Navajo Yei-be-chai Dancer Basket

Navajo Basket, hand coiled from sumac, depicting a Yei-be-chai dancer. The dancer’s mask is shown in blue and black at the center, crowned by two tall white eagle feathers with yellow accents and set with turquoise and mother of pearl at its forehead. Below the mask, a green spruce ruff circles the neck, bordered in bands of yellow, black and white. The gray robe beneath is hung with a naja pendant. Protective rainbow bars of red, turquoise and white extend from each side. White stitched crosses scattered across the rust-colored ground suggest stars, and the rim is finished with a traditional herringbone braid. Handcrafted by Navajo and Ute artist, Christopher Black.

Yei-be-chai dancers appear in the Nightway, a winter healing ceremony in which they represent the Yei, or Holy People. The dancers traditionally wear a ruff of spruce boughs at the neck below the mask. The rainbow is often associated with the Holy People in Navajo tradition, and the naja is commonly described as a symbol of protection.

18.5” Diameter, 3.75” Height