Sheep Is Life - Navajo History - PDF

llllllilllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll THE DINE (NAVAJOS) SHEEP IS LIFE Nancy]. Parezo For more than three centuries, the Din...

llllllilllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll THE DINE (NAVAJOS) SHEEP IS LIFE Nancy]. Parezo For more than three centuries, the Dine have been pastoralists, relying on herds of sheep, horses, and cattle for their subsis- tence. But pastoralism is more than simply a way to put food on the table; it is a way of life that embodies important values of Navajo culture and that is a metaphor for cultural identity. It is also a state of mind that sustains those Dine who have jobs in stores and factories off the reservation and who no longer herd sheep. Navajo history revolves around central concepts of animals, plants, the land, and journeys through a dynamic landscape. History is a story of tradition and change, of individuals and groups actively responding to a wide variety of forces and influ- ences. The stimuli for these responses have been internal and external, and have affected all aspects of Navajo life. The Dine think of life as a journey in which walking separates activities in a world full of motion. Walking, an event important in and of itself, is a necessary element, too, in telling a story or presenting a historical account. In their mythology, Navajo orators describe walking and journeys, the landscape and places the hero or hero- ine passes through. Thus the Navajos walk the Beautiful Trail, and their history is a story of individual and group journeys- both through evolving mythical worlds and across the present landscape-in search of harmony, order, and peace. Dine history begins with the creation of the world at The Place Where the Waters Crossed. The Navajos tell of four worlds through which their ancestors journeyed before emerging into this, the Fifth World. Each of these worlds was colored and in- 4 TI-IE DINE (NAVAJOS) A shepherd and his flock at Pine Springs, near Chinle, in 1970. (Helga Teiwes, Arizona State Museum) habited by primordial peoples who were incorporated into Dine society. People tried to live in peace, but disharmony and disorder forced them to ascend to higher worlds in their search for an orderly universe. Ultimately, they moved to the Fifth World, emerging in the center of Navajo sacred land only to discover that the world was covered with water and inhabited by mon- sters. The Holy People came to terms with Water Monster, from whom Coyote had playfully stolen a child. When the child was returned, the waters receded, and the world of the Dine was ready to be formed. The next stage of Dine history involved preparing the land and making it beautiful by eliminating chaos. The stars, moon and sun, food animals, plants, and mountains were created, day and night were distinguished, and time was divided into four seasons. Changing Woman was born of the mingling of darkness and dawn, and her children-Child Born of Water and Monster Slayer-defeated the monsters and made the world safe. Only when all was ready did First Man and First Woman build a ,m 111111111 1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111, 1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 CREATION STORY THE GATHERING OF THE CLANS Nancy J. Parezo When Changing Woman left for the west, her ers answered. "We have survived only on ducks younger sister, White Shell Woman, returned to and snakes, prairie dogs, and whatever berries her home in the San Juan Mountains. But after five and seeds our women and children have been days White Shell Woman longed for company. able to gather." Talking God saw her plight and brought all the The people of the Honeycombed Rock clan Holy People to her house. Changing Woman asked them to live with them because they had brought two sacred blankets of dark embroidery food. "You are welcome to travel the path we and white embroidery. Talking God brought two travel, to rest where we rest, to hunt where we buckskins, and First Man and First Woman brought hunt, and to share that which we have." So they two perfect ears of female and male corn. brought the people to White Shell Woman, With ceremony and prayer, Talking God who named them T sed'ithnii, or Rock Corner pointed the corn in the four cardinal directions. Place People, after the place where they had He placed them on the blanket under the buck- met. She called all of them her children. skins. The Wind breathed on the corn four Soon other clans came and were named. times, and the white corn changed into a man Then Talking God took White Shell Woman to and the yellow into a woman. Rock Crystal Boy live in Tsegi Canyon at the Place of the Moun- gave them minds, and Yellow Corn Girl gave tain Sheep. The people did not want to see her them voices. When the Holy People were fin- go, but she told them not to be sad: "I will come ished forming these Earth Surface People, they often to see you and I shall watch over you. Your went into White Shell Woman's home, and the need for me is no longer great. You are growing Holy People departed for their homes. stronger as a people and !earning to control the In four days, Talking God brought Ground things of this world. Look for me when you see Mist Girl and Mirage Boy to marry the first sib- the gentle showers of female rain." lings. Each couple had one boy and one girl. Now when new people came, they named From these people are descended the Tsenl- themselves. Some came from other groups-- jfkini clan, the Honeycombed Rock People. Be- Ute, Zuni, Pueblo, Mexican, and Apache. Some cause Talking God pointed the corn in the four were formed by Changing Woman when she directions, the Navajo people never live like the was lonely. Others had no known history, hav- Pueblo people. They migrate constantly from ing survived the monsters. All had long journeys place to place and are scattered across the land. and faced many hardships and adventures be- One day, the Honeycombed Rock People saw fore finding the right place to live. Sometimes a fire far off in the distance, They searched for they dwelled apart for a while, but eventually the source for many days, and with the help of they joined the Dine and behaved as if they were the Wind they found a small encampment of one. Each brought new skills, which they shared. Earth Surface People. The people rejoiced and From that time on, the Dine flourished as they asked, "Where do you come from?" hunted and grew food, living simply here on the "We come from, Tsetigaii ii'ithi, the Place surface of the Fifth World. Where the White Rock Stands," the newcom- (Adapted from Zolbrod 1984) 6 THE DINE (NAVAJOS) hogan. In the hogan the Holy People (immortal beings who travel by following the path of the rainbow and sunray) created Earth People, sent them on migrations, and taught them how to be human-how to bathe, to cook, to understand, to contact the Holy People in the proper manner, to behave properly, and to make clothing, pottery, baskets, and tools. The Holy People stressed the importance of ceremonies and prayer to insure that the world and the Dine's