The skinwalker is a shaman who is supposed to change into a wolf or coyote at will. He or she can cast spells and bring on sickness and death. The Navajo look among themselves and take notice of anyone with a morbid fascination with death and they are considered possible skinwalkers.
The Chindi is the equivalent of a ghost.
Missionaries have made inroads into their beliefs but they are extremely hard to remove.
This Christian Navajo was married and had a wife and child. One day the baby became very sick, and rather than go to a modern doctor they went to a shaman who “sucked a dead man’s bone” out of the baby’s thigh. The baby then recovered.
A “dead man’s bone”? What’s that?
Thank-you so much. I appreciate your sharing with me. Fascinating.