Navajos

ALTERNATE NAMES: Diné
LOCATION: United States (Arizona; New Mexico; Colorado, Utah)
POPULATION: 269,202 (2000 census)
LANGUAGE: English; Navajo
RELIGION: Native American Church; Christianity
RELATED ARTICLES: Vol. 2: Native North Americans

INTRODUCTION

The Navajos are descended from a band of Athabascans who split off from the rest of the Athabascans in Canada sometime around ad 850 and migrated southward. About 200 years later, they settled in what is now north-central New Mexico among Pueblo peoples who had lived there since ad 400. Though the Navajos were originally hunter-gatherers, they were very adaptable people who adopted some of their Pueblo neighbors' ways. Pueblo Indians were farmers, and the Navajos learned from them how to cultivate corn and other crops. They made the shift from hunter-gatherers to agriculturalists so successfully that they came to be known as the Navajo—a name that most likely comes from the Tewa word návahu'u, or "the arroyo (riverbed) with the cultivated fields." The Navajo call themselves Diné, or "the People." The first recorded mention of the Navajos is from an account written in 1626 by Fray Zárata Salmerón. By the 1630s the Navajo had definitely become a large and powerful tribe, spreading across northern New Mexico into eastern Arizona. At this time they still hunted and gathered some of their food, and they supplemented their supplies by raiding other villages. But they had also begun to live in semi-permanent homes and grow crops, such as corn, beans, and squash. The preferred type of dwelling was the hogan, a dome-shaped structure (usually round, but sometimes hexagonal or octagonal) built of logs covered with mud, or sometimes rocks, with a central air vent in the roof. After the Spanish arrived in the 16th and 17th centuries, the Navajo adopted the use of horses and began to raise livestock such as sheep, goats, and cattle. The traits the Navajo borrowed from both the Pueblo Indians and the Spanish eventually distinguished them from their Apache relatives (also descended from the same Canadian Athabascans).

Conflicts between the Navajos and first the Spanish, then European Americans, escalated during the 19th century. Raids by the Navajo on Spanish settlers, and then European American travelers and settlers, continued despite peace-keeping efforts by the Spanish, however, and the U.S. Army finally decided to do something about the "Navajo problem." U.S. Army General James Carleton began a campaign to round up all the Navajos and incarcerate them in a concentration camp called Bosque Redondo in New Mexico. Carleton enlisted Christopher "Kit" Carson to help. Together they burned Navajo villages, destroyed their crops (including extensive peach orchards in the Canyon de Chelly), and drove all Navajos who refused to surrender into the mountains to freeze and starve. Eventually, all the Navajos who had not been killed, or had not died of starvation and exposure, surrendered to Carleton and Carson and allowed themselves to be marched to the camp. The route was 370 miles, or 470 by an alternate route, and the Navajos covered it entirely on foot. It is remembered as the "Long Walk of the Navajos." Hundreds died en route, and hundreds more died from the horrible conditions at the camp once they arrived. A few escaped to try to survive in the inaccessible canyons of the area. Conditions at Bosque Redondo were so bad that even European Americans complained about the mistreatment of the Native North Americans there. The U.S. Army decided to relieve General Carleton of his duty in 1866, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs took over management of the Navajos and others at Bosque Redondo. Shortly thereafter, the U.S. government established a reservation for the Navajos on their former homelands, though the reservation covered only a small portion of their original territory.

Some 25 Navajos volunteered to serve in the U.S. military during World War I in 1917–18. By the time of World War II (1939–45) Native North Americans were draftable U.S. citizens. As a result, at least 3,600 Navajos served in that war. The most famous and honored of those World War II Navajo servicemen were the Navajo Code Talkers, a group of 420 Navajo men who devised a code based on the Navajo language that was used for military purposes in the Pacific campaign. The Japanese never broke the code. In 1938 the Navajo Tribal Council had been formed to represent the interests of all Navajos. In 1969 the Navajo Tribal Council passed a resolution to call their land "the Navajo Nation." The Navajo Nation is currently the largest reservation-based Native North American tribe in the United States. The government of the Navajo Tribal Council was reorganized after the conviction of Chairman Peter Mac-Donald on 41 counts of corruption in 1989. Executive, judicial, and legislative branches have been established with a system of checks and balances.

