Navajo History
Long before the theory of the 'land bridge
from Asia to North America across the Bering Strait', Navajo elders told their
own story about their own origin. Scientists
believe that the first Navajo lived in western Canada thousand years ago. They
are part of an American Indian group known as the Athapaskans. Around the year
1300, the first Navajo land - called
Dine’tah - was settled in between the rivers: Gobernador, the San Juan and the
Largo, eat of Farmington, New Mexico, and learned to farm with the Pueblo
Indians and by the year of 1400. The Navajos migrated to northern New Mexico,
Arizona southern Colorado, and Utah once their population grew. It was surrounded
what them considered the four sacred mountains: Sisnaajini (Mt. Blanca, located in south-central
Colorado), Tsoodzil--thesouth
mountain (Mt. Taylor, located in northwestern New Mexico), Dook'o'oosliid
the west
mountain (San Francisco Peaks, located in northwestern Arizona) and Dibe
Ntsaa--the north
mountain (Mt. Hesperus, located in southwestern Colorado).
Although the Navajos are known as raiders and
plunderers they are not considered a warring tribe since these practices was
committed by isolated groups. They preferred the pastoral life. Instead of
having a tribal leader they had many leading men, this was an obstacle to
military organization. Manuelito was acclaimed head-chief in 1855 at a
conference with Governor Meriwether to negotiate a treaty.
Even though the Navajo were never a
warlike people they caused the government a lot of trouble. Before the
acquisition of the northern portion of Arizona and New Mexico from Mexico this
area was occupied by the Navajo. The tribe used to make raids on the New
Mexican Indian pueblos and the white settlements along the Rio Grande; mainly
for the capture of livestock, but they also enslaved Indians and Mexicans. The
Mexicans retaliatedand the number of Navajos captured was higher than Mexicans
prisoners among the Navajo tribe. The rivalry between them increased and
reached the top when Col. Stephen W. Kearny took possession of the territory in
behalf of the U.S in 1846. Many military expeditions were sent into the Navajo
country to try treaties of peace with no success and the raids continued. In
1861 when troops from the frontier had to be used in the Civil War, the Navajo
and Mescaleros devastated the country until General Carleton, commandant of the
military forces in New Mexico in 1862, created a policy to dominate the Navajo
and to transfer them to The Bosque Redondo, on the Rio Pecos in New Mexico,
where Fort Sumner had been established, and keep them there as prisoners of war
until a second decision.
His plan was successful and by the end
of 1863 about two hundred Navaho prisoners had either been transferred thither
or were on the way. In 1864 Col. Kit Carson took his volunteers to the Cañon de
Chelly, the Navajo stronghold, where he killed 23, captured 34, and compelled
200 to surrender. The backbone of the hostility was broken and 8491 were under
military control within the reservation. Its maintenance was costing a lot to
the Government. A treaty was then made with the Navajos in 1868. The Government
purchased 15000 sheep to replenish their exterminated flocks. In July 7304
Navajos arrived at Fort Wingate, where they have since lived in peace and
prosperity. Today, The Navajo Reservation extends
over 25,000 square miles being the largest Indian reservation in the United
States.
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The Navajo Language - DinéBizaad
Ya'ateeh! Greetings
Navajo is a very complex language,
with a large variety of noun classes including "animate", "round
object", "long, stiff object" and "granular object".
Simple
verbs in Navajo may translate into a lot of words in English.
With
170,717 self-reported speakers in 2007, Navajo has more speakers than any other
Native American language north of the U.S. This number is increasing over time.
The
Navajos call themselves: dine, and if you ask them what it means, they will
say: the people.
NAVAJO VOCABULARY
Pronunciation
of the short vowels:
a
as in father
e
as in west
i
as in sit
oas
in low
The
long or doubled vowels are pronounced the same, but the sounds are held longer:
Aaas
in say "aah"
eeas
in yeah
iias
in see
ooas
in oh
Pronunciation
of the combined vowels:
ai
as in my
aoas
in cow
eias
in say
oias
in chewy
MORE VOCABULARY
How
do you do! Good. Yah'eh-teh'.
Affectionate
greeting.Ah-hah-lah'nih.
Friend.Sih-kiss.'
Baby.Ah-wayh'.
American.Bel-ih-kah'nah.
Navajo.Dih-neh.'
Thank
you. Ah-sheh'heh.
Yes.
O'o.
No.
Doh-tah'.
American.Bel-ih-kah'nah.
Navajo.Dih-neh.'
Thank
you. Ah-sheh'heh.
Yes.
O'o.
No.
Doh-tah'.
Navajo
Culture and Mythology
The
name Navajo generally meaning “Takers of the field”, the Navajo are also
referred to as Diné, meaning “ThePeople”. The Dine' speak about their arrival on the earth as a
part of their story on the creation.
