What imagery was important to the Northwest coast tribes?a.patternb.animalsc.fictionald.religious

Native American people of the United states

Navajo
*Diné*
Total population
Manuelito, a main of the Navajo.
399,494 enrolled tribal members^[1] (2021)
Regions with significant populations
United States (Navajo Nation, Arizona, Colorado, New United mexican states, Utah). Canada: 700 Residents of Canada identified as having Navajo Ancestry in the 2016 Canadian Demography.^[ii]
Languages
Navajo, English language, Spanish
Religion
Indigenous Religion, Native American Church, 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 U.s..

At more than than 399,494 enrolled tribal members as of 2021^[update],^[i] ^[3] the Navajo Nation is the largest federally recognized tribe in the U.S. (the Cherokee Nation existence the 2nd largest); the Navajo Nation has the largest reservation in the state. The reservation straddles the Four Corners region and covers more than 27,000 square miles (lxx,000 foursquare km) of land in Arizona, Utah and New United mexican states. The Navajo linguistic communication is spoken throughout the region, and most Navajos also speak English.

The states with the largest Navajo populations are Arizona (140,263) and New United mexican states (108,306). More than than 3-quarters of the enrolled Navajo population resides in these two states.^[four]

Besides the Navajo Nation proper, a modest grouping 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 language which they call Diné bizaad (lit. 'People's language'). The term Navajo comes from Spanish missionaries and historians who referred to the Pueblo Indians through this term, although they referred to themselves as the Diné, is a compound word meaning up where in that location is no surface, and then down to where we are on the surface of Female parent 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 take migrated from northwestern Canada and eastern Alaska, where the majority of Athabaskan speakers reside.^[6] Speakers of various other Athabaskan languages located in Canada may withal cover the Navajo language despite the geographic and linguistic deviation of the languages.^[7] Additionally, some Navajos speak Navajo Sign Language, which is either a dialect or daughter 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 Advert.^[ix] ^[10] The Navajo oral tradition is transcribed to retain references to this migration.^{[ commendation 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 equally a master source of trade and food. Meat became essential in the Navajo diet. Sheep became a grade of currency and family status.^[xi] ^[12] Women began to spin and weave wool into blankets and article of 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. At that place were long-established trading practices between 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 big herds of livestock and cultivated big crop areas.^{[ citation needed ]}

Western historians believe that the Spanish earlier 1600 referred to the Navajos as Apaches or Quechos.^[14] ^: 2–4 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, due east of the San Juan River and northwest of present-day Santa Iron, New Mexico. Navahu comes from the Tewa linguistic communication, meaning a big 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 , about 60 miles (97 km) west of the Rio Chama valley region. In the 1770s, the Spanish sent military expeditions confronting the Navajos in the Mountain Taylor and Chuska Mountain regions of New Mexico.^[14] ^: 43–50 The Spanish, Navajos and Hopis continued to trade with each other and formed a loose alliance to fight Apache and Comanche bands for the next 20 years. During this time in that location were relatively minor raids by Navajo bands and Spanish citizens against each other.

In 1800 Governor Chacon led 500 men to the Tunicha Mountains against the Navajo. Twenty Navajo chiefs asked for peace. In 1804 and 1805 the Navajos and Spanish mounted major expeditions against each other'south 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 inflow of Americans in 1846.^[14]

Territory of New United mexican states 1846–1863 [edit]

The Navajos encountered the Usa Army in 1846, when General Stephen W. Kearny invaded Santa Atomic number 26 with 1,600 men during the Mexican–American War. On Nov 21, 1846, post-obit an invitation from a pocket-size 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.^[15]

In 1849, the armed forces governor of New Mexico, Colonel John MacRae Washington—accompanied past John South. Calhoun, an Indian amanuensis—led 400 soldiers into Navajo country, penetrating Canyon de Chelly. He signed a treaty with two Navajo leaders: Mariano Martinez as Head Main and Chapitone as Second Primary. The treaty acknowledged the transfer of jurisdiction from the United Mexican States to the Us. The treaty allowed forts and trading posts to be congenital on Navajo land. In commutation, the U.s., promised "such donations [and] such other liberal and humane measures, every bit [information technology] may deem see and proper."^[xvi] While en road to sign this treaty, the prominent Navajo peace leader Narbona, was killed, causing hostility between the treaty parties.^[17]

During the side by side ten years, the U.Due south. established forts on traditional Navajo territory. Military machine records cite this development equally a precautionary mensurate to protect citizens and the Navajos from each other. Nonetheless, the Spanish/Mexican-Navajo pattern of raids and expeditions connected. Over 400 New Mexican militia conducted a campaign against the Navajo, against 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 telephone call this period Naahondzood, "the fearing time."

