Day 17 - CHRISTMAS THROUGH INDIAN EYES

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Day 17 - CHRISTMAS THROUGH INDIAN EYES - is here:

http://maninthemaze.blogspot.com/2011/12/christmas-through-indian-eyes.html

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CHRISTMAS THROUGH INDIAN EYES

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Everyday is our Christmas.
Every meal is our Christmas.
At every meal we take a little portion of the food
we are eating, and we offer it to the spirit world on behalf
 of the four legged, and the winged, and the two legged.
We pray - not the way most Christians pray -
but we thank the Grandfathers, the Spirit,
and the Guardian Angel.
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The Indian Culture is actually grounded
in the traditions of a Roving Angel.
The life-ways of Roving Angels are actually
the way Indian People live. They hold out their hands and
 help the sick and the needy. They feed and clothe the poor.
We have high respect for the avatar because we believe
 that it is in giving that we receive.
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We are taught as Traditional children
that we have abundance. The Creator has given us
everything: the water, the air we breathe,
the earth as our flesh, and our energy force: our heart.
We are thankful every day. We pray early in the morning,
before sunrise, to the morning star, and the evening star.
We pray for our relatives who are in the universe
that someday they will come.
We also pray that the Great Spirit's son will live again.
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Looks for Buffalo, Oglala Sioux Spiritual Leader
From the AAA Native Arts website
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As I sit quietly on this December 25th,
a day so holy to all of Christendom,
I reflect sadly on the memories of the ancestors, elders,
brothers and sisters who perished in the cold winter winds
and snows of the past; the victims of white diseases,
 of gunshots and swords, of starvation and exposure.
 My heart is heavy with their loss.
The words, "Peace On Earth, Good Will To Men,"
 have always,  and still are today, meant only for the chosen few.
Will it ever change? I pray to the Creator,
and to the God-Spirit of every person alive
 by whatever name it is called,
that peace and good will enter the heart of each
while there are still two-leggeds to walk the earth.
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Julia White
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A Native American Christmas Prayer In The Form Of A Poem

O Great Spirit, Grandfather, God of the Holy book.
Like the Hebrew children to Thee we pray, we look.
As a man I have troubles, my people many sorrows.
Sins of yesterday, have tainted even our tomorrows.
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For a redeemer I pray, a great messiah our people need.
Send Him to my heart first, my soul desires to be freed.
Is the Christmas manger where the savior laid His head?
Is the child from Bethlehem He who rose from the dead?
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Did God include the red man when His only Son He gave?
Can Jesus not only my soul heal, can He my people save?
I can find no other hope when I walk through a barren land.
So to this Christmas Jesus I will lift a trembling weary hand..
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" Let not your heart be troubled you believe in God.
 Believe also in me"....Jesus Christ
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Wesley Jones
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THE SACRED ART OF NAVAJO SANDPAINTING

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Navajo Sandpaintings, also called dry paintings, are called "places where the gods come and go" in the Navajo language. They are used in curing ceremonies in which the gods' help is requested for harvests and healing.

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The figures in sand paintings are symbolic representations of a story in Navajo mythology. They depict objects like the sacred mountains where the gods live, or legendary visions, or they illustrate dances or chants performed in rituals.

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Sandpaintings are but one rite in a ceremonial. From the distinct set of paintings that belong to a specific chant, the chanter selects those that will best heal the patient, never using the entire repertoire of paintings on a single occasion. In the two-night form of a chant, one sandpainting is made, while the last four days of a nine-night ceremonial would have sandpaintings. After its sanctification, the patient sits on the painting while the chanter performs a ritual to enhance the absorption of its healing power. Immediately afterward, the remains of the painting are taken outside to an area north of the hogan, where they are returned to the earth.
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According to Navajo belief, a sandpainting heals because the ritual image attracts and exalts the Holy People; serves as a pathway for the mutual exchange of illness and the healing power of the Holy People; identifies the patient with the Holy People it depicts; and creates a ritual reality in which the patient and the supernatural dramatically interact, reestablishing the patient's correct relationship with the world of the Holy People ( GriffinPierce 1992:43). For the Navajo, the sandpainting is a dynamic, living, sacred entity that enables the patient to transform his or her mental and physical state by focusing on the powerful mythic symbols that re-create the chantway odyssey of the storys protagonist, causing those events to live again in the present. The performative power of sandpainting creation and ritual use reestablish the proper, orderly placement of the forces of life, thus restoring correct relations between the patient and those forces upon which the patient's spiritual and physical health depend. The sandpainting works its healing power by reestablishing the patient's sense of connectedness to all of life ( Griffin-Pierce 1991:66).

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From the http://www.navajopeople.org/ website

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