I'll ask them next chance I get. Other archery related stuff:
Of all arrowheads, black ones are the most sought after. If you're going to give an arrowhead to a Medicine Man, it needs to be black. Why this is, no one says. It's just one of those "that's what it has to be" things. Arrowheads are needed for a number of Ceremonies and those need to be black.
Tiny arrowheads, slightly smaller than "bird points" are used for healing. For a man, these are tied into his hair on the left side because that's his "bow hand side". For women, they are tied into the hair on the right side because that's the "cooking paddle side". These are the "weapons hands" by gender, the weapons used to fight against hunger.
One wears an arrowhead around the neck on a cord. This protects you against evil spirits and it protects you. There are certain charms one wears to guard against "bead shooters", that is to say, evil sorcerers or skinwalkers who inflict harm on you by means of shooting beads or tiny little arrows at you and infect you with a curse. An arrowhead around the neck help guard against this. Someone affected by a bead shooter has to seek out a Medicine Man.
Making arrows is a highly respected craft. Arrows are sought after, especially well-made ones. You hang an arrow over the threshold of your front door. This protects the house against evil spirits entering. If you do this, tie it to the nails. The wind can cause it to fall when you open the door.
If you wore your leather archery bracer out here, no one would question it. It's normal. The ketoh I mentioned often has silver and turquoise on it. But I have seen Navajos wearing ones that were just thick leather. Those that wear that type say it's more traditional. There's two methods of lacing them on and one of them is of a way you never see any modern bracers attached. Hard to explain, but in this method, the leather overlaps and a lace goes through and the ketoh is tied on and the lace tucked into it. So the area where the bowstring would slap, there would be two layers of leather there. There are wide silver bracelets that evolved from Hopi bracers. They often have a large round disc in the middle, usually with a depiction of Tawa, the Hopi Sun God, on it. Hopi also make the traditional ketoh type bowguard, but theirs tend to be shorter than the Navajo ones that generally measure around 4-1/2" to 5" whereas the Hopi ones are around 3-1/2". The all-silver ones are around 1-1/4" at the band and the diameter of the disc is 2". The disc is worn on the inside of the wrist and this is where the string would hit. But now, since it's jewelry, the disc is worn on the outside of the wrist so the detailed work can be seen. It probably wasn't silver originally. Probably leather and bone. Leather ketoh have metal plates that will usually be silver, but can also be copper or brass. Turquoise will be set in the center of it. I can tell you, ketoh are very comfortable to wear and just feel good on the arm. I have two leather-type ketoh, one Navajo and one Hopi, and one all-silver Hopi silver disc bracelet type.
