The Navajo Had a Family Meal What Is on It

Native American people of the Usa

Navajo
*Diné*
Total population
Manuelito, a principal of the Navajo.
399,494 enrolled tribal members^[1] (2021)
Regions with significant populations
United States (Navajo Nation, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah). Canada: 700 Residents of Canada identified as having Navajo Ancestry in the 2016 Canadian Census.^[ii]
Languages
Navajo, English, Castilian
Religion
Indigenous Organized religion, Native American Church building, Christianity
Related ethnic groups
Apachean (Southern Athabascan) peoples, Dene (Northern Athabascan) peoples

The Navajo (; British English: Navaho; Navajo: Diné or Naabeehó ) are a Native American people of the Southwestern United states of america.

At more than than 399,494 enrolled tribal members as of 2021^[update],^[one] ^[3] the Navajo Nation is the largest federally recognized tribe in the U.S. (the Cherokee Nation being the second largest); the Navajo Nation has the largest reservation in the country. The reservation straddles the Four Corners region and covers more than 27,000 square miles (70,000 foursquare km) of land in Arizona, Utah and New Mexico. The Navajo language is spoken throughout the region, and most Navajos besides speak English.

The states with the largest Navajo populations are Arizona (140,263) and New Mexico (108,306). More than iii-quarters of the enrolled Navajo population resides in these two states.^[iv]

Besides the Navajo Nation proper, a small group of ethnic Navajos are members of the federally recognized Colorado River Indian Tribes.

History [edit]

Early on history [edit]

Navajos spinning and weaving

The Navajos are speakers of a Na-Dené Southern Athabaskan linguistic communication which they telephone call Diné bizaad (lit. 'People's language'). The term Navajo comes from Castilian missionaries and historians who referred to the Pueblo Indians through this term, although they referred to themselves as the Diné, is a compound discussion meaning upward where in that location is no surface, then downwardly to where nosotros are on the surface of Mother Earth. ^[5] The language comprises two geographic, mutually intelligible dialects. The Apache language is closely related to the Navajo Language; the Navajos and Apaches are believed to have migrated from northwestern Canada and eastern Alaska, where the majority of Athabaskan speakers reside.^{[half dozen]} Speakers of diverse other Athabaskan languages located in Canada may still comprehend the Navajo linguistic communication despite the geographic and linguistic departure of the languages.^[seven] Additionally, some Navajos speak Navajo Sign Linguistic communication, which is either a dialect or girl of Plains Sign Talk. Some besides speak Plains Sign Talk itself.^[8]

Archaeological and historical evidence suggests the Athabaskan ancestors of the Navajos and Apaches entered the Southwest around 1400 AD.^[ix] ^[10] The Navajo oral tradition is transcribed to retain references to this migration.^{[ citation needed ]}

Initially, the Navajos were largely hunters and gatherers. Later, they adopted farming from Pueblo peoples, growing mainly the traditional "Three Sisters" of corn, beans, and squash. They adopted herding sheep and goats from the Spanish every bit a principal source of trade and food. Meat became essential in the Navajo diet. Sheep became a form of currency and family unit condition.^[11] ^[12] Women began to spin and weave wool into blankets and clothing; they created items of highly valued artistic expression, which were also traded and sold.

Oral history indicates a long relationship with Pueblo people^[13] and a willingness to incorporate Puebloan ideas and linguistic variance. There were long-established trading practices betwixt the groups. Mid-16th century Spanish records recount that the Pueblo exchanged maize and woven cotton wool goods for bison meat, hides, and stone from Athabaskans traveling to the pueblos or living nearby. In the 18th century, the Spanish reported that the Navajos' maintained large herds of livestock and cultivated large ingather areas.^{[ commendation needed ]}

Western historians believe that the Castilian before 1600 referred to the Navajos equally Apaches or Quechos.^[14] ^: 2–iv Fray Geronimo de Zarate-Salmeron, who was in Jemez in 1622, used Apachu de Nabajo in the 1620s to refer to the people in the Chama Valley region, eastward of the San Juan River and northwest of present-day Santa Fe, New Mexico. Navahu comes from the Tewa language, pregnant a large area of cultivated lands.^[14] ^: 7–8 By the 1640s, the Spanish began using the term Navajo to refer to the Diné.

During the 1670s, the Spanish wrote that the Diné lived in a region known as Dinétah , virtually 60 miles (97 km) west of the Rio Chama valley region. In the 1770s, the Castilian sent military expeditions against the Navajos in the Mount Taylor and Chuska Mountain regions of New Mexico.^[14] ^: 43–50 The Spanish, Navajos and Hopis connected to merchandise with each other and formed a loose alliance to fight Apache and Comanche bands for the next 20 years. During this time at that place were relatively small-scale raids past Navajo bands and Spanish citizens confronting each other.

In 1800 Governor Chacon led 500 men to the Tunicha Mountains confronting the Navajo. Xx Navajo chiefs asked for peace. In 1804 and 1805 the Navajos and Spanish mounted major expeditions against each other'southward settlements. In May 1805 another peace was established. Similar patterns of peace-making, raiding, and trading among the Navajo, Spanish, Apache, Comanche, and Hopi continued until the arrival of Americans in 1846.^[14]

Territory of New Mexico 1846–1863 [edit]

The Navajos encountered the The states Army in 1846, when Full general Stephen Westward. Kearny invaded Santa Atomic number 26 with 1,600 men during the Mexican–American War. On November 21, 1846, following an invitation from a small party of American soldiers under the command of Captain John Reid, who journeyed deep into Navajo country and contacted him, Narbona and other Navajos negotiated a treaty of peace with Colonel Alexander Doniphan at Behave Springs, Ojo del Oso (afterward the site of Fort Wingate). This agreement was not honored by some Navajo, nor by some New Mexicans. The Navajos raided New Mexican livestock, New Mexicans took women, children, and livestock from the Navajo.^[fifteen]

