The Navajo traditionally were hunter-gatherers descended from more Northern areas of modern-day Canada. When they arrived in their current homeland, they adopted some of the farming practices of neighboring tribes, likely the Pueblo people, cultivating the Three Sisters. They would grind corn into flour and make small cakes cooked over the embers of outdoor clay ovens, as well as fry bread. Later, when the Spanish introduced sheep, the Navajo became herders and mutton became a dietary staple.
One nearly inescapable modern food, pork, remains deeply unpopular with the Navajo. The source of this dislike, as the story goes, comes from the time when Navajo were sent to Bosque Redondo, a military-like boarding school for the Americanization of the Navajo, where pork was force-fed to the people.
(navajopeople.org, ic-migration.webhost.uits.arizona.edu)
Food
Traditional Navajo clothing consisted of deerskin shirts and skirts. Once sheep were introduced, the Navajo became weavers, with outdoor looms of especial importance. Women wore squaw dress blankets of plain, dark colors along with beaded necklaces, while more intricately patterned and colorful blankets were used for a variety of purposes, such as lap blankets and doors to their homes. Men often wore headbands but went shirtless. These clothing styles can be seen in the pictures of the last Navajo Chief Manuelito and his family.
Today, Navajo blankets are still popular in everyday life, as well as sold to tourists and donned for reenactments. Navajo turquoise jewelry is also a popular adornment.
(navajopeople.org)
Clothing
The hogan is the traditional shelter of the Navajo people. The hogan is a one-room, gabled or conical dwelling of logs and earth, with no inner walls. The hogans were traditionally built into homestead groups, which themselves were loosely clustered into camps that made of the Navajo band. These bands were resident-lineage territories comprised of either patri- or matrilocal families linked by kinship and friendship networks over long periods of time.
The single-roomed hogan’s doorway was oriented eastwards towards the dawn, for religious reasons. While having no physical separation inside, the hogan was divided into areas mapping to the compass. East was the doorway, West was the seat of honor, North was where women stayed, and South was for the men. In the center was the hearth. Hogans were often rebuilt with each generation, because the Navajo feared the spirits of the dead, and would construct a new hogan whenever somebody died. (Jett 1978) While today most houses are modern, it is not uncommon for a family to also construct a hogan, especially for religious or ceremonial purposes.
Shelter
Food
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How might the environment have impacted traditional Navajo food preparation?
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How did contact with Europeans change Navajo dietary practices? What do you think were the benefits or drawbacks of this?
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Why do you think that many Native Americans have adopted modern appliances (such as ovens, microwaves, etc.) for food preparation?
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Why do you think that despite modern adoption, many still prepare food in traditional ways?
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Are there any foods native to your own culture that you try to preserve despite modern tastes and conveniences?
Clothing
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How did contact with the Spanish, particularly their sheep, impact Navajo clothing practices? Why do you think they adopted this technology?
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What are some similarities and differences between how Navajo used blankets and how you use them?