Night Chant
A Navaho Ceremony

Washington Matthews
16 figures
6 x 9, 332 pp.
Paper $24.95
978-0-87480-491-1

Washington Matthews studied Navajo language and lifeways as an ethnologist and linguistics expert in the late-nineteenth century. His unique opportunities to observe ceremonies and record the roles of participants resulted in landmark studies of Navajo ritual and tradition.

The Night Chant provides a detailed description of healing rites, songs, myths, and prayers for the nine-day ceremony, which is performed only during “frosty weather.” This edition includes powerful contemporary observations in a foreword by John Farella.