travels would be harmonious and or- derly, for as Irene Stewart has said, "When our Blessingway is forgotten, our elders say the earth will be destroyed by fire" (1980:52). Earth People thus have grave responsibilities. The Dine were taught to search for h6zhQ, a state in which all is beautiful, harmonious, and good, and how to put the world in order when individuals or evil things place it in flux. All life is interdependent, and Navajos respect all beings, not just the Holy People, for their special characteristics. Navajo culture is marked by flexibility and evolution as well as continuity, which is fortunate, since the Beautiful Trail has not always been easy but has instead been filled with many trials and adventures. For centuries, Dine have adopted many things that complemented and enriched their lives and have rejected those which did not. They have, in turn, offered new ideas to the peoples with whom they interacted. For example, the Navajos learned to farm from the Puebloan peoples. So prolific did they become that Franciscan missionary Zarate Salmeron referred to them in 1626 as the Apaches de Nabaju, "the Apaches who practice agriculture" (Correll 1979:30). From the Spaniards, the Dine obtained sheep, goats, and horses. Tending flocks became the mainstay of their life in this arid land. Navajo cultural flex- ibility, with its underlying core of traditionalism, has allowed the Navajos to prosper-indeed, to all but reinvent themselves when necessary. They have grown by accretion, incorporating new peoples and new ideas and modeling them into that which is distinctly Navajo. The People's Journey to Their Homeland The Navajos have not always lived in their current location. The Holy People guided the Earth People on long treks to their pres- NANCY J. PAREZO 7 ent home. Some 800 to 1,000 years ago, family groups of Dine and other Athapaskan groups (like the Apaches) began to move slowly southward from their home in the cold, dark climates of the north and west to Dinetah, a land of warmth and sunshine in the Southwest. This voyage is mirrored in the Navajos' emer- gence tradition, which tells of their travels from the cold, dark worlds below to this one oflight and variegated color. To anthro- pologists, language and customs confirm the Navajos' affinity to the many Athapaskan speakers in both Canada and along the northwest coast of the United States, as well as to the various Apache groups of the Southwest. Like all hunting-and-gather- ing peoples, the Dine lived in relatively small, flexible bands and extended family groupings, meeting occasionally to discuss is- sues of concern. Religious leaders concentrated on curing the sick and insuring abundant food. The Navajos made conical skin houses, baskets, harpoons, sinew-backed bows, snowshoes, and skin clothing decorated with porcupine quills, and they used dogs to carry loads and pull travois. This period of Navajo history consists of clan migrations. All Navajos belong to a matrilineal clan composed of large groups of relatives identified with a common female ancestor. Navajo clans include T6dich'ff'nii (Bitter Water People), Kinyaa' aanii (Tower- ing House People), Ashiihi (Salt People), and To' aheed'iini (Wa- ter Flowing People). Other clans came into existence later as the Dine grew and as people from either societies married into the tribe. A Navajo is Born To the mother's clan and Born For the father's clan. Even though the Navajos consider themselves to be a people of many clans, they feel an underlying unity because they share'the same beliefs. They are, as many Navajos will say, a people who walk with beauty all around them. The Navajos' clan migrations on the Beautiful Trail brought them to the Southwest. The Dine settled in sparsely populated areas near Pueblo peoples in the canyons of what is now southern Colorado and north central New Mexico. Although the clans at first occupied specific areas and became associated with geo- graphic features, members soon moved throughout the Dine homeland. No one clan was superior to another. The Dine did not constitute a single political entity, a cultural fact that Spaniards and Anglo Americans failed to comprehend. Misunderstandings 8 THE DIN£ (NAVAJOS) resulted that had important ramifications for the Navajos. While the Navajos shared customs and a common language, their emer- gence as a tribe and a nation came only in recent times. The Navajos quickly became part of Dine Bikeyah (Navajo Country) inside the four sacred mountains-in the east, White Shell Mountain (Blanca Peak in central New Mexico); in the south, Blue Bead Mountain (Mount Taylor in northwestern New Mexico); in the west, Abalone Shell Mountain (San Fran- cisco Peak in north central Arizona); and in the north, Obsidian Mountain (Hesperus or La Plata Peak in southwestern Colo- rado). As each clan realized that it had found its homeland, the Navajos imbued the features of the land with significance. They instilled in their children a sense of belonging sanctified by tra- dition. Learning to Live in the Southwest Changes in Dine culture occurred as Navajos learned to live in the arid canyon lands, developing a highly successful adaptation to their environment based on a diversified economy. The Dine admired the reliable sources of the food the Pueblo peoples grew and saw that farming could make their lives easier. Agriculture emerged as a cornerstone of the economy, supplemented by hunting and gathering. Corn became very important in Navajo life for it was more than food. Corn pollen was used in cere- monies to symbolize fertility and prosperity, and the growth of individuals and the Navajo people came to be likened to the growth of a corn stalk. The coming of the Spaniards offered new opportunities as well as hardships for the Dine. Navajos acquired sheep and horses, thus adding pastoralism to their economic base and enabling them to become a dominant force in the Southwest. The Navajos soon came to think of themselves as pastoralists. Since the 1700s, sheep and horses have provided food, wool, and transportation. Animals are given to others as signs of generosity and are used as payment for services, such as a singer's fee to perform a curing ceremony. A pastoral life requires seasonal movements to grazing lands in the mountains in summer and the lowlands in winter. Thus NANCY J. PAREZO 9 the Navajos did not build permanent adobe houses but devel- oped hogans, single-room circular or hexagonal structures of wood covered with mud. The entrance always faces east to pay respect to the rising sun, and Navajos locate them near relatives, who work together, pooling their labor. Until very recent times, local groups-ten to forty families under the direction of a H6z- h99i Naat'aah (headman)-were economically and politically self-sufficient. A man of prestige who knows Blessingway, the headman led his people by persuasion, ability, wisdom, and elo- quence, characteristics that the Navajos value in their tribal leaders. Their pastoral life also meant that the Navajo people were scattered over a large territory, minimizing death from contagious disease. The