The Navajo people have a story of
creation in which there was three previous
underworlds from those three worlds three spirits came into the Fourth world or
“Glittering World”. The spirits were animals, insects, or masked spirits such
as those depicted in the Navajo Ceremonies. The first spirit was “First Man”
from the East from the meeting of the White and Black Clouds, second “First
Woman” from West from the joining of the Yellow and Blue Cloudsand third was
Spider Woman” who taught Navajo women how to weave, was also from the First
World. They met in the first house and began to arrange their world naming the
four sacred mountains surrounding the land and designating the four sacred
stones that would become the boundaries of their homeland. After setting the
mountains down where they should go, the Navajo deities, First Man, First
Woman, and Spider woman, put the sun and the moon into the sky and were in the
process of carefully placing the stars in an orderly way. But the Coyote, known
as the trickster, grew impatient from the long deliberations being held, and
seized the corner of the blanket where it lay and flung the remaining stars
into the sky.The Holy People continued to make the necessities of life, like
clouds, trees and rain. Everything was as it should be when the evil monsters
appeared and began to kill the new Earth People. What saved them from this was
the birth of ever Changing Woman. She married the Sun and bore two son, twins,
and heroes to the Navajo people. They were known as "Monster
Slayer"The twins traveled to their father the Sun who gave them weapons of
lightning bolts to fight the dreaded monsters. Every place the Hero Twins
killed a monster it turned to stone. An example of this is the lave flows, the
meaning of these lave flows to the Navajo people is literally "where the
giant's blood stopped flowing" at Anzac near Mt. Taylor in New Mexico.
Once the monsters were all dead, Changing
Woman went to live in the western sea on an island made of rock crystal, for
her husband, the Sun to visit her every evening. Her home was made of the four
sacred stones: Abalone, White Shell, Turquoise, and Black Jet. During the day
Changing Woman became lonely and decided to make her own people by the making
of the four original clans. She made four clans from the flakes of her skin. Towering House People was the first clan.
They were made of yellow and white corn. The other three original clans
followed: One-Walks-Around Clan, Bitter Water Clan, and Mud Clan) When these
newly formed clans heard that there were humans to the east who shared their heritage,
they wanted to go meet them. Changing Woman gave her permission for them to
travel from the western sea, and then they traveled toward the Chuska Mountains
and on to Mt. Taylor. Finally, the people arrived at, the traditional homeland,
and joined the other clans already living
there. From the creation of all people Navajo People have a culture and
traditions geared toward family. Many of the games and traditions were
developed because of their love for the land the Holy People created for them. The most important ceremonies are the
ones for treatment of ills, mental and physical. The Navajo are also very big
into nature, so almost every act of their life is a ceremony of nature,
including their building of the hogan, which are their homes or the planting of
the crops. All the Navajo culture ceremonies are included with songs and
prayers. In the Navajo culture and traditions there are over 24 different
Chantway ceremonies performed by singers, and over twelve hundred different
sand-painting designed by medicine men.
The Navajo culture used sand-painting as a
spiritual way to heal the sick. When they sand-painted, they made the painting
in a smooth bed of sand, which was only temporary. Crushed yellow ochre, red
sandstone, gypsum, and charcoal were used to create the images during their
chants. The chants were for the Earth people and the holy people to come back
into harmony, which provides them protection and healing. A single color can
have many different meanings; it all depends on the context in which the color
is used. The four main colors used are black, white, yellow, and blue. As part
of the Navajo culture and traditions, these colors define direction.
Black is referred to as north, white represents east, blue represents south,
and yellow is represented as west. The colors could also represent the time of
day. Black could be referred to as night, White could be referred to as dawn,
blue could be referred to as day, and yellow could be referred to as dusk.
Celebrating maturity of girls among the Navajo
The ceremony celebrating maturity of
girls among the Navajo is held generally on the fourth night after the first
indication of her entering into womanhood. On the first morning following the
moment of this change in life the girl bathes and dresses in her finest
clothes. Later she stretches herself face downward on a blanket just
outside the hogán, (home) with her head toward the door. A sister, aunt, or
other female relation, if any happen to be close at hand, if not, a male
relative other than her father, then proceeds symbolically to remold her.Her
arms and legs are straightened, her joints smoothed, and muscles pressed to
make her truly shapely. After that the most hardworking and energetic of the
good looking women in the immediate neighborhood is called in to dress the
girl’s hair in a particular form of knot and wrap it with deerskin strings,
called tsklólh.
If
there are any babies or little children in the home, the girl goes to them and,
places a hand under each ear, successively lifts them by the neck, to make them
grow faster. Then she darts off toward the east, running out for about a
quarter of a mile and back. She does this each morning until after the public
ceremony. By so doing she is assured of continuing strong, flexible, and active
throughout adulthood. The four days foregoing the night of the ceremony are
days of self-discipline; only such foods as mush and bread made from corn-meal
may be eaten, nor may they contain any salt. To indulge in a meal of a richer
nature would be to invite laziness and an ugly form at a reasonably early age.
The girl must also refrain from scratching her head or body, marks made by her
nails during this period are said to surely become ill-looking scars.
All the women
gather in the hogánand begin grinding corn on the first day and continue at
irregular intervals until the third night, when the meal is mixed into a batter
for a large corn-cake, which the mother bakes in a sort of bean-hole outside
the hogán. The ceremony consists of little more than songs. A medicine-man is
called upon to take charge, being compensated for his services with blankets,
robes, grain, or other articles of value. Friends and neighbors having been
notified, they arrive at the girl’s hogán fairly early in the evening.
