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Nohoilpi, traditionally described in an important Navajo myth as a divine gambler, is one of the most unusual figures associated with gambling mythology. The Navajo God of Gambling Nohoilpi appears in a traditional account involving games, wagers, turquoise, enslavement, supernatural intervention and an eventual challenge that ends his dominance.
Important: The strongest source for this subject is Washington Matthews’ Navajo Legends (1897). Because this is a historical ethnographic record of oral tradition, my article deliberately uses formulations such as “Matthews records” and “the traditional account” rather than presenting every detail as an independently verified historical fact. I felt this was particularly important for a culturally specific subject such as Nohoilpi.
Who Is Nohoilpi Navajo God of Gambling?
Nohoilpi, also rendered Noqoìlpi or Nohoílpi in historical English-language transcriptions, is described by Washington Matthews as a divine gambler or gambling god in a Navajo origin tradition. Matthews’ Navajo Legends, first published in 1897, is one of the earliest substantial English-language collections of Navajo oral traditions.
The historical spelling varies because Navajo was being represented through different English orthographic systems. Consequently, readers may encounter forms including Nohoilpi and Noqoìlpi when researching the same legendary figure.
In Matthews’ account, Nohoilpi descends from the heavens among Pueblo communities and challenges people to games and contests. His extraordinary success allows him to accumulate property and, eventually, control over people who wager themselves against him. The story therefore presents gambling not simply as entertainment, but as a contest involving power, wealth, freedom and personal responsibility.
Nohoilpi Navajo Mythology
The story of Nohoilpi Navajo god of gambling, forms part of the broader Nohoilpi Navajo mythology recorded by Matthews. It is important to recognise that the principal written source is a late-19th-century ethnographic record of oral traditions rather than a modern biography or historical account.
Matthews recorded the legend within the wider Navajo origin tradition. The University of Utah Press describes Navajo Legends as one of the earliest collections of Navajo oral traditions in English and notes that Matthews was conversant in Navajo and spent years working in the Southwest.
In the story, Nohoilpi establishes himself through gambling and contests. His victories become increasingly consequential. People wager possessions and eventually their own liberty. A great structure known as Kintyél, or the “Broad House,” is associated with the captives and wealth accumulated through his victories.
The legend consequently gives Nohoilpi Navajo god of gambling, an unusual position among gambling deities. He is not merely associated with luck. He is an active competitor whose ability to win games gives him enormous power over those who accept his challenges.
Nohoilpi and Gambling, Wealth and Power
One of the most striking elements of the Nohoilpi Navajo story is the escalation of the stakes.
According to legend, contestants from the pueblo of Blue House repeatedly challenge Nohoilpi. Groups of twelve men initially wager themselves and lose. Subsequent contests involve women, children, and other prominent members of the community. Other people arrive from surrounding pueblos, bringing valuables including beads, shells, and turquoise.
The story associates gambling with both games of chance and games of skill. This is significant because Nohoilpi’s contests are broader than what a modern reader might understand as casino gambling.
Historical documentation describes games including taka-thad-sata, or the thirteen chips, alongside hoop-and-pole, a pushing contest involving wood, and a ball game. A Smithsonian-published ethnological source also records the thirteen-chip game and identifies several of the other contests associated with the Nohoilpi narrative.
Nohoilpi’s Turquoise Talisman
Turquoise is another important element in the traditional account. Nohoilpi’s talisman is described as a great piece of turquoise.
Turquoise therefore functions in the story as more than a valuable object. It is specifically connected with Nohoilpi’s supernatural identity and power as a gambler.
The legend also refers to two great shells that are regarded as particularly valuable treasures. Nohoilpi’s refusal to give these shells to the Sun becomes important to the later plot against him.
How Was Nohoilpi Defeated?
The Navajo God of Gambling Nohoilpi is ultimately challenged by an opponent prepared with supernatural assistance.
Matthews’ narrative describes a gathering of divine beings who seek a way to overcome the gambler. They give an unnamed young man powers intended to make him capable of competing with Nohoilpi. The young challenger is prepared for the contests and made to resemble the gambler.
The ensuing challenge involves several games. In the thirteen-chip contest, the challenger defeats Nohoilpi. Other competitions follow, including the hoop-and-pole game, the contest involving the pushing of a tree, and a ball game.
The stakes ultimately become everything Nohoilpi possesses, including the people he has enslaved and his own person. The final defeat reverses the pattern established earlier in the legend: the gambler who had accumulated wealth and control through winning now loses his position through the same mechanism.
What Does Nohoilpi Represent?
It is tempting to interpret Nohoilpi simply as a supernatural embodiment of luck. The surviving traditional account, however, is more complicated.
Nohoilpi represents gambling power, competition, and the consequences of excessive winning. His victories initially appear almost unstoppable, but the story eventually turns the tables on him.
The narrative also connects gambling with questions of generosity, obligation, and conduct. A passage concerning Nohoilpi’s refusal to give the Sun the great shells is particularly important to the subsequent intervention of other divine beings.
For Gods of Gambling, this makes Nohoilpi particularly interesting: he belongs to a mythology in which gambling is portrayed through contests whose stakes extend far beyond money.