smallpox epidemic of 1780, for example, had little effect on the Navajos, unlike the Hopis. But this did not mean that disease has been unimportant in Navajo history. The influenza epidemic of 1918-19 was devastating-more than a fifth of all the Navajos died. Navajos generally tried to avoid the Spaniards, with whom they had a precarious relationship. The seventeenth and eigh- teenth centuries saw alternating periods of peace and hostility because the Dine began raiding and because the Spaniards at- tempted to convert them to Catholicism. The Spaniards also conducted a slave trade that resulted in the theft of many Navajo children, a major cause of unrest. Navajos interacted more reg- ularly with the Pueblo peoples, although even with them rela- tions alternated between friendship and war. Pueblo groups quickly noted that the Navajos were skillful warriors who should be treated with respect. In 1630, Franciscan Fray Alonso de Benavides described an elaborate ritualized encounter with a Tewa group who had traveled to Navajo homes, which demon- strated a sharing of religious concepts and long-established trad- ing relationships between particular families. Navajos also vis- ited Pueblo settlements during dances and traded meat, hides, salt, alum, and later blankets in return for clothing and pottery. The Dine's reputation as great traders grew, as did recognition of their skill in working buckskin, making baskets, and weaving cloth. By the mid-17oos, Navajo blankets had come to be prized throughout the Southwest, on the Plains, and in Chihuahua. In the estimation of New Mexican Governor Fernando Chacon,  THE DINE (NAVAJOS) writing in 1795, Navajos worked their wool with more delicacy and taste than did the Spaniards. The manufacture and trading of goods was a crucial part of the Navajo economy. By 1800 the Pueblos were relying heavily on Navajo hides, blankets, and clothing, and the trade at Pueblo fairs was immense (see pl. 1.). The Navajos' interactions with the Pueblos periodically in- tensified. They were allies during the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, and they shared in the captives taken. Following the reconquest in 1692, many Pueblo refugees lived with the Navajos in Dinetah. Early-eighteenth-century sites in the area of present-day San Juan, New Mexico, for example, consist of clusters of hogans and small masonry pueblitos that were defended against Ute, Co- manche, and Spanish attacks. Pueblo refugees (Tewa, Keresan, Jemez, and Zuni) became incorporated as named clans and brought with them the knowledge of many skills that the Na- vajos found useful, including a rich ceremonial lore, irrigation agriculture, and pottery making. But not all their ideas were adopted. The Navajos never used a kiva; ceremonies were con- ducted in the hogan. Increasing Ute raids on their eastern settlements led the Na- vajos to abandon the Upper Chama River area and move west into unoccupied lands and llavasupai and Paiute territory, ab- sorbing some Southern Paiute groups along the way. Navajos also retaliated by attacking Spanish homesteads and raiding for livestock and they are credited with being a major factor in the abandonment of San Gabriel, the capital of New Mexico. Raid- ing and counterraiding followed a cycle interlaced with agricul- ture, herding, and trading. The Spanish noted that the Navajos were especially given to raiding during the winter months, not during periods of planting, growing, and harvesting. They con- ducted raiding and warfare under the leadership of their Hash- keeji Naat'aah (war chiefs), individuals noted for their valor and wisdom. Neither side won the undeclared war, and after Mexico became independent of Spain, New Mexicans formed a private army to fight the Navajos. In the continuing warfare, thousands of Navajos and other Indians were captured and sold as slaves in New Mexico. Individual Navajo groups debated what to do about the situation, which resulted in a split in the tribe. By 1820 NANCY J. PAREZO 11 one group, the Dine 'ana'i, who favored peace, had detached themselves and had settled at Cafioncito. Navajo farms and grazing lands were threatened anew by the arrival of the "New Men," Anglo American settlers and soldiers, in the 1850s. Trade with Anglo Americans gave New Mexicans more firearms, and the earlier pattern of intermittent peace and war intensified. Treaties were proposed and concluded, but they were quickly broken on both sides-by New Mexicans who ap- propriated Navajo grazing lands and captured slaves, and by Navajos who continued to raid. New Mexicans labored under the delusion that headmen and war leaders were chiefs with coercive powers over all the Dine, that is, individuals with whom binding treaties could be made and enforced. Most Navajos, however, had no knowledge of these agreements. Antagonism and misunderstandings were rampant, and the situation worsened in the 1850s and 1860s. With the murder of Narbona in 1849 and the Fort Fauntleroy Massacre in 1861 (in which Navajo women and children were shot while obtaining rations), the Navajos, but not the New Mexicans, were required to make restitution for damages from raiding expeditions, and the Navajo, but not the New Mexican, slave raids were curtailed. The Navajos justifiably mistrusted the u.s. Army and ignored its demands. Skirmishes increased. The army could not defeat the Navajos, and settlers clamored for access to Navajo lands as well as revenge. With the Civil War on, the Union wanted peace so that the region could be opened for mineral exploration and setdement. It also wanted to free the increasingly bored troops to fight the Confederacy. Slave traders, however, wanted the Navajo war to continue because it increased opportunities for raids. Even after the Civil War, Navajos were held as slaves; the superintendent for Indian affairs in New Mexico himself owned SlX. The Long Walk: Years in Exile In 1862 General James Carleton decided to launch a major cam- paign to relocate the Navajos to a "spacious tribal reformatory." Carleton's objective was to teach the Navajos "new habits, new 12 TI-IE DINf (NAVAJOS) ideas, new modes of life" by transforming them into sedentary farmers living in twelve villages located a mile from each other and under the direction of a military official. Navajos would be compelled, Carleton declared, "to teach their children how to read and write, teach them the arts of peace, teach them the truths of Christianity.... The old Indian will die off. Besides, you can feed them cheaper than you can fight them" (L Kelly 1970:21). Carleton first had to defeat the Navajos, however, and to do this he undertook a scorched-earth campaign. He told Colonel Kit Carson that if the Navajos refused to surrender, "the men are to be slain whenever and wherever they can be found. The women and children may be taken prisoners" (L Kelly 1970:20). Although this ultimatum was never conveyed to the Dine, Car- son led Ute, Pueblo, and New Mexican volunteers on a campaign of destruction. They burned cornfields, felled peach trees, poi- soned wells, and shot livestock during the harsh winter