In 1849, the armed forces governor of New Mexico, Colonel John MacRae Washington—accompanied by John S. Calhoun, an Indian amanuensis—led 400 soldiers into Navajo country, penetrating Coulee de Chelly. He signed a treaty with two Navajo leaders: Mariano Martinez as Head Chief and Chapitone as Second Chief. The treaty acknowledged the transfer of jurisdiction from the United mexican states to the United states. The treaty allowed forts and trading posts to be congenital on Navajo land. In exchange, the United States, promised "such donations [and] such other liberal and humane measures, as [it] may deem meet and proper."^[16] While en road to sign this treaty, the prominent Navajo peace leader Narbona, was killed, causing hostility betwixt the treaty parties.^[17]

During the next 10 years, the U.South. established forts on traditional Navajo territory. Military records cite this development as a precautionary measure to protect citizens and the Navajos from each other. Withal, the Spanish/Mexican-Navajo design of raids and expeditions continued. Over 400 New Mexican militia conducted a campaign against the Navajo, confronting the wishes of the Territorial Governor, in 1860–61. They killed Navajo warriors, captured women and children for slaves, and destroyed crops and dwellings. The Navajos call this period Naahondzood, "the fearing time."

In 1861, Brigadier-General James H. Carleton, Commander of the Federal District of New United mexican states, initiated a serial of military actions against the Navajos and Apaches. Colonel Kit Carson was at the new Fort Wingate with Army troops and volunteer New United mexican states militia. Carleton ordered Carson to impale Mescalero Apache men and destroy any Mescalero belongings he could find. Carleton believed these harsh tactics would bring whatever Indian Tribe under control. The Mescalero surrendered and were sent to the new reservation chosen Bosque Redondo.

In 1863, Carleton ordered Carson to use the aforementioned tactics on the Navajo. Carson and his force swept through Navajo country, killing Navajos and destroying crops and dwellings, fouling wells, and capturing livestock. Facing starvation and death, Navajo groups came in to Fort Defiance for relief. On July 20, 1863, the first of many groups departed to join the Mescalero at Bosque Redondo. Other groups continued to come in though 1864.^[18]

However, not all the Navajos came in or were institute. Some lived near the San Juan River, some beyond the Hopi villages, and others lived with Apache bands.^[nineteen]

Long Walk [edit]

Starting time in the spring of 1864, the Army forced around ix,000 Navajo men, women, and children to walk over 300 miles (480 km) to Fort Sumner, New Mexico, for internment at Bosque Redondo. The internment was disastrous for the Navajo, as the authorities failed to provide enough h2o, woods, provisions, and livestock for the 4,000–5,000 people. Big-scale crop failure and disease were as well owned during this fourth dimension, as were raids past other tribes and civilians. Some Navajos froze in the winter because they could brand only poor shelters from the few materials they were given. This period is known among the Navajos as "The Fearing Time".^[20] In addition, a small group of Mescalero Apache, longtime enemies of the Navajos had been relocated to the surface area. Conflicts resulted.

In 1868, the Treaty of Bosque Redondo was negotiated between Navajo leaders and the federal government allowing the surviving Navajos to render to a reservation on a portion of their quondam homeland.

Reservation era [edit]

Navajo woman and child, circa 1880–1910

The Usa war machine connected to maintain forts on the Navajo reservation in the years after the Long Walk. From 1873 to 1895, the military employed Navajos as "Indian Scouts" at Fort Wingate to help their regular units.^[21] During this catamenia, Chief Manuelito founded the Navajo Tribal Police. It operated from 1872 to 1875 as an anti-raid task forcefulness working to maintain the peaceful terms of the 1868 Navajo treaty.

By treaty, the Navajos were allowed to go out the reservation for trade, with permission from the military or local Indian agent. Somewhen, the arrangement led to a gradual end in Navajo raids, every bit the tribe was able to increase their livestock and crops. Also, the tribe gained an increase in the size of the Navajo reservation from three.five one thousand thousand acres (fourteen,000 km²; five,500 sq mi) to the 16 million acres (65,000 km²; 25,000 sq mi) as information technology stands today. But economic conflicts with non-Navajos continued for many years as civilians and companies exploited resources assigned to the Navajo. The US government made leases for livestock grazing, took land for railroad development, and permitted mining on Navajo land without consulting the tribe.

In 1883, Lt. Parker, accompanied past 10 enlisted men and two scouts, went upwardly the San Juan River to split the Navajos and citizens who had encroached on Navajo land.^[22] In the same yr, Lt. Lockett, with the aid of 42 enlisted soldiers, was joined by Lt. Holomon at Navajo Springs. Evidently, citizens of the surnames Houck and/or Owens had murdered a Navajo primary'due south son, and 100 armed Navajo warriors were looking for them.

In 1887, citizens Palmer, Lockhart, and King fabricated a accuse of horse stealing and randomly attacked a habitation on the reservation. Two Navajo men and all three whites died as a upshot, merely a woman and a kid survived. Capt. Kerr (with two Navajo scouts) examined the footing and and then met with several hundred Navajos at Houcks Tank. Rancher Bennett, whose equus caballus was allegedly stolen, told Kerr that his horses were stolen past the three whites to grab a horse thief.^[23] In the aforementioned year, Lt. Scott went to the San Juan River with 2 scouts and 21 enlisted men. The Navajos believed Scott was there to drive off the whites who had settled on the reservation and had fenced off the river from the Navajo. Scott found evidence of many non-Navajo ranches. Merely three were active, and the owners wanted payment for their improvements earlier leaving. Scott ejected them.^[24]

In 1890, a local rancher refused to pay the Navajos a fine of livestock. The Navajos tried to collect it, and whites in southern Colorado and Utah claimed that 9,000 of the Navajos were on a warpath. A small armed services detachment out of Fort Wingate restored white citizens to club.^{[ citation needed ]}

In 1913, an Indian amanuensis ordered a Navajo and his three wives to come in, and so arrested them for having a plural wedlock. A small group of Navajos used force to complimentary the women and retreated to Cute Mount with thirty or 40 sympathizers. They refused to surrender to the agent, and local law enforcement and military refused the agent'due south request for an armed date. General Scott arrived, and with the help of Henry Chee Dodge, a leader among the Navajo, defused the state of affairs.^{[ citation needed ]}

Boarding schools and education [edit]

During the fourth dimension on the reservation, the Navajo tribe was forced to digest to white society. Navajo children were sent to boarding schools within the reservation and off the reservation. The beginning Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) schoolhouse opened at Fort Defiance in 1870^[25] and led the way for eight others to be established.^[26] Many older Navajos were against this education and would hide their children to keep them from being taken.

