Many sand paintings show spiritual figures called yeii. The medicine man asks these spirits to enter the painting to help heal the patient. After each ceremony, the sacred sand painting is carefully destroyed.
Changes in the 20th Century
Outside Help and Modern Medicine
In 1928, a report called the Meriam Report suggested that the U.S. government should do more to help with Indian health care. This led to the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Medical Division growing, making medical care easier to get and more accepted by the Navajo people.
After World War II, there was a debate about government-funded health care. However, under the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, money was given to the United States Public Health Service to create a "Division of Indian Health." This division aimed to provide stronger federal support for health care. It was later renamed the Indian Health Service. Even with its early successes, the Indian Health Service on the Navajo Nation faced problems like not having enough money or staff. Also, language differences and cultural misunderstandings sometimes made hospital and clinic visits difficult.
Keeping Traditions Alive
As Western medicine became more common and fewer medicine men were practicing in the second half of the 20th century, people started working to preserve traditional Navajo medicine. They also wanted more Navajo people to be involved in Western medical institutions.
The 1970s brought new chances for the Navajo people to control their own medical care. The Indian Health Care Improvement Act of 1976 helped local Navajo communities manage their own medical facilities. It also encouraged Native people to take on more leadership roles in the Indian Health Service. Having more Native people in medical institutions helped build trust, especially for those who were unsure about non-Navajo medical providers.
Community health care that relied less on government involvement also started in towns like Rough Rock and Ganado. The Navajo Nation Health Foundations in Ganado was run entirely by Navajo people. To show their identity in the medical community, the Navajo Nation used the National Health Planning and Resources Development Act to create the Navajo Health Systems Agency in 1975. They were the only American Indian group to do this at the time.
