[Illustration: _Tobadzischi{~COMBINING BREVE~}ni_ - Navaho]
_Tobadzischi{~COMBINING BREVE~}ni_ - Navaho
_From Copyright Photograph 1904 by E.S. Curtis_
LANGUAGE--Athapascan.
POPULATION--About 17,000 (officially estimated at 20,600).
DRESS--Primitively the men dressed in deerskin shirts, hip-leggings,
moccasins, and native blankets. These were superseded by what has been the
more universal costume during the present generation: close-fitting cotton
or velvet shirt, without collar, cut rather low about the neck and left
open under the arms; breeches fashioned from any pleasing, but usually
very thin, material, and extending below the knees, being left open at the
outer sides from the bottom to a little above the knees; deerskin
moccasins with rawhide soles, which come to a little above the ankles, and
brown deerskin leggings from moccasin-top to knee, held in place at the
knee by a woven garter wound several times around the leg and the end
tucked in. The hair is held back from the eyes by a head-band tied in a
knot at the back. In early times the women wore deerskin waist, skirt,
moccasins, and blanket, but these gradually gave place to the so-called
"squaw-dress," woven on the blanket loom, and consisting of two small
blankets laced together at the sides, leaving arm-holes, and without being
closed at top or bottom. The top then was laced together, leaving an
opening for the head, like a poncho. This blanket-dress was of plain dark
colors. To-day it has practically disappeared as an article of Navaho
costume, the typical "best" dress of the women now consisting of a velvet
or other cloth skirt reaching to the ankles, a velvet shirt-like waist cut
in practically the same manner as that of the men, and also left open
under the arms. Many silver and shell ornaments are worn by both sexes.
The women part their hair down the middle and tie it in a knot at the
back.
DWELLINGS--Whatever its form or stability, the Navaho house is called
_hogan_. In its most substantial form it is constructed by first planting
four heavy crotch posts in the ground; cross logs are placed in the
crotches, and smaller ones are leaned from the ground to these, the corner
logs being longer, forming a circular framework, which is covered with
brush and a heavy coating of earth. The entrance is invariably at the
east. The building of a hogan and its first occupancy are attended with
ceremony and prayer. For the great nine-day rites hogans like those used
as dwellings, but larger, are built. Generally they are used for the one
occasion only, but in localities where there are very few trees the same
ceremonial hogan may be used for a generation or more. For summer use a
brush shelter, usually supported by four corner posts and sometimes
protected by a windbreak, is invariably used, supplanting a once common
single slant shelter.
PRIMITIVE FOODS--See the list in the vocabulary.
ARTS AND INDUSTRIES--The Navaho are known the world over for their skill in
weaving. Practically every Navaho woman is a weaver, and the blanketry
produced is one of the most important handicrafts of any tribe of North
American Indians. A few baskets, of a single form, are made, and for
ceremonial use only, most so-called Navaho ceremonial baskets being
manufactured by neighboring tribes. The Navaho are also skilful
silversmiths, having learned the art of metal-working from the Spaniards.
Their first work of this character, however, was in iron, but this was
superseded by the more easily worked silver. Some pottery is made, but it
is rather crude in form, black in color, and without decoration.
POLITICAL ORGANIZATION--The government of the Navaho is rather loose;
indeed, inasmuch as they have no head-chief strictly such, it may be said
that they have no _tribal_ government. Their code of ethics and morals is
governed almost entirely by their religious beliefs. There is always a man
who is denominated the head-chief, but his influence is seldom much
greater than that of any one of the many subordinate chiefs who are the
recognized heads of small groups only.
