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Havasupai Legends
Religion and Mythology of the Indians of the Grand Canyon
Carma Lee Smithson and Robert C. Euler
American Indian / Anthropology
For almost seven hundred years, the Havasupai Indians, who call themselves People of the Blue Water, have lived in an area that includes the depths of the western Grand Canyon and the heights of the San Francisco Peaks. Here they inhabited the greatest altitude variation of any Indians in Southwestern America.
Written in consultation with some of the last Havasupai shamans, this book details their religious beliefs, customs, and healing practices. A second section presents legends of the Havasupai origin, the first people, and tales of Coyote, Gila Monster, Bear, and others.
Carma Lee Smithson was engaged in doctoral research when she succumbed to lymphosarcoma in 1961. At her request, Robert Euler arranged and expanded her work for publication. Originally published in 1964 as Havasupai Religion and Mythology, this work has been reedited and includes photographs and a new foreword by Euler, now a consulting anthropologist.
Table of Contents:
Preface
Religion
• Sacred Places and Spirits
• Conceptions of the Soul
• Shamans and Illness
• Concepts of Disease and Illness
• Preventive Medicine
• Medicinal Therapy and Contraceptives
• The Sweatlodge and Its Therapeutic Functions
• Death and Funeral Customs
• The Funeral of Mexican Jack
• Dances
Photographs
Legends
• Origins
• Havasu Canyon Walls Closing Up
• Frog Rock
• Origin of Menstruation
• The Man Who Went After His Wife
• The Lady Who Could Have No Children
• Grandmother and Little Boy
• The Sun and His Daughters
• The Man Who Caught Himself in the Eagle's Nest
• Bear's Wife
• Turkey (or Eagle)
• Turkey (version 2)
• Fox and the Giant Bird
• Fox and His Brother
• Gila Monster and Hunter Hawk
• Porcupine
• Porcupine (version 2)
• Bat
• Coyote and His Family
• Coyote Steals the Heart of a Chief
• Coyote, Wolf, and Lion
• Coyote Packs a Pole
• Wolf, Coyote, Bat, and Elk
• The First Sweatlodge
• Coyote and Deer
• Coyote's Death
Bibliography
Praise and Reviews:
“Valuable.”
—American Anthropologist
“Most noteworthy is Smithson’s detailed description of a 1951 Havasupai funeral ceremony that reveals significant Mohave Indian influence.”
—The Western Library
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