In one case the children arrived at the boarding schoolhouse, their lives changed dramatically. European Americans taught the classes under an English-merely curriculum and punished any educatee caught speaking Navajo.^[26] The children were under militaristic discipline, run by the Siláo.^{[ clarification needed ]} In multiple interviews, subjects recalled being captured and disciplined by the Siláo if they tried to run away. Other conditions included inadequate food, overcrowding, required manual labor in kitchens, fields, and boiler rooms; and military-manner uniforms and haircuts.^[27]

Change did not occur in these boarding schools until after the Meriam Report was published in 1929 by the Secretary of Interior, Hubert Work. This report discussed Indian boarding schools as being inadequate in terms of diet, medical services, dormitory overcrowding, undereducated teachers, restrictive subject, and manual labor past the students to continue the school running.^[28]

This written report was the precursor to education reforms initiated under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, nether which 2 new schools were built on the Navajo reservation. But Rough Stone Twenty-four hour period School was run in the same militaristic fashion as Fort Disobedience and did not implement the educational reforms. The Evangelical Missionary School was opened next to Crude Stone Mean solar day Schoolhouse. Navajo accounts of this school portray it every bit having a family-like atmosphere with abode-cooked meals, new or gently used clothing, humane treatment, and a Navajo-based curriculum. Educators found the Evangelical Missionary Schoolhouse curriculum to be much more benign for the Navajo children.^[29]

In 1937, Boston heiress Mary Cabot Wheelright and Navajo vocalizer and medicine human being Hastiin Klah founded the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian in Santa Fe. It is a repository for sound recordings, manuscripts, paintings, and sandpainting tapestries of the Navajos. It also featured exhibits to express the beauty, nobility, and logic of Navajo religion. When Klah met Cabot in 1921, he had witnessed decades of efforts by the United states authorities and missionaries to assimilate the Navajos into mainstream society. The museum was founded to preserve the faith and traditions of the Navajo, which Klah was sure would otherwise soon be lost forever.

The issue of these boarding schools led to much language loss within the Navajo Nation. Subsequently the Second World State of war, the Meriam Report funded more children to attend these schools with vi times as many children attending boarding school than before the State of war.^[xxx] English every bit the principal language spoken at these schools besides equally the local towns surrounding the Navajo reservations contributed to residents becoming bilingual; however Navajo was the still the primary language spoken at home.^[thirty]

Livestock Reduction 1930s–1950s [edit]

The Navajo Livestock Reduction was imposed upon the Navajo Nation by the federal government starting in the 1933, during the Great Depression.^[31] Nether various forms it connected into the 1950s. Worried near large herds in the arid climate, at a time when the Dust Bowl was endangering the Dandy Plains, the government decided that the state of the Navajo Nation could support only a fixed number of sheep, goats, cattle, and horses. The Federal government believed that land erosion was worsening in the expanse and the only solution was to reduce the number of livestock.

In 1933, John Collier was appointed commissioner of the BIA. In many ways, he worked to reform government relations with the Native American tribes, but the reduction program was devastating for the Navajo, for whom their livestock was and so important. The government set country chapters in terms of "sheep units". In 1930 the Navajos grazed i,100,000 mature sheep units.^[32] These sheep provided one-half the cash income for the individual Navajo.^[33]

Collier's solution was to commencement launch a voluntary reduction programme, which was made mandatory two years later in 1935. The government paid for part of the value of each beast, just it did cipher to recoup for the loss of time to come yearly income for so many Navajo. In the matrilineal and matrilocal globe of the Navajo, women were peculiarly injure, as many lost their only source of income with the reduction of livestock herds.^[34]

The Navajos did not empathise why their centuries-quondam practices of raising livestock should change.^[32] They were united in opposition but they were unable to terminate information technology.^[35] Historian Brian Dippie notes that the Indian Rights Association denounced Collier as a 'dictator' and accused him of a "near reign of terror" on the Navajo reservation. Dippie adds that, "He became an object of 'burning hatred' among the very people whose bug and then preoccupied him."^[36] The long-term upshot was stiff Navajo opposition to Collier'south Indian New Deal.^[37]

Navajo Code Talkers in Earth War II [edit]

General Douglas MacArthur meeting Navajo, Pima, Pawnee and other Native American troops

Many Navajo young people moved to cities to piece of work in urban factories in World State of war II. Many Navajo men volunteered for armed services service in keeping with their warrior culture, and they served in integrated units. The War Department in 1940 rejected a proposal by the BIA that segregated units be created for the Indians. The Navajos gained firsthand feel with how they could assimilate into the modern world, and many did non render to the overcrowded reservation, which had few jobs.^[38]

Four hundred Navajo code talkers played a famous function during Earth War II by relaying radio letters using their own language. The Japanese were unable to understand or decode it.^[39]

In the 1940s, large quantities of uranium were discovered in Navajo country. From so into the early on 21st century, the U.S. immune mining without sufficient environmental protection for workers, waterways, and country. The Navajos have claimed high rates of death and illness from lung disease and cancer resulting from environmental contamination. Since the 1970s, legislation has helped to regulate the manufacture and reduce the price, but the government has not nonetheless offered holistic and comprehensive compensation.^[40]

U.S. Marine Corps Involvement [edit]

The Navajo Code Talkers played a pregnant part in USMC history. Using their own language they utilized a armed forces code; for case, the Navajo word "turtle" represented a tank. In 1942, Marine staff officers composed several combat simulations and the Navajo translated it and transmitted it in their dialect to some other Navajo on the other line. This Navajo then translated it back in English faster than whatsoever other cryptographic facilities, which demonstrated their efficacy. As a result, General Vogel recommended their recruitment into the USMC lawmaking talker program.

