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Healing Songs The following is taken from Arlie's response to a request from a Native girl. It may be of interest to others...
"I am part native american and am currently taking a Native American music
course. My term paper topic is on the healing powers of Native American
Music. I am having a difficult time locating sources. If you could be of
any assistance in providing me with info. or pointing me in the right direction
I would greatly appreciate it." Hello Aimee, Now I will tell you some of what I have learned. I am
from the Navajo Tribe. I have been learning, teaching, and developing with
traditional music for 24 years. Started when I was 16 years old. Very little
is written about the healing powers of singing since it is regarded as
some of the most sacred of the traditions of many tribes. So the information
was and is still withheld from anthropologists, outsiders and other "nosey"
types who just want to get the information and put it into a book and earn
a degree, or use it for themselves without obtaining it in the proper way.
Our medicine people have said, No Thanks! Much has been stolen from us,
but we will not let you steal our sacred songs. These songs are the songs
which have cleansing, purifying, protecting, restorative and fertilizing
effects. Here was where the line was drawn... Because here is where our
relationship to the sacred Holy Beings was chronicled and maintained. Let
me describe it this way... Native people know their neighbors and maintain
good relations with them. Their neighbors being the particular Spirit People
of their local region. That is why it is very difficult to have Native
people talk about one universal god in this context. It is very dependent
on the local, regional, geographical, and historical background of each
tribe as to which Spirit Beings they know. If you live in an area where
corn is harvested, you know the Spirit People who help with corn. If you
are a fishing people you know the Spirit People of the rivers and the fish.
If you live in the woods, the plains, near many lakes, you know the particular
Holy People who live in those areas. These relationships are formed
after many, many generations of respectful interaction. There are many
Native people who are now christianized and do not believe these teachings,
but this is one way that I explain the world of the Sacred Songs.
So, once
you get to know your "neighbors", how do you maintain good relations?
One of the ways that Native people have found is through music. The Holy
People love music and songs. Many of them have their own special song and
they may choose to give a person their song. In fact, this is the origin
of most of the sacred, holy music of our people. These songs were given
for particular uses, and when the people needed help to restore health,
harmony, a good mind, these songs would be used. They are very specific
and they are not sung for any other purpose than for what they were given.
It is like having the office number of the President. You met him or her,
they liked you and gave you their private line. What if you started calling
that number any old time you liked, for any old reason. It would not be
right and respectful and you are likely to lose the privilege or the number
be changed. The same for the Sacred Songs. That is why our people have
had to maintain much secrecy about them. They are not to be used or abused
by just anybody. If they are used improperly, they can bring harm to the
uneducated.
It is not appropriate for someone to hear these songs from
a recorded medium and try to use them. They are used within a relationship.
Let me say that again, they are used within a relationship. Just like it
would be improper for you to go out and give the President's number to
all your friends. It is just plain disrespectful and a betrayal of trust
between two parties. Many non-native persons are attempting to do just
that today and it is very unsettling and disrespectful. These songs were
originally received after a relationship with the Holy Beings was established
and maintained over many generations. Imagine you had a very special friend and
someone new moved to your area. All of a sudden this new person saw how
good a friendship you had and how much fun you had together. Immediately
they wanted in. One day they see you with your special friend and they
just barge right into your conversation and try to have the same relationship
that you have. They want to walk with you on your private walks, they want
to listen in on your private conversations, they want to know where you
are going this weekend together, they want to know all the secrets that
you have discussed over the last 10 or 15 years. They want the same level
of trust, attention, and safety that you and your special friend have taken
years to develop. Some of your trust was probably built through many difficult times together where
you had to work out your differences and create mutual understanding... As
you can see it is plain stupid and disrespectful for your new friend to
expect they can have what you have without they themselves building and
nurturing their own relationship over time.
What is the proper way? The proper
way is to ask to be introduced. "I see you have a good friendship
with so and so, would you introduce me?" I have never seen any non-native
ever ask to be introduced to the Holy People! I probably never will. The
reason is that the mind of an invader is such that they believe they have
the right to anything they so choose, just because they want it! I have
children whose mother is from the Tewa people of the Rio Grande in New
Mexico. There is knowledge and access to sacred information that they only
can know because they are Tewa. Even though I am their father, I will not
be allowed to see or learn of these sacred ways. This drives the mind of
the invader crazy! They have to know! And they whine about how there should be
nothing secret to them. They will try to rationalize a reason for them
to know these things. They will make up some mythology about how we are
all one people and we all share Mother Earth, and this proves that they
have the right to know the intimate knowledge and experience of others.
They will steal the sacred teachings of others and put them in books alongside their own for all the world to see, then say, we let ours be public... now it is your turn. Bullcrap! There is a person we know who is the same way, Coyote!
