HEAD and FACE MASKS in NAVAHO CEREMONIALISM [SOLD]

HEAD and FACE MASKS in NAVAHO CEREMONIALISM

Berard Haile, The St. Michaels Press, St. Michaels, Arizona, 1947

This edition published by AMS Press in 1978

Hardback, first AMS edition, 132 pages, 13 illustrations and  14 color plates, fold-out pages.

From the Introduction

One of the main purposes of this monograph was to present data on “Head and Face Masks in Navaho Ceremonialism” which was obtained some 40 years ago.  These data were allowed to lie dormant throughout these years partly because the author wished to learn more about Navaho masks and their use. The data are presented as the informant gave it especially since it represented the thought of a family of singers.

The informants indicated that there is an intimate connection between sand paintings and masks.  In Nightway, for example, the figures of sandpaintings wear masks which closely resemble the buckskin head and face masks seen in ceremonials of this chantway.