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

In 1863, Carleton ordered Carson to utilise the same tactics on the Navajo. Carson and his forcefulness swept through Navajo state, 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 starting time of many groups departed to join the Mescalero at Bosque Redondo. Other groups connected to come in though 1864.^[eighteen]

However, non all the Navajos came in or were plant. Some lived virtually the San Juan River, some beyond the Hopi villages, and others lived with Apache bands.^[19]

Long Walk [edit]

Beginning in the spring of 1864, the Army forced around 9,000 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 government failed to provide enough water, wood, provisions, and livestock for the 4,000–five,000 people. Large-scale ingather failure and affliction were also endemic during this fourth dimension, as were raids by other tribes and civilians. Some Navajos froze in the wintertime because they could make only poor shelters from the few materials they were given. This period is known among the Navajos as "The Fearing Fourth dimension".^[20] In addition, a small-scale grouping of Mescalero Apache, longtime enemies of the Navajos had been relocated to the area. Conflicts resulted.

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

Reservation era [edit]

Navajo woman and kid, circa 1880–1910

The United States armed forces continued to maintain forts on the Navajo reservation in the years later on 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 period, Chief Manuelito founded the Navajo Tribal Police. It operated from 1872 to 1875 as an anti-raid task force working to maintain the peaceful terms of the 1868 Navajo treaty.

By treaty, the Navajos were immune to exit the reservation for merchandise, with permission from the military or local Indian agent. Somewhen, the system led to a gradual end in Navajo raids, as the tribe was able to increase their livestock and crops. Also, the tribe gained an increase in the size of the Navajo reservation from 3.5 million acres (14,000 km²; 5,500 sq mi) to the 16 million acres (65,000 km^two; 25,000 sq mi) as information technology stands today. But economic conflicts with not-Navajos continued for many years as civilians and companies exploited resources assigned to the Navajo. The Us authorities 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 by 10 enlisted men and two scouts, went up the San Juan River to separate the Navajos and citizens who had encroached on Navajo land.^[22] In the aforementioned year, Lt. Lockett, with the aid of 42 enlisted soldiers, was joined past Lt. Holomon at Navajo Springs. Evidently, citizens of the surnames Houck and/or Owens had murdered a Navajo master's son, and 100 armed Navajo warriors were looking for them.

In 1887, citizens Palmer, Lockhart, and Male monarch fabricated a charge of horse stealing and randomly attacked a habitation on the reservation. Two Navajo men and all three whites died as a result, but a woman and a kid survived. Capt. Kerr (with two Navajo scouts) examined the ground and so met with several hundred Navajos at Houcks Tank. Rancher Bennett, whose equus caballus was allegedly stolen, told Kerr that his horses were stolen by the three whites to take hold of a horse thief.^[23] In the same year, Lt. Scott went to the San Juan River with two scouts and 21 enlisted men. The Navajos believed Scott was there to bulldoze off the whites who had settled on the reservation and had fenced off the river from the Navajo. Scott institute prove of many non-Navajo ranches. Merely three were active, and the owners wanted payment for their improvements before 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 ix,000 of the Navajos were on a warpath. A pocket-sized military machine detachment out of Fort Wingate restored white citizens to order.^{[ citation needed ]}

In 1913, an Indian agent ordered a Navajo and his three wives to come in, and then arrested them for having a plural marriage. A pocket-size grouping of Navajos used force to gratis the women and retreated to Beautiful Mountain with 30 or 40 sympathizers. They refused to give up to the agent, and local police force enforcement and military refused the agent's request for an armed engagement. General Scott arrived, and with the aid of Henry Chee Dodge, a leader among the Navajo, defused the situation.^{[ citation needed ]}

Boarding schools and didactics [edit]

During the time on the reservation, the Navajo tribe was forced to assimilate to white society. Navajo children were sent to boarding schools within the reservation and off the reservation. The offset Agency of Indian Diplomacy (BIA) school opened at Fort Disobedience in 1870^[25] and led the way for eight others to be established.^[26] Many older Navajos were confronting this education and would hide their children to keep them from beingness taken.

