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The Navajos By The Students of 4A November 2009 Mrs. Denton Introduction by: W. Large, D. Denton, & 4A Students

The Dine, also known as the Navajos, were a nomadic tribe of Native Americans. The word "Dine" means "the people" in their native language, Athapascan. They were often referred to as "the great fields" by the Spanish explorers.

Have you ever traveled to the Southwest region of the United States and seen the panoramic deserts and buttes? This is where the Navajos lived, specifically in Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, and Colorado. Other landforms included canyons, plateaus,mesas,and valleys. Also, there were many mountains, including the Rocky Mountains and the Four Sacred Mountains. These were called Blanca Peak, Mount Taylor, San Francisco Peak, and Mount Hesperus. One of the few bodies of water in this dry region was the Rio Grande. This geography where the Navajos lived is beautiful.

The beautiful home of the Navajo Indians was a region of extreme climates. In the winters, it was quite cold and very dry. In the summers, it was hot in the desert, but mildly cool in the mountains. It rained less than 10 inches each year. As you see, the Navajos lived in a varied landscape.



Culture by Savannah ,Alina

The Navajos had many gods,and all of them were very amazing.One of them was Spider Woman or Changing Woman who they believed taught them how to weave. There was also the Sun God who had twin sons,the Monster Slayers,with Spider Woman.Other two gods were the Black God,who represents fire and the light of the stars. And, last but not least,Coyote who was just mean. Those are some, but not all, the gods Navajos believe in.

The Dine had a good amount of celebrations. Sings were ceremonies to heal the sick or bring blessings in or around the hogan. It lasted up to nine days long and they sang complicated songs. They believed mistakes in the song brought bad luck. They also celebrated girls coming of age. This celebration was four days long and it was called "Kinaalda". The girls ran toward the rising sun,and got massages.

Navajos had beautiful and outstanding artwork. One of then was weaving, which they learned from the Pueblo tribe. They used the wool from the sheep to make yarn. The Navajos used symbols of the land around them, and they used bright geometric patterns. Another type of artwork was sand painting. It was used in ceremonies and it was made by the singer. The paintings taught the Navajos about their history. The singer made it out of sand, pollen, and crushed rock powders, and he he destroyed it after the ceremony. Another type of artwork was making silver jewelry. The Navajos learned if from the Mexicans. They used a squash blossom design in many pieces of jewelry. Navajos used turquoise, silver, and semi-precious stones.

The Dine had lots of interesting instruments and wonderful music. They sang songs and oral chants. Navajos also taught sacred songs. Some instruments that they had were rattles, water drums, flutes and whistles. These were fascinating instruments and music, don't you think?

 Culture By William and Jack The Navajo children liked many different games. The Navajo enjoyed riding horses & playing with dolls without faces. The Navajo children liked to have foot races. One of their favorite sport is archery. They were also entertained by toys.One of the children's favorite games was the shoe game.It was played with a shoe & a little ball.The Navajo children were very entertained.

The Navajo men performed lots of intriguing work.Men hunted game for meals & raided neighboring tribes & farmers for food & horses.The Dine men made traditional medicine that was made out of herbs.Men were political leaders & brave warriors.They defended their families with much care.Men also made jewelry that was very charming,& they also told intriguing stories that were down from generation to generation.Navajo men also made ceremonial music for the tribe.Navajo men were very busy.

Navajo women worked industriously.The Navajo women gathered seeds ,nuts,berries and fruit.They also cooked and watched the sheep which was later prepared into mutton stew. Women planted and harvested crops and tended the live stock. The Navajo women prepared and served furry animal skins into knee-high moccasins.They also wove baskets and crafted rugs and blankets. The dine women sculptured clay pots.The dine women were always doing work.



Heads of family were chosen as leaders among the Navajo. Only men could be leaders. Leaders were always chosen in tribal council. The men led other tribe mates into battle or raiding. The main job of the leader was to help other Navajos solve problems between themselves.They also had to teach other Navajos about their traditions. Theirs was an important job.



 Food Elisa & Isabella Navajos ate various foods. Wild plants and wild rice were some of them.They hunted deer, rabbit, antelope and elk. They also ate corn, beans, squash and melons. Mutton and sheep milk were an important part of their diet. Navajos loved yucca, chilies, dumplings, tomatoes and avocados. Cactus were delicious for the Dine.

Navajos had a lot of ways to find food. One way they obtained their food was hunting. Women gathered pinion nuts, cactus, yucca and berries. Ranching and farming were other ways for Navajos to obtain food. They kept goats and sheep near their home. The Dine planted mostly corn, squash and peach trees nearby.

Dine people prepared their food so impressively! They cooked by memory, without using written recipes. Corn could be cooked in 250 ways! Corn was dried on the desert. To make cornmeal, Navajos rubbed corn between stones. Wow! Navajos were excellent chefs!



 Food Moris Jamri & Max Little

The Dine cooked in different types of stoves than we do today. They used hot stones, clay ovens, and fire places. They cooked meat on open fires and they cooked corn cakes on hot stones.

One delicious recipe Navajos enjoyed is fried bread. You can try making it with these ingredients: 2 Quarts of vegetable oil 3 cups of flour 1 tablespoon of baking powder 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1 cup of water. Even though the stoves the Dine used were different than ours their food surely tasted mouth watering.

