A Native American Church "Roadman’s Staff" with Geometric Beadwork, Incised Decoration, and Hair Finial.

Note: The staff can be disassembled in three parts. 

A slender wooden staff of three-part sectional construction, its warm brown shaft ornamented with three bands of closely worked glass beadwork and passages of geometric carving. Blue grounds support stepped and diagonal designs in white, yellow, orange, red, and green, concentrating the color at intervals along the otherwise exposed wood. A tuft of pale hair rises from the upper terminal, secured above the beadwork with red binding.

Incised diamonds and crosshatched passages introduce a quieter form of ornament along the shaft. Their angular patterns complement the beadwork while retaining the grain and color of the underlying wood. Constructed in three pieces, the staff can be disassembled when not in use, an arrangement that facilitates storage and transport.

Within Native American Church practice, the roadman leads the religious meeting, employing a prayer staff among the principal ceremonial instruments. The form has a documented history extending into the nineteenth century. 

The example offered here combines this established ceremonial form with an accomplished arrangement of carving and color.