2. Where does the name Navajo come
from? How did they get the name?
The name, “ Navajo” comes from Spanish in
the 18th century. The tribe calls themselves,
“ Diné” which means,"the people” probably in
their language. An older spelling of the name,
“ Navajo” is, “ Navaho.” Nowadays they like
to be referred to, “Navajo.” They grew crops
in fields that the Spanish called, “Nabaju,”
which means “great planted fields .“Nabaju”
became “Navajo” and that is pronounced
“Navaho.”
3. What do the Navajo people live in?
The Navajo people live in a dome shaped
house called a hogan. A hogan is the type of
house of that they used to live in. Nowadays the
hogan is considered sacred. If you were go to
where they live you may see that only a few
people out of the whole tribe would be living in
a hogan. Hogans are usually used to do
ceremonial events. They build the door facing
east so they get the morning sun. They believe
that if the door us facing east and the sun comes
up it’s a good blessing.
4. Where do they live?
The Navajo people live in the middle of
Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona.
5. Land
The Navajo territory is largest Indian
reservation in USA. It is 10 million acres(15
thousand square miles) that is the size of
Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode island put
together!
6. What animals live there?
There are snakes, owls, deer,rabbits
(cotton tail and jack), antelope, goats, sheep,
small animals, praire dogs, rats, and mountain
sheep.
7. Animals that live there
● snakes
● owls
● deer
● rabbits ( jack and cotton tail)
● antelope
● goats (to eat the meat)
● sheep(to eat the meat and to get wool)
● prairie- dogs
● bear (bears can show up in sand paintings)
10. What plants live there?
● trees
● corn(main food)
● beans
● squash
● nuts
● fruit trees
● herbs
● pinion
● cedar
11. What plants live there? (cont.)
● oak
● juniper
● white pine
● spruce
● yucca
● cactus
● sage bush
● gramma grass
● weeds
12. What plants live there? (cont.)
● wild flowers
● acorn trees
● grass
● weeds
● cactus
13. Transportation
Navajo people traveled by foot usually and
they never travel by boat, because they
weren't near the ocean. There were no horses
in North America at that time, so they used
dogs to pull travois' (a type of dog sled) to
help them carry all their bags and equipment.
When the Europeans brought horses to North
America the Navajo people could travel faster
and easier.
16. Nomads
The Navajo people, long ago were nomads.
Nomads are people who travel around
following their food(mammals). Since they had
to travel a lot they need shoes to keep their
legs protected from cacti thorns. The Navajo
people made these moccasins that were kind
of like very thick boots to protect their legs.
They made the moccasins probably out of
deerskins, because they didn't have sheep
then.
18. Language
Almost all Navajo people speak English now,
but there are about 150,000 Navajo people
who speak their Navajo language. The Navajo
language is a hard language; it has tones and
lots of different vowel sounds.
20. How do you count to ten in the
Navajo language?
21. Roles in the family
Men and women had different jobs and a
job that the man did couldn’t be done by the
women. The men were hunters, warriors, and
political leaders. Only men could be the tribe
leader/chief. The women were farmers, they
tended their animals, did most of cooking, and
did most of taking care of the children. Also
artwork was made by different genders. Men
made jewelry, and the women wove rugs and
made clay pots. Both men and
22. Roles in the family (cont.)
women told stories, played music, and made
traditional medicine. Nowadays, Navajo men
are farmers and ranchers, and some Navajo
women have joined the Army.
23. Weapons
● bows and arrows(hunting)
● spears and rawhide shields (in war)
In war, Navajo men shot arrows at other
tribes and they also fought with spears. They
used rawhide shields to protect themselves.
The Navajo people made bow cases and
quivers out of mountain lion hide. The Navajos
26. Water sources
● rainfall 10-14 inches
● arroyos ( brooks ; creeks) and running
streams
● springs
● rivers
One river the Navajo farmers have relied on
for a long time is a river coming through the
Canyon of Chelly.