Once the children arrived at the boarding school, their lives changed dramatically. European Americans taught the classes under an English-just curriculum and punished whatever student caught speaking Navajo.^[26] The children were under militaristic subject field, run past the Siláo.^{[ clarification needed ]} In multiple interviews, subjects recalled existence captured and disciplined by the Siláo if they tried to run away. Other weather included inadequate food, overcrowding, required manual labor in kitchens, fields, and boiler rooms; and military-way uniforms and haircuts.^[27]

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

This study was the precursor to education reforms initiated under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, nether which two new schools were built on the Navajo reservation. But Rough Rock 24-hour interval Schoolhouse was run in the same militaristic style as Fort Defiance and did not implement the educational reforms. The Evangelical Missionary School was opened next to Rough Rock Day Schoolhouse. Navajo accounts of this school portray it as having a family unit-similar atmosphere with dwelling-cooked meals, new or gently used clothing, humane handling, and a Navajo-based curriculum. Educators found the Evangelical Missionary Schoolhouse curriculum to be much more beneficial for the Navajo children.^[29]

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

The result of these boarding schools led to much language loss within the Navajo Nation. Afterwards the Second World War, the Meriam Written report funded more children to nourish these schools with vi times as many children attending boarding school than before the War.^[30] English as the chief language spoken at these schools too as the local towns surrounding the Navajo reservations contributed to residents condign bilingual; however Navajo was the however the primary language spoken at home.^[xxx]

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] Under various forms information technology continued into the 1950s. Worried about large herds in the arid climate, at a time when the Dust Basin was endangering the Keen Plains, the government decided that the country of the Navajo Nation could support simply a fixed number of sheep, goats, cattle, and horses. The Federal regime believed that state erosion was worsening in the surface area 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 then important. The government set state capacity in terms of "sheep units". In 1930 the Navajos grazed ane,100,000 mature sheep units.^[32] These sheep provided one-half the greenbacks income for the private Navajo.^[33]

Collier'due south solution was to starting time launch a voluntary reduction program, which was made mandatory two years afterward in 1935. The government paid for office of the value of each animal, only information technology did nothing to compensate for the loss of future yearly income for so many Navajo. In the matrilineal and matrilocal earth of the Navajo, women were especially hurt, equally many lost their only source of income with the reduction of livestock herds.^[34]

The Navajos did not understand why their centuries-sometime practices of raising livestock should change.^[32] They were united in opposition but they were unable to stop it.^[35] Historian Brian Dippie notes that the Indian Rights Association denounced Collier every bit a 'dictator' and accused him of a "near reign of terror" on the Navajo reservation. Dippie adds that, "He became an object of 'called-for hatred' among the very people whose problems and so preoccupied him."^[36] The long-term issue was strong Navajo opposition to Collier's Indian New Deal.^[37]

Navajo Code Talkers in World War II [edit]

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

Many Navajo young people moved to cities to work in urban factories in Globe War II. Many Navajo men volunteered for military service in keeping with their warrior civilisation, 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 experience with how they could assimilate into the modern world, and many did not render to the overcrowded reservation, which had few jobs.^[38]

Four hundred Navajo code talkers played a famous role during World War II past relaying radio letters using their ain language. The Japanese were unable to understand or decode it.^[39]

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

U.S. Marine Corps Involvement [edit]

The Navajo Lawmaking Talkers played a significant office in USMC history. Using their own language they utilized a military lawmaking; for example, the Navajo word "turtle" represented a tank. In 1942, Marine staff officers composed several gainsay simulations and the Navajo translated it and transmitted it in their dialect to another Navajo on the other line. This Navajo so translated it dorsum in English language faster than any other cryptographic facilities, which demonstrated their efficacy. As a result, General Vogel recommended their recruitment into the USMC code talker program.

