Navajo Pictorial Textile of the Hail Chant Ceremony [SOLD]

Our Diné friend Myron Denetclaw explained the images on this textile to us. The image is that of the Hail Chant Ceremony, a ceremonial sandpainting in textile format. The weaver is Zonnie Gilmore (b. 1939) of Chinle, Arizona.

The black body represents the night sky filled with stars. The zig zag white line represents the Milky Way. There are cosmic constellations and the north star. The white face in the center represents the moon and the blue face represents the sun. The zigzag coming off the blue face represents lightning going in between the rainbow.

The black body represents the sky people. The faces are painted as depicted when the patient has his face painted in the same ordeal as the same paint along with the eagle plumes and strings attached to the headdress.

On the edges of the textile, the brown figure with black endings is the bat, the blue figure in the center represents the Bluebird and the Gray figure with the rainbow along the body represents the antelope. On the other end of the textile are the hawk people as depicted in sand painting form.

Condition: very good condition

Provenance: this Navajo Pictorial Textile of the Hail Chant Ceremony is from the collection of a Santa Fe resident

Recommended Reading: NAVAJO WEAVINGS WITH CEREMONIAL THEMES by Rebecca M. Valette and Jean-Paul Valette

TAGS: Navajo Textiles, Diné of the Navajo Nation, Zonnie Gilmore