Sacred sand painting of the Navajo Indian, circa 1950

Subjects: Native American Life Religious & Devotional Life
Card type: Chrome
Date: c. 1930 (White Border)

Back of Sacred sand painting of the Navajo Indian, circa 1950, Alfred McGarr Adv. Service, NM, USA, c. 1930 chrome postcard — Back

About this postcard

A color view of a Navajo dry painting (sand painting) spread on the ground: a large dark cross with a blue center and radiating white lines, flanked by four stylized figures in red, green, blue and yellow, with small bowls of colored sand and circular mounds of pigment around it. Such paintings are made by Navajo medicine men for healing ceremonies, traced in crushed minerals, pollen and charcoal on a bed of sand, and are traditionally destroyed at the end of the rite. The card presents the design as a sacred ceremonial work of the Navajo people.

Postcard Details

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PublisherE. C. Kropp Co.

SACRED SAND PAINTING OF THE NAVAJO INDIAN --- DESERT MEDICINE—Beautiful with symbolic figures and design these sand paintings are sacred to the Navajo. They are a part of the elaborate rituals of their "sings," or ceremonial chants and must be traditionally perfect. Made with desert sands and minerals of different colors these sacred paintings are prepared under the directions of the Navajo Shamans or Medicine Men. The work on them is begun shortly after sunrise and they are destroyed before sunset. 8713N—35 Distributed by Alfred McGarr Adv. Service, Box 646, Albuquerque, N. M. Natural Color Post Card Made in U.S.A. by E. C. Kropp Co., Milw., Wis.—(EHY) Post Card PLACE STAMP HERE "From the Land of Enchantment" Photo by New Mexico State Tourist Bureau

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Postcard record

Publisher	E. C. Kropp Co.
Condition	Very good
Place mentioned	Alfred McGarr Adv. Service, Box 646, Albuquerque, NM
Place mentioned	New Mexico State Tourist Bureau, NM
Publisher	E. C. Kropp Co., Milwaukee, WI
Notes	Yellow title band printed across the top; glossy chrome-era color with a thin white margin at the bottom edge. No postmark; card is unused. Linen-era "Natural Color Post Card" by E. C. Kropp Co. (card no. 8713N—35, ca. 1935), divided back with stamp box bearing E C K Co corner marks. Light soiling/toning; pencil dealer marks "88" and "1.00" at top right.

Cite this card

Sacred sand painting of the Navajo Indian, circa 1950, postcard, c. 1930. PostalPast Collection. https://postalpast.com/postcard/sacred-sand-painting-of-the-navajo-indian-circa-1950. Accessed October 24, 2026.