LOCATION AND HOMELAND

The Navajo reservation is located in the Four Corners area of the United States (where Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah have a common corner). Most of the reservation lies in Arizona, with the eastern border extending into New Mexico and a small southern portion in Utah. The total area of the reservation is approximately 25,000 sq mi, comprising some 17 million acres. The entire area is an almost level plateau with an average elevation of 5,500 feet. Mountains in some places rise to over 10,000 feet, and deep canyons cut through the plateau. The region is desert or semi-desert with very little rainfall. It is difficult to farm without irrigation. Winters are quite cold, and summers are hot. Navajos also live on other small reservations, such as Ramah in northwestern New Mexico (about 540 square miles, supporting a population of more than 2,000 Navajos), the Alamo (or Puertocito) Navajos in New Mexico (with a population of more than 1,900), and the Cañoncito Navajos, also in New Mexico, with a population of over 1,650. Over 25,000 Navajos also live in the "checkerboard area," which covers the range east of the main Navajo reservation to the Jicarilla Apache reservation in New Mexico. This region is called the "checkerboard area" because lands were allotted in such a way that each alternate square mile belongs to Native North Americans, and the others belong to European Americans.

The total population of Navajos in 2000 census was nearly 300,000. The number of Navajos living on reservations in that year was about 174,000—the largest reservation-based Native North American population in the United States. The main Navajo reservation is by far the largest Native North American reservation in the United States: it contains a total of 17 million acres.

The Cañoncito Navajos descend from those who favored peace with the European Americans and even worked as scouts for the U.S. Army in campaigns against their own people. Because of this, they came to be known to other Navajos as "Enemy Diné." That negative name was dropped some time ago.

LANGUAGE

The Navajo language is part of the Athabascan (also Athapaskan) family of Native North American languages. At least 125,000 Navajos were still fluent in their native tongue in 1987. The Navajo language is one of the few Native North American languages that has been fully documented. Current education policies among the Navajo aim at restoring the language to its mother-tongue status among Navajos. All Navajo-run education is done in both English and Navajo.

Though all Native North American cultures were (and still are, to a large extent) oral cultures, transmitting all information through songs, stories, and chants, the Navajos developed especially long chants compared to other Native North Americans.

FOLKLORE

The Navajos tell of their creation with an emergence-type story. First Man and First Woman lived in the first or Black World. When the insect beings that also lived there began to quarrel, First Man and First Woman were forced to leave that world through the east and emerge into the second or Blue World. The Blue World was populated by blue-feathered birds and other animals and beings that did not get along. First Man and First Woman eventually moved to the third or Yellow World where they lived with Coyote (the Navajo trickster figure), Bluebird, and other beings. When Coyote stole the Water Baby, Water Monster flooded the Yellow World. First Man quickly ordered everyone to climb into a reed that gave them entrance into the fourth world. In the fourth world the people discovered that Coyote had stolen the Water Baby. When Coyote took Water Baby back to its mother, the waters receded immediately. However, the beings already living in the fourth world required the entering third-world beings to pass certain tests in order to live there. Locust, the being chosen to take the tests, passed them all, and the people entered safely into the fourth world.

Later, First Man and First Woman formed the four sacred mountains with dirt they had brought from the first (Black) world. Their daughter, White Shell Woman, later gave birth to twin sons. The Twins became the settlers of the Navajo lands and established the plant crops and animals given to them by their father, the Sun. The Twins are regarded as sacred.

Changing Woman is the mother of the four main Navajo clans. She took the people of the clans to the San Francisco Peaks, where the spiritual beings gave the Navajo people their language and also taught them how to use it in prayers and songs. Another important figure is Spider Woman, who taught the Twins how to overcome adversity.