When dusk has
settled, the medicine-man begins his songs, singing first the twelve “hogán
songs” of the Bahózhonchi. After he has finished, anyone present who so desires
may sing songs taken from the ritual of the same order. This diverse singing
and cheerfulness continues until near sunrise, when the mother brings in a bowl
of yucca suds and washes the girl’s hair.Her head and hair are dried with
corn-meal, after which the girl takes her last run toward the east, this time
followed by many young children, symbolically showing that she will be a kind
mother, whom her children will always follow.
The hatál, or
medicine singer, during her absence sings eight songs, generally called the
Racing songs. On her return
the great corn-cake is brought in, cut, and divided among the people at
ceremony, when all disperse, and the girl may once more loosen her hair and
partake of any food she pleases.
Navajo Art
In 1872 one
of the first Navajo silversmiths, Atsidi Chon, came to Zuni to make silver
jewelry for sale (Adair 1944: 121-28). Having some knowledge about American
Indian arts and crafts is essential when you purchase one of their products.
First of all, if you want to buy any item that is marketed as “Native American”
“Alaska Native” or “Indian” it must be made by a member of a Federal recognized
tribe or certified Indian artisan.
Prehistoric basketry and pottery carried only simple geometrical.
Navajo Jewelry
Many Navajo
men work making many designs, setting turquoise into Silver rings, bracelets
and belt-plates. They make it so perfect that the welding cannot be seen, and
the beautiful squash-blossom pendants which the Hopis like so much. The Navajos as many other American Indian
arts and crafts are sold through outlets, tourist stores, gift shops and art
galleries. But you have to be aware when shopping for those items as many
markets try to sale imitation ones. To make sure you are buying an authentic
Navajo jewelry or craft, always buy from an established dealer who will give
you a written guarantee or written verification of authenticity and ask for its
certification tag
Healing Ceremony - Sand-Paintings
Navajo
Sand-paintings are used in their ceremonies to request the
God’s for healing and harvests. The Sand-paintings
figures represent a Navajo mythology story. The chanter selects only the
sand-paintings that will heal a patient. The ritual starts with the ill sitting
on the painting while the chanter performs the ritual to amplify its healing
power. The leftovers of the painting are taken to a north area outside of the
Hogan, so it can return to the earth. It’s believed that a sand-painting
attracts and exalts the Holy People, connecting Them with the patient for the
healing process.
Clothing
In early years, the Navajo tribe (both men and
women) would wear the traditional deerskin skirts and shirts.Men, however,
evolved into wearing the more universal cotton or velvet shirts and breeches
for pleasurable occasions. Women, shortly after this change began wearing “squaw” plain, black dresses. As the fashions
changed the cloth originally used went from animal skin and fur to plant based
materials (cotton, wool e.g.).
Food
The Navajo tribe’s staple foods were
mostly cornflower, and mutton. In fact for specific ceremonies those primary
foods would be all that was eaten (no spices included) after multiple day
abstinence. For these special ceremonies the women would grind the corn to make
tortillas, which they would have with the boiled mutton.
They mostly gathered from the
surrounding terrain for primitive foods. Because of this, the sources changed
constantly. It is noted that since the Navajo tribe often camped in valleys and
woods their food supply varied, but was constant and reliable. Often the foods
consisted of fruits, vegetables and nuts (acorns, grapes, pine nuts, pumpkins,
squash, potatoes, beans, cedar berries, juniper berries, and yucca fruit) For
meat; there was always plenty of selection, which they gained by hunting; they
had a variety of sheep, elk, antelope, mountain sheep, prairie dogs, rabbits,
and rats.
Houses
The Navajo homes, or “hogans”, have
always been built in the same traditional way. Even those families who lived in
the later ages had identically constructed huts. The reason was to restore and
maintain balance, and ceremony. To some these structures may seem simple or
even crude, built with wooden poles, tree bark, and mud, with each door facing
east (to get the morning sun as well as good blessings.) But the actual
building of the house is not as simple as it seems. The doorway of the hut
being the most complicated part, erected with a crosspiece that jams into the
walls, however if not applied correctly the wind and weather influences could
easily tear down the whole hut.
In
the summer when the weather was cooler the gaps in the walls had no effect on
the tribe, however the winter hut that were made could not have such wholes.
Each crack between the poles was filled with mud and clay. The only wholes that
were left were for the smoke and doors, over which they hung and inner and
outer curtains to protect for the cold.
References:
Navajo People. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://navajopeople.org/
The Navajo: A Brief
History. (n.d). Retrieved from http://www.navajobusiness.com/pdf/FstFctspdf/A%20Brief%20History.pdf
Maryboy,
C. N., & Begay, D. (n.d.) Chapter
Seven – The Navajos of Utah. Utah History to Go. Retrieved from http://historytogo.utah.gov/people/ethnic_cultures/the_history_of_utahs_american_indians/chapter7.html
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