This sand painting shows Father Sky and Mother Earth. Inside the Mother Earth figure are the four plants that are sacred to the Navajo: corn, beans, squash, and tobacco. In the center of the plants is a set of circles that stand for the four directions and the four races. The figure of Father Sky contains the sun, the moon, and Milky Way. The bow and arrow at the top, the rainbow bars under the figures, and the supematural being surrounding-them all guard the painting.

What is a sand painting?

According to Navajo tradition, the universe is very delicately balanced, full of powerful forces with potential for good or evil. If this balance is upset, some disaster, usually an illness, may result.

To restore balance or harmony, Navajos perform one of their many "Sings" or "'Ways" using prayers, medicinal herbs, sweat baths, and sand paintings. These long and complex ceremonies last from one to nine days and retell Navajo legends related to a particular illness and its cause.

Sand paintings are created on the floor of the hogan (Navajo home) under the direction of the singer (medicine man) as a part of a healing process. Each figure or design must be done in the proper Order using the sacred colors: black, white, red, yellow, and blue. Everything must be done perfectiy, or harm might result.

When the patient is seated on the completed sand painting, the singer touches parts of the sand painting and then the patient, transferring medicine and power. As he does this, the sickness falls symbolically from the patient into the sand painting. Before the sun sets, the sand painting is erased and swept onto a blanket to be carried outside and carefully disposed of. In this way the illness is carried away from the patient.

The Navajo word for sand painting (iikaah) means "place where the Holy People come and go"-an expression of the belief that the painted figures, supematural beings, are actually present during the

ceremony.

Is this a sacred sand painting?

No. This sand painting was not made as part of a healing ceremony. It is a "permanent" work for display in the museum. Ordinarily a sand painting is destroyed on the same day it is made. To preserve the work, sand is sprinkled on a board coated with glue. When the glue dries, it holds the sand in place. The sand being used is commercially colored with bright pigments rather than the naturally colored sand used in a ceremony. The sand painter has also deliberately changed the designs so that the painting is not sacred.

Who made this sand painting?

Mitchell Silas was bom and raised on the Navajo Reservation. As a young boy, he watched his uncles, who were medidne men, direct sand painters during sacred ceremonies. By the age of thirteen, Silas himself had become a sand painter.

Today, Silas lives in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, and travels across the country giving sand-painting demonstrations in schools, universities, and museums.

When at home on the reservation, Silas assists in healing ceremonies. He sees his work as a means to preserve his identity as a Navajo.