Navajo Textiles

 

Textiles

Textiles are an important part of Navajo culture.  Textiles are evidence of cultural and geographic changes.  Textiles preserve many of the rituals, symbols, and stories of the Navajo.  

The Navajo people have experienced multiple forced relocations in their history, including in the 1860s and 1974:

1860s

In the 1860s, the U.S. Army used a scorched-earth policy against the Navajo, burning their homes and fields, and killing or stealing their livestock. In 1864, the U.S. Army forced around 9,000 Navajo to march over 300 miles from Fort Defiance, Arizona to Bosque Redondo, New Mexico for internment. This forced march, known as "The Long Walk", was intended to be a reservation, but instead functioned as an internment camp where soldiers prevented the Navajo from leaving. The Navajo were given inadequate resources and faced a dark period known as "The Fearing Time". Four years later, the U.S. established the Navajo Indian Reservation, allowing the tribe to return to their homeland.

1974

The Land Settlement Act of 1974 divided 1.8 million acres of jointly owned Navajo-Hopi land in northern Arizona, creating an artificial boundary that required families to relocate. The law made eligible families eligible for relocation expenses, and the Office of Navajo and Hopi Indian Relocation was created to carry out the relocation. By 2018, over 3,600 families had relocated, and the office was still operating.

Navajo weaving has a history that dates back at least 300 years, with written records dating back to the early 18th century. The tradition began when the Navajo, a semi-nomadic tribe that settled in the American Southwest in the 10th and 11th centuries, learned from the Hopi how to weave. The introduction of sheep by Spanish colonizers in the 1500s provided a steady supply of wool, revolutionizing the weaving process.  

Navajo women, who owned the sheep in their matriarchal society, were the primary weavers. They initially wove women's dresses by sewing two blankets together, eventually evolving into single blankets, or mantas, and then Chief's blankets. Navajo blankets were originally used for clothing and for trade with the Spanish and Plains Indians. In fact, in the past, a Navajo woman couldn't marry a man unless she could weave him a beautiful blanket. 

As the need for warm blankets diminished, Navajo weavers began to create decorative rugs and tapestries, known for their distinct style and colors. Over time, Navajo rugs became more diverse and sought after, with some pieces selling for over $100,000 at auction.

The first blankets were traditional geometric designs that were almost neutral in terms of meaning.  Many were based on geometric designs representing natural elements and possibly alluding to the story of the Spider Woman who taught weaving to the Hopi and Navajo.  However, around 1910 the US government introduced French Rambouillet sheep to the reservation to increase meat and fleece production. However, the quality of the wool was poor, making it difficult to clean, and some weavers lost interest in the process.  However, two things occurred with industrialization and tourism. 

 

2 Navajo Eye Dazzler Blanket 1880's

The arrival of railroads brought an influx of tourists seeking authentic Navajo textiles as souvenirs. This demand sparked a transformation in the weaving industry, as commercially produced and dyed wool became readily available. The introduction of higher-quality wool and vibrant colors revolutionized the craft, making the blankets more desirable and valuable. This shift led to significant financial gains for the weavers and paved the way for the mass production of blankets for export, catapulting Navajo textiles into the global market.

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Shortly after 1910, Hosteen Klah began weaving blankets that, for the first time, incorporated ritual designs. One of the earliest examples of these depicted a ceremonial dance and sacred masks worn by the dancers. This was highly controversial and some of the other clan elders condemned it as sacrilegious.

In 1911, Hosteen Klah created a controversial blanket featuring Yei Be Chei dancers and sacred masks. Local singers deemed it sacrilegious and demanded that Klah perform a ceremony to expel evil spirits and destroy the weaving. Instead, Klah sent the blanket to Washington, DC, without facing any consequences.  