Coyote
always wants to know and do everything, always sticking his nose in other's
business, always trying to be what he can't, always barging in on the activities
of others. Check out some Coyote stories and you will see what I mean.
These stories teach us Native people about the need for boundaries, humility,
patience and respect for others. I have no desire to know the sacred, intimate
teachings of other tribes. For I understand it is based on their relationship
with their Spirit Neighbors that they have maintained for countless generations.
Those are their Ways, Ceremonies, Songs that they use to strengthen, affirm
and maintain those relationships. So the songs themselves are not what
cures an illness or restores a person to harmony. It is the song used within
an ongoing relationship with the Holy People and what they have agreed to be willing
to give to the People.
In fact to sing a song without this would be very
dangerous. Many of these songs are known as Calling Songs, for when they
are sung, the Spirit Being to which they belong attends. If they are called
and they don't know you when they arrive, they can get pretty upset and
harm can come to the person and the relations of the one using that song.
Harm can also come to the Native people who were given that song to use
within a sacred relationship. Imagine now your new friend, the President, getting
a call on their private line from someone to whom you gave their number without permission... "What?
Who is this?" "Excuse me!? But do I know you?!" "And
how did you get my number? Aimee? She gave it to you? I told her not to
give it out!" "Now, just when and where did I ever meet you?"
I think you get the point.
Currently, there exists almost an obsession among many
of these invader types, many who call themselves "New Age", today with drums. The reason is because they have
no Songs... They have not created and maintained a relationship with these
Spirit Neighbors of which I describe well enough to be given their names or
songs. Maybe someday that may happen... Who knows? But right now they are
building drums by the thousands and selling them all over the place with
the hopes of gaining access to some vague spirit world.
Not all New Agers or those seeking understanding are this way. There are some who have left behind this invasive mind. They have begun to learn the meaning of respect and may be on the verge of acknowledging all their relations. Then maybe the Holy People might take pity on them and give them their sacred names and songs to use to help their People. They may be the new hope for their people in the next millenium??
I have heard from
some of the master drummers of Africa that they have a similar tradition
regarding "calling music". They have particular rhythms that
belong to particular Spirit Beings. They are taught that to play a particular
rhythm would cause a particular Spirit Being to attend. The focus of the
North American spiritual tradition is on the singer and the songs. While
the African seems to be the drummer and distinct rhythms. These are gross
generalizations, but maybe what the invasive-minded seek with accessing spirit
power through drumming would best be found from another cultural group?
I can't tell you how many non-natives have come to me and have asked to be taught
how to drum. My teaching goes something like this... Ok, well can you drum fast with a steady beat? Ok, slower
now... Ok, now how about hard/soft? Ok, now just hit it fast, like a ruffling
sound... Ok, that's it. You are now an official native-style drummer. They
look so sad and heartbroken, cause what they want is all kinds of secret,
syncopated rhythms that will put them in touch with the spirit world.
Sorry, not to be found in North America, the rhythms
are in the songs. The emphasis is on the Song and the Singer. For example, in my language
the same name for singer is also the name for healer/medicine person.
So
when these Songs are used as part of a ceremony to heal, cleanse or restore
mind and body, the Spirit Being to which it belongs attends, recognizes their old friends
and asks how they can help. A conversation may take place where a request
is made on behalf of the sick person by the designated songkeeper/healer
and then the Spirit Being(s) may assist in the healing. In some cases, as in my
tribe, our ceremonies allow a sick person to actually step into the shoes,
take on the attributes and see the world from the Holy Person's eyes during
the ceremony. These are very beautiful and powerful songs filled with poetry
and images of rainbows, clouds, mountains, jewels, Heroes, Holy Women,
mist, rain, and Holy Wind. It makes me cry to hear them today, since so
many of our people have been taught to forget them through christianity
and educational means. They are filled with beautiful thoughts and visions
of a life that is healthy, fulfilling, prosperous and full of caring relationships.
How dare the christians or anyone else try to remove these from the hearts
and lives of my people! And to those who have kept these songs for us to
have today. Thank You for your commitment and dedication to keep these
Sacred Songs for the People. As long as there is someone to sing these
songs they will never grow old...
I will end with some words from a song
that I am learning that brings prosperity and a healthy life. And if your
classmates ever want to set up a live chat seesion so you can ask me questions
directly, we can arrange that. Just email me and we can set up the time,
you will need to get the Powwow Communication program or similar. That
would be fun. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ K'aa Yoolgai-Asdzaani bi Yazhi, shi nishli yee na go eh
yeh, ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Hozho Naasha Dooleel, Email comments to: info@rainbowwalker.net |