NPS Publications: Navaho Life of Yesterday and Today Western Museum Laboratories NAVAHO LIFE OF YESTERDAY AND TODAY by Katharine Luomala Western Museum Laboratories United States Department of the Interior National Park Service Berkeley, California 1938 History | Links to the Past | National Park Service | Search | Contact Last Modified: Sat, Dec 9 2006 10:00:00 am PDT http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/berkeley/luomala/index.htm http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/berkeley/luomala/index.htm[12/10/2012 2:46:39 PM] NPS Publications: Navaho Life of Yesterday and Today (Table of Contents) Western Museum Laboratories Navaho Life of Yesterday and Today TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Chapter I INTRODUCTION Round of Life Trading Posts Administration Culture Periods Chapter II THE ORIGIN AND PREHISTORY OF THE NAVAHO Race Population Language Early Navaho Culture Relation to Southwestern Cultures The Origin Legend of the Navaho Chapter III THE PERIOD OF SPANISH RULE Tribal Name First References to the Navaho The Spanish and Navaho The French The Pueblos and Navaho Fight The Navaho Tribe Grows Trade Navaho and Pueblo Cultural Relations The Mexicans Slavery Chapter IV WAR War Technique Post-War Ceremonies War Dance Natc'it Peacemaking War Names and Naming Chapter V THE AMERICAN CONQUEST http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/berkeley/luomala/luomalat.htm[12/10/2012 2:46:50 PM] NPS Publications: Navaho Life of Yesterday and Today (Table of Contents) Early Treaties Navaho Culture in 1855 The Pueblos Suffer Navaho Downfall Chapter VI HABITAT The Navaho Reservation The Land Question Geography Mountains Climate Rainfall Chapter VII HUNTING Importance of Hunting Fauna Techniques Animals and Religion Ritual Use of Animals Hunting Rites Hunting Sickness Fish Rattlesnakes Totemism Chapter VIII FOOD Modern Diet Wild Plants Ceremonial Foods Cooking and Equipment Food Preparation Grace Chapter IX AGRICULTURE Importance of Farming Geographical and Traditional Influences Governmental Influence Ownership of Farms Planting Crops Chapter X LIVESTOCK Importance of Livestock History of Herding Early Increase in Stock Raiding Modern Problems Navaho as Herders Breeds Shearing http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/berkeley/luomala/luomalat.htm[12/10/2012 2:46:50 PM] NPS Publications: Navaho Life of Yesterday and Today (Table of Contents) Separation of Sheep and Goats Routine Care of Stock Horses Ownership Chapter XI CRAFTS Importance of Jewelry and Weaving Their Early History Weaving Beginning of Navaho Weaving Periods of Weaving The Native Period The Golden Age Bosque Redondo and Reservation Era Traders and Weaving Blanket Styles Weaving Traditions Symbolism The Revival Making the Rug Processes Carding Spinning Washing and Dyeing Weaving Silversmithing Craft Development Modern Work Jeweler's Equipment Pottery Basketry Chapter XII CLOTHING Prehistoric Costume Costume of Early Historic Period After Bosque Redondo Chapter XIII HOUSES Simplicity Suitability Adaptation to Geography and Life Summer Houses Winter Hogans The Hogan of the Gods The Conical Hogan House Dedication and Purification Farewell to the Home Chindi Hogan Modern Houses Chapter XIV SOCIAL ORGANIZATION http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/berkeley/luomala/luomalat.htm[12/10/2012 2:46:50 PM] NPS Publications: Navaho Life of Yesterday and Today (Table of Contents) Camp Dwellers Matrilocal Residence Marriage Preferences Relationships Clan Functions Clan Groups Number of Clans and Names Clan Localization Clan Origin Chapter XV RELIGION Christianity Navaho and Pueblo Navaho Religious Knowledge Folk Knowledge Life Crises Hatali Religious Elements Reasons for Holding a Chant Causes of Illness The Mountain Chant Rite of Blessing and Songs BIBLIOGRAPHY LIST OF PLATES I Sand Painting of the Whirling Logs II Navaho Camp Scene III Blanket of Bayeta Striped Wool IV Blanket Types V Navaho Jewelry VI Navaho Woman's Dress VII Map: The Navaho Country and Environs (omitted from the online edition) History | Links to the Past | National Park Service | Search | Contact Last Modified: Sat, Dec 9 2006 10:00:00 am PDT http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/berkeley/luomala/luomalat.htm http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/berkeley/luomala/luomalat.htm[12/10/2012 2:46:50 PM] NPS Publications: Navaho Life of Yesterday and Today (Preface) Western Museum Laboratories Navaho Life of Yesterday and Today PREFACE "Navaho Life of Yesterday and Today," written for the needs of the National Park Service, is a summary of some of the essential features of the prehistory, history and customs of the Navaho Indians of Arizona and New Mexico. Professional anthropologists will find little that is new to them in these pages, as the information was compiled from published and unpublished material relating to the Navaho and their neighbors. My thanks go to those who kindly read the manuscript and offered information and suggestions. Dr. W.W. Hill