of 1863- 64. Several thousand Navajos scattered to isolated canyons on Black Mesa, near Navajo Mountain, and along the rim of the Grand Canyon. Many other Navajos, faced with starvation, sur- rendered. Another 300 were killed, 87 were wounded, and 703 were captured. The Long Walk (the forced migration and the detention itself, which lasted from 1864 to 1868) is one of the most significant events in Navajo history. More than 8,300 men, women, and children marched 250 miles to desolate Fort Sumner in eastern New Mexico, where recently defeated Mescalero Apaches were being detained. Tales abound of the suffering: "The trip was rnade on foot. People were shot down on the spot if they com- plained about being tired or sick, or if they stopped to help some- one.... There was absolutely no mercy" (Curly Tso, quoted in Roessel 1984:103). Stragglers were captured by New Mexicans and sold into slavery. More than 300 individuals from the first group of 2,500 perished on the journey. Fort Sumner (also called Bosque Redondo) was a concentra- tion camp where more than 9,000 people lived on land that could not support them, separated from their homeland, relatives, and livestock. Disease, inadequate housing, malnutrition, mineral- ized water, poor soil, a lack of firewood, cutworms, wolves, and NANCY J. PAREZO 13 Soldiers count Navajo prisoners at Fort Sumner in 1864 or 1866. The Long Walk of the Dine to Bosque Redondo was one of the most traumatic episodes in Navajo-U.S. relations. (U.S. Signal Corps Collection, National Archives, courtesy of the Museum of New Mexico). failed crops plagued the Navajos. The government planned poorly for the "experiment." Some food rations never arrived, and those that did were often spoiled. People could neither hunt nor gather, and Comanches stole what little they had. Several thousand people starved or died of dysentery, and the high death rate further split families. After three years, Navajos began to escape; others continued to cry to be released. As Irene Stewart recounts Greyeyes' experiences, "They begged the colonel in charge to let them return to their own country.... One old woman said, 'Please, my son, let us go. I am lonesome for my land, my dear Chinle and Canyon de Chelley'" (1980:55). The experience of the Long Walk had a major impact on Na- vajo attitudes toward the federal government. It was a water- shed between the past and the present. Generations later, Dine still speak with pain of the experience. Forced assimilation did not work: Navajo culture was not destroyed, but it did change. The Navajos' exposure to new clothing, tools, and weaving ma- terials had a lasting impact, and a symbol of Navajo identity developed. A V-necked shirt of calico, white muslin trousers, and a Pendleton blanket became standard men's clothing, and by  THE DIN£ (NAVAJOS) the 1880s most Navajo women had adopted the long skirts and blouses worn by Anglo women at Fort Sumner (see pl. 2). This costume developed into the full pleated calico skirts and colorful velveteen blouses associated with Navajo women, an ensemble in which they take great pride today. Even out of adversity, the Navajos developed something beautiful. After the Long Walk: The Return Home In 1866 Carleton was relieved of command, and a government study concluded that the relocation experiment had been not only a dismal failure but an unjust, cruel, expensive, and poorly managed operation as well. Since federal officials noted that few Anglos wanted to settle on Navajo lands under the Homestead Act of 1862, negotiations began. Barboncito, a respected head- man and a persuasive speaker, argued for Navajo interests in the peace talks, which led to the treaty that restored to the Navajos a small portion of their lands, some 3.5 million acres. As Barbon- cito told General William T. Sherman on May 28, 1868, The bringing of us here has caused a great decrease in our numbers. Many of us have died, also a great number of our animals.... When the Navajos were first created, four moun- tains and four rivers were pointed out to us, inside of which we should live, that was to be our country. It was given to us by the first woman of the Navajo's tribe.... I hope to God you will not ask me to go to any other country than my own. We do not want to go to the right or left, but straight back to our own country. (Correll 1979:130-31) The Navajos agreed to live peacefully and not to oppose a planned railroad, and the government agreed to provide them with agri- cultural supplies, formal education (a teacher for every thirty students), 1,000,000 pounds of maize, 15,000 sheep, and 500 head of cattle. The sheep became the key to Navajo recovery. Only 4,000 Navajos had survived to walk home, but Barbon- cito predicted that "after we get back to our country it will brighten up again and the Dine will be as happy as the land. Corn will grow in abundance and everything will look happy" (Correll NANCY J. PAREZO 15 The treaty of 1868 between the United States and the Navajos, which allowed the Dine to return to parts of their homeland. (Navajo Nation Museum) 1979:131). Re-establishment was not easy even though the Dine were again within the four sacred mountains and were made safe through prayer and ceremony. Although their sheep were deliv- ered in 1869, agricultural tools and rations were slow in coming, and many people faced starvation during the first reservation winters. But people worked hard, and by 1878 the original 15,000 sheep had multiplied to over 700,000. In 1880, more than 1.1 million pounds of wool were marketed, and another 100,000 pounds were retained for home use. With this type of expansion, the Navajos could not remain within a reservation only one- tenth the size of their former territory. Throughout the late nineteenth century, conflicts once again erupted between Na- vajos and non-Indians on the eastern part of Dine Bikeyah, and the Navajos moved westward. As a result, the reservation was Sheep being dipped after shearing to kill ticks and other parasites at Round Rock. Family groups usually worked together on big jobs like shearing and dipping, (Photograph by l L. Rush, Museum of New Mexico) NANCY J. PAREZO 17 Navajo men prepare wool for market in about 1935, during the period when livestock reduction became the second major trauma in Navajo-U.S. relations. (Photograph by AV. Kidder, Arizona State Museum) expanded several times between 1878 and 1933. Even so, a new problem was emerging: the land was rapidly becoming over- grazed. In 1891 a government survey counted 19,000 horses, 500 mules, 9,000 cattle, and 1.5 million sheep. The Navajos felt pros- perous, for sheep were wealth. "Our sheep are our children, our life and our food," said the wife of John Chief (Roberts 1951: 108). Mutton was an important dietary staple, and the Dine had more protein in their diet than any other southwestern group. Added to this base were Arbuckles coffee, potatoes, bacon, canned tomatoes and peaches, and flour-all obtained from trad- ing posts. Sheep meant the assurance of never starving, a hedge against poverty that was important physically and psychologi- cally