Final draft on navajo culture david cable ant 101 introduction to cultural anthropology prof. Justine lemos july 19, 2012 i introduction: the navajo nation is the largest native american group in america today, and is the biggest indian reservation in the united states. Situated in the northeastern part of arizona and in the northwestern part of new mexico, it is comprised of nearly ten million acres, or roughly fifteen thousand square miles. In this research paper the author will discuss at least three aspects of the navajo culture that will include the kinship that the navajo have with each other, the social structure within navajo society, the economic organization that sustains the culture and their beliefs and values that these people share, including some of their rituals and ceremonies. In addition, the author will conclude with some facts about life on the reservation today and how tourism has become part of the navajo culture. The navajo or dine people as they prefer to be called, are a pastoral, semi nomadic people who live in one of the most arid and barren lands of the great american deserts in the southwest.

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Pastoral societies which are patrilineal / patrilocal, the navajo are one of a handful of societies that are matrilineal / matrilocal. This is because the central symbol of their social organization is motherhood, in which the navajo find a conceptual relationship between motherhood and sheep witherspoon, 1973. The people in navajo society have a strong family bond, but one of the strongest ties in their society is between navajo siblings, who share a lifelong mutual feeling of respect and responsibility for one another. Both the husband and wife play the main roles in this society to assure that there is little possibility for economic. The navajos are an indian tribe living in the southwestern part of the united states. The navajos came to the southwestern united states from the northwest pacific coast and canada, between the l3oos and the 1600s.

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They hunted deer, mountain sheep, antelope, and rabbit, and made their clothing from these animal skins. They started raiding spanish settlers to get horses for hunting and fighting, and became known as great warriors by the spanish and other surrounding indian tribes. They grew corn, beans, and squash in fields that the spanish called nabaju, which means great planted fields. By 1750, the navajos were living in the valleys and mountains around canyon de chelly in northeastern arizona.

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They did not live as an organized tribe in villages, but instead, in scattered locations in arizona and new mexico, where they still live today. Navajo families lived in hogans, which were quick and easy to build as they moved. These were homes that were made with tree supporting poles that were covered with mush and brush. Later, the navajos built more permanent hogans made of logs, and chinked them with mud in a circular shape. The navajos had to continually fight not only the spanish, but also other indian tribes in order to live on this land. The navajos, who became known as fierce warriors, continued to fight for their land until the 1850s and 1860s, when the americans built fort defiance in the heart of navajo country, near what is now window rock, arizona.

The americans then killed or captured thousands of navajos, burning their hogans and crops, and killing their sheep. The navajos were forced to surrender, and then made to walk almost 300 miles to fortsumner known as bosque redondo to the navajo in eastern new mexico. during this walk and their years of confinement in fortsumner, the navajos were treated cruelly and many died. In 1868, this brutal episode in navajo history ended and the navajos were allowed to return to their homeland. The navajos soon returned to their self sufficient lives of farming, herding sheep and weaving. By the 1900’s their population had more than doubled. they became beautiful silversmiths.

The navajos have many fascinating beliefs and colorful ceremonies. their way of life is based on a belief that the physical and spiritual world blend together, and everything on earth is alive and sacred. the yei, or holy ones, live in the four sacred mountains in each of the four directions, which form the boundaries of the navajo land. The holy ones are attracted by their ritual songs, prayers, stories and paintings, and visit the navajo people during their ceremonies and in their daily lives the navajo people have two major kinds of ceremonies: the blessing way, which is to keep them on the path of happiness and wisdom, and the enemy way, which is to eliminate ghosts and discourage evil spirits. One of the most well known ceremonies is a healing ceremony called a sing in which a navajo medicine man sings and creates a drawing called a sandpainting. sandpaintings depict the holy ones, with detailed figures, and are made by trickling from the hand, fine grains from crushed pollen, cornmeal, charcoal from a burned tree, and other powdered minerals.

Original sandpainting the navajo nation is the largest reservation in north america, covering an area of about 27,0 square miles. This area includes a large part of northeastern arizona, northwestern new mexico, and a small part of southeastern utah. The navajos have a population of over 200,0 people, making their tribe the largest native american tribe in the united states.

They strive to continue speaking their challenging navajo language, although many navajos also speak english. This loyalty and their warrior background made them the only people in the united states more than willing to go fight for our country in world war ii using a code that no one could decipher. The navajo are people very geared toward family life and events that surround their lifestyle. Many games and traditions have emerged from their love of the land and their attachment to it. Long winter nights and the seclusion of the reservation has brought about most of the customs and activities used by the people to entertain and amuse themselves. ceremonies the navaho life is particularly rich in ceremony and ritual, second only to some of the pueblo groups. Note is made of nine of their great nine day ceremonies for the treatment of ills, mental and physical.

There are also many less important ceremonies occupying four days, two days, and one day in their performance. In these ceremonies many dry paintings, or sand altars, are made, depicting the characters and incidents of myths. Almost every act of their life the building of the hogán, the planting of crops, etc. navajo clothes originally, navajo men wore breechcloths and the women wore skirts made of woven yucca fiber. Shirts were not necessary in navajo culture, but both men and women wore deerskin ponchos or cloaks of rabbit fur in cool weather, and moccasins on their feet. After sheep were introduced and navajo women could weave larger woolen items, men began to wear poncho style wool shirts, women began to wear wool dresses with shoulder straps, and heavy wool blankets began to replace fur cloaks.

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In the late 1800s and early 1900s, long velveteen shirts and blouses came into fashion and mexican style full cotton skirts became popular with navajo women. Here is a site with sketches of 19th century apache and navajo clothing styles, and some photos and links about indian clothes in general. Both men and women wore their hair gathered into a figure eight shaped bun called a tsiyeel, though some navajo men did begin cutting their hair to shoulder length in the pueblo style during the early 1900s. Except for certain religious ceremonies, the navajos didnt paint their faces or bodies. But they are famous for their beautiful silver and turquoise ornaments, particularly concha belts made of interconnected silver medallions , brooches, and jewelry. Today, many navajo people still have moccasins or a velveteen blouse, but they wear modern clothes like jeans instead of breechcloths and they only wear traditional regalia on special occasions like a wedding or a dance. navajo food for generations, traditional navajo dishes have been handed down from grandmother to mother to daughter without being written down.

Besides being a basic necessity of life food welcomes visitors and expresses thanks. Traditional navajos usually cook by memory, measuring their ingredients with hands or fingers. Traditional cooks still use wild plants and vegetables such as spinach, onions, turnips, berries, cactus and cedar brush. For instance, cedar brush is used to add color, a flavor to a popular navajo delight called blue corn meal pudding. Opposing the false image portrayed on television and movie screens, the medicine man holds great respect and honor among the navajo people. He is important because he has knowledge of the heritage and culture of the navajo. In the headlong march for progress today, in the forward thrust into uncertainty, amid the continuous cry for self determination, very few men are left who have a tie to the past a tie to the people’s history, legends, and myths that are slowly fading away as the old die.