Variation in Naming String Game Designs

It has already been noted that among the Navajo, multiple names are often assigned to the same string figure, or the same name is given to more than one figure. This practice, which some Anglos find disturbing, is common among Native Americans. For example, there is no such thing as an “official” version of the Navajo story of creation. The details of a story told by chanter A will not match those given by chanter B from a different part of the reservation. Furthermore, when stories are told to Anglos, both chanters will change or leave out parts since it is taboo to provide outsiders with complete stories (Locke 1992:51).

Likewise, the interpretation of individual constellations varies among chanters because star lore is not part of the ritualized ceremonial core which must be memorized verbatim. As Griffin-Pierce explains: “What appears to be ambiguity and conflict is only a problem if we insist upon viewing it from a Western perspective...Rather than being disruptive, variation at this level encourages greater complexity and richness.” (Griffin-Pierce 1992a:173). In other words, a single story or constellation becomes a vehicle for many meanings. Jack Page notes the same: “For the oral historian or tribal storyteller, the meaning comes first: the story illuminates meaning and always has, even if it changes here and there over time in the telling, or even if it varies in some details within the tribe” (Page and Page 1995:24).

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