Native America Religion: The Old Ways

BIG FALLING SNOW: A Tewa-Hopi Indian's Life and Times and the History and Traditions of His People
by Albert Yava. Edited and Annotated by Harold Courtlander. B&W maps and era photos. B&W photo section. Condition: NEW c. 1982 Univ. of New Mexico Press trade paperback, reprint. Light edge wear to the front cover fore edge. Pale shelf wear to back cover panel. Interior perfect. Content: Born in 1888 at Hano on First Mesa, Yava's long life (d. 1980) spanned a period of great change in the Hopi villages. His recollections, recorded and edited by noted folklorist and author Courlander, include reflections on frictions between past and present, descriptions of Hopi ceremonial life and social organization, and the legends, traditions, and oral histories of the Hopi people. Particularly valuable is Yava's account of the historic tensions between Hopis and Navajos. [1 copy available]
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BOOK OF THE HOPI:
The first revelation of the Hopi's historical and religious world-view of life
by Frank Waters. B&W drawings and source material by Oswald White Bear Fredericks. Condition: UNREAD 1977 Ballantine Trade Paperback, 18th printing. Pale tanning to page edges. Content: In this strange and wonderful book, thirty elders of the ancient Hopi tribe of Northern Arizona--a people who regard themselves as the first inhabitants of America--freely reveal the Hopi worldview for the first time in written form. The Hopi kept this view a secret for countless centuries, and anthropologists have long struggled to understand it. Now they record their myths and legends, and the meaning of their religious rituals and ceremonies, as a gift to future generations. Here is a reassertion of a rhythm of life we have tragically repressed; and a reminder that we must attune ourselves to the need for inner change if we are to avert a cataclysmic rupture between our minds and hearts. One of the great classics in American anthropology. [1 copy available]
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BOOK OF THE HOPI:
The First Eevelation of the Hopi's historical and religious world-view of life
by Frank Waters. B&W drawings and source material by Oswald White Bear Fredericks. Condition: UNREAD 1997 Penguin Trade Paperback edition, 13th printing. Tiny edge wear with very pale tanning to page edges. Content: In this strange and wonderful book, thirty elders of the ancient Hopi tribe of Northern Arizona--a people who regard themselves as the first inhabitants of America--freely reveal the Hopi worldview for the first time in written form. The Hopi kept this view a secret for countless centuries, and anthropologists have long struggled to understand it. Now they record their myths and legends, and the meaning of their religious rituals and ceremonies, as a gift to future generations. Here is a reassertion of a rhythm of life we have tragically repressed; and a reminder that we must attune ourselves to the need for inner change if we are to avert a cataclysmic rupture between our minds and hearts. One of the great classics in American anthropology. [1 copy available]
$ 8.50 + $ 3.09 media shipping. International shipping available.

CHANGING WOMAN OF THE APACHE: Women's Lives in past and Present
(American Indian Experience series)
by Sydele E. Golston. B&W photos illustrate Condition: NEW 1996 Franklin Watts hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket) first edition, first printing. Content: This colorful and sensitive exploration of the Changing Woman ceremony of the Apache as it has been celebrated today provides a deep look into traditional and contemporary Apache history, culture, and society, and at the important role of women in tribal life - past and present. Celebrates not only the participant in this ritual but Apache women and their exploits in the past with wonderful era photos. [1 copy available]
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THE GIFT OF THE GILA MONSTER: Navajo Ceremonial Tales
introduced and retold by Gerald Hausman. Foreword by Tony Hillerman. B&W drawings by Mariah Fox. Condition: UNREAD 1994 Touchstone Trade Paperback, first printing. Content: Hausman once again turns his storytelling to the Navajo people, this time focusing on their principal "Ways"--ritual pathways whose ancient legends are used to heal, give moral instruction and attain inner harmony, or "walking in beauty." Only a few tales survive today; some of the best known are related here. Part of the Navajo creation myth involving four successive worlds, they all help define and order the Navajo's world and accomplish some sort of transformation. Readers will recognize many familiar characters and themes, such as Mother Earth and the trickster Coyote. The Blessingway includes the story of a man who out-tricks Coyote and a tale of resurrection. The Evil-Chasing Way tells of the encounters of Elder Brother and Younger Brother with the powerful Great Snake. Hausman's decision to retell the tales rather than to record them (as an ethnographer might) proves flawed. The collection highlights the richness of Navajo spirituality. Hillerman provides a brief but interesting foreword on Navajo theology; Mariah Fox's line drawings of sand paintings add atmosphere. [1 copy available]
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HOPI SNAKE CEREMONIES: An eyewitness account