to people whose environment could easily turn harsh. The Navajo economy centered on livestock, rations, subsidies, trade, and wages. Life matched the needs of the flocks, which required a highly defined yearly schedule of movement. In the spring, sheep were shorn and the wool was taken to one of the  THE DINE (NAVAJOS) A Navajo silversmith in about 1910. The Dine learned silversmithing from Mexican smiths in New Mexico in the nineteenth century and then developed their own distinctive styles. (Photograph by Ben Wittick, Museum of New Mexico) trading posts scattered throughout the reservation. Wool was traded in bulk and exchanged for articles from the outside world: food, needles, thread, enamelware, knives, shears, saddles, bri- dles, calico and velveteen, hats, and shoes. Traders shipped the wool to the East, where it was used for the manufacture of carpets, hats, coats, padding, and army uniforms. Navajo weav- NANCY J, PAREZO ers also produced rugs that, like silver jewelry (see pl. 3), were bartered or used as collateral for loans during hard times, Trad- ers such as Lorenzo Hubbell, C N, Cotton, Thomas Kearn and John Moore encouraged the Navajos to produce and market their woven goods just as they encouraged them to increase their herds (see pl. 4), Sheep provided psychological as well as material security. They were mobile wealth. Sheep and horses were "soft goods." Better than money in the bank, animals paid interest each spring with lambs and foals-they replenished themselves. As Chang- ing Woman told the Navajos after she created sheep and goats, "By means of these you will be able to live,... It represents your pet from the tip of which fabrics and jewels of every description The Hubbell Trading Post, Ganado, Arizona. Lorenzo Hubbel!, who purchased the post in 1878, encouraged the weaving of high~quality Navajo rugs and blankets. The post was designated a National Historic Site in !967. (Photograph by Helga Teiwes, Arizona State Museum) lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllillllllllllllllllllll/1/lllllllfl!ll!llllllllll!llllllll/llllllllll!lllllllllllilllillllllli NAVAJO WEAVING Nancy J. Parezo For more than a century, Navajo pastoralism Holy People designed it to be a harmonious, has been a focal point for communication, both happy, and healthy place. For beauty to be main- within the Navajo community and between the tained, it must be expressed in actions such as Navajos and the outside world. Perhaps more the creation of art. Thus, making a rug is in itself than any other single item, Navajo weaving has an act of beauty. "The piece is merely the vehicle stimulated contact, knowledge, and under- whereby beauty, hozhQ, is transmitted from an standing between the Din€ and other American artist, who is himself or herself in a state of Indians, Mexicans, and Anglo Americans, for beauty, to a recipient or audience, who will in trade has always enabled people to communi- some measure be brought into a state of beauty cate. Navajo weaving conveys Din€ concepts of through viewing, wearing, or appreciating what beauty and craftsmanship (nizhonf). the artist has been doing and made" (Lincoln Much has been written about how weavers 1982:40-41 ). The Navajo concept of beauty is adapted some of their blanket designs in the an extremely active one, and people weave be- past to satisfy the tastes of their non reservation cause creativity brings enjoyment and whole- customers, but weavers always reinterpreted ness, as well as economic rewards. and enhanced the beauty of the customers' con- The sense of beauty is conveyed to Navajos cepts. Today the popularity of Navajo weaving through the story of Spider Woman, a mythical has grown with the expansion of the ethnic art teacher and a source of inspiration. Many Navajo market. Contacts between the Navajos and the stories contain descriptions of weaving that Anglo American world have increased as a re- go back to the first worlds. Long ago, Spider sult, and Anglo Americans recognize the inher- Woman, who lives high atop Spider Rock in Can- ent beauty of the designs in the weavings. But yon de Chelly, taught Navajo women how to spin there are other messages. For example, when thread and weave blankets on a loom built by her weavers demonstrate their art at the historic husband, Spider Man. She instructed the women Hubbell Trading Post at Ganado, Arizona, they so that the Din€ would have clothes and not be convey the dedication, creativity, and sense of cold. In another sense, Spider Woman is a sym- beauty that are the essence of Navajo weaving. bol of the tradition of passing on knowledge Beauty is in the making, and demonstrating the from mother to daughter. A young girl sits at the process of weaving is in many ways more impor- feet of her mother or aunt beside the loom, tant than the finished product. watching and learning. Her mother names the For the Navajos, beauty is integrated with parts of the loom, just as Spider Woman named good, and moral good tends to be equated with them for the Navajo people. The young girl aesthetic good: that which promotes human learns the prayers to Spider Woman that will survival and happiness is seen and experienced help to ensure a beautiful creation. Through this as beautiful. Beauty is in the nature of things as mechanism, the Din€ convey their concept of well as in people; it is the natural state of affairs. themselves as a people to outsiders. The land is beautiful by definition because the  1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 Navajo women weaving at their camp in Keams Canyon, Arizona, in 1893. Charley weaves a blanket on a horizontal loom; a child, Nedespa, cards wool; and two unidentified women spin wool and weave on a belt frame. (Photograph by James Mooney, Smithsonian Institution, National Anthropological Archives) 22 THE DINli (NAVAJOS) will begin to sprout, thus making life possible for you. And you will plead with them, pray to their feet, their head, pray to their bones" (Wyman 1970:246). A family's public image, prestige, and status were linked to the size and well-being of the herd. No one was respected in the community or elected to tribal office if the family's livestock were not cared for properly. For the Dine, goodness means productivity, dependability, helpfulness, and cooperation. Livestock made these values tangi- ble. Although sheep were owned by individuals, extended fam- ilies combined their herds and shared grazing territory. As Dr. Jennie Joe has remarked, "Sheep keep our families together" (1988). Caring for sheep and livestock was the concern of every- one in the residential unit-everyone had a job to do. Sheep also validated marriages and made kinship affiliations tangible. [t was not unusual for individuals to have sheep in more than one herd. The flocks were a focus for social integration and a means of teaching the values of Navajo culture to the younger genera- tion. Caring for livestock, sharing jobs within the family, and learning traditional lore were all part of becoming and being a Navajo. Those without sheep felt useless. Mastering the skill of weaving