They sang for horses

Description

Among the Indians of the Southwest, none placed more emphasis on the horse than did the Navajo and the various Apache groups which comprise the Southern Athapascan linguistic family. Now the great horse age of these peoples — an age which had its beginning in the seventeenth century — is coming to an end. In this book Mrs. Clark examines for the first time at length the impact of the horse upon traditional forms of Navajo and Apache folklore during more than three centuries of influence. She shows how the horse, an acquisition from the Spaniards, became the "gift of the gods," and how the storytellers, singers, medicine men — even painters — transformed the new elements in their folklore after the likeness of the old. Using translations of recorded material, she defines or clarifies the horse's symbolic significance in ceremony, song, prayer, custom, and belief. Poetic in tone, scholarly in treatment, its beauty enhanced by six full-color horse paintings by the well-known Indian artists Harrison Begay, Adee Dodge, Andy Tsinajinie, and Beatien Yazz, this book is truly one to be treasured and enjoyed.

Description

"No Native American groups placed more emphasis on the horse in their lives than did the Navajo and Apache of the Southwest. They Sang for Horses examines how storytellers, singers, medicine men, and painters created the animal's evolving symbolic significance by adapting existing folkore and cultural symbols. Exploring the horse's importance in ceremonies, songs, prayers, customers, and beliefs, Clark investigates the period of the horse's most pronounced cultural impact on the Navajo and the Apache, starting from the time of its acquisition from the Spanish in the seventeenth century and continuing to the mid-1960s, when the pickup truck began to replace it as the favored means of transportation. In addition, she presents a look at how Navajos and Apaches today continue to redefine the horse's important role in their spiritual as well as material lives."--BOOK JACKET.

Subjects

Genres

• Folklore

Other Editions

• They Sang for Horses: The Impact of the Horse on Navajo and Apache FolklorePaperback; HardcoverThe University of Arizona Press1966-01-01
• They sang for horsesUniversity Press of Colorado2001
• They sang for horsesUniversity of Arizona Press1966-01-01
• They sang for horsesUniversity of Arizona Press1966-01-01
• They Sang for HorsesUniversity Press of Colorado2001-01-01