27. History
In 1848, white men decided to take over
the Navajo land. The Navajo people became
known as fierce warriors. They fought back at
the white men. They continued to fight for
their land until the 1850’s and 1860’s. The
white men then built a building called “Fort
Defiance” right in the middle of the Navajo
country. The white men killed and caught a
whole lot of Navajo people. They also burned
down hogans and crops, and killed their
28. History (cont.)
sheep. The Navajo people were pushed to
surrender and they did. Then they were made
to walk almost 300 miles to Fort Sumner in
Eastern New Mexico. This became known as, “
The Great Walk.” While they walked this,
many Navajos died, because they were treated
cruelly. They walked until they got to Ft.
Sumner. In 1868 the Navajo people who
survived were let free to go back to their home
town. The Navajos began to start their lives
again.
29. History (cont.)
In the 1900’s their population had been
doubled or even more. Then they were back
to their normal lives. The Navajo people
became silversmiths who made beautiful
turquoise jewelry. Trading woven rugs that
they made and silver jewelry became a part of
their normal life.
30. Climate
The Navajo nation can have 0 degrees to
somewhere in the 80’s usually .The
temperature can get all the way down to -30
degrees Fahrenheit. In the summer it can get
up to 100 degrees Fahrenheit, but that is very
rare to get. After a hot day, that night the
temperature can get all the down to the 50s.
In the winter snow can come very quickly.
31. Climate (cont.)
The landscape is dry and there are very tall
rocks, and there is not very much water
available. It is also dusty and windy, and very
hot.
33. Artifacts- Sand Paintings
Sand paintings are also called drypaintings.
When a person becomes sick or in bad health
the Navajo hold a healing ceremony where
they make sand paintings. In a healing
ceremony the medicine man(called the hataali)
calls the holy people to get rid of the evil, or
an illness from the patient. Before the
ceremony the medicine man doesn't eat
anything, takes a sweat bath, and meditates
ALONE to learn how the patient got the illness
from the spirts.
34. Artifacts- Sand Paintings (cont.)
Then the medicine man listens to the night,
and looks at the stars, and he begins to
tremble. His whole body shakes, and his hands
move over some cornmeal until his fingers
draw a design telling the cause of the illness
and what ritual he should do to get rid of the
illness.
The medicine man makes the sand painting
(dry painting) on buckskin or on the sand on
the
35. Artifacts- Sand Paintings(cont.)
hogan floor. A sand painting can be small and
can be finished in a hour or so, and some sand
paintings can be as big as 20 feet long, which
requires about a dozen assitants to complete
the sand painting over the night. While the
medicine man makes the sand painting he
chants. He is chanting to the Yeibicheii (the
holy people). The colors in the sand paintings
are made out of gypsum(color:white), yellow
ochre, red sandstone, charcoal, and charcol
36. Artifacts- Sand Paintings(cont.)
and gypsum(color:blue). Brown is made out of
red and black, pink is made out of red and
white, and other colors are mixed with corn
meal, flower pollen and powered root and
bark. After the sand painting has been made,
the next morning the patient is asked to sit in
the middle of the painting. They believe if the
patient sits in the middle of the sand painting
the spirts can reach him/ her more easily.
While the patient sits in the middle of the
37. Artifacts-Sand Paintings (cont.)
sand painting, people outside sing and dance to
help heal the patient. The ceremony can be as
long as five to nine days. During those days
there is a sand painting(dry painting) made
each evening/night. The sand painting must be
destroyed after each ceremony (before 12
hours has passed), if they don't destroy it after
a ceremony the patient will have a bad
forturne(they believe). There are over five
hundred sand painting designs. They include
pictures of the holy people, and constellations.
38. Artifacts- Sand Paintings (cont.)
Here is one prayer that they say while making a
sand painting:
Happily I recover
Happily my interior becomes cool
Happliy my eyes regain their power
Happily my head becomes cool
Happily my legs regain their power
Happily I hear again!
Happily for me the spell if taken off!
Happily may I walk
In beauty I walk.
39. What does the Bear Symbolize?
The bear is a symbol that means power,
healer, dreaming, and strength. The bear
comes up in many different places, such as
rugs, and sand paintings.
