Dine Cosmology Reflects a Sophisticated Term Paper

Directionality and the compas points denote the sacred geography that characterizes the Navajoland and Dine cosmos. As a result, the hooghan is constructed with four main structural poles. Each pole corresponds to a direction with the entrance of the house always in the east. The poles create special sections within the hooghan that are also linked to sacred geography and directionality. A fifth pole flanks the doorway, demarcating the presence of the fifth element.

Birth offers the opportunity to hear and speak the First Language, which is forgotten and inaudible to contemporary humans ("The Nature of Life in the Navajo World"). These so-called "mind sounds" are a substance in themselves ("The Nature of Life in the Navajo World"). Like the other four more concrete elements, primal sound is consciousness. All the elements possess consciousness and therefore all objects are sacred, with the potential to hold both knowledge and power.

The Dine creation story reflects the structure and order of the cosmos. The First Man and First Woman also represent the gendered construction that is manifest in the hooghan. However, the creation story is not binary; male and female are viewed as syntheses of the four basic elements, united by the fifth through sound and chanting. Chanting often occurs in sets of four, because the creation story emphasizes the role of the number four in the emergence of the universe ("Dine (Navajo) Creation").

The number twelve (which is four times three) is also integral to the Dine cosmos.As four times three, the number twelve contains the four elements as well as the symbol for the family: father, mother, and child. Just as the basket contains four rings to represent the four levels of knowledge, it also symbolizes the twelve days of creation. The fifth element of sound becomes the chant in ritual, embedded in the creation myth itself.

Dine cosmology is highly structured. As a homology, it shows how all elements derive from a common source. Primordial elements combine in different proportions to create matter. Matter is imbued with spirit, spirit imbues matter. All human creations are automatically expressions of cosmological patterns. However, the Dine people deliberately create objects in a ritualized fashion to respect the structure of their universe. Thus, baskets, hooghans, and textiles represent universal structures, elements, colors, numbers, shapes, and forms. Dine ritual reenacts these forms and the creation of the universe.

References

Dine (Navajo) Creation." First Americans. Retrieved June 29, 2007 at http://www.ic.arizona.edu/ic/kmartin/School/navajo44.htm

Francisco, N. (1977). "The Hooghan." In the Sacred. Navajo Community College Press. Retrieved June 29, 2007 at http://www.hanksville.org/voyage/navajo/hooghan.php3

Lapahie, H. (2001). "The Navajo Creation Story." Retrieved June 29, 2007 at http://www.lapahie.com/Creation.cfm

The Nature of Life in the Navajo World." Class Readings.

Navajo Cosmology and Worldview." Retrieved June 29, 2007 at http://www.mc.maricopa.edu/dept/d10/asb/anthro2003/religion/navajo_worldview.html.....