This is a nine days' ceremony of healing, dramatizing the myth of the Navaho tribal history. It has been described at great length by Dr. Washington Mathews, in the Fifth Ethnological Report (pub. 1887), pp. 385-467.
Natalie Curtis records one song from the MOUNTAIN CHANT in her Indians' Book, p. 408. This I have used in the following routine, based exactly on the DOLL DANCE which I saw at Gallup in the August of 1927.
Miss Curtis gives the following legend as the basis of the ceremony:
The Holy Youth, Tsilchke Digini, loved a mortal maid; and, to make her divine like himself, so that he might take her to wife, he sang holy songs over her. Thenceforth she was called Estsan Digini, the Holy Woman. Together the two gave these songs to the Navahos, to be used by them as a cure for sickness.
The song is sung in two stanzas, identical, except that the first stanza pertains to the male divinity, and the second to the female. In the second stanza, substitute "she" for "he."
SONG FROM THE MOUNTAIN CHANT
Thereof he telleth,
Now of the Holy Youth,
Thereof he telleth.
Moccasins decked with black,
Thereof he telleth.
And richly broidered dress,
Thereof he telleth.
Arm-bands of eagle feathers,
Thereof he telleth.
And now the rain-plumes,
Thereof he telleth.
Now of the Male-Rain,
Thereof he telleth.
Now of the rain-drops fallen,
Thereof he telleth.
Now of the Unending Life,
Thereof he telleth.
Now of Unchanging Joy,
Thereof he telleth.
Thereof he telleth.
The Male-Rain is the heavy storm-rain, with lightning and thunder; the Female-Rain is the gentle shower. Both kinds of rain are prized in sickness for their cooling power.
DSICHOYIDJE HATAL
Baiyajiltriyish,
Tsilchke digini,
Baiyajiltriyish.
Ke-pa-nashjini,
Baiyajiltriyish.
Kla-pa-naskan-a,
Baiyajiltriyish.
Ka' ka pa-stran-a,
Baiyajiltriyish.
Niltsan stsoz-i,
Baiyajiltriyish.
Niltsan-bekan-a,
Baiyajiltriyish.
Ka' bi datro-e,
Baiyajiltriyish.
Sa-a narai,
Baiyajiltriyish.
Bike hozhoni,
Baiyajiltriyish.
Baiyajiltriyish.
