Sandpainting

Sandpainting (also referred to as “drypainting”) remains a significant and well-known feature of religious ceremonies in a number of cultures, [Page 1128]especially among Native Americans in the U.S. Southwest, Tibetan Buddhists, and Australian Aborigines. These colorful, symbolic images serve different functions in different parts of the world but also share some common features. As the name sandpainting implies, the artists and religious functionaries generally work with simple materials, but their work involves intricate patterns that follow age-old designs. Because sand-paintings depict meaning on a supernatural or cosmic level, they provide insight into ways by which various peoples view time and eternity, key intellectual and spiritual frames of reference in all cultures. Although sandpaintings are more important for their original roles in ritualistic contexts, connoisseurs and collectors also recognize the aesthetic qualities of sandpaintings, which have acquired commercial value in some regions. As a result, the religious origins of these ancient artistic traditions have become better known, at least on a rudimentary level.

Although practiced among the Pueblos and other indigenous peoples of the American Southwest and Great Plains, sandpainting has assumed its highest profile in the Navajo traditional religious system. The Navajos use sandpaintings while performing ceremonies to invoke blessings from the supernatural world (e.g., rain, crops, health) and also in their famous curing ceremonies. In the traditional manner, the Navajo discover the causes of problems or illnesses through divination and then determine the appropriate ritual proceduresor “ways”to remedy the situation. These elaborate ceremonies, called “chants” or “sings,” include many ritual components, and drypainting procedures play a critical role. Whereas the chants survive in limited numbers, scholars have documented many hundreds of sandpaintings to accompany curing ceremonies. The singers who lead these rituals are highly respected professionals, and they determinein consultation with other people who are involved in the ceremony (including the patient) the precise combination and order of features. Such ceremonies can last up to 9 nights, and each day has a traditional set of procedures, all of which purify the place and patient/client for this special occasion and invoke the presence and aid of the gods, the “Holy People.” Singers and their assistants often require many hours to prepare a painting, which can be small or so large that it requires the construction of a special hogan. They prepare a background of sand or buckskin and dispense the colorful materials (e.g., crushed minerals, charcoal, dried and crushed flowers, cornmeal, and pollen) with their hands to create the detailed pattern, which includes geometric images, lines, and figuresa diagram of reality, the visible and normally invisible realms. Even colors have symbolic meaning, and each scene includes figures that relate to mythology; the singer's attention to every detail makes the painting powerful. As the patient sits in the painting and comes into physical contact with its symbols, the image provides an actual place for human beings to encounter cosmic forces. Navajo refer to the sandpainting, in effect a cosmic map, as iikaaha place where the gods come and go. In fact, the paintings portray Holy People, sacred animals and plants, and astronomical bodies. Because these images contain sacred power, which is subject to abuse, singers destroy paintings when the ceremonies end. Sandpaintings help the Navajo restore and maintain balance and harmony between the natural and supernatural worlds, which are intertwined in their traditional worldview.

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