40. Pictures of Sand painting(aka Dry
Paintings)
Father Sky and Mother
Earth
41. Artifacts- Rugs + Blankets
The Navajo people make rugs and blankets out
of sheep wool. They take the sheep's wool off
the sheep and then they wash the wool (only
if they need to) with yucca roots were
pounded. The wool was combed to remove any
thing and it was spun. The colors of the wool
included white, black, gray, and brown from
the wool of the sheep. Sometimes they dye
the wool different colors, such as green from
sagecrush, violet from
42. Artifacts- Rugs + Blankets (cont.)
holly berries, yellow from golden rod, orange
from lichens, brown for pinon trees, and red
from mahogany roots. The Navajo people get
indigo dye from travelers to dye their wool
also. Then if they wanted bright red the
Navajo women used bayenta(an importated
cloth) and re-used the yarn.
During cermonies, everyone wore a blanket
around them, the season and weather didn't
matter. The blanket represents the cornhusk
43. Artifacts- Rugs + Blankets (cont.)
and unbraided hair means the corn silk. There
was this women in a legend, named Spider
Woman and she taught the Najavo people how
to weave. When a baby is born in the Navajo
tribe the mother will go and find a spider web
and she will take the web and rub it on the
baby's fingers and arms. They believe that
when the baby is older and weaves her arms
and fingers wouldn't get tired from weaving.
44. Artifacts- Rugs + Blankets (cont.)
If you see corn stalks in a rug or a blanket that
Navajo people have made, the corn stalks
represent the Navajo people. The corn stalks
represent the Navajo people, because corn is a
important part of the Navajo people. Corn is main
food for the Navajos. Some people say corn is
their life. The vertical strings called the warps
symbolize rain, so if there is a rainstorm they
believe they shouldn't weave. They would seem
greedy for rain to the gods, because they
46. Rugs and Blanket Pictures
This is a picture of a
blanket that chiefs wear
The zigzag pattern
represents male lighting.
47. Rugs and Blanket Pictures
Straight lines represent
female lightning
48. Chief Blankets
Chief blankets are woven horziontally so
the blanket could go over their shoulders and
hang down. Unlike the chief blankets, regular
rugs are woven vertically.
49. Male Lightning + Female Rain + Male
Rain
Young women wore bright colored blankets,
with male lightning to attract a husband.
A older women would wear a blanket that
has a symbol that means female rain. Female
rain is a light gentle shower.
The male rain is a storm with thunder and
lightning.
50. Pueblo Indians with the Navajo + The
Spainsh with the Navajo
The Pueblo people taught the Navajo people
how to plant crops. The Navajo people kidnapped
some Pueblo women to teach them how to plant
crops.
When the Spainsh came in the 1600s they were
not nomads anymore. They were growing crops,
weaving baskets, and making pottery. Then the
Navajo learned learned about horses, sheep, and
cattle(from the Spanish). The Navajo only had
dogs as their animals(execpt for the animals that
lived there) before the Spanish came.
51. Pueblo Indians with the Navajo + The
Spainsh with the Navajo
The Navajo people started trading with the
Spainish and then became very good with
horses and raised sheep and goats. The Navajo
women made blankets and rugs with the wool
and then weaving became a part of the Navajo
people's life.
52. Conclusion
The Navajo people were affected by the
climate, animals, enviroment, and people who
they met.
I thought that it was interesting that was
that the Navajo people were nomads and
walked around a lot and needed tall moccasins
to wear so their legs were protected from the
cacti thorns.
It was really intersting that the Navajo
didn't know how to plant crops and then they
53. Conclusion (cont.)
made the Pueblo women to teach them. Then
the Navajo people wanted to
become farmers. After they learned how to
plant corn and how to cook it, it became their
main food. Then they really worshiped the corn
stalks so they felt like they have to put pictures
of corn stalks in their rugs. They also used the
corn to get corn pollen to use in their sand
paintings/dry paintings.
I also found intersting that the Navajo
54. Conclusion (cont.)
people didn't know what horses, sheep, and
cattle were until the Spainsh showed them.
Then once they had those animals, they
became really good raising them. The sheep
gave them a chance to weave rugs, and
blankets to trade with other Indians. Without
the sheep they wouldn't have any wool to
weave with. The Navajo people wouldn't know
how to weave and they wouldn't have traded
rugs and blankets.
