“The Americans hurry too much! All the time they hurry and worry as to how they are going to hurry and worry some more. They go through life so fast they have no time to see beauty or think deep thoughts. I am happier than white people because I don’t have all those things to worry about. I live the same as I did when I first went east in 1893, and when some possessions worry me, I give them away.” — Hosteen Klah

Known as one of the greatest Navajo medicine men, Hosteen Klah was a master weaver and ceremonial singer. As a nádleehi person, he inhabited the societal role of “one who transforms” or “one who is changed”, combining the traditional masculine and feminine traits. His legacy remains in the many weavings he created, the people whose lives he touched, and the museum he helped form in Santa Fe.

Klah was born near Bear Mountain, New Mexico in December 1867 to Hoksay Nolyae and Ahson Tsosie. Only a few months after he was born, his family moved to Totachi Mountains. They settled in the area called Nee-yai-tsay, where Klah’s mother grew up.

From a young age, Klah was curious and active, spending his time exploring and trying to pick up as much knowledge as possible. Fortunately, he never experienced residential school, as his mother was able to keep him home. Instead, he accompanied his aunt on herbalist trips, memorizing their names, attributes, and medical purposes. He would also join his uncle, a medicine man in high demand, often helping with small tasks during ceremonies. Thanks to his excellent memory, he learned the Hail Chant at a young age, possibly making him one of the youngest Navajo to know a full chant. 

Franc Johnson Newcomb, a trader’s wife and one of Klah’s closest friends, said:

“He could direct the sand paintings, sing the correct prayer chants, and conduct the rites by the time he was ten years old, and he may have known more about the herbs and pollens to be used than his uncle.”

While staying with some relatives in the Lukachukai Mountains, Klah learned another ceremony: the Wind Ceremony. It was also during this trip that he was injured after a fall, suffering some broken bones. While treating his injuries, his family discovered he was nádleehi. 

Nádleehi, one of the four genders recognized within Navajo culture, is often considered both a social and a ceremonial role. Being nádleehi meant that Klah was honored by the gods and that he possessed the skill, knowledge, and abilities of both the feminine and the masculine. If given access to modern language, it’s possible Klah might also have used two-spirit as a descriptor. 

After this reveal, Klah started learning the traditionally feminine art of weaving from his mother and sister, quickly becoming a skilled weaver. He would also continue learning chants and ceremonies, eager to devote himself to the practice of healing.

Within Navajo religion, a chanter — also known as a singer, medicine man, or Hataalii — is a spiritual healer. It’s a difficult duty to carry, as the ceremonies last for days. The chanter must memorize hundreds of lines of song, several sandpaintings, and complex rites. When performed correctly, chants can cure the sick, but they can also have disastrous effects on those present if something goes wrong. During the ceremony, the chanter takes complete responsibility for the safety of the patient and those watching.

Klah was known as an extraordinary chanter. Where most Navajo Hataalii only learn one or two chants, he mastered at least eight. Since standard practice demands that a singer only learn chants from within his own family, Klah spent years visiting distant relatives and memorizing their knowledge. 

When he was 49 years old, in 1917, Klah performed his first major ceremony. Having studied for 26 years, he chose to hold a Yeibichai (Nightway) ceremony, a nine-day chant that’s known for its complexity. Once the nine days were up and no one present could find flaws with his performance, he celebrated his graduation by giving away one-third of his possessions. This would allow him to devote himself more fully to his spirituality.

As part of his spiritual practice, Klah wove tapestries based on sections from the chants he knew. In particular, he wanted to make permanent images of the sandpaintings that were part of his ceremonies. 

Sandpainting is a technique that uses sand, pollen, and cornmeal to create a temporary altar where the patient sits. These pieces are often intricate and beautiful, and, most importantly, temporary. The paintings call on the power of the Holy People, but this power can be dangerous or fatal when not needed. Navajo culture doesn’t allow for the production of sandpaintings outside of ceremonial context, and the paintings are always destroyed after a ceremony.

When Klah began weaving sandpainting tapestries after his Yeibichai ceremony, this was highly controversial among the Navajo. It was seen as sacrilegious and unholy, and as something that would bring bad luck to him and his family. 

It's not easy to say why Klah chose to create something against the teachings of his people, but it's possible he wanted to preserve his knowledge for the future. He lacked apprentices, and he might have feared that everything he had memorized would be lost after his death. His tapestries grew quite popular among the settlers, and he received many orders for new designs. Klah never felt this was sacrilegious, as long as the tapestries were never used as rugs and walked upon. 

In addition to the weavings, he would also create sketches of sandpaintings for Franc Newcomb, who turned them into watercolor paintings. 

In addition to preserving the sand paintings through art, he also worked with many non-Indigenous scholars to record his songs, chants, and stories. In the end, a lot of his knowledge was preserved, despite not being passed on in a traditional Navajo manner. He was close friends with Mary Cabot Wheelwright, and together they would form the Museum of Navajo Ceremonial Art in Santa Fe. Klah would not see its opening, but almost all of his tapestries, sketches, and ceremonial belongings are now stored there. 

In 1937, Klah fell ill with pneumonia. This came after he had spent the majority of a very harsh winter traveling to hold ceremonies all over the Navajo nation. He was brought to Rebooth Hospital, near Gallup, where he was cared for by his friends and family. He died on February 27th. As he requested on his deathbed, he was buried according to both European and Navajo customs. Of his death, the Rehoboth Mission newspaper had this to say: 

“The spirit of the greatest Navajo medicine-men winged a weary journey around the world today, and with it went many a precious secret of the tribe’s religious life. Four times, says Navajo religion, the soul of Hosteen Klah will encircle the Earth—four times for the four directions of the compass—and then it will soar away to a world beyond to reside in peace and beauty. For Hosteen Klah, kindly, gentle, beloved, and versed in the spiritual knowledge as no other Navajo of his time, is dead at the age of 70 and the sacred chants he alone knew died with him yesterday.”

After his passing, his nieces finished up his last sandpainting tapestry — The Skies from the Shootingway Ceremony. Klah’s body was later moved to the museum in Santa Fe, where he now rests beneath a knoll of goldenrod, water grass, grass daisy, dwarf sage, and other sacred plants he used in his ceremonies.

REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING

Disclaimer: some of the sources may contain triggering material

admin. (n.d.). Hosteen Klah: Navajo Healer, Artist | Native American Netroots. Retrieved July 26, 2024, from http://nativeamericannetroots.net/diary/320

Hosteen Klah. (n.d.). Retrieved July 26, 2024, from https://heardguild.org/hosteen-klah/

Newcomb, F. J. (with Internet Archive). (1964). Hosteen Klah, Navaho medicine man and sand painter. Norman, University of Oklahoma Press. http://archive.org/details/hosteenklahnavah00newc

We’wha and Hosteen Klah. (n.d.). Beyond Reflections. Retrieved July 26, 2024, from https://beyond-reflections.org.uk/blog/blog-post-title-two-ew83d