Each Navajo went through bones bootcamp at Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego before beingness assigned to Field Signal Battalion grooming at Campsite Pendleton. One time the code talkers completed training in us, they were sent to the Pacific for consignment to the Marine combat divisions. With that said, there was never a crack in the Navajo linguistic communication, it was never deciphered. It is known that many more Navajos volunteered to become lawmaking talkers than could be accustomed; still, an undetermined number of other Navajos served as Marines in the war, simply non as lawmaking talkers.

These achievements of the Navajo Code Talkers have resulted in an honorable chapter in USMC history. Their patriotism and honor inevitably earned them the respect of all Americans.^[41]

After 1945 [edit]

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (August 2016)

Culture [edit]

Dibé (sheep) remain an important attribute of Navajo culture.

The name "Navajo" comes from the belatedly 18th century via the Castilian (Apaches de) Navajó "(Apaches of) Navajó", which was derived from the Tewa navahū "subcontract fields adjoining a valley". The Navajos call themselves Diné .^[42]

Like other Apacheans, the Navajos were semi-nomadic from the 16th through the 20th centuries. Their extended kinship groups had seasonal home areas to suit livestock, agriculture, and gathering practices. As role of their traditional economy, Navajo groups may accept formed trading or raiding parties, traveling relatively long distances.

There is a system of clans which defines relationships betwixt individuals and families. The association organisation is exogamous: people can merely marry (and date) partners exterior their own clans, which for this purpose include the clans of their four grandparents. Some Navajos favor their children to marry into their begetter'southward association. While clans are associated with a geographical surface area, the area is not for the sectional use of whatsoever ane association. Members of a clan may live hundreds of miles autonomously just however have a clan bail.^[xix] ^{: xix–xxi}

Historically, the structure of the Navajo order is largely a matrilineal system, in which the family unit of the women endemic livestock, dwellings, planting areas and livestock grazing areas. Once married, a Navajo homo would follow a matrilocal residence and live with his helpmate in her habitation and nearly her mother'south family. Daughters (or, if necessary, other female relatives) were traditionally the ones who received the generational property inheritance. In cases of marital separation, women would maintain the property and children. Children are "born to" and belong to the female parent'southward association, and are "born for" the begetter's clan. The mother'southward eldest blood brother has a strong role in her children's lives. Every bit adults, men represent their mother'south clan in tribal politics.^[42]

Neither sex tin can live without the other in the Navajo civilisation. Men and women are seen as contemporary equals as both a male person and female are needed to reproduce. Although women may deport a bigger brunt, fertility is so highly valued that males are expected to provide economic resources (known as bride wealth). Corn is a symbol of fertility in Navajo culture as they eat white corn in the wedding ceremony ceremonies. It is considered to exist immoral and/or stealing if ane does not provide for the other in that premarital or marital human relationship.^[43]

Ethnobotany [edit]

See Navajo ethnobotany.

Traditional dwellings [edit]

Hogan at Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park

A hogan, the traditional Navajo habitation, is congenital equally a shelter for either a man or for a adult female. Male hogans are foursquare or conical with a distinct rectangular entrance, while a female hogan is an 8-sided firm.^{[ citation needed ]} Hogans are made of logs and covered in mud, with the door always facing east to welcome the sun each morning. Navajos also have several types of hogans for lodging and formalism use. Ceremonies, such equally healing ceremonies or the kinaaldá, take place inside a hogan.^[44] According to Kehoe, this style of housing is distinctive to the Navajos. She writes, "even today, a solidly constructed, log-walled Hogan is preferred past many Navajo families." About Navajo members today live in apartments and houses in urban areas.^[45]

Those who practice the Navajo faith regard the hogan as sacred. The religious song "The Blessingway" ( hózhǫ́ǫ́jí ) describes the first hogan as existence congenital by Coyote with help from Beavers to be a house for Beginning Homo, First Woman, and Talking God. The Beaver People gave Coyote logs and instructions on how to build the first hogan. Navajos made their hogans in the traditional fashion until the 1900s, when they started to make them in hexagonal and octagonal shapes. Hogans continue to exist used as dwellings, especially by older Navajos, although they tend to be made with modern structure materials and techniques. Some are maintained specifically for formalism purposes.^{[ citation needed ]}

Spiritual and religious beliefs [edit]

Navajo Yebichai (Yei Bi Chei) dancers. Edward S. Curtis. USA, 1900. The Wellcome Drove, London

Navajo spiritual exercise is near restoring balance and harmony to a person'southward life to produce wellness and is based on the ideas of Hózhóójí. The Diné believed in ii classes of people: Earth People and Holy People. The Navajo people believe they passed through three worlds before arriving in this world, the Fourth World or the Glittering Earth. As Globe People, the Diné must do everything inside their power to maintain the balance betwixt Mother World and man.^[46] The Diné likewise had the expectation of keeping a positive relationship betwixt them and the Diyin Diné. In the Diné Bahane' (Navajo beliefs well-nigh creation), the First, or Dark World is where the iv Diyin Diné lived and where First Woman and First Man came into being. Because the earth was so dark, life could not thrive there and they had to movement on. The 2d, or Bluish World, was inhabited by a few of the mammals Earth People know today every bit well as the Swallow Chief, or Táshchózhii. The Beginning World beings had offended him and were asked to leave. From there, they headed s and arrived in the Third World, or Yellow World. The 4 sacred mountains were establish here, but due to a neat alluvion, First Woman, Outset Man, and the Holy People were forced to notice another earth to alive in. This time, when they arrived, they stayed in the Fourth Earth. In the Glittering Globe, true death came into beingness, likewise every bit the creations of the seasons, the moon, stars, and the dominicus.^[47]