Navajos stored their food in little hogans called lodges.That was their refrigeration in that time. Another way they would preserve food would be sun drying it. Inside the lodges they kept berries, corn, and meat. They smoked meat to preserve it. Water was stored in homemade baskets lined with a gummy substance so the water wouldn't fall through. They had many creative ways to store food.



Shelter

by Regina & Dominique

..... The Navajos used many natural resources to construct their homes. These houses were called hogans. Navajos used a variety of materials for building hogans. The Dine used wood, adobe (sun dried earth & straw) and mud. The materials to build the hogans were found in different environments. Their supplies were found in surrounding areas like forests and deserts. These are how Navajo homes were built a long time ago.

..... Navajo homes were simple constructions. Their hogans were cone-shaped and eight-sided. They started with a framework, and then cemented it together with mud and straw. Since the sun was so important for the Navajos, their doors always faced east to greet the rising sun. Once the hogan was completed, it looked like an earth-colored mound.



Shelter

<span style="color: #006cff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">By: Austin and Jonathan Do you know who built Navajo homes? Would you also like to learn some spacial details about the house? The families built the Navajo hogans.The hogans were scattered far from each other.The roof was covered with mud to keep in the heat.They had special places to sit in the hogans.The visitors had to sit on the western side [facing the door],men sat on the south side of the hogan,and women sat on the north side of the hogan.

The inside of the hogans were scarce. In the middle,on the ground there was a nice,hot fireplace.There was also a smoke hole in the roof to let out the smoke from the fire,which kept them warm at night. Families slept on sheep skins around the fireplace to get warm. Incredibly there was no furniture. But they did keep earthen pots inside to store food.

The Dine kept a fire stick by the door to scare away evil spirits. There was also a door made of blankets. The inside of hogan were quite simple. The area outside the hogan must have been an interesting sight.There were corrals filled with sheep,which were the most important animals for the Navajos. Goats and horses could also be found nearby. In the warm months,women did there weaving outside,so there would be a loom set up near the door. The Dine planted peach orchards. Some of the crops they grew were pumpkins,corn,and squash. Sometimes they also had a vegetable garden with other vegetables.



<span style="color: #2bde2b; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">Clothing

<span style="color: #24c624; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;"> By David and Antonio

The Dine used many colorful and bright materials for clothing. Some of the materials were deerskin, woven yucca fiber,sheep wool, and rabbit fur. Navajos used cotton for making their clothes in later years. They got the materials from animals and plants. They took porcupine quills and soaked and flattened them, and colored them with vegetable dyes.

Navajo men dressed in many ways.They wore woolen clothing. Early Navajos wore breech cloths during the summer, and when it was hot they wore no shirts. Navajos wore deerskin ponchos, and rabbit fur cloaks in the winter. They also wore moccasins on their feet. They also wore a lot of jewelry.

Women clothing was pretty.They wore skirts of yucca fiber, deerskin ponchos, and rabbit cloth for winter. They wore knee high moccasins on their feet. They also wore woolen dresses and a lot of jewelry. Navajo children dressed just like their parents.

<span style="color: #7e116c; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">Clothing <span style="color: #7e116c; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">By: Chung Ho and Ignacio Practically everyone in a Navajo family helped to prepare clothing.Even children helped their parents.Men were in charge of hunting animal skins and gathering material to make jewelry.Women were in charge of weaving and sewing the clothing.They decorated their special clothing.To make it special they sewed on silver button and shell beads.Making clothes was hard work! Navajos wore their hair in a variety of ways.One type of hair-do men and women used was in a figure of an 8.It was tied with yarn and called "tsyeel".Men wore cloth headbands around their foreheads for the ceremonies.Women sometimes wore hats of bright feathers and men wore the same but with dull colored feathers.Unmarried women wore their hair in two buns,in a butterfly style.Navajo hair styles were certainly interesting.

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">Other Interesting Facts About the Navajo

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">Sofia Quintero, Andrea Santos & Nicole Saboya. Wow! There are so many facts to know about Navajos! Some of them are that they preferred non-spicy and fresh foods. When the Navajo family wanted to eat fish the men had to make a trap made out of bamboo to catch the fish. They also liked to drink a lot of drinks but one of the popular ones and their favorite one was..... hot chocolate.

Do you know where the Navajos lived? The Dine (Navajos) migrated from Canada to the U.S.A between 1000-1400 A.D. Their neighbors were the Pueblo, Apache and Hopi. The people traded crops,animals and foods with the Pueblo Indians in the southwest.

Navajos had a different way of life. Navajos traveled by canoes or just walking. The Dine got horses from the Spanish. The peoples' horses made it easier to raid farther away. The Navajos had contact with the Spanish settlers. Read more to find out facts about the Navajos. Hello in Navajo is "yaateh." In the long walk more than 300 people died. The tools that they used were: bow and arrows,hoes,rakes and spears. They also used spindles. The Dine believed in a natural world. Navajos had to marry out side the hogan because they thought that if they married inside the bad spirits would come and give them bad luck.

<span style="color: #ff6e00; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 169%;"> We hope you've enjoyed learning about the Navajo Indians.