Description
For almost ninety years, Navajo medicine man John Holiday has watched the sun rise over the rock formations of his home in Monument Valley. Author and scholar Robert S. McPherson interviewed Holiday extensively and in A Navajo Legacy records his full and fascinating life.
In the first part of this book, Holiday describes how, at an early age, he began an apprenticeship with his grandfather to learn the Blessingway ceremony. As a youth, Holiday traveled over the desert with family members to find forage for the animals and plants for healing practices. He experienced the invasion of Monument Valley by whites and later participated in the early filmmaking industry. Holiday was employed in the 1930s with the Civilian Conservation Corps and then served a brief stint in the military. During the 1950s he mined in one of the two largest uranium deposits on the Navajo Reservation. He also worked on the railroad in Utah. But he always returned to eke out a living with his livestock and agriculture.
In the second part of the book, Holiday details family and tribal teachings. All of Holiday's experiences and teachings reflect the thoughts of a traditional practitioner who has found in life both beauty and lessons for future generations.
About the Author
Robert S. McPherson is Professor of History Emeritus at Utah State University-Blanding Campus. He is the author or coauthor of numerous books on Navajo history and the history of the Southwest, including Under the Eagle: Samuel Holiday, Navajo Code Talker (with Samuel Holiday) and Viewing the Ancestors: Perceptions of the Anaasazi, Mokwic, and Hisatsinom.
Book Information
ISBN 9780806141763
Author John Holiday
Format Paperback
Page Count 420
Imprint University of Oklahoma Press
Publisher University of Oklahoma Press
Weight(grams) 639g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 24mm
In the first part of this book, Holiday describes how, at an early age, he began an apprenticeship with his grandfather to learn the Blessingway ceremony. As a youth, Holiday traveled over the desert with family members to find forage for the animals and plants for healing practices. He experienced the invasion of Monument Valley by whites and later participated in the early filmmaking industry. Holiday was employed in the 1930s with the Civilian Conservation Corps and then served a brief stint in the military. During the 1950s he mined in one of the two largest uranium deposits on the Navajo Reservation. He also worked on the railroad in Utah. But he always returned to eke out a living with his livestock and agriculture.
In the second part of the book, Holiday details family and tribal teachings. All of Holiday's experiences and teachings reflect the thoughts of a traditional practitioner who has found in life both beauty and lessons for future generations.
About the Author
Robert S. McPherson is Professor of History Emeritus at Utah State University-Blanding Campus. He is the author or coauthor of numerous books on Navajo history and the history of the Southwest, including Under the Eagle: Samuel Holiday, Navajo Code Talker (with Samuel Holiday) and Viewing the Ancestors: Perceptions of the Anaasazi, Mokwic, and Hisatsinom.
Book Information
ISBN 9780806141763
Author John Holiday
Format Paperback
Page Count 420
Imprint University of Oklahoma Press
Publisher University of Oklahoma Press
Weight(grams) 639g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 24mm