Between ad 700 and 1400, the majority of Navajos gradually followed the San Juan River and migrated to the southwestern United States.

RELIGION

According to the Navajo, the universe has two classes of people: human beings and Holy People (supernatural beings). The universe functions according to a fixed set of rules, and these rules must be learned and followed to ensure safety. Hózhó is the Navajo concept of beauty, harmony, balance, health, goodness, etc. Ceremonies are performed to maintain or restore hózhó. There are six main groups of ceremonies: Blessing Way (to gain the good will of the Holy People and bring good fortune); War (no longer practiced); Game Way (hunting rituals—no longer practiced); Holy Way (to attract good); Evil Way, or Ghost Way (to exorcise evil), and Life Way (to cure bodily injuries). Each group of ceremonies contains a number of specific ceremonies. For example, the Holy Way group includes Beauty Way (if snakes have been offended), Shooting Way (if thunder and lightning must be appeased), and Mountain Top Way (for conflict with bears). Each ceremony has its own set of chants, and every chant has its own particular sand painting. Two important ceremonies for the Navajos are the nidáá' (called the "squaw dance" by European Americans), which is a three-day healing ceremony held in the summer, and the yé'ii bicheii (or Nigh Way), which is a nine-day healing ceremony held in the winter.

There are about 1,200 different designs for traditional sand paintings for use in specific ceremonies to treat specific illnesses. Details of each of these designs is handed down by memory from one healer to the next. Each chant also has its own songs, prayers, and herbal medicines. Blessing Way songs are sung in approval of a new headman, for an impending birth, for men leaving for or returning from military service, marriages, and girls' puberty ceremonies.

Navajos believe that diseases and accidents result from an attack by the Holy People in return for some transgression or offense by the victim. The curing ceremony mends the wrong done. If the person is not cured after the ceremony, this means that the actual wrong that person committed has not yet been uncovered, and the search must continue. The cost of ceremonies is borne by the patient or her or his family. The Blessing Way is the backbone of the Navajo ceremonial system. It is performed frequently throughout the year. Other ceremonies are more specific, or more extensive, and are therefore only performed on occasion or at certain times of the year.

Peyotism took hold among the Navajos around the 1930s. Peyote, first described as a "narcotic cactus," was used as a sacrament and for religious purposes, but its use was prohibited on the Navajo reservation. In 1955 its use was approved by the Tribal Council. About 25,000 Navajos now belong to the Native American Church (incorporated as the peyote religion), and as many as 12,000 more probably attend services without being registered on the rolls. Many Navajos are also at least nominally Christian, though even Christian Navajos usually continue to practice their native religion. One of the keys to understanding the Navajo religion is recognizing that they focus on living well in the world rather than focusing on an afterlife, and they seek to live in harmony with nature.

MAJOR HOLIDAYS

As U.S. citizens, Navajos celebrate the Fourth of July, or Independence Day, and Christian Navajos celebrate Christian holidays.

RITES OF PASSAGE

The most important rite of passage still celebrated among the Navajo is the kinaaldá—the girls' puberty rite. The ceremonies last for more than four days and involve foot races and other rituals related to the ceremony.

INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS

Navajos communicate by listening quietly to one another. They speak slowly and thoughtfully, as if they are "weaving" their words. They also make decisions slowly, talking and thinking things over for a long time. Traditionally, Navajos preferred to reach consensus rather than letting majority rule. Today, their government is based on majority rule.

Sharing and reciprocity are central to Navajo interpersonal relations. If a favor is done, a favor can be expected in return, if an injury is done, an injury can be expected in return, unless some kind of compensation is provided: in other words, "an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth," in both good and bad ways. Navajos are very generous as well and share what they have with those in need. However, in response to the modern world around them, Navajos are becoming more aggressive.