Each Navajo went through basic bootcamp at Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego before beingness assigned to Field Betoken Battalion training at Camp Pendleton. In one case the lawmaking talkers completed training in us, they were sent to the Pacific for assignment to the Marine combat divisions. With that said, there was never a fissure in the Navajo language, it was never deciphered. It is known that many more Navajos volunteered to go lawmaking talkers than could be accustomed; however, an undetermined number of other Navajos served as Marines in the state of war, simply not equally 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]

Subsequently 1945 [edit]

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

Civilization [edit]

Dibé (sheep) remain an important aspect of Navajo civilisation.

The name "Navajo" comes from the late 18th century via the Castilian (Apaches de) Navajó "(Apaches of) Navajó", which was derived from the Tewa navahū "farm fields bordering a valley". The Navajos telephone 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 dwelling 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 between individuals and families. The association system is exogamous: people can simply marry (and date) partners outside their ain clans, which for this purpose include the clans of their four grandparents. Some Navajos favor their children to ally into their father's clan. While clans are associated with a geographical surface area, the surface area is not for the exclusive utilise of whatsoever one clan. Members of a clan may alive hundreds of miles apart but still take a association bond.^[nineteen] ^{: xix–xxi}

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

Neither sex can live without the other in the Navajo civilization. Men and women are seen as contemporary equals as both a male and female are needed to reproduce. Although women may conduct a bigger burden, fertility is so highly valued that males are expected to provide economic resources (known equally helpmate wealth). Corn is a symbol of fertility in Navajo culture as they eat white corn in the hymeneals ceremonies. It is considered to exist immoral and/or stealing if i 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 dwelling house, is congenital as a shelter for either a man or for a woman. Male person hogans are square or conical with a singled-out rectangular entrance, while a female hogan is an eight-sided house.^{[ citation needed ]} Hogans are made of logs and covered in mud, with the door always facing east to welcome the sun each forenoon. Navajos also have several types of hogans for lodging and formalism use. Ceremonies, such as healing ceremonies or the kinaaldá, accept identify 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." Most Navajo members today live in apartments and houses in urban areas.^[45]

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

Spiritual and religious beliefs [edit]

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

Navajo spiritual practise is near restoring rest and harmony to a person'south life to produce health and is based on the ideas of Hózhóójí. The Diné believed in ii classes of people: Globe People and Holy People. The Navajo people believe they passed through three worlds before arriving in this world, the Fourth Earth or the Glittering World. As Earth People, the Diné must do everything within their power to maintain the residual between Mother Earth and human being.^[46] The Diné also had the expectation of keeping a positive human relationship between them and the Diyin Diné. In the Diné Bahane' (Navajo behavior about creation), the Beginning, or Dark World is where the four Diyin Diné lived and where Showtime Adult female and Offset Homo came into beingness. Because the earth was then dark, life could not thrive there and they had to move on. The 2d, or Blue World, was inhabited by a few of the mammals Earth People know today as well equally the Consume Chief, or Táshchózhii. The First World beings had offended him and were asked to leave. From at that place, they headed due south and arrived in the Tertiary Earth, or Yellowish World. The four sacred mountains were establish here, simply due to a great flood, First Woman, Beginning Human, and the Holy People were forced to find another world to alive in. This time, when they arrived, they stayed in the Fourth Globe. In the Glittering World, truthful death came into existence, besides as the creations of the seasons, the moon, stars, and the sun.^[47]

The Holy People, or Diyin Diné, had instructed the Earth People to view the iv sacred mountains every bit the boundaries of the homeland ( Dinétah ) they should never exit: Blanca Peak ( Sisnaajiní — Dawn or White Shell Mountain) in Colorado; Mount Taylor ( Tsoodził — Blue Bead or Turquoise Mountain) in New United mexican states; the San Francisco Peaks ( Dookʼoʼoosłííd — Abalone Shell Mountain) in Arizona; and Hesperus Mount ( Dibé Nitsaa — Large Mountain Sheep) in Colorado.^[48] Times of twenty-four hour period, also as colors, are used to correspond the iv sacred mountains. Throughout religions, the importance of a specific number is emphasized and in the Navajo organized religion, the number iv appears to be sacred to their practices. For example, there were four original clans of Diné, four colors and times of twenty-four hour period, four Diyin Diné, and for the nigh part, four songs sung for a ritual.^[48]

