Masked Gods: Navaho and Pueblo Ceremonialism

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University of New Mexico Press, 1950 - Social Science - 438 pages
Masked gods is a vast book, a challenging and profoundly original account of the history, legends, and ceremonialism of the Navaho and Pueblo Indians of the Southwest. Following a brief but vivid history of the two tribes through the centuries of conquest, the book turns inward to the meaning of Indian legends and rituals : Navaho sings, Pueblo dances, Zuni kachina ceremonies. Enduring still, these rituals and ceremonies express a view of life, of man's place in the creation, which is compared with Taoism and Buddhism, and with the aggressive individualism of the Western world. - Back cover.

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Contents

THE FOUR CORNERS
17
TIDE FROM THE SOUTH
35
INTERREGNUM
48
Copyright

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About the author (1950)

Frank Waters was born in July 1902 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He is an author of novels and historical works about the American Southwest. His first novel after college was entitled Fever Pitch (1930). He then wrote a series of autobiographical novels beginning with The Wild Earth's Nobility (1935). In 1936, Waters left L.A. and moved back and forth between Colorado and New Mexico, continuing to write and completing a biography of W. S. Stratton, Midas of the Rockies. When World War II broke out, Waters moved to Washington, D.C. to work for the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs. There, he performed the duties of a propaganda analyst and chief content officer. Waters' masterpiece, The Man Who Killed the Deer, was published in 1942. In 1953, Waters was awarded the Taos Artists Award for Notable Achievement in the Art of Writing. Waters also held positions as information consultant for Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, New Mexico. He established the Frank Waters Foundation in 1993 which is a nonprofit organization with the goal of promoting the arts, specifically those in the spirit of the creativity of Frank Waters. The members of the FWF operate under the motto "Sheltering the creative spirit", by providing a retreat for artists to live and work among the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Frank Waters died at his home in Arroyo Seco on June 3, 1995.

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