LIVING CONDITIONS

Some Navajos still live in traditional hogans (round, or sometimes hexagonal or octagonal dwellings built of logs and mud, or rocks, with a central air vent in the roof). Most today, however, live either in modernized hogans or Western-style homes or trailers. Almost all homes, whether modern or traditional, are still built facing east, an ancient Navajo custom. The Western-style housing provided by the government at low cost on the Navajo reservations does not always fit well with the Navajo lifestyle. In addition, the cheap, lightweight construction often cannot stand up to rough use. Also, maintenance is neglected and funds for upkeep are often difficult to obtain. Most Navajo homes are still without telephones, and those in more remote or isolated areas of the reservations have no running water or electricity. Some families must haul water many miles to use for bathing and cooking. Water conservation is of utmost importance.

Navajos have many health problems stemming from poverty, lack of access to modern health care, the effects of coal and uranium mining (such as very high cancer rates), and pollution in the water, soil, and air. In 1979, near Gallup, New Mexico, gallons of radioactive water accidentally spilled into the Puerco River from the United Nuclear Corporation's uranium mill, making the water undrinkable. It remains undrinkable today both from the uranium spill and other sources of pollution. The Navajo health care system incorporates both Western and traditional Navajo healing methods. New Indian Health Service hospitals provide a room in which traditional Navajo healers may conduct curing ceremonies. Navajo health was greatly improved by Annie Wauneka, who headed a crusade against tuberculosis in the mid-20th century. The number of Navajos with the disease was reduced by almost half between the years of 1953 and 1960. Wauneka received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963 for her work.

A road-improvement campaign on Navajo reservations in recent years has led to many miles of paved roads and even more graveled ones (as opposed to the dirt tracks common and sufficient before the increased use of automobiles).

FAMILY LIFE

The family and clan are central to Navajo life. It is believed that every full-blooded Navajo is generally related to no fewer than 12 clans. Clan relationships can be quite complex. Matrilineal and matrilocal, Navajos trace their descent through their mothers, and newly married couples live near the wife's mother. The home, crops, and livestock are owned and cared for by women, while the men represent their families in public and at ceremonials. Extended families are very important to Navajos, with Grandmother holding a place of great respect.

CLOTHING

Navajo men today wear Western-style clothing for everyday use: denim jeans, colorful shirts, cowboy boots, and Stetson hats, if they can afford them. Older women tend to wear more traditional dress, dating back to the 1860s: long, full, colorful skirts with velveteen blouses. For very special occasions, some women wear a biil (blanket dress), worn with buckskin leggings. Some Navajos still wear leather moccasins for everyday purposes. Navajos are known for their silver and turquoise jewelry.

FOOD

Although many Navajo children are fond of hamburgers, pizza, fried chicken, French fries, and soft drinks, mutton stew and fry bread are favorite foods for many Navajos. No Navajo gathering is complete without one or more booths making and/or selling mutton stew and fry bread. Navajo fry bread is fairly simple to make; the recipe follows:

Navajo Fry Bread

4 cups flour (the modern standard is Bluebird brand milled wheat flour, though any brand will do—white flour makes lighter, fluffier breads)
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup powdered milk
Warm water
Vegetable oil for frying

Sift dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking powder, and powdered milk) together into a large bowl. Stir in water a little at a time until dough is soft. Knead dough with hands until smooth. Cover bowl with cloth and let dough "rest" for about 2 hours Pat or roll 2" balls of dough into circles about 8 inches in diameter and ¼ inch thick. Make a small hole in the center of each circle of dough with your finger. Pour vegetable oil in frying pan or electric skillet to a depth of about ½ inch. Heat oil to 400° (or until a small pinch of dough browns quickly but does not burn). Slide a circle of dough into hot oil—dough will puff up as it cooks. Turn bread over when top is golden brown and fry for one or two more minutes. Repeat with remaining breads. Serve hot, with honey or cinnamon-sugar, or just plain. Serves about 6 people.

(Recipe courtesy of the Navajo Nation Division of Education.)