The Holy People, or Diyin Diné, had instructed the Earth People to view the iv sacred mountains as the boundaries of the homeland ( Dinétah ) they should never leave: Blanca Summit ( Sisnaajiní — Dawn or White Shell Mountain) in Colorado; Mount Taylor ( Tsoodził — Blue Bead or Turquoise Mount) in New United mexican states; the San Francisco Peaks ( Dookʼoʼoosłííd — Abalone Shell Mount) in Arizona; and Hesperus Mountain ( Dibé Nitsaa — Big Mount Sheep) in Colorado.^[48] Times of 24-hour interval, equally well as colors, are used to represent the four sacred mountains. Throughout religions, the importance of a specific number is emphasized and in the Navajo religion, the number four appears to be sacred to their practices. For example, in that location were iv original clans of Diné, 4 colors and times of day, 4 Diyin Diné, and for the nearly part, four songs sung for a ritual.^[48]

Navajos take many different ceremonies. For the most part, their ceremonies are to prevent or cure diseases.^[49] Corn pollen is used as a blessing and as an offering during prayer.^[46] 1 half of major Navajo vocal ceremonial complex is the Approval Way (Hózhǫ́ǫ́jí) and other one-half is the Enemy Way (Anaʼí Ndááʼ). The Blessing Mode ceremonies are based on establishing "peace, harmony, and good things exclusively" within the Dine. The Enemy Fashion, or Evil Fashion ceremonies are concerned with counteracting influences that come from outside the Dine.^[49] Spiritual healing ceremonies are rooted in Navajo traditional stories. One of them, the Dark Chant ceremony, is conducted over several days and involves up to 24 dancers. The ceremony requires the dancers to vesture buckskin masks, as exercise many of the other Navajo ceremonies, and they all represent specific gods.^[49] The purpose of the Night Chant is to purify the patients and heal them through prayers to the spirit-beings. Each day of the ceremony entails the operation of certain rites and the creation of detailed sand paintings. One of the songs describes the home of the thunderbirds:

In Tsegihi [White House],
In the house made of the dawn,
In the house fabricated of the evening low-cal^[fifty]

The ceremonial leader gain by asking the Holy People to be nowadays at the beginning of the anniversary, then identifying the patient with the power of the spirit-being, and describing the patient's transformation to renewed health with lines such equally, "Happily I recover."^[51]

Ceremonies are used to correct curses that crusade some illnesses or misfortunes. People may complain of witches who practise harm to the minds, bodies, and families of innocent people,^[52] though these matters are rarely discussed in detail with those exterior of the community.^[53]

Oral Stories / Works of Literature [edit]

See: Diné Bahane' (Creation Story) and Black God and Coyote (notable traditional characters)

The Navajo Tribe relied on oral tradition to maintain behavior and stories. Examples would include the traditional creation story Diné Bahane'.^[46] At that place are also some Navajo Indian legends that are staples in literature, including The Start Human and First Woman ^[54] as well as The Sun, Moon and Stars.^[55] The Start Homo and Woman is a myth about the creation of the earth, and The Sunday, Moon and Stars is a legend almost the origin of heavenly bodies.

Music [edit]

Visual arts [edit]

Silverwork [edit]

Silversmithing is an important fine art form amongst Navajos. Atsidi Sani (c. 1830–c. 1918) is considered to exist the first Navajo silversmith. He learned silversmithing from a Mexican man called Nakai Tsosi ("Thin Mexican") around 1878 and began teaching other Navajos how to piece of work with silver.^[56] By 1880, Navajo silversmiths were creating handmade jewelry including bracelets, tobacco flasks, necklaces and bracers. Later, they added silver earrings, buckles, bolos, hair ornaments, pins and squash blossom necklaces for tribal use, and to sell to tourists as a way to supplement their income.^[57]

The Navajos' hallmark jewelry piece called the "squash blossom" necklace first appeared in the 1880s. The term "squash blossom" was apparently attached to the name of the Navajo necklace at an early appointment, although its bud-shaped chaplet are idea to derive from Spanish-Mexican pomegranate designs.^[58] The Navajo silversmiths too borrowed the "naja" (najahe in Navajo)^[59] symbol to shape the silvery pendant that hangs from the "squash flower" necklace.

Turquoise has been part of jewelry for centuries, but Navajo artists did not use inlay techniques to insert turquoise into silver designs until the late 19th century.

Weaving [edit]

Probably Bayeta-mode Coating with Terrace and Stepped Design, 1870–1880, 50.67.54, Brooklyn Museum

Navajos came to the southwest with their own weaving traditions; notwithstanding, they learned to weave cotton wool on upright looms from Pueblo peoples. The first Spaniards to visit the region wrote nigh seeing Navajo blankets. Past the 18th century, the Navajos had begun to import Bayeta blood-red yarn to supplement local black, grey, and white wool, as well as wool dyed with indigo. Using an upright loom, the Navajos made extremely fine utilitarian blankets that were collected past Ute and Plains Indians. These Chief's Blankets, so called because only chiefs or very wealthy individuals could afford them, were characterized by horizontal stripes and minimal patterning in red. First Phase Chief's Blankets take merely horizontal stripes, 2d Phase feature red rectangular designs, and Third Stage features red diamonds and fractional diamond patterns.

The completion of the railroads dramatically changed Navajo weaving. Inexpensive blankets were imported, and then Navajo weavers shifted their focus to weaving rugs for an increasingly non-Native audition. Rail service also brought in Germantown wool from Philadelphia, commercially dyed wool which greatly expanded the weavers' color palettes.

