medicine pouch

Also called a medicine bundle, a medicine pouch is a traditional Native American container for various items that have totemic, spiritual, or supernatural power. The Navajo word for medicine pouch is jish, which is not only a container for ceremonial goods but also describes the ceremonial goods themselves. Medicine pouches often contain pollen, which is used in rituals and chants.

Photo Credit

 
"Navajo medicine pouch, circa 1900." (1996_46_11). Farmington Museum, farmington, New Mexico. All Rights Reserved. Use with permission only.

Term Type
References

 
Frisbie, Charlotte Johnson
     1978   Burial as a Disposition Mechanism for Navajo Jish or Medicine Bundles. American
         Indian Quarterly 4 (4): 347–65.

Frisbie, Charlotte J.
     1987   Navajo Medicine Bundles or Jish : Acquisition, Transmission, and Disposition in the
         Past and Present. Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press.

Frisbie, Charlotte Johnson
     1982   Talking about and Classifying Navajo Jish or Medicine Bundles. Navajo Religion and
         Culture: Selected Views. Santa Fe: Museum of New Mexico Press.

Harrington, Mark Raymond
     1914   Sacred Bundles of the Sac and Fox Indians. Anthropological Publications.
         Philadelphia: University Museum Pennsylvania Museum.

Kohl, Johann Georg, and Lascelles Wraxall, Sir
     1860   Kitchi-Gami: Wanderings Round Lake Superior. London: Chapman and Hall.

Newcomb, Franc Johnson, Stanley A. Fishler, and Mary C. Wheelwright
     1956   Study of Navajo Symbolism. Cambridge: The Museum.

Wissler, Clark
     1912   Ceremonial Bundles of the Blackfoot Indians. Anthropological Papers. New York: The
         Trustees.