Nohoilpi and Traditional Games
The Nohoilpi legend provides valuable historical evidence about games known through Navajo ethnographic records. The thirteen-chip game, for example, used thirteen thin pieces of wood, coloured on one side, with success determined by how the pieces landed.
Other games in the story included nanzoz, or hoop and pole; tsi’nbetsil, a test of strength involving a tree; and tsol, a ball game involving a marked line. These descriptions demonstrate that the gambling contests in the legend combined chance, physical skill, and strength.
This is an important distinction when comparing Nohoilpi with later gambling traditions. The story does not describe a casino, card room, or monetary betting system in the modern sense.
Navajo Mythology & Legends: Exploring the Gods, Goddesses, and Creatures of Ancient Tales
Navajo Mythology & Legends: Exploring the Gods, Goddesses, and Creatures of Ancient Tales
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Journey into the sacred world of Navajo mythology, where powerful Holy People shaped the earth and sky, and ancient wisdom continues to guide the Diné people. This respectful exploration unveils the profound spiritual traditions, creation narratives, and legendary beings that form the foundation of one of North America’s most vibrant indigenous cultures.
Journey into the sacred world of Navajo mythology, where powerful Holy People shaped the earth and sky, and ancient wisdom continues to guide the Diné people. This respectful exploration unveils the profound spiritual traditions, creation narratives, and legendary beings that form the foundation of one of North America’s most vibrant indigenous cultures.
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Why Nohoilpi Matters to Gambling History
The story of Nohoilpi, the Navajo god of gambling, provides an unusual example of gambling mythology preserved in a documented Indigenous oral tradition.
The surviving record comes principally from Washington Matthews’ 1897 Navajo Legends, a work that remains an important historical source for scholars studying Navajo cultural traditions. The University of Utah Press’s modern edition notes the importance of Matthews’ collection while retaining the original material and adding scholarly material on its context and orthography.
Nohoilpi is therefore best understood within Navajo mythology and folklore, rather than being treated as a historical individual or as evidence of a modern Navajo casino tradition.
The Nohoilpi Story Conclusion
Nohoilpi, the Navajo God of Gambling, is a distinctive figure in the recorded mythology of the Diné/Navajo people. The Nohoilpi story describes a supernatural gambler who dominates opponents through games and contests before eventually being defeated by a challenger prepared with divine assistance.
The Nohoilpi story’s combination of gambling, turquoise, traditional games, power, and reversal makes him an important figure in the wider history of gambling mythology.
Frequently Asked Questions About Nohoilpi
Who is Nohoilpi Navajo God of Gambling?
Nohoilpi is a divine gambler described in a Navajo traditional narrative recorded by Washington Matthews. He challenges people to games and contests, wins their possessions, and eventually takes control of people who wager themselves. The story later describes his defeat by a specially prepared challenger.
What is Nohoilpi the god of?
Nohoilpi is specifically described in Matthews’ account as a divine gambler or gambling god. His story revolves around games, contests, wagering, and the consequences of repeated victories.
What does Nohoilpi mean?
Historical sources translate Nohoilpi or Noqoìlpi as “He Who Wins Men (at play).” The precise spelling varies between historical transcriptions of Navajo, so modern references may use different forms of the name.
What is the Nohoilpi Navajo story?
The story tells of a supernatural gambler who descends from the heavens, challenges communities to games, and repeatedly wins. His victories bring him property and control over people. Eventually, divine beings help prepare an opponent who challenges and defeats him.
What games are associated with Nohoilpi?
The recorded story includes the thirteen-chip game, hoop and pole, a physical contest involving pushing a tree, and a ball game. Historical ethnological records also describe these games and their relationship to the Nohoilpi narrative.
What was Nohoilpi’s talisman?
According to Washington Matthews, Nohoilpi’s talisman was a large piece of turquoise. Turquoise and other valuable materials also appear repeatedly among the objects involved in the story’s wagers and winnings.
Was Nohoilpi a real historical person?
No. Nohoilpi is presented in the surviving sources as a mythological or divine figure, not as a historically documented individual. His story belongs to Navajo traditional mythology recorded in ethnographic literature.
Is Nohoilpi the same as a modern casino gambling god?
Nohoilpi should not be understood as a modern casino deity. The historical narrative concerns traditional contests and games involving possessions, personal stakes, and supernatural powers rather than modern casinos or commercial gambling establishments.
Where does the Nohoilpi legend come from?
One major written source is Washington Matthews’ Navajo Legends, originally published by the American Folk-Lore Society in 1897. The work records and translates Navajo oral traditions and remains an important historical source.
Why is Nohoilpi important to gambling mythology?
Nohoilpi is notable because his story presents gambling as a supernatural contest involving wealth, freedom, skill, chance, and power. Unlike many modern gambling stories centred on money, his wagers can involve people and community possessions, giving the narrative a much wider social dimension.
Reference List:
Matthews, W. (1897). Navajo legends. Houghton, Mifflin and Company; American Folk-Lore Society. Google Books
Matthews, W. (1994). Navajo legends. University of Utah Press. (Original work published 1897). University of Utah Press
Smithsonian Institution. (1907). Annual report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. Government Printing Office. Wikimedia Commons
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