Some early European-American settlers moved in and set up trading posts, often buying Navajo rugs past the pound and selling them back east by the bale. The traders encouraged the locals to weave blankets and rugs into distinct styles. These included "Two Grey Hills" (predominantly blackness and white, with traditional patterns); Teec Nos Pos (colorful, with very extensive patterns); "Ganado" (founded past Don Lorenzo Hubbell^[60]), carmine-dominated patterns with blackness and white; "Crystal" (founded past J. B. Moore); oriental and Farsi styles (almost e'er with natural dyes); "Broad Ruins", "Chinlee", banded geometric patterns; "Klagetoh", diamond-type patterns; "Cerise Mesa" and bold diamond patterns.^[61] Many of these patterns exhibit a fourfold symmetry, which is idea to embody traditional ideas about harmony or hózhǫ́.

In the media [edit]

In 2000 the documentary The Render of Navajo Boy was shown at the Sundance Picture show Festival. It was written in response to an earlier moving picture, The Navajo Male child which was somewhat exploitative of those Navajos involved. The Return of Navajo Boy allowed the Navajos to be more involved in the depictions of themselves.^[62]

In the terminal episode of the third flavour of the FX reality Idiot box bear witness 30 Days, the evidence's producer Morgan Spurlock spends xxx days living with a Navajo family unit on their reservation in New Mexico. The July 2008 show called "Life on an Indian Reservation", depicts the dire conditions that many Native Americans experience living on reservations in the United States.^{[ citation needed ]}

Tony Hillerman wrote a series of detective novels whose detective characters were members of the Navajo Tribal Police. The novels are noted for incorporating details near Navajo culture, and in some cases aggrandize the focus to include nearby Hopi and Zuni characters and cultures, likewise.^{[ citation needed ]} Iv of the novels have been adapted for film/Idiot box. His daughter has continued the novel series after his death.

In 1997, Welsh author Eirug Wyn published the Welsh-language novel "I Ble'r Aeth Booty y Bore?" ("Where did the Morning Sun go?" in English) which tells the story of Carson's misdoings against the Navajo people from the point of view of a fictional young Navajo woman called "Haul y Diameter" ("Forenoon Sun" in English).^[63]

Notable people with Navajo beginnings [edit]

Fred Begay, nuclear physicist and a Korean War veteran
Notah Begay III (Navajo-Isleta-San Felipe Pueblo), American professional golfer
Klee Benally, musician and documentary filmmaker^[64]
Jacoby Ellsbury, New York Yankees outfielder (enrolled Colorado River Indian Tribes)
Rickie Fowler, American professional person golfer
Joe Kieyoomia, captured by the Imperial Japanese Army after the autumn of the Philippines in 1942
Nicco Montaño, sometime women's UFC flyweight champion
Chester Nez, the last original Navajo code talker who served in the United States Marine Corps during World War II.
Krystal Tsosie, geneticist and bioethicist known for promoting Indigenous data sovereignty and studying genetics within Indigenous communities
Lance Tsosie, TikToker whose videos discuss North American Native culture and history.
Cory Witherill, showtime pedigree Native American in NASCAR
Aaron Yazzie, mechanical engineer at NASA'southward Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Artists [edit]

Beatien Yazz (built-in 1928), painter
Apie Begay (fl. 1902), first Navajo artist to use European cartoon materials
Harrison Begay (1914–2012), Studio painter
Joyce Begay-Foss, weaver, educator, and museum curator
Mary Holiday Blackness (born c. 1934), basket maker
Raven Chacon (born 1977), conceptual creative person
Lorenzo Clayton (built-in 1940), artist
Carl Nelson Gorman (also known as Kin-Ya-Onny-Beyeh; 1907–1998), painter, printmaker, illustrator, and Navajo code talker with the U.South. Marine Corp during World War 2.
R. C. Gorman (1932–2005), painter and printmaker
Hastiin Klah, weaver and co-founder of the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian
David Johns (built-in 1948), painter
Yazzie Johnson, contemporary silversmith
Betty Manygoats, Tàchii'nii, contemporary ceramicist
Christine Nofchissey McHorse (1948-2021), ceramicist
Gerald Nailor, Sr. (1917–1952), studio painter
Barbara Teller Ornelas (built-in 1954), master Navajo weaver, cultural ambassador of the U.S. State Department
Atsidi Sani (c. 1828–1918), first known Navajo silversmith
Clara Nezbah Sherman, weaver
Ryan Singer, painter, illustrator, screen printer
Tommy Vocalist, silversmith and jeweler
Quincy Tahoma (1920–1956), studio painter
Klah Tso (mid-19th century — early 20th century), pioneering easel painter
Emmi Whitehorse, contemporary painter
Melanie Yazzie, contemporary print maker and educator

Performers [edit]

Jeremiah Bitsui, thespian
Blackfire, punk/alternative rock band
Raven Chacon, composer
Radmilla Cody, traditional singer
James and Ernie, comedy duo
R. Carlos Nakai, musician
Jock Soto, ballet dancer

Politicians [edit]

Christina Haswood, member of the Kansas House of Representatives since 2021
Henry Chee Dodge, last Caput Chief of the Navajo and offset Chairman of the Navajo Tribe, (1922–1928, 1942–1946).
Peterson Zah, first President of the Navajo Nation and last Chairman of the Navajo Tribe.^[65]
Albert Hale, former President of the Navajo Nation. He served in the Arizona Senate from 2004 to 2011 and in the Arizona House of Representatives from 2011 to 2017.
Jonathan Nez, Current President of the Navajo Nation. He served iii terms as Navajo Council Delegate representing the chapters of Shonto, Oljato, Tsah Bi Kin and Navajo Mountain. Served 2 terms as Navajo Canton Lath of Supervisors for Commune 1.
Annie Dodge Wauneka, former Navajo Tribal Councilwoman and abet.
Thomas Dodge, quondam Chairman of the Navajo Tribe and first Diné chaser.
Peter MacDonald, Navajo Code Talker and one-time Chairman of the Navajo Tribe.
Mark Maryboy (Aneth/Red Mesa/Mexican Water), former Navajo Nation Quango Delegate, working in Utah Navajo Investments.
Lilakai Julian Neil, the starting time adult female elected to Navajo Tribal Council.
Joe Shirley, Jr., former President of the Navajo Nation
Ben Shelly, old President of the Navajo Nation.
Chris Deschene, veteran, attorney, engineer, and a community leader. 1 of few Native Americans to exist accepted into the U.Southward. Naval Academy in Annapolis. Upon graduation, he was commissioned as a 2nd Lt. in the U.S. Marine Corps. He made an unsuccessful attempt to run for Navajo Nation President.

