The traditional Navajo rug is one of several cultural items, including 11 ceremonial masks, recently returned to the nation. (Courtesy of Navajo Nation)
Efforts to recover 11 Yevicei ceremonial masks from the San Francisco area began in 2019, but the return was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the state.
“As a nation, our cultural values, rituals and language remain intact and practiced among our people, and with the return of these 11 masks,” President Bou Nyguren said in a statement on October 23. Our survival as Diné people is guaranteed.” “We would like to thank the donors for returning these cultural items in our possession.”
In addition to the masks, a saddle blanket and traditional basket were returned to the Navajo Nation along with a historic Diné rug from another donor, the statement said.
According to the Navajo-Hopi Observer, Yebichei masks represent Navajo deities, the Talking God and the Black God, and are used during the Night Way Chant, a nine-night healing ritual.
Eric Stanfield, senior anthropologist with the Navajo Heritage and Historic Preservation Office, said the return of the masks is part of a growing trend, driven in part by the Biden administration’s changes to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. It is thought that there is.
“The people who are doing this are young, non-Native American, non-Navajo people,” Stanfield said. “At least in my experience, it’s not necessarily the first person to do it over the years.”
After two years of meetings with Native communities to review their experiences in responding to NAGPRA, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced in December 2023 that Updated 1990 A law that increases tribal involvement in determining how and to whom human remains and sacred items are returned.
The update caused chaos at museums and other institutions across the country. cover New regulations require prior and informed consent from lineal descendants, tribes, or Native Hawaiian organizations before allowing display, access, or study of human remains or cultural property, thereby allowing Native Hawaiians to American exhibits are prohibited.
“There are a lot of decisions that have to be made once the goods are repatriated, and that’s part of what makes it complicated,” Stanfield added.
The Navajo Nation said the Department of Historic Preservation and Heritage’s Hartaari Advisory Committee will be consulted on how to properly store and reuse the newly donated masks and other items.
“We have always said that the Navajo Nation is the true owner of these cultural items, especially masks and other ceremonial items,” department manager Richard M. Begay said in a statement. said. “And if you’re a collector, or you’re collecting them purely because they’re collectible items, that’s not appropriate.”
In 2014, the Navajo Nation sent a delegation to France to purchase seven Ibiche masks from the Paris Drouot auction house for $9,120, according to a statement from the Navajo Legislature at the time.
–Edited by Kristen Becker.
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