"Take a deep breath of all the stories that live here. A re-ligious act, to be true to the origin of the word “re-ligios”- to re-tie, re-link - is to find ways to re-connect, re-turn, re-imagine. All of those "Sorcorer" words.”
- Spider Woman Speaks, 2004
In the colder and darker season of the year, we are allowed to say,
“Ts' its' tsi' nako,
Thought-Woman,
The Spider named things and as she named them they appeared.
She is sitting in her room thinking of a story now
I'm telling you the story she is thinking.”
- Keresan Pueblo introduction
The Spider named things and as she named them they appeared.
She is sitting in her room thinking of a story now
I'm telling you the story she is thinking.”
- Keresan Pueblo introduction
The Hands of the Spider Woman by Lauren Rain
The image above is of the string figure called The Apache Door (Jayne SF12) known to many string players. A different Navaho string figure, with a criss-crossing web pattern, is called Many Stars (Jayne SF51), which I re-named "Spider Web" or "Spider Grandmother's Web" (Jayne SF51).
Spider Grandmother weaves the Grand Cosmic Web and then spins off the
planets and stars in the Navaho myths. Zuni myths say the Spider
Grandmother
gave the art of string figures into the hands of the children. Spider
Grandmother is a powerful earth spirit
being, the primary Creatrix of the cosmos and mind, a source of
boundless imagination and the creation of the new. An archaic Goddess
of Weaving is essential to a pleasant life for all our people.
Many Stars, Son-thlani, (Caroline Jayne SF51)or Spider Grandmother’s Web
is one of my favorite Navaho string figures to make. I usually do the Spider Grandmother's Web (Jayne SF51) string figure first,
for ritual purposes, to remind myself of my debts to all the people who have
helped me learn in various ways. The pattern is a reminder of our shared real world web of re-lationships and re-connecting with others, the productive Cosmic Web or Matrix symbolized
as the Cosmic Web of Spider Grandmother.
Hands, Fingers, Feeling, Touching by Mike Garofalo
The first picture, taken around 1978, shows a small group of children learning and playing string figures, string games, and string tricks. This was a crafts activity for children in a public library. Physical education in improving manual dexterity and memory. The teacher is Mike Garofalo.
The second picture, taken in 1990, shows a brief demonstration and talk by me. Afterwards, each child gets their own private string to take home to play with. Then we do some manual dexterity and memory improvement practices together.
The first picture, taken around 1978, shows a small group of children learning and playing string figures, string games, and string tricks. This was a crafts activity for children in a public library. Physical education in improving manual dexterity and memory. The teacher is Mike Garofalo.
The second picture, taken in 1990, shows a brief demonstration and talk by me. Afterwards, each child gets their own private string to take home to play with. Then we do some manual dexterity and memory improvement practices together.
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