Who is Betonie in Ceremony?

Betonie the medicine-man is a very important character in Ceremony. He tries to cure Tayo of his physical and cultural malaise by inducting him into a special ceremony. The physical illness from which Tayo is suffering is accompanied by a spiritual sickness. As well as his physical ailments, Tayo is also suffering from a spiritual malaise caused by the curse he made upon the rain. When Tayo made the curse, he unwittingly bewitched his ancestral lands, and now only an ancient Navajo ceremony can make things right again.

Betonie instructs Tayo in what he must do as part of the ceremony. He must find the speckled cattle that wandered south once Tayo's uncle passed away. Once embarked upon his epic journey, Tayo also has to encounter all the other things depicted in the sand painting made by Betoine as part of the ceremony: a pattern of stars, a mountain, and a woman. The ceremony to restore Tayo and his land back to health will not be complete until Tayo has encountered all of them.

Betonie acts as the catalyst for Tayo's epic quest. But it is Tayo himself who must encounter what's in Betonie's sand painting and bring back the heard of errant cattle to his ancestral homeland. Betonie can certainly give advice, but it is ultimately only Tayo who can take the necessary steps to complete the ceremony and lift the curse.

In Ceremony, who is Betonie and what is his origin?

The character of Betonie in Leslie Marmon Silk’s Ceremony is a healer who represents the intersections of identity that characterize the experiences of many Native American people. His role in the novel is largely connected with his involvement in Tayo’s healing. Betonie has a multi-faceted perspective on Native American life that stems in part from his racial and national heritage, but is also based in the many contradictory elements of his upbringing.

Although Betonie traces his ancestry to the hogan where he lives outside Gallup, he has arrived in this space—which he understands as sacred—through a circuitous journey. Betonie’s background includes many generations of Navajo antecedents as well as a Mexican ancestor. According to family lore, his grandfather—also a traditional healer—welcomed a Mexican stranger and prisoner into their community. This woman, who became Betonie’s grandmother, had hazel eyes, an indication of their white racial status as well as the complex political and cultural heritage of the US Southwest.

Betonie’s childhood began with his Navajo family, living in the mountains north of Gallup. Along with millions of other Native American children, Betonie was sent away to an “Indian boarding school”—in his case, in California. Largely stripped of his cultural traditions, the acculturated Betonie continued to live as an adult in California, but later relocated to just outside Gallup, where Tayo meets him.