symbolized how the gift of wool was transformed into beautiful forms for the benefit of the family. As Irene Stewart told anthropologist Mary Shepardson: I can remember how the Navajo women kept their people alive by weaving rugs and caring for sheep and goats. In this way my stepmother kept us from starving. She wove all the known types of rugs, trading them for food and clothing. She wove for other Navajos who admired her weaving. I can re- member how she got 2 5 goats and sheep by weaving a fine saddle blanket for a rich man with much stock. (Stewart 1980:42) While weaving has been described as a woman's job, it was more than that. According to Joe, "I don't think weaving is considered only a female activity-only at a very narrow point, the point of thinking of a pattern and actually weaving. But any other time both before and after it is a family activity.... My grandfather rolled yarn in the evening. Sometimes the men went and got the NANCY J. PAREZO 23 dye so the ladies could dye. Kids help also. Weaving brings fam- ilies together" (1988) (see pl. 5). Weaving also cemented family ties because producing a blan- ket to keep someone warm was a woman's gift to her husband or son. "A saddle blanket is a useful thing. You can give it to your husband or son. It helps to solidify the kinship ties" (Joe 1988). Women also weave traditional dresses as presents for their fe- male relatives or give rugs to the people they care for so that they can live surrounded by beauty and creativity. Navajo arts are inextricably woven into the social fabric of everyday life. The Navajo Sheep Reduction Navajos were not isolated. Government schools, missionaries, wage work on the railroad and in towns along the reservation's borders increased contacts with the outside world. Many Na- vajos worked as shepherds or cowboys for Hispanic and Anglo American ranchers and as builders of houses and roads. A pat- tern developed of men and women going off the reservation for a time, working for several months or several years, and then returning to family lands and herds. But land remained a prob- lem. By 1930, 45 percent of the topsoil had washed away and animals were scrawny. Government officials estimated that the land could carry no more than 600,000 sheep and called for conservation reforms. By 1933 more than 1.1 million sheep and goats were being grazed on the Navajo Reservation, overwhelm- ing the capacity of the land. That year, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) began a program of stock reduction as a solution aimed at reducing stock by 45 percent by the 1950s. The pro- gram was to be voluntary and was to consist initially of a 10 percent across-the-board reduction, which large herd owners could meet by culling weak sheep but which would force small owners to sacrifice good stock. Livestock would be purchased with Federal Emergency Relief Administration funds to feed people living in other parts of the Depression-ravaged country. To convince the Navajos of the necessity and value of the pro- gram, John Collier, the commissioner of the BIA, promised finan- cial compensation and told the Navajos that, in return for their 1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 LEARNING TO BE NAVAJO Nancy J. Parezo Brian Francis teases an old ram at his mother's family's home in Blue Gap, Arizona, in 1974. As Irene Stewart said, "Everything we learn is from caring for the sheep" ( ! 980:23). (Photograph by Helga Teiwes, Arizona State Museum) Dine children are valued members of their fam- feast of goat and mutton to insure that the child ilies and are immediately incorporated into the will not be selfish. Acts of gift giving by relatives group. At birth, babies become the center of "endow the child with good qualities of charac- attention. As Max Hanley remembered, "After I ter, especially generosity and hospitality. After was born I was wrapped in the sheepskin and this the father makes a cradleboard from a per- placed on the west side of the fire in the center fect tree" (Stewart 1980: 12). The parents carry of the hogan" (quoted in Johnson 1977:18). the baby on the cradleboard, and when they set Then the transmission of custom begins through it down they place it so that the baby can easily prayer, example, and celebration. The child's watch their actions, for it is by watching and first laugh is celebrated by the family by hosting a listening that children learn to be Dine. m11111111111111111111111 111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 1111111 Individuals are raised in an extended family A Navajo boy or girl is told not to play too setting, and it is not uncommon for a child to much for too much playing will cause one to spend part of his or her childhood living with a become a negligent and neglectful person. So grandmother, aunt, or uncle. All these individ- I learned to herd sheep, prepare wool, and uals teach by example. Boys learn hunting, weave.... I enjoyed helping with the poultry tracking, and ceremonial skills; girls learn cook- and herding the sheep.... Everything we ing, weaving, and domestic skills. All learn to learn is from caring for the sheep. (Stewart herd sheep, a very enjoyable and important ex- 1980:23) perience that makes them productive members Sheep herding instills important Navajo val- of the household at a very early age. The sheep ues: rugged individualism and love for personal incorporate children into Navajo life, the com- freedom, generosity and helping relatives and munal economy, and the residence group. friends, steadfastness, and self-sufficiency. Car- Parents give their children lambs when they ing for sheep is a way of teaching the younger are the "right age," when they are old enough to generation responsibility and what it means to be responsible. This is an important point in a be Navajo. It teaches them that_ all creatures youngster's life because it marks the first step must be nurtured and that it is the responsibility on the path toward knowledge and wisdom, and of all Navajos to treat the land and all beings it is a sign of maturity and trust. It also marks the with respect. beginning of a person's economic future, for it is the beginning of an individual's herd. Herding sheep teaches children to pay attention to the world around them, to accept responsibility, and to learn the skills that are important for traveling on the Beautiful Trail. As one man de- scribed his activities, Early in the morning we take the sheep out of the corral. I sing a song and open the gate. When the sheep are half out my song is half finished. When they are all out I stop my song.... When you are out herding there are songs for the protection of the sheep and to make them increase. (Quoted in Kluckhohn and Leighton 1946:70) As Irene Stewart recalled, balance in activities and industriousness is stressed: 26 THE DIN[ (NAVAJOS) voluntary cooperation, they would receive more land on the eastern end of the reservation, soil conservation programs, wa- ter development programs, day schools, and jobs on Emergency Conservation Works programs. The Navajos, who had argued for years that they