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

In Tsegihi [White House],
In the house made of the dawn,
In the house made of the evening light^[l]

The formalism leader proceeds by asking the Holy People to be present at the showtime of the ceremony, then identifying the patient with the power of the spirit-beingness, and describing the patient'south transformation to renewed health with lines such as, "Happily I recover."^[51]

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

Oral Stories / Works of Literature [edit]

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

The Navajo Tribe relied on oral tradition to maintain behavior and stories. Examples would include the traditional cosmos story Diné Bahane'.^[46] In that location are also some Navajo Indian legends that are staples in literature, including The Showtime Man and First Adult female ^[54] too as The Sun, Moon and Stars.^[55] The First Human and Woman is a myth about the cosmos of the earth, and The Sun, Moon and Stars is a legend nearly the origin of heavenly bodies.

Music [edit]

Visual arts [edit]

Silverwork [edit]

Silversmithing is an important art form among Navajos. Atsidi Sani (c. 1830–c. 1918) is considered to be the get-go Navajo silversmith. He learned silversmithing from a Mexican homo chosen Nakai Tsosi ("Thin Mexican") around 1878 and began didactics 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 argent earrings, buckles, bolos, hair ornaments, pins and squash blossom necklaces for tribal employ, 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 flower" was apparently attached to the name of the Navajo necklace at an early on date, although its bud-shaped beads are idea to derive from Spanish-Mexican pomegranate designs.^[58] The Navajo silversmiths also borrowed the "naja" (najahe in Navajo)^[59] symbol to shape the silver pendant that hangs from the "squash bloom" necklace.

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

Weaving [edit]

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

Navajos came to the southwest with their ain weaving traditions; however, they learned to weave cotton on upright looms from Pueblo peoples. The first Spaniards to visit the region wrote nigh seeing Navajo blankets. By the 18th century, the Navajos had begun to import Bayeta ruddy yarn to supplement local black, greyness, and white wool, as well every bit wool dyed with indigo. Using an upright loom, the Navajos made extremely fine utilitarian blankets that were collected by Ute and Plains Indians. These Chief'due south Blankets, so called because only chiefs or very wealthy individuals could beget them, were characterized by horizontal stripes and minimal patterning in reddish. Commencement Stage Chief's Blankets take merely horizontal stripes, Second Stage feature red rectangular designs, and Third Phase features red diamonds and partial diamond patterns.

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

Some early on European-American settlers moved in and set up trading posts, oftentimes buying Navajo rugs by the pound and selling them back due 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 by Don Lorenzo Hubbell^[lx]), red-dominated patterns with black and white; "Crystal" (founded past J. B. Moore); oriental and Persian styles (nigh always with natural dyes); "Broad Ruins", "Chinlee", banded geometric patterns; "Klagetoh", diamond-blazon patterns; "Ruby-red Mesa" and assuming diamond patterns.^[61] Many of these patterns exhibit a fourfold symmetry, which is thought to embody traditional ideas virtually harmony or hózhǫ́.

In the media [edit]

In 2000 the documentary The Return of Navajo Boy was shown at the Sundance Moving-picture show Festival. It was written in response to an before pic, The Navajo Boy which was somewhat exploitative of those Navajos involved. The Return of Navajo Boy immune the Navajos to exist more than involved in the depictions of themselves.^[62]

In the final episode of the 3rd season of the FX reality TV prove 30 Days, the show's producer Morgan Spurlock spends 30 days living with a Navajo family on their reservation in New Mexico. The July 2008 show chosen "Life on an Indian Reservation", depicts the dire weather condition that many Native Americans feel 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 nearly Navajo culture, and in some cases expand the focus to include nearby Hopi and Zuni characters and cultures, as well.^{[ citation needed ]} Four of the novels have been adapted for film/Television receiver. His daughter has connected the novel series after his death.