Hosteen Klah, a renowned Navajo artist and spiritual leader, is widely recognized as an intersex individual, born with physical characteristics that don't fit typical male or female classifications. This aspect of Klah's identity is significant, as it empowered him to bridge traditional gender roles in his community. In Navajo culture, weaving is typically considered a female activity, while chanting is seen as a male domain. Klah's intersex status enabled him to transcend these gender boundaries, exceling as both a weaver and a chanter. His unique perspective and abilities allowed him to create exquisite sandpainting rugs and perform important ceremonial chants, leaving a lasting legacy in Navajo art and spirituality.

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Six years later, Klah shared his cultural heritage with Franc Newcomb, the wife of trader Arthur Newcomb. After witnessing a Nightway ceremony, she became dedicated to helping Klah preserve Navajo traditions through various art forms. Franc attempted to recreate the sandpainting designs from memory but struggled. Klah sketched them for her in pencil, which she then translated into watercolor reproductions. To avoid offending other Navajo, she displayed them in her bedroom. Encouraged by the lack of repercussions, Klah created 27 more paintings for her.

In 1919, Klah began weaving sandpainting rugs based on his ceremonial chants. His first piece, a whirling log design from the Nightway ceremony, marked the beginning of a new art form. Over the years, Klah collaborated with non-Navajo scholars, sharing his songs, ceremonies, stories, and sand paintings. Although his Navajo student, Beaal Begay, passed away in 1931, Klah continued to work with his nieces, Gladys and Irene, creating over 70 sandpainting weavings between 1919 and 1937. These artworks preserved the ceremonial sand paintings for future generations.

One of Klah's collaborators was Mary Cabot Wheelwright, who founded the Museum of Navajo Ceremonial Art in 1937. With the Newcombs' introduction, Wheelwright recorded many of Klah's songs and established the museum to safeguard his medicine knowledge and sacred objects.

The design on these rugs is a good example of Navajo weaving because it’s the end result of the contextual, formal, and symbolic elements are shared by many of the sand paintings and blankets from the 19th through today. 

It is flat, stylized and almost diagrammatic in its rendering.  Although it contains forms based on nature, it is neither illusionistic or naturalistic.  There is no creation of depth or space, all the elements are pushed up against the front of the picture plane.  The composition is radially symmetrical.  The blanket made in the 1930s uses a less saturated or intense pallet of colors, but the one on the right uses more intense or saturated colors.  The change in color is probably the result of changes in taste, possibly to make the blanket more salable, and the availability of commercially dyed wool. 

The symbolism and content of the image also relates to the religion, ritual, and story telling of the Navajo.  It portrays a story called the Whirling Logs.

The Whirling Log episode is a pivotal element in the Nightway chant, appearing on the sixth night, as well as in the Feather or Plumeway and Waterway chants. This iconic sandpainting is also referred to as the Floating Logs episode.

In the sandpainting, four gods are depicted clockwise from the top:

- Talking God (B'ganaskiddy), the teacher

- Calling God (Hastye-o-gahn), associated with farming and fertility

- Two humpbacked guardians, dressed alike, representing seed gatherers and bearers

The gods carry prayer sticks, while Talking God also holds a medicine pouch in the shape of a weasel. The sandpainting shows the hero's encounter with a whirling cross, where he learns about farming and receives seeds from the Yei pair (male and female deities). The plants - corn, beans, squash, and tobacco - are depicted in the four sacred colors (white, blue, yellow, and black) according to their cardinal positions.

The Rainbow Yei, a guardian god, is portrayed on the right side, bottom, and left side of the sandpainting. A blue circle may be drawn at the intersection of the cross, representing the whirlpool that was the hero's destination. In Navajo sand paintings, figures typically move towards the sunrise or clockwise, with the east (top) being the orientation of the hogan's door, symbolizing the dawn's light.

The Whirling Log is a sacred symbol in Navajo culture that represents wellbeing, good luck, and protection. It's one of the oldest symbols depicted by humans, with recordings in rock and cave paintings dating back at least 6,000 years. Navajos used sand paintings to portray the Whirling Log in their religious ceremonies until the late 1800s, and by 1896 the symbol was also appearing on Navajo rugs. Some weavers still incorporate the Whirling Log into their textiles today.

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