needed more land, considered this a mini- mally acceptable binding agreement by Collier, but Collier could not control Congress, which had to approve all BIA programs. New Mexico politicians kept what has been called the checker- board area from becoming part of the reservation. Navajo flocks were destroyed by the federal government, with little or noth- ing given in return. Navajos interpreted this as paternalism and as evidence that the government wanted to destroy them. The Navajos strongly expressed their feelings about their flocks: "For the white people, the good old dollar is where they get their substance of life, and the Navajo get their substance of life from the goats and the sheep" said Fred Nelson in 1934 (Parman 1976:55). "Why should the Government rob us out of our sheep? It is our money," said Mrs. Y. N. Yazzie ofToadlena in 1937. "Although we were told that it was to restore the land, the fact remains that hunger and poverty stood with their mouths open to devour us/' noted Dan Phillips. "Sheep is life. Who can live if their life is taken away," said a woman from Smoke Signal, Arizona (Wood, Vannete and Andrews 1982:1). To the Navajos, reduction in the size of flocks was a sign of laziness and immi- nent starvation. Resistance grew. By 1937, government agents had become crusaders for reduction. Animals were forcibly taken away or killed, often without explanation, according to the Navajos. Gov- ernment officials disagreed. Collier declared that he had con- sulted with the tribal council already and would act to enforce grazing regulations and erosion controls even as he withdrew promises of land restoration and expansion. Government offi- cials refused to consider Navajo values in their decisions or to work closely with local groups; some even threatened to jail people who disagreed with them. To a society whose self-esteem was so closely tied to animals, the decision to slaughter sheep and goats for no apparent reason was cruel and sacrilegious. Some families were made destitute by the process, because their NANCY J. PAREZO Laura Ann Nez weaves a rug at her sister's hogan at Blue Gap, Arizona, in 1974. (Photograph by Helga Teiwes, Arizona State Museum) herds had been so small to begin with that they could not survive on the remainder. As Irene Stewart remembered, "Many Na- vajos sold below their quotas and others who had few sheep ended up with even fewer. My father ended up with none at all" (1980:46). Civilian Conservation Corps (ccc) programs could not take their place, and welfare was initiated to keep some· Navajo families from starving. Chee Dodge, leader of the "tradi- tionalists" and chairman of the first Navajo Tribal Council in 1923, went to Congress to obtain more land, limit the reduction, and stop the onset of a welfare state, but he was only partly successful. The emotional impact of the slaughter left deep psychological scars and increased distrust of the government, which have had a far-reaching impact. When the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA)  THE DINE (NAVAJOS) of 1934 was passed, each tribe was given the opportunity to write a constitution and reorganize its government in order to increase self-determination (though it was still under the watch- ful eye of the BIA) and allow it to function as a corporation. Passage of the IRA would have allowed the Navajos to organize a council and courts, and to borrow money as a corporation with- out complete BIA control. But the IRA also contained a clause authorizing the secretary of the interior to limit livestock on Indian reservations. Led by opposition leader Jacob Morgan of Shiprock, the Navajos voted against reorganization by a three- to-one margin. As a result, Collier reorganized the council sys- tem so that all resolutions required approval of the secretary of the interior. The reservation was divided into land management districts, and individuals were issued grazing permits. By the end of World War II, Navajo livestock holdings were below permit levels, and Navajos could no longer rely on sheep as a primary source of income. Government intervention also changed the status of men and women. Agents, not understanding that among the Navajos property was held by women, refused to give them permits. This disenfranchised many women, creating problems within and between families, leaving some women in destitu- tion, shifting sheep from one clan to another, and confusing the inheritance patterns. But the Navajos as a people resolved never to give up sheep, for as one Navajo has said, "When one sells all of his sheep, one will begin to feel useless.... When there are no sheep, one's home no longer is a real home" (quoted in L. Kelly 1968:163). World War II and Beyond: Points of Contact Like 40,000 other American Indians from almost every tribe, Navajos served with distinction during World War II in Europe and the Pacific. More than 3,400 Navajo men and women joined the u.s. Army and the Marine Corps and served in many capaci- ties. Many played a very special and crucial role as Navajo Code Talkers. More than 400 Navajo men used a code based on Na- Dine, the Navajo language, that completely baffled the Japanese. NANCY J. PAREZO 29 The Navajos performed their task so successfully that they were credited with being major influences in u.s. victories at Guadal- canal, Tarawa, Guam, and lwo Jima. Another 10,000 Navajos gained a reputation as outstandingly loyal and hard-working employees at shipyards, factories, and defense plants. Many went to California, both seasonally and permanently, beginning an urban migration pattern that still continues. The war also brought other changes, including in- creased contact with the outside world. Navajo veterans were convinced that the Navajos had to learn to be more effective in the non-Indian world if they were to survive. They led the Dine on a new journey, one that focused on education, business, and self-determination. Given that the Dine could not return to a way of life that relied on sheep for its foundation, the tribe began to diversify and to make use of its other natural and human resources. The income from leases for the extraction of coal, oil, natural gas, uranium, and minerals has financed many tribal programs. Na- vajos have formed tribal utilities, a forest products program, and cooperatives, and have expanded agricultural production. Farm- land acreage, particularly in irrigated plots, slowly increased so that a total of 34,800 acres was planted in 1980, and with the completion of a dam on the San Juan River in 1988, an additional 110,000 acres of irrigable land became available between Far- mington and Shiprock. Navajos began to develop new political skills aimed at expand- ing their self-government. The tribal council gradually took over responsibilities previously held by the BIA in water de- velopment, irrigation, emergency grain distribution, welfare and public works programs, trade licensing and fees, legislation and enforcement, and the regulation of domestic relations. In 1969 the Navajos changed their name to the Navajo Nation to emphasize their self-determinacy