Navajo Yebijhi dance

Awa Tsireh (1898-1955)


Item type:
painting
Date of creation:
ca. 1923
Height:
28.9 cm  (11 3/8 in.)
Width:
36.4 cm  (14 5/16 in.)
Technique / Medium:
watercolor, ink, and pencil on paperboard
Place of creation:
New Mexico (United States)

    Item location

  • Smithsonian American Art Museum
    [Museum inv. no.: 1979.144.28]Corbin-Henderson Collection, gift of Alice H. Rossin

Description

The Yeibichai or Yebijhi Dance is part of a sacred nine-day ceremony to heal and restore harmony. It is performed by the Navajo, or Diné, as they are known today, usually after the first frost in November. One the final night, Yeibichai, or Talking God, appears and dances to the sound of gourd rattles held by six male and six female dancers. Tonenili, the Water Sprinkler or God of Water, acts as the clown and brings comic relief to an otherwise intense and serious dance. (Smithsonian description)

Iconclass

12R213
making music and dancing ~ American Indian religions

Instruments [MIMO Code] (notes)

Rattle [3036] (gourd rattle)

RIdIM images


Smithsonian American Art Museum

Image URLs

image link 1

RIdIM record id

5103