EDUCATION

Navajos today place a great emphasis on education. The Navajo Nation has set up a multimillion-dollar scholarship fund to help worthy Navajo students attend the college or university of their choice. In 1987, more than 4,000 Navajos were students in higher education. The first college ever founded and run by Native North Americans was the Navajo Community College (NCC), opened on the Navajo Reservation in January 1969, near Tsaile, Arizona. Students at NCC are taught to be bilingual, with classes in both Navajo and English. Navajo culture and language is also taught at NCC.

Plans for Ramah Navajo High School began in 1970, the first Native North American-controlled high school since the closing of the Five Civilized Tribes' school systems by the U.S. government in the early 1900s. The educational goals of Ramah High School are to make students bilingual in Navajo and English; to develop their self-esteem as Navajos; to teach them to be analytical and critical of all things, including Navajo history and culture; and to give them the skills they need to be successful in today's world. Ramah children are "children of the Navajo Nation." In 1991, about 70% of Navajo children attended public schools. One recent study found that of Navajos 25 years old and older about 50% had graduated from high school, 25% had some college, only 4.5% had completed college to receive a Bachelor of Arts or higher degree, and 28% had less than a ninth grade education.

The federal Comprehensive Employment Training Act (CETA) has provided Navajo workers with jobs and job training since the 1970s.

CULTURAL HERITAGE

Navajo culture is orally transmitted, since for most of Navajo history there was no written language (today, Navajo is written with an adapted Roman alphabet). Because religion cannot be separated from the rest of Navajo life, all music and oral literature was traditionally associated with religious rites, ceremonies, and teaching stories. Today, Navajos are writing works of literature, such as poet Rex Lee Jim, who has published several books of poetry in Navajo.

Navajo rugs and silver and turquoise jewelry have transcended the level of craft to become fine arts. Rug weaving, done on an upright loom adapted long ago from the neighboring Pueblo tribes, is traditionally a woman's art, with patterns passed down from mother to daughter. Intricately patterned rugs are woven without a printed design to follow. The designs are instead kept entirely in the woman's memory. Silver and turquoise jewelry is crafted by both men and women. Navajo jewelry has come to be highly prized by investors and collectors worldwide.

Sand paintings began as a religious tradition and have recently become a sought-after art form. Sand paintings made for show and/or sale are altered enough in design so as not to offend the Holy People. Traditionally made for use in curing ceremonies, sand paintings have specific designs for treating specific illnesses. In all, there were about 1,200 individual designs that healers had to memorize. Today those 1,200 designs have been supplemented by the secular patterns used for non-religious sand paintings. A traditional sand painting may range in size from 1 to 12 feet in diameter (if circular, or the equivalent if square or rectangular), but most are about 6 feet by 6 feet. They are done with sand colored with natural dyes on a tan sand base. Designs are made up of angular figures made of straight lines and zigzags, representing Navajo spirits, scenery, animals, corn, sun, sky, and rainbows. A sand painting often takes hours to complete. When finished, in a healing ceremony the ill person sits in the center of the painting and the healer transfers the orderly goodness of the painting into the patient and transfers the illness from the patient into the painting. The sand painting is then erased at the end of the ceremony.

WORK

Most Navajos are small farmers and herders. Some Navajos serve in the U.S. armed forces. Others work for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), state, or Navajo tribe. Some find seasonal off-reservation employment. The timber industry and Navajo Tribal Utility generating plant provide some revenue and employment for the Navajo Nation, but unemployment on the reservation remains high. Silversmithing, performed by both men and women, was a traditional source of income, but today crafts are only a minor source. Women have been the most dependable source of income for generations through their weaving of Navajo rugs for sale. The Navajo Nation also leases land to oil and gas companies for drilling, and to mining companies for the extraction of vanadium, uranium, coal, sand, and gravel. But the Navajos get very little return from these operations. The Fort Defiance industrial park financed and built by Navajos and now leased to General Dynamics provides a somewhat better return, but poverty, unemployment, and underemployment are still serious problems for the Navajo Nation. The overall Navajo unemployment rate has remained constant at nearly 40% since the 1990s. Many Navajos must leave home to find work in cities.

