Navajo Scenes

Initiation Ceremony - The initiation of children into the home of the Gods. This is done during Yei-Be-Chei dances in the Winter. Usually the children are very much frightened about this ceremony in which they are whipped across the back and chest with Yucca branches. Two medicine men are on the left, one standing, one kneeling.  As they wave their symbolical forms, two children seek comfort from their mother.  The panel is signed Gerald Nailor '40 in the lower right hand corner.

Preparing Yarn for Weaving - On the left a woman sits beside a loom, holding a ball of yarn; the fabric on the left is in the process of being woven.  On the right two young Indian women hold instruments with which they comb the wool.