Writers [edit]

Freddie Bitsoie, writer and chef
Sherwin Bitsui, author and poet
Luci Tapahonso, poet and lecturer
Elizabeth Woody, writer, educator, and environmentalist

See likewise [edit]

Navajo-Churro sheep
Navajo pueblitos
Navajo Nation
Long Walk of the Navajo

Notes [edit]

^ ^a ^b Becenti, Arlyssa. [ane] Navajo Times 26 April 2021 (retrieved 26 April 2021)
^ "Aboriginal Population Profile, 2016 Census". www12.statcan.gc.ca/. Statistics Canada. Retrieved 31 December 2021.
^ "Arizona's Native American Tribes: Navajo Nation." Archived 2012-01-01 at the Wayback Auto University of Arizona, Tucson Economic Development Enquiry Program. Retrieved 19 January 2011.
^ American Factfinder, United states Census Agency
^ Haile, Berard (1949). "Navaho or Navajo?". The Americas. half-dozen (1): 85–90. doi:10.2307/977783. ISSN 0003-1615. JSTOR 977783.
^ Watkins, Thayer. "Discovery of the Athabascan Origin of the Apache and Navajo Language." San Jose State University. (retrieved 28 November 2010)
^ First Peoples' Cultural Foundation "Virtually Our Linguistic communication." First Voices: Dene Welcome Folio. 2010 (retrieved 28 Nov 2010)
^ Samuel J. Supalla (1992) The Volume of Name Signs, p. 22
^ Pritzker, 52
^ For example, the Great Canadian Parks website suggests the Navajos may be descendants of the lost Naha tribe, a Slavey tribe from the Nahanni region west of Great Slave Lake. "Nahanni National Park Reserve". Great Canadian Parks. Retrieved 2007-07-02 .
^ Iverson, Nez, and Deer, 19
^ Iverson, Nez, and Deer, 62
^ Hosteen Klah, page 102 and others
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Correll, J. Lee (1976). Through White Men's Eyes: A contribution to Navajo History (Book). Window Stone, AZ: The Navajo Times Publishing Company.
^ Pages 133 to 140 and 152 to 154, Sides, Blood and Thunder
^ 9 Stat. 974
^ Simpson, James H, edited and annotated by Frank McNitt, foreword by Durwood Ball, Navaho Expedition: Periodical of a Military Reconnaissance from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to the Navajo Country, Made in 1849, University of Oklahoma Press (1964), trade paperback (2003), 296 pages, ISBN 0-8061-3570-0
^ Thompson, Gerald (1976). The Regular army and the Navajo: The Bosque Redondo Reservation Experiment 1863–1868. Tucson, Arizona: The University of Arizona Press. ISBN9780816504954.
^ ^a ^b Compiled (1973). Roessel, Ruth (ed.). Navajo Stories of the Long Walk Period . Tsaile, Arizona: Navajo Community College Press. ISBN0-912586-16-8.
^ George Bornstein, "The Fearing Time: Telling the tales of Indian slavery in American history", Times Literary Supplement, 20 Oct 2017 p. 29 (review of Andrés Reséndez, The Other Slavery: The Uncovered Story of Indian Enslavement in America, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, ISBN 9780547640983).
^ Marei Bouknight and others, Guide to Records in the Military machine Archives Division Pertaining to Indian-White Relations, GSA National Athenaeum, 1972
^ Ford, "September thirty, 1887 Alphabetic character to Acting Assistant General," Commune of New Mexico, National Archive Materials, Navajo Tribal Museum, Window Rock, Arizona
^ Kerr, "February 18, 1887 alphabetic character to Acting Assistant General," District of New Mexico, National Annal Materials, Navajo Tribal Museum, Window Rock, Arizona.
^ Scott," June 22, 1887 letter to Acting Assistant General," District of New Mexico, National Archive Materials, Navajo Tribal Museum, Window Rock, Arizona
^ "Fort Defiance Chapter". FORT Disobedience CHAPTER . Retrieved 31 May 2017.
^ ^a ^b McCarty, T.L.; Bia, Fred (2002). A Place to exist Navajo: Crude Rock and the Struggle for Cocky-Determination in Ethnic Schooling . Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. p. 42. ISBN0-8058-3760-iv.
^ McCarty, T.L.; Bia, Fred (2002). A Place to exist Navajo: Rough Rock and the Struggle for Self-Determination in Ethnic Schooling . Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. pp. 44–5. ISBN0-8058-3760-4.
^ McCarty, T.50.; Bia, Fred (2002). A Place to be Navajo: Rough Rock and the Struggle for Self-Determination in Indigenous Schooling . Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. p. 48. ISBN0-8058-3760-four.
^ McCarty, T.L.; Bia, Fred (2002). A Place to be Navajo: Rough Rock and the Struggle for Self-Decision in Indigenous Schooling . Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. pp. 50–one. ISBN0-8058-3760-4.
^ ^a ^b Spolsky, Bernard (July 2014). "Language Documentation and Description" (PDF) . Retrieved 14 December 2020.
^ Peter Iverson, Dine: A History of the Navajos, 2002, University of New Mexico Press, Affiliate v, "our People Cried": 1923–1941.
^ ^a ^b Compiled (1974). Roessel, Ruth (ed.). Navajo Livestock Reduction: A National Disgrace. Tsaile, Arizona: Navajo Community Higher Press. ISBN0-912586-18-4.
^ Peter Iverson (2002). "For Our Navajo People": Diné Letters, Speeches & Petitions, 1900-1960. U of New Mexico Press. p. 250. ISBN9780826327185.
^ Weisiger, Marsha (2007). "Gendered Injustice: Navajo Livestock Reduction in the New Bargain Era". Western Historical Quarterly. 38 (4): 437–455. doi:10.2307/25443605. JSTOR 25443605. S2CID 147597303.
^ Richard White, ch 13: "The Navajos go Dependent" (1988). The Roots of Dependency: Subsistence, Surroundings, and Social Modify Amid the Choctaws, Pawnees, and Navajos. U of Nebraska Press. pp. 300ff. ISBN0803297246.
^ Brian Westward. Dippie, The Vanishing American: White Attitudes and U.S. Indian Policy (1991) pp 333–336, quote p 335
^ Donald A. Grinde Jr, "Navajo Opposition to the Indian New Bargain." Integrated Education (1981) 19#iii–6 pp: 79–87.
^ Alison R. Bernstein, American Indians and World War II: Toward a New Era in Indian Affairs, (Academy of Oklahoma Press, 1999) pp 40, 67, 132, 152
^ Bernstein, American Indians and World State of war II pp 46–49
^ Judy Pasternak, Xanthous Dirt- An American Story of a Poisoned Country and a People Betrayed, Free Printing, New York, 2010.
^ Marine Corps. Academy, NAVAJO CODE TALKERS IN Globe WAR Two, USMC History Sectionalization, 2006.
^ ^a ^b Kluckholm, Clyde; Leighton, Dorothea (1974). The Navaho. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard Academy Press. ISBN0-674-6060-iii-5.
^ Lauren Del Carlo, Between the Sacred Mountains: A Cultural History of the Dineh, Essai, Volume 5: Article fifteen, 2007.
^ Iverson, Nez, and Deer, 23
^ Kehoe, 133
^ ^a ^b ^c "Navajo Cultural History and Legends". world wide web.navajovalues.com . Retrieved 2016-05-31 .
^ "The Story of the Emergence". world wide web.sacred-texts.com . Retrieved 2016-05-31 .
^ ^a ^b "Navajo Culture". www.discovernavajo.com . Retrieved 2016-05-31 .
^ ^a ^b ^c Wyman, Leland (1983). "Navajo Ceremonial System" (PDF). Smithsonian Institution. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
^ Sandner, 88
^ Sandner, xc
^ Kluckhohn, Clyde (1967). Navaho Witchcraft . Boston: Buoy Printing. 080704697-3.
^ Keene, Dr. Adrienne, "Magic in North America Part 1: Ugh." at Native Appropriations", eight March 2016. Accessed 9 Apr 2016: "What happens when Rowling pulls this in, is we as Native people are now opened up to a barrage of questions nigh these beliefs and traditions ... simply these are not things that need or should exist discussed past outsiders. At all. I'm sad if that seems "unfair," merely that's how our cultures survive."
^ "Creation of Commencement Man and Kickoff Woman - A Navajo Legend". www.firstpeople.us . Retrieved 2021-ten-13 .
^ "The Lord's day, Moon and Stars". www.hanksville.org . Retrieved 2021-10-13 .
^ Adair 4
^ Adair 135
^ Adair 44
^ Adair, ix
^ "Hubbell Trading Post National Celebrated Site" White Mountains Online. (retrieved 28 November 2010)
^ Denver Fine art Museum. "Blanket Statements", Traditional Fine Arts Organization. (retrieved 28 Nov 2010)
^ "Synopsis". navajoboy.com. Archived from the original on Feb 8, 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-26 .
^ "I Ble'r Aeth Booty y Bore? (9780862434359) | Eirug Wyn | Y Lolfa". world wide web.ylolfa.com . Retrieved 2019-08-01 .
^ "Klee Benally". Nativenetworks.si.edu . Retrieved 2012-01-31 .
^ Peterson Zah Biography

