The Mountain Chant: A Navajo Ceremony

The ceremony of dsilyídje qaçàl, or mountain chant-literally, chant towards (a place) within the mountains-is one of a large number practiced by the shamans, or medicine men, of the Navajo tribe. I have selected it as the first of those to be described, because I have witnessed it the most frequently, because it is the most interesting to the Caucasian spectator, and because it is the best known to the whites who visit and reside in and around the Navajo country.