SPORTS

Rodeo is very popular among the Navajos. Dine College even has a rodeo coach on staff. Winning top honors at the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association Finals is considered a high achievement.

ENTERTAINMENT AND RECREATION

The Navajo Nation Fair, held in Window Rock, Arizona, for nine days each year in September, is the largest such fair in the United States. The smaller Northern Navajo Fair is held in Shiprock, New Mexico, usually the first weekend in October. Both fairs feature competitions in traditional song and dance.

FOLK ART, CRAFTS, AND HOBBIES

Rug weaving and jewelry making are crafts that have risen to the status of fine arts, along with the making of sand paintings. The traditional crafts of basketry and pottery are currently being revived. Pottery and basketry are considered women's crafts.

SOCIAL PROBLEMS

Like most Native North Americans today, Navajos suffer from widespread alcoholism and drug abuse. Perpetual conflicts exist between more "traditional" Navajos, who want to continue living in traditional ways, and the more "progressive" Navajos, usually the younger generations, who want to modernize life on the reservation. Navajos have a high rate of suicide, even among Native North Americans (all of whom have higher suicide rates than all other races in the United States and Canada). Child abuse is also becoming a serious problem in Navajo society.

The Navajo homelands, or Dinétah, are being destroyed by environmental damage from oil drilling, mining operations, and overgrazing. Efforts to restore the lands to health are insufficient and not very successful so far. Since 1974, the Navajos have been embroiled in a conflict over what was known as the Joint Use Area—a region shared with Hopi Indians since the late 19th century. In 1874, the U.S. Congress passed a bill that partitioned the area between the Hopis and Navajos, requiring about 100 Hopis and thousands of Navajos to relocate. Many of these people had been living on that land for generations. After years of wrangling with each other, the Hopis and Navajos realized that it is not they but the Peabody Coal mining company that wants this land partitioned (the coal company wants access to the coal located there). The Navajo Nation joined the Hopi Tribe in filing a joint lawsuit against Peabody Coal in May of 2000. The Hopi and Navajo are asking for $600 million in lost revenue.

GENDER ISSUES

In traditional Navajo ideology, there are four separate cultural categories of gender: women, men, nádleehé, and dilbaa. Nádleehé is "a person who is in a constant state of change," but is a feminine persona who was born with both male and female genitalia and dresses and functions in Navajo society as a woman. Dilbaa were persons born with both male and female genitalia but in adult life dressed and functioned as men. The dilbaa was the first of these gender categories to disappear from Navajo gender classification; the process began in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Nádleehé are still recognized and still can be found in Navajo society today.

The sex of a child, while determined at conception in Navajo traditional belief, can be externally influenced both before and after conception. Navajo parents believe that there are many concrete procedures that can be followed to influence the sex of child; however, that only relates to the categories of males and females, not to that of nádleehé and dilbaa.

Boys and girls enter adulthood at the onset of puberty. For boys, this is signaled by the deepening of the voice, and for girls, by the onset of menstruation. The kinaaldá ceremony mentioned in section 7 above is the girl's puberty ceremony that socializes her into the role of an adult woman. For boys, there are several ceremonies that prepare them for the roles they assume as adult men in Navajo society.

In Navajo oral history, there was a separation between men and women. The two lived apart from each other for four years. After that time, both realized that they could not live without the other and rejoined. Men and women agreed to assume separate but complementary roles and responsibilities. Women were in charge of the household, the livestock, the agricultural fields and the products thereof. Men were in charge of hunting, politics, and ceremonies. This complementary division continues in modern Navajo society and has even been applied to the modern political arena of the Navajo Nation government where men are in control.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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———. The Navajo. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, 2005.

Lester, Richard. "What Should You Know About Teaching on the Navajo Reservation?" Orientation Handbook, revised edition. Window Rock, AZ: Navajo Nation Division of Education, n.d.

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—revised by J. Williams