Vertical COURTING: Man in Blue Blanket with Beaded Strip Courts Woman in Third-Phase Navajo Chief's Blanket The man in the dominant right-hand position wears a Lakota-style courting blanket made of blue stroud cloth lengths joined by a beaded strip with two medicine wheel designs (see William Powers 1980: 40-47 for discussion of courtship blanket designs and their Lakota connections; and Petersen, 1983: 282). This is similar to Plate 46. His head and braid are outlined in blue. The man wears a German silver hairplate ornament that reaches the ground behind him; the hairplates are outlined in blue. His breechclout flaps below the hem of the blanket are dark with undyed selvedge ends. His leggings have a srip of blue-and-white box beadwork vertically down the front. A saber floats between the couple (see Plates 2, 24, and 32; see Plate 2 for discussion). It is pointed tip downward; hilt is visible and two streamers with immature golden eagle feathers attached.
The woman has a second-phase Navajo chief�s blanket wrapped around her blue-dotted shawl or blouse. She has blue markings along her hairline. Dress panel inserts hang below her blanket, made of blue with undyed selvedge ends. She has three blue stripes (trails) around her ankles.