by Jesse Walter Fewkes. Wonderful B&W era photos and drawings illustrate. Condition: NEW 2000 Avanyu large soft cover, reprint. Content: The Hopi Snake dance was first described in 1884 and through many articles over the last 100 years has become one of the best known of all aboriginal American Indian ceremonies. Yet, despite its notoriety, it was, and continues to be, little understood by those who are not Hopi Indians. Visitors to the Hopi’s remote reservation in the Arizona desert watch in amazement as members of the Hopi Snake Society, males of all ages, dance with living rattlesnakes clenched between their teeth. The ceremony ensures plenty of spring water and abundant rain for the maturing crops, and dramatizes the legend of the Snake Clan as the Snake Priests wash the snakes ritually, and carry them in their teeth during the public dance. This revised edition of the classic Bureau of American Ethnology reports from 1894-98 includes a new preface from the publisher, and additional period photographs of the ceremony. [2 copies available]
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THE LAND LOOKS AFTER US: A History of Native American Religion
by Joel W. Martin. B&W photo section. Condition: Gently pre-read, but with problems, 2001 Oxford Univ. Press Trade Paperback, first printing. Problem: Pages up to page 40 have pale yellow highlighting. Content: Native Americans practice some of America's most spiritually profound, historically resilient, and ethically demanding religions. Joel Martin draws his narrative from folk stories, rituals, and even landscapes to trace the development of Native American religion from ancient burial mounds, through interactions with European conquerors and missionaries, and on to the modern-day rebirth of ancient rites and beliefs. The book depicts the major cornerstones of American Indian history and religion--the vast movements for pan-Indian renewal, the formation of the Native American Church in 1919, the passage of the Native American Graves and Repatriation Act of 1990, and key political actions involving sacred sites in the 1980s and '90s. Martin explores the close links between religion and Native American culture and history. Legendary chiefs like Osceola and Tecumseh led their tribes in resistance movements against the European invaders, inspired by prophets like the Shawnee Tenskwatawa and the Mohawk Coocoochee. Catharine Brown, herself a convert, founded a school for Cherokee women and converted dozens of her people to Christianity. Their stories, along with those of dozens of other men and women--from noblewarriors to celebrated authors--are masterfully woven into this vivid, wide-ranging survey of Native American history and religion. (1 copy available)
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SUN DANCE: The 50th Anniversary Crow Indian Sun Dance
by Michael Crummett. Foreword by Heywood Big Day. Color & B&W photos (contemporary) by the author. Condition: UNREAD 1994 Falcon Press (Montana) soft cover, first printing. Content: The summer of 1991 marked a special point on the wheel of time for Crow medicine man Heywood Big Day. It was 50 years earlier that his father sponsored the first Crow Indian Sun Dance of modern times, reestablishing this sacred tradition of the Crow poeple. To commemorate that event, Big Day held the 50th Anniversary dance on the same site used by his father in 1941. He persuaded his friend Michael Crummett to document the ceremony in words and photographs. Excellent historical document of one Sun Dance and not intended to be a detailed history or study of the original Sun Dance. [1 copy available]
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OGLALA RELIGION
by William K. Powers. B&W photos & charts illustrate. Condition: NEW 1986 Bison Press Trade Paperback, 6th priting. Content: This study seeks to explain how one group of Native Americans, the Oglala Sioux, has preserved its social and cultural identity despite formidable attempts by the U.S. government to eliminate tribal societies. Treating continuity and change as two aspects of the same phenomenon, it focuses on the nature of the uniquely Oglala values that persist, their modes of cultural expression, and the processes by which they are replicated. William K. Powers is a professor of anthropology at Livingston College, Rutgers University. He is the author of many articles and books, including Yuwipi. Questions welcome. [2 copies available]
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IN THE TRAIL OF THE WIND; American Indian Poems and Ritual Orations
edited by John Bierhorst. Wonderful B&W repros of artists such as Catlin. Condition: UNREAD, but not perfect, 1972 Farrar Straus hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), second printing. This book was a gift (complete with inscription on the loose end page) and has price-clipped DJ and the DJ has some light edge wear and some light tanning to the white cover. The interior is clean & tight. Content: A story--and history--reaching back thousands of years unfolds in this diverse and unusual collection of Native American poetry, which gathers dozens of works that have been translated from over forty languages. Representing all the best-known Indian peoples of North and South America, In the Trail of the Wind is a cross-cultural anthology--the first of its kind--that brings into focus the similarities between tribes as widely separated as the Sioux and the Aztec, the Cherokee and the ancient Maya. Here we find an array of omens, battle songs, orations, love lyrics, prayers, dreams, and mysteries incantations. Beginning with the origin of the earth and the emergence of humanity, the sequence of poems proceeds through that rituals of birth, love, war, and death to the foreshadowing of the Conquest, the days of despair, and, finally, the apocalyptic visions of a new life. Editor John Bierhorst also offers a detailed Introduction; a richly thorough Notes section on the translators, meanings, contexts, and specific references of these poems; and a complete Glossary of Tribes, Cultures, and Languages. In the Trail of the Wind concludes with a Suggestions for Further Reading page. [1 copy available]