In 1997, Welsh writer Eirug Wyn published the Welsh-language novel "I Ble'r Aeth Haul y Bore?" ("Where did the Morning time Sunday 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 chosen "Booty y Bore" ("Forenoon Sun" in English).^[63]

Notable people with Navajo beginnings [edit]

Fred Begay, nuclear physicist and a Korean War veteran
Notah Begay Three (Navajo-Isleta-San Felipe Pueblo), American professional golfer
Klee Benally, musician and documentary filmmaker^[64]
Nikki Cooley, environmentalist, G Coulee river guide^[65]
Jacoby Ellsbury, New York Yankees outfielder (enrolled Colorado River Indian Tribes)
Rickie Fowler, American professional golfer
Joe Kieyoomia, captured by the Imperial Japanese Army after the autumn of the Philippines in 1942
Nicco Montaño, former women's UFC flyweight champion
Chester Nez, the final original Navajo lawmaking talker who served in the United States Marine Corps during World War II.
Krystal Tsosie, geneticist and bioethicist known for promoting Indigenous information sovereignty and studying genetics within Indigenous communities
Lance Tsosie, TikToker whose videos discuss North American Native culture and history.
Cory Witherill, first pedigree Native American in NASCAR
Aaron Yazzie, mechanical engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Artists [edit]

Beatien Yazz (born 1928), painter
Apie Begay (fl. 1902), first Navajo artist to use European drawing 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 (born 1940), artist
Carl Nelson Gorman (also known equally Kin-Ya-Onny-Beyeh; 1907–1998), painter, printmaker, illustrator, and Navajo code talker with the U.S. Marine Corp during World War II.
R. C. Gorman (1932–2005), painter and printmaker
Hastiin Klah, weaver and co-founder of the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian
David Johns (born 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 (born 1954), main Navajo weaver, cultural administrator of the U.South. State Department
Atsidi Sani (c. 1828–1918), outset known Navajo silversmith
Clara Nezbah Sherman, weaver
Ryan Vocalist, painter, illustrator, screen printer
Tommy Singer, silversmith and jeweler
Quincy Tahoma (1920–1956), studio painter
Klah Tso (mid-19th century — early 20th century), pioneering easel painter
Emmi Whitehorse, gimmicky painter
Melanie Yazzie, contemporary print maker and educator

Performers [edit]

Jeremiah Bitsui, actor
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 Head Chief of the Navajo and first Chairman of the Navajo Tribe, (1922–1928, 1942–1946).
Peterson Zah, first President of the Navajo Nation and last Chairman of the Navajo Tribe.^[66]
Albert Hale, former President of the Navajo Nation. He served in the Arizona Senate from 2004 to 2011 and in the Arizona Firm of Representatives from 2011 to 2017.
Jonathan Nez, Current President of the Navajo Nation. He served three terms as Navajo Council Consul representing the capacity of Shonto, Oljato, Tsah Bi Kin and Navajo Mount. Served 2 terms equally Navajo Canton Board of Supervisors for Commune 1.
Annie Dodge Wauneka, old Navajo Tribal Councilwoman and advocate.
Thomas Dodge, one-time Chairman of the Navajo Tribe and first Diné chaser.
Peter MacDonald, Navajo Code Talker and old Chairman of the Navajo Tribe.
Marking Maryboy (Aneth/Red Mesa/Mexican Water), former Navajo Nation Council Delegate, working in Utah Navajo Investments.
Lilakai Julian Neil, the start woman elected to Navajo Tribal Council.
Joe Shirley, Jr., sometime President of the Navajo Nation
Ben Shelly, former President of the Navajo Nation.
Chris Deschene, veteran, chaser, engineer, and a community leader. One of few Native Americans to be accepted into the U.S. Naval University 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, author and chef
Sherwin Bitsui, author and poet
Luci Tapahonso, poet and lecturer
Elizabeth Woody, author, educator, and environmentalist

Run into also [edit]

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

Notes [edit]

