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The thing closest to a "ghost" in Navajo culture is: ch'į́įdii. This is sometimes spelled in non standard more folk spelling as chindi. The marks over the first vowel make it high tone, followed by a low tone i it makes it falling tone. The marks under the two ii make them nasalized, a bit as if there was a "n" in the word. Two ii are said as in "machine". The ch' is different than ch. It is said by holding your breath in your throat and saying ch.

This is what is left with the body and bones after someone has died. It is all the bad or evil spiritual stuff they were made of or that they did. The rest of the spiritual parts of someone are thought to drift away and maybe become parts of things just as of the parts of your body become part plants and animals and the soil and atmosphere. This is what makes dead things and bones dangerous in traditional Navajo thought, they can disrupt your balance and make you spiritually or physically sick.

Another way could be: níłchʼi --which means spirit.

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11y ago

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