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PEYOTE HUNT: The Sacred Journey of the Huichol Indians
by Barbara G. Myerhoff. B&W photos. Condition: UNREAD 1976 Cornell University Press Trade Paperback, first printing. Tiny tanning to white cover edges - otherwise perfect. Content: This study is based on observation, verbatim texts of myths, ethnographic data, participation in the rituals, and other publications of Huichol ethnology. The peyote complex is expertly set in the wider context of Huichol religion, society, and theory. "This is a beautiful book, recording with loving care how one thoughtful Huichol Indian wanted to see the world." Fascinating! [1 copy available]
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PEYOTE RELIGION: A History
by Omer C. Stewart. B&W era photos illustrate. Condition: NEW 1993 University of Oklahoma Trade Paperback, 5th printing. Content: The Native American Church is the most rapidly growing religious movement on Western Indian reservations. Because the consumption of peyote, a hallucinogenic cactus, is central, the religion has been controversial since its start as an organized faith in the 1800s. Stewart chronicles the church's history from its early roots in Mexico through official recognition in the 20th century. He discusses the church's leaders, its role in Indian unification, and its importance as a response to the pressures of white America. [2 copies available]
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RELIGION AND HOPI LIFE IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
by John D. Loftin. Photo from the Mathers Museum of World Cultures. Condition: UNREAD 1994 Indiana Univ. Press Trade Paperback, second printing. 4-5 page fore edges have a very slight shelf wear "crinkle" - working on that. Very pale short hinge crease from price being placed inside. Interior clean & tight. Much better than it sounds. Content: For the Hopi, land, religion, and life are one. For them, the practical activities of daily life are suffused with religious significance. Religious rituals, in turn, have practical ends, such as securing adequate rain, sufficient crops, good health, and long life. In this book, Loftin looks at the Hopi's timeless merging of the sacred and the profane as a student of religion. He explores twentieth-century Hopi religious history and cultural change by focusing on the interplay between Hopi myth and history, timelessness and the experience of time, continuity and change. He examines the tension between the Hopi's traditional, mythical religious orientation and the profound historical changes which the Hopi have witnessed during the past century. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
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SHADOWCATCHERS: A Journey In Search of the Teachings of Native American Healers
by Steve Wall. B&W photos of Elders througout. Condition: UNREAD, but not perfect, 1994 HarperCollins large hardcover (2.0 lb.) & DJ (in mylar jacket), first printing. Problem: Edge wear (shelf wear) to DJ edges. Remainder mark at spine. Interior clean and very tight. Content: Wall here presents Native American mythology and tradition in a narrative framework that honors his own search as well as the wisdom he encounters. But this book is edgier, more adventurous than the others. Wall brings his own fears and doubts, angers and pain into the search with him, and those human limitations call forth stirring responses from the elders he encounters. He does a masterly job of describing the seemingly ordinary occurrences that teach profound lessons--as when he set off on a breakdown-plagued journey to a teacher, only to find that the frustrating journey itself was the lesson. An odd and fascinating, quirky and profound book. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
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RITUAL OF THE WIND: North American Indian Ceremonies, Music, and Dance
by Jamake Highwater. Great B&W era photos of Native American ceremonies and culture with a few photos from late 20th century. Condition: NEW 1984 Metheun large soft cover, new & revised edition, no printing given. Content: This book offers a wide but intimate look at the cultures of the Indians of North America seen as a living presence in the land. It offers a good general introduction to Native American religion, rites of passage, and dances and ceremonies and includes rare photos and transcriptions of oral texts, provides an extensive calendar of Indian events, a selected bibliography, and an invaluable discography. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
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SOUTHWESTERN INDIAN CEREMONIALS
by Tom Bahti. Revised in 1982 by his son, Mark Bahti. Beautiful color photos and artwork. Condition: NEW 1982 KC Publications large soft cover (stapled wraps), revised edition, no printing given. Content: This is a wonderful book. The ceremonies are described and often accompanied by a drawing or photograph. The ceremonies are divided the Pueblos and by Tribes. There are also many B&W era photos of the rites. Excellent, IMHO. [1 copy available]
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ZUNI FETISHES (Facsimile Edition)
by Frank Hamilton Cushing. B&W photos illustrate. Introduction & notes by Tom Bahti. Condition: NEW 1994 KC Publications soft cover (stapled wraps), tenth printing. Content: Fetishes are carvings believed to have a spirit within, which can help the owner if used properly and respectfully. They may be used for hunting, the diagnosis and cure of disease, initiations, war, gambling, propagation, spells, and good fortune and usually bear the resemblance of an animal. Frank Hamilton Cushing's classic book offers insight into Zuni worship ceremonies and life. [1 copy available]
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