^ ^a ^b Becenti, Arlyssa. [1] Navajo Times 26 April 2021 (retrieved 26 Apr 2021)
^ "Aboriginal Population Contour, 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 Machine University of Arizona, Tucson Economic Development Research Program. Retrieved 19 Jan 2011.
^ American Factfinder, United states of america Census Bureau
^ Haile, Berard (1949). "Navaho or Navajo?". The Americas. 6 (one): 85–90. doi:x.2307/977783. ISSN 0003-1615. JSTOR 977783.
^ Watkins, Thayer. "Discovery of the Athabascan Origin of the Apache and Navajo Language." San Jose State Academy. (retrieved 28 Nov 2010)
^ First Peoples' Cultural Foundation "About Our Language." Start Voices: Dene Welcome Page. 2010 (retrieved 28 November 2010)
^ Samuel J. Supalla (1992) The Book of Name Signs, p. 22
^ Pritzker, 52
^ For instance, the Peachy Canadian Parks website suggests the Navajos may exist 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 Rock, AZ: The Navajo Times Publishing Visitor.
^ Pages 133 to 140 and 152 to 154, Sides, Blood and Thunder
^ nine Stat. 974
^ Simpson, James H, edited and annotated past Frank McNitt, foreword by Durwood Ball, Navaho Trek: Journal of a Military Reconnaissance from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to the Navajo Country, Fabricated in 1849, University of Oklahoma Printing (1964), trade paperback (2003), 296 pages, ISBN 0-8061-3570-0
^ Thompson, Gerald (1976). The Ground forces and the Navajo: The Bosque Redondo Reservation Experiment 1863–1868. Tucson, Arizona: The University of Arizona Printing. ISBN9780816504954.
^ ^a ^b Compiled (1973). Roessel, Ruth (ed.). Navajo Stories of the Long Walk Menstruum . Tsaile, Arizona: Navajo Customs College Press. ISBN0-912586-xvi-eight.
^ 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 Archives Division Pertaining to Indian-White Relations, GSA National Archives, 1972
^ Ford, "September 30, 1887 Letter to Acting Banana General," District of New United mexican states, National Annal Materials, Navajo Tribal Museum, Window Rock, Arizona
^ Kerr, "February 18, 1887 letter to Acting Assistant General," District of New United mexican states, National Archive Materials, Navajo Tribal Museum, Window Rock, Arizona.
^ Scott," June 22, 1887 alphabetic character to Acting Banana General," District of New Mexico, National Archive Materials, Navajo Tribal Museum, Window Rock, Arizona
^ "Fort Defiance Chapter". FORT Defiance CHAPTER . Retrieved 31 May 2017.
^ ^a ^b McCarty, T.L.; Bia, Fred (2002). A Identify to be Navajo: Rough Rock and the Struggle for Self-Determination in Indigenous Schooling . Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. p. 42. ISBN0-8058-3760-iv.
^ McCarty, T.L.; Bia, Fred (2002). A Place to exist Navajo: Crude Rock and the Struggle for Cocky-Decision in Indigenous Schooling . Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Assembly. pp. 44–5. ISBN0-8058-3760-four.
^ McCarty, T.L.; Bia, Fred (2002). A Identify to be Navajo: Rough Stone and the Struggle for Self-Determination in Ethnic Schooling . Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Assembly. p. 48. ISBN0-8058-3760-4.
^ McCarty, T.L.; Bia, Fred (2002). A Place to exist Navajo: Rough Rock and the Struggle for Self-Determination in Indigenous Schooling . Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Assembly. pp. fifty–1. ISBN0-8058-3760-4.
^ ^a ^b Spolsky, Bernard (July 2014). "Linguistic communication Documentation and Description" (PDF) . Retrieved 14 December 2020.
^ Peter Iverson, Dine: A History of the Navajos, 2002, University of New United mexican states Press, Affiliate five, "our People Cried": 1923–1941.
^ ^a ^b Compiled (1974). Roessel, Ruth (ed.). Navajo Livestock Reduction: A National Disgrace. Tsaile, Arizona: Navajo Community College Press. ISBN0-912586-18-4.
^ Peter Iverson (2002). "For Our Navajo People": Diné Messages, Speeches & Petitions, 1900-1960. U of New Mexico Press. p. 250. ISBN9780826327185.
^ Weisiger, Marsha (2007). "Gendered Injustice: Navajo Livestock Reduction in the New Deal Era". Western Historical Quarterly. 38 (4): 437–455. doi:10.2307/25443605. JSTOR 25443605. S2CID 147597303.
