Reading Journal #9

     The Navajo Blessingway and Apache Sunrise ceremonies are similar and distinct from each other in a number of significant ways. One commonality between these two Native American cultural events is in regards to the sole purposes in carrying them out every year. This involves the fact that these forms of ceremonies are performed with positive intentions and outcomes in mind by the people that perform them. Some similar purposes include the banishment of all things that are menacing and/or that represent all that is despicable in society, and to cure individuals that have succumbed to any form of sickness and/or corruption. One other similar purpose connects to how these events seek to actively involve young females in order to them a sense of what will be expected of them when they become grown women.  Another commonality is present focuses on common items that the Native Americans use in their respective ceremonies. One of these things involves similar kinds of wardrobe, such as headpieces, belts, and other things that incorporate specific styles, patterns and colors in them that are shared in common between these two kinds of ceremonies. Some examples of these include the color black and the use of turquoise jewelry as an essential decoration on ceremonial clothing. Another of these things involves specific musical instruments that are used in these rituals. The general instruments of choice shared among the Navajo Blessingway and Apache Sunrise rituals are drums and rattles. There are also some notable differences between these two rituals as well.
      One way in which the Navajo Blessingway ceremonies are distinct from the Apache Sunrise ceremonies is due to the fact that they consider the formation and/or structure of an area to be more important in a certain way than the other Native Americans do. This tends to involve the structure and/or formation of a certain arena where certain rituals will be held. This usually ends being formed into what is called a conical hogan, which provides for a decent amount of space for people to perform rituals that involve reciting certain things, and such. This is not even heard of in the culture of Apache Sunrise ceremonies. Another main difference between the two kinds of ceremonies is present in the ways that they address the four basic cardinal directions. In certain Navajo Blessingway ceremonies, there are poles, with at least one representing each direction, that are grabbed and placed in a certain formation to make a space for dirt and other materials to be placed on the inside of the poles. In addition, the poles each represent specific gifts that are mentioned in the text where it says that, "The east pole, the gift of Earth itself, is addressed first, the south pole, a gift from Mountain Woman representative of all mountains, is mentioned next; then the west pole from Water Woman representing water supplies; and finally the north one, called Corn Woman's pile referring to First Man's magic corn bundle" (Wyman 15). In the case of the Apache Sunrise ceremonies, there are specific rituals in which performers are instructed to penetrate into the ritual specifically from the east and then a certain performer, sometimes a clown, is instructed to sanctify every one of the four cardinal directions. The ways in which the Navajo Blessingway and Apache Sunrise ceremonies compare and contrast to each other stand out in their ways from other details about the two kinds of ceremonies in certain ways.