This book reproduces sandpaintings of the Navajo Bead Chant and Shooting Chant, two of the most important Navajo rites, together with a thorough description and explanation of these rites and the legends associated with them.

        The paintings were done by a respected and revered Navajo medicine man, an expert in chants and painting, who also narrated the legends in this book and explained their meaning and symbolism.  Despite the resurgence of interest in sandpaintings, this is one of the few book in the area that contains authentic forms and present them in their original symbolic and mythical context.

        Fifty plates, including twenty-five in full color, offer an unparalleled view of Miguelito's sandpaintings.  Some of the remarkable pictures included in this collection are BigThunder, Scavenger in the Eagle's Nest, The Snakes Lift Scavenger through the Skyhole, Holy Man Guarded by Monster Slayer and Child-of-the-water, The Red Snake People from Red Mountain, The Buffalo-who-never-dies.  A detailed explanatory key on the page facing each color illustration explains the religious symbolism and characters of the painting.