^ Richard White, ch xiii: "The Navajos become Dependent" (1988). The Roots of Dependency: Subsistence, Environment, and Social Change Among the Choctaws, Pawnees, and Navajos. U of Nebraska Press. pp. 300ff. ISBN0803297246.
^ Brian W. 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 Deal." Integrated Education (1981) nineteen#3–vi pp: 79–87.
^ Alison R. Bernstein, American Indians and World State of war Two: Toward a New Era in Indian Diplomacy, (University of Oklahoma Press, 1999) pp 40, 67, 132, 152
^ Bernstein, American Indians and World War II pp 46–49
^ Judy Pasternak, Xanthous Dirt- An American Story of a Poisoned Land and a People Betrayed, Gratis Printing, New York, 2010.
^ Marine Corps. University, NAVAJO CODE TALKERS IN WORLD WAR Ii, USMC History Partitioning, 2006.
^ ^a ^b Kluckholm, Clyde; Leighton, Dorothea (1974). The Navaho. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard Academy Printing. ISBN0-674-6060-iii-5.
^ Lauren Del Carlo, Between the Sacred Mountains: A Cultural History of the Dineh, Essai, Volume 5: Article 15, 2007.
^ Iverson, Nez, and Deer, 23
^ Kehoe, 133
^ ^a ^b ^c "Navajo Cultural History and Legends". www.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 Press. 080704697-3.
^ Keene, Dr. Adrienne, "Magic in North America Role one: Ugh." at Native Appropriations", 8 March 2016. Accessed 9 April 2016: "What happens when Rowling pulls this in, is we equally Native people are now opened up to a barrage of questions about these beliefs and traditions ... merely these are not things that need or should be discussed past outsiders. At all. I'one thousand sorry if that seems "unfair," but that's how our cultures survive."
^ "Creation of First Human being and First Woman - A Navajo Legend". www.firstpeople.us . Retrieved 2021-ten-13 .
^ "The Sun, Moon and Stars". world wide web.hanksville.org . Retrieved 2021-x-13 .
^ Adair iv
^ Adair 135
^ Adair 44
^ Adair, nine
^ "Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site" White Mountains Online. (retrieved 28 Nov 2010)
^ Denver Art Museum. "Blanket Statements", Traditional Fine Arts System. (retrieved 28 November 2010)
^ "Synopsis". navajoboy.com. Archived from the original on Feb eight, 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-26 .
^ "I Ble'r Aeth Haul y Bore? (9780862434359) | Eirug Wyn | Y Lolfa". www.ylolfa.com . Retrieved 2019-08-01 .
^ "Klee Benally". Nativenetworks.si.edu . Retrieved 2012-01-31 .
^ "Nikki Cooley to speak at climate summit June 9". Navajo-Hopi Observer. June 1, 2021. Retrieved March 29, 2022.
^ 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 E. Deer. The Navajo. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 2006. ISBN 0-7910-8595-3.
Kehoe, Alice Beck. Due north American Indians: A Comprehensive account. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 2005.
Newcomb, Franc Johnson (1964). Hosteen Klah: Navajo Medicine Human and Sand Painter. Norman, Oklahoma: Academy of Oklahoma Press. LCCN 64020759.
Pritzker, Barry 1000. A Native American Encyclopedia: History, Civilisation, and Peoples. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. ISBN 978-0-19-513877-1.
Sandner, Donald. Navaho symbols of healing: a Jungian exploration of ritual, epitome, and medicine. Rochester, VT: Healing Arts Printing, 1991. ISBN 978-0-89281-434-3.
Sides, Hampton, Blood and Thunder: An Epic of the American West. Doubleday (2006). ISBN 978-0-385-50777-6

External links [edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Navajo.

Navajo Nation, official site
Navajo Tourism Department
Navajo people: history, culture, language, art
Center Ground Project of Northern Colorado University with images of U.S. documents of treaties and reports 1846–1931
Navajo Silversmiths, by Washington Matthews, 1883 from Projection Gutenberg
Navajo Establish for Social Justice
Navajo Arts Information on authentic Navajo Art, Rugs, Jewelry, and Crafts
Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Navajo Indians". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

Coordinates: 36°11′xiii″North 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