of the University of New Mexico loaned me his unpublished manuscript on Navaho agriculture and hunting; Dr. Harry Hoijer of the University of Chicago contributed information on linguistics; and Mr. Ben Wetherill drew on his long experience and understanding of the tribe to give me data on customs and beliefs. Dr. Phileo Nash and Dr. F. R. Eggan of the University of Chicago; Father Berard Haile, O. F. M.; and John Provinse of the Soil Conservation Service have also read the manuscript and made suggestions. The staff of the Museum of Anthropology, University of California, graciously permitted the artist, Miss Elizabeth Ginno, to sketch the Navaho artifacts. In addition to these, I wish to thank the members of the staff of the National Park Service and the Works Progress Administration for their assistance. Hazel Hunt Voth I wish to thank for her intelligent and conscientious editing, and the uncounted hours she spent in verifying and correcting references and preparing the manuscript for mimeographing I also owe thanks to Mr William Lippincott who was of much assistance to me at every step of the way in getting this manuscript ready. In this paper, the references are included in the text in order to simplify the problem of mimeographing. A foreign term is underlined only the first time it is used. Katharine Luomala Berkeley, California http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/berkeley/luomala/luomalap.htm[12/10/2012 2:47:01 PM] NPS Publications: Navaho Life of Yesterday and Today (Preface) PLATE I.—SAND PAINTING OF THE WHIRLING GODS. Used in the Night Chant. (from Matthews, 1902). History | Links to the Past | National Park Service | Search | Contact Last Modified: Sat, Dec 9 2006 10:00:00 am PDT http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/berkeley/luomala/luomalap.htm http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/berkeley/luomala/luomalap.htm[12/10/2012 2:47:01 PM] NPS Publications: Navaho Life of Yesterday and Today (Chapter 1) Western Museum Laboratories Navaho Life of Yesterday and Today Chapter I: INTRODUCTION Forty-five thousand Navaho* Indians and their flocks of sheep and goats and herds of horses, totalling in 1937 about 1,000,000 head, range over a reservation of fifteen million acres in northeastern Arizona and northwestern New Mexico and over the border in to southern Utah. They also wander far beyond the reservation. One can expect to see Navaho anywhere between the Rio Grande River in the east, the Colorado River in the west, the San Juan River in the north, and the Little Colorado River in the south. Unlike other tribes which have decreased in numbers or disappeared entirely, the Navaho have doubled their population in the last thirty years. They are now the largest Indian tribe in the United States, and their reservation is the most extensive. It is estimated that the Navaho are ninety-eight per cent pure blood. The slight mixture with white people is found only in the districts near the towns and railroads. *The anglicized form, "Navaho," is used in this paper, except in quotations which retain the Spanish form "Navajo." The Indian Bureau estimates the population for 1937 as 50,000. Geologists describe the reservation as part of the great Colorado Plateau, where erosion and other natural forces, acting upon the sandstone, limestone, and conglomerate, have carved deep gorges and isolated badland forms, above which the mountains rise. The rugged and colorful landscape with its deserts, canyons, mountains, and mesas is one of startling beauty. Erosion has created fantastic forms in the rocks resembling ships, cathedral spires, and other impressive objects, and produced natural bridges like the famous Rainbow Bridge. The reservation has "a painted landscape with patches and bands of yellow, ash-gray, drab, lavender, rose, pink, slate, maroon, sienna, lilac, cream, and various shades of red and brown (Gregory, 1917:42). The myriad colors have given this region the name, 'The Painted Desert'." It is a country of contrasts in landscape, vegetation, altitude, rainfall, and temperature. The Navaho are believed to have been in this region since the thirteenth or fourteenth century A. D. Everywhere around them they have impressive reminders of the past in the archaeology and geology of their present homeland. Dinosaurs have left their tracks in canyons; in the desert is petrified wood; and in the cliffs are the ruins of an ancient people who lived under the protective shade of massive canyon walls of red sandstone. The Navaho have no memory of these people who came http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/berkeley/luomala/luomala1.htm[12/10/2012 2:47:12 PM] NPS Publications: Navaho Life of Yesterday and Today (Chapter 1) before them, although some of the Navaho clans attempt, in their myths, to trace their descent from the cliff dwellers. They regard the cliff dwellings as the home of some of their gods, and avoid the ruins, preferring to build their hogans of brush and mud on the flat canyon floors near their gardens and peach orchards.