and independence and to re- mind Navajos and non-Navajos alike that they and their lands were separate and distinct from the states in which they were located. The tribe hired lawyers, who increased their presence in Washington, successfully lobbying Congress for funds to im- prove reservation roads and schools. The Navajos began to be JO TUE DINE (NAVAJOS) effective in using the Anglo American court system as well. They argued before the u.s. Supreme Court in Williams v. Lee and secured a reaffirmation of Chief Justice John Marshall's 1832 decision that a treaty tribe was a domestic dependent na- tion and sovereign with respect to the states. This decision had far-reaching implications for many groups, denying states juris- diction over civil and criminal cases involving Indians on reser- vations themselves. The Navajo Nation established new educational programs, for the Dine believe that knowledge is power. By the late 1950s, Navajo children were attending more than forty-six elementary schools, which was no easy task in a society where people lived in small and isolated settlements scattered across an immense land- scape. In the 1960s the Navajos developed contract schools, which took curriculum control away from BIA officials and placed it in the hands of local communities. The most famous, the Rough Rock Demonstration School, has served as a model for other schools by publishing educational materials in both Na-Dine and English. The goal of the contract schools is to combine traditional and Anglo American-style education and to teach students how to read and write in Na-Dine. The schools aim to make the con- cepts and skills that one needs to succeed in the outside world rel- evant while also emphasizing Navajo ways of learning through storytelling and observation. As Irene Stewart has noted, stories are "a source of a happy feeling, a quiet affirmation" of the Na- vajo Way (1980:48). The Dine Biolta, an educational association whose name translates as The People's Schools, also encourages Navajo parents to visit boarding schools and discuss Navajo his- tory and culture. Strong women like Ruth Roessel have led in the development of curricular materials by many Navajo educators. Higher education was also stressed following World War II. The Navajo Nation has set up a multimillion-dollar scholarship fund for qualified Navajo high school graduates to attend the colleges and universities of their choice. During 1980, for exam- ple, more than 1,900 Navajos received scholarships and attended more than 150 colleges in thirty states. For those who wish to remain on the reservation, Navajo Community College, which opened in 1969, offers associate degrees on several campuses. NANCY J. PAREZO JI Navajo workers at the Fairchild Electronics Company plant in Shiprock, New Mexico, in 1968. (Photograph by Helga Teiwes, Arizona State Museum) Increasing contacts with universities in Arizona and New Mex- ico began in 1971 when the Navajo Division of Education was created. Its first goal was to work with universities to increase the number of Navajo teachers. Such collaborative efforts are very common today. Even while they were adapting to new ways, however, Na- vajos did not abandon sheep raising as a way of life. Each family continued to have a small herd, and weaving, while not an eco- nomically viable occupation for many people, remains part of a very complex economic system. Chapter houses (grassroots lo- cal community centers where people discuss issues and griev- ances) have established economic development projects to com- bat poverty as part of emergency work-relief programs and to hire women for a month at a time to produce rugs. These women are paid a wage, and the chapter provides the raw materials and instruction in weaving. The completed rugs are sold at auctions around the reservation, the largest of which is held at Crown- point. Weavers have also organized thriving cooperative associa- tions, which give them control over the marketing process.  THE DIN£ (NAVAJOS) 32 Walking in Two Beautiful Worlds Today the Dine number more than 200,000. They constitute one of the most populous American Indian societies in the United States and live on a reservation about the size of West Virginia. In this respect, they have been highly successful, for Navajos consider large families a blessing. As in the past, the Beautiful Trail is filled with both blessings and trials. In today's world of computers, factories, mines, smog, fast food, obesity, and power plants, the Navajo people face the new challenge of preparing to meet a rapidly changing outside world on their own terms while preserving and teaching traditional cultural values. As in the past, this requires flexibility, for while the "gray gods" -old age, cold, poverty, hunger, sleep, lice, desire, and want-are still pres- ent, they come in new forms. While more Navajos own small businesses both on and off the reservation than ever before, and while the tribe has businesses and revenues totaling in the mil- lions of dollars, the reservation also has one of the highest un- employment rates in the country. Per capita income is low, and poverty is widespread. To survive, many people must mo~"' away from their homes, relatives, and land. "A Navajo boyor girl wants a suitable home, a chance to live the life he has been taught, and an opportunity to find suitable work to support himself and later his family," Irene Stewart remarked (1980:33). More and more Navajos live in major cities throughout the West. Medical problems arise from today's less-active lifestyle, from junk food obtained at the trading posts, from a rising num- ber of car accidents, and from a rising rate of alcoholism. Political corruption has marred recent administrations, while uranium mining and a falling timber market have created their own prob- lems. It will take great wisdom to solve these problems while maintaining a harmonious world. As if these issues were not enough, overgrazing remains a problem, and there have been conflicts over mineral and occu- pancy rights arising from the existence of joint-use areas with the Hopis and the Southern Paiutes. These problems date back to 1882 with the dividing of the two reservations. When the Hopi won exclusive occupancy rights in a court case in the late 1960s, NANCY J. PAREZO 33 the Navajos regarded this as a major defeat. The resulting pro- gram of relocating families is considered as devastating as the Long Walk. and many Navajos refer to it as the Second Long Walk. Recently the Navajos have celebrated their history in a new way. In 1990 they asked their relatives from the north to meet them for a reunion at the Navajo Tribal Fair. Several members of the Sarsi tribe, an Athapaskan people from Alberta, Canada, came to Window Rock and participated in all aspects of the fair. The Navajos plan to invite other Athapaskan relatives to cele- brate with them and renew their bonds, for they remember the important lessons they learned from the emergence story and from their clan migrations, that harmony, dedication, respon- sibility, and respect are important for survival.