NOTES FROM "THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN" BY EDWARD S. CURTIS
LOCATION: Arizona and New Mexico-Northeastern section of Arizona and northwestern part of New Mexico.
DRESS: Clothing for both men and women initially
was deerskin for shirts and skirts. The men later wore cotton or velvet shirts
with no collars, breeches below the knee, and moccasins. Women gradually wore
the "squaw dress," made of plain dark blankets.
DWELLINGS: A Navaho house is called a "hogan" and is made of logs, brush, and earth. Summer houses are also utilized and made of brush with a windbreak.
RELIGION AND CEREMONIES: The majority of their ceremonies are for curing mental and physical ills and for restoring universal harmony, once disturbed. In these ceremonies, many dry "paintings" or sand altars are made, depicting the characters and incidents of myths.
QUOTES FROM "THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN:" "The Navaho are a pastoral, semi nomadic people whose activities centre in their flocks and small farms...While the Navaho leads a wandering life, the zone of his movements is surprisingly limited; indeed the average Navaho's personal knowledge of his country is confined to a radius of not more than fifty miles."
"Although raiders and plunderers since known
to history, the Navaho cannot be
designated a warring tribe, for however
courageous they may be, their lack of political integrity has been an obstacle
to military organization. They never have had a tribal chief, properly so
called, while many leading men could never command more than a small
following."
"The handicraft of the Navaho is seen at its best in their blanketry, which is one of the most important industries of any Indians within our domain....The origin of the textile art among the Navaho is an open question. It is probable that they did not learn it from anyone, but that it developed as part of their domestic culture....The blankets made in earlier days, say from fifty to a hundred years ago, are beautiful examples of primitive handicraft. The body of a so-called bayeta blanket was woven of close-spun native wool, dyed dark blue, while the red pattern was from the ravellings of Spanish bayeta. Much of the beauty of the old blankets is due to the mellowing of the native colors by age, but practically none of these rare examples are to be found among the Navaho at the present time....Many of the Navaho men are skilled silversmiths."
"Most Navaho ceremonies are conducted, at
least primarily, for the purpose of healing disease; and while designated
medicine ceremonies, they are, in fact, ritualistic prayers. There are so many
ceremonies that no student has yet determined their number, which reaches into
scores, while the component ritual prayers of some number hundreds. The
principal ceremonies are those that require nine days and nine nights in their
performance....Each is based on a mythic story, and each has four dry-paintings,
or so-called altars. Besides these nine days' ceremonies there are others whose
performance requires four days, and many simpler ones requiring only a single
day, each with its own dry-painting."
"The medicine-men, who are termed singers, "Hatali", are a dominant factor in Navaho life. Like all primitive people, the Navaho are intensely religious, and the medicine-men, whose function it is to be versed in the mysteries of religion, are ever prone to cultivate in the minds of the people the belief that they are powerful not only in curing disease of mind and body but of preventing it by their incantations.