Original Painting “Fire Dancer” by Beatien Yazz

In the late 1800s, Dr. Washington Matthews closely observed the Navajo people and published important documentation on their ceremonies, crafts, and way of life. In 1909, Oscar H. Lipps included Matthews' observations in his book The Navajos, quoting in detail a vivid account of the Navajo Fire Dance, which Matthews referred to as "The Fire Play." In 1989, Avanyu Publishing reissued Lipps' work under the expanded title A Little History of the Navajos.

In this painting, Beatien Yazz captures the intensity of the Fire Dance through the image of a dancer in mid-performance. The figure, wearing only a loincloth and covered in gray ash body paint, holds a flaming stick in one hand, emphasizing both motion and ritual energy.

Dr. Washington Matthews, as quoted by Oscar H. Lipps in A Little History of the Navajos, described "The Fire Play" as the most dramatic and visually striking of all the Navajo ceremonies he observed. In this ritual, a group of dancers carried bundles of shredded cedar bark, while the leader held smaller torches. Together, they circled the central fire four times, brandishing their bark bundles toward the flames.

The performance unfolded in four directions. At each cardinal point — east, south, west, and north — the leader ignited a torch and, with a loud trumpet-like cry, hurled it over the corral fence. Before casting the final torch to the north, he lit the bark bundles of the other dancers, signaling the next phase of the ceremony.

Once all the bundles were aflame, the dancers broke into a chaotic run around the fire. Initially moving as a group, they spat a substance believed to hold healing properties on each other before scattering. As they ran, the burning cedar trailed bright flames across their arms and hands.

The dancers then began to press the flames against their own bodies and those of others ahead of them. "No man ever once turned around," Matthews noted, describing how some struck the person in front of them with flaming bundles, while others rubbed the fire across their backs as though cleansing them. Those without someone ahead would use the flames on themselves, continuing around the fire.

The ritual was accompanied by a continuous, loud trumpeting sound that Matthews likened to "a great flock of cranes... winging its way overhead southward through the darkness." If a torch went out, it was rekindled at the central fire. Once too short to hold, it was dropped, and the dancer exited the arena with one final trumpet. Spectators would then collect the still-burning fragments, bathing their hands in the flames as a protective charm against the harmful effects of fire (Lipps, A Little History of the Navajos, 1989).

Condition: Excellent condition. The title "Fire Dancer" and the date "1956" are written on the back of the painting.

Provenance: This Original Painting "Fire Dancer" by Beatien Yazz is from an experienced collector in Texas.

Reference and Recommended Reading: A Little History of The Navajos by Oscar H. Lipps, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 1909. This book is currently not available from Adobe Gallery

TAGS: Navajo Reservation, Spin a Silver Dollar, Paint the Wind, paintings, Yazz: Navajo Painter, Beatien Yazz, Avanyu Publishing