References [edit]

Adair, John. The Navajo and Pueblo Silversmiths. Norman: Oklahoma Press, 1989. ISBN 978-0-8061-2215-1.
Iverson, Peter, Jennifer Nez Denetdale, and Ada Due east. Deer. The Navajo. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 2006. ISBN 0-7910-8595-3.
Kehoe, Alice Beck. N American Indians: A Comprehensive business relationship. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 2005.
Newcomb, Franc Johnson (1964). Hosteen Klah: Navajo Medicine Man and Sand Painter. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Printing. LCCN 64020759.
Pritzker, Barry M. A Native American Encyclopedia: History, Culture, and Peoples. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. ISBN 978-0-nineteen-513877-1.
Sandner, Donald. Navaho symbols of healing: a Jungian exploration of ritual, image, and medicine. Rochester, VT: Healing Arts Printing, 1991. ISBN 978-0-89281-434-three.
Sides, Hampton, Claret and Thunder: An Ballsy of the American West. Doubleday (2006). ISBN 978-0-385-50777-6

External links [edit]

Wikimedia Eatables has media related to Navajo.

Navajo Nation, official site
Navajo Tourism Section
Navajo people: history, culture, language, art
Middle Ground Project of Northern Colorado University with images of U.South. documents of treaties and reports 1846–1931
Navajo Silversmiths, by Washington Matthews, 1883 from Project Gutenberg
Navajo Constitute for Social Justice
Navajo Arts Data on accurate Navajo Fine art, Rugs, Jewelry, and Crafts
Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Navajo Indians". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

Coordinates: 36°11′13″N 109°34′25″W / 36.1869°N 109.5736°W / 36.1869; -109.5736

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Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navajo