CLANS--Descent is reckoned through the mother, and a man and a woman
belonging to the same clan may not marry. There are also related clans,
forming phratries, within which marriage is also prohibited by tribal
custom. In the Navaho creation myth it is related that four pairs of men
and women were made by Yolkai Estsan at her home beyond the western ocean,
whence they migrated eastward, far inland, joining others of their kind
created but a short time previously. Each parent pair was given a sacred
jewel wand with which to bring water from the earth if no springs were
found during the journey. The first man brought water with ease,
remarking, "The water is close," owing to which circumstance he came to be
termed To Ahani, Water Is Close. In a similar way the other three pairs
received the names of To Dichini, Bitter Water; Hashkli{~COMBINING BREVE~}shni, Mud; and
Kinya Ani, Houses in the Cliffs. It required four days to make the journey
from the ocean to what was to be their homeland. On the first day children
were born to the several pairs; they matured by nightfall and camped apart
from the parents as though they were not of kin, and received in turn a
family name derived from their camp surroundings, from peculiarity of
dress or form, or from remarks they made. These in turn bore children on
the following day, who gave birth to others on the third. Thus were
produced three new generations from each parent pair. All these then
became clanship groups bearing names now applied to various Navaho clans.
The four generations, including the original pairs, formed phratries,
which have no names. The clans in each phratry in the order of generations
are as follows:
To Ahani - Water Is Close
Tzilh Klaani - Mountain Corner
Tane Zani - Scattered Mounds
Hone Gani - Goes Around
To Dichini - Bitter Water
Tsins Akani - Under the Trees
Bin Betoni - Deer Spring
To Dakoshe - Salty Water
Hashkli{~COMBINING BREVE~}shni - Mud
To Tsu{~COMBINING BREVE~}hni - Big Water
Bitani - Folds her Arms
Hluha Dine{~COMBINING BREVE~} - Reed People
Ki{~COMBINING BREVE~}nya Ani - Houses in the Cliffs
Be Aani - Fallen Leaves
Tzilh Tad - In Front of the Mountains
Ki{~COMBINING BREVE~}nya Ani - (An inferior clan of the same name as the first of this
group)
Cliff people already occupying the country formed three clans:
Tsenijikinne{~COMBINING BREVE~}, In the Rock Houses; To Het Kli{~COMBINING BREVE~}ni, Where the Waters Come
Together; and Tzilhnuhodinli, Beside the Mountain. An old woman joined the
Navaho from the salt lakes to the south, heading the Ashihin clan. People
from Jemez formed the Mai Deshkis, or Coyote Pass, clan; Apache from the
Cibicu canon, the Deschini clan, or Red-light People, and families from
Zuni the Nashtezhe{~COMBINING BREVE~}, Blackened Eyebrows, clan, and Tuh'chini, Red Heads,
clan, so called from their painted faces and bodies. There are numerous
other clanship groups derived from adopted peoples now recognized as being
distinctly Navaho; the first sixteen clans here named are accepted in the
tribe as being strictly Navaho in origin.
MARRIAGE--The girl's consent is necessary to marriage, but tribal custom
demands that the intended husband compensate her parents, the usual price
being fourteen horses and a silver belt. Indeed, the bringing of the
horses is a part of the ceremony. When a young man desires to marry, but
does not have the necessary number of horses, his friends aid him by
presenting horses until he has the required number. The marriage ceremony
takes place at night under the direction of a medicine-man.
[Illustration: _Ga__n__askidi_ - Navaho]
_Ga__n__askidi_ - Navaho
_From Copyright Photograph 1904 by E.S. Curtis_
ORIGIN--Mythical First People produced from corn, rain, pollen, and
precious stones in a miraculous manner by four gods and the Winds.
PERSONS OF MIRACULOUS BIRTH--Naye{~COMBINING BREVE~}nezgani and Tobadzischi{~COMBINING BREVE~}ni are the sons
of the Sun and Water respectively, and the virgin Yolkai Estsan,
White-Shell Woman. Man-destroying monsters, symbolic of earthly evils,
infested the earth until destroyed by these two miraculous personages.
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
hogan, the planting of crops, etc.--is ceremonial in nature, each being
attended with songs and prayers.
BURIAL--The Navaho dead are buried by others than immediate relatives in
unmarked graves. No ceremonies are held, for the dead are considered evil
and are feared. The hogan in which death occurs is forever abandoned,
often burned. Sometimes a hogan is demolished over the dead and then left
to decay.
AFTER-WORLD--An under-world whence came the spirit people who created man
and to which spirits return.