The Navajo with a population of 156,000 in 1978, is the largest Indian tribe in the United States and certainly one of the most creative and colorful. They occupy a reservation of sixteen million acres that spreads over the desert, dry and waterless mountains of northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, and the southeast corner of Utah. Theirs is a land magnificent in its vast panoramas of sky and land, is fantastic rock formations, forbidding canyons, bright desert flowers, and wind-weathered pinyon trees. But it is a land in which the elements of nature conspire to resist and defy man in his efforts to wrest a living from its soil.

Sometime after the tenth century A.D. nomadic bands of Indians, speaking a language now described as Athapaskan, trekked their way south from Western Canada into the area of the Southwest which they now occupy. As to the route that they took or the years spent on the journey, one can only conjecture, but by 1700 many of the pueblos along the Rio Grande were abandoned for fear of them.

At that time the Navajo and Apache were undifferentiated. Except for differences of dialect, they spoke the same language and shared an economy of hunting and food gathering. They were called by the Tewa pueblo people apache, meaning stranger or enemy. Organized into small bands, the ancestors of the present day Apache roamed far and wide in their raiding forays and became quite independent from their cousins, the Navajo, whose name was derived from apache de nabahu, "enemies of the cultivated fields." In their, own language they call themselves Dine or Dineh - the People.

The Navajo were also raiders, but appear to have become more restricted in the range of their sorties. They raided the Pueblos for corn and women whom they married, This contact of the Navajo with the Pueblos was important in their future development for it introduced them to new ideas which they adopted into their economy and religion.

From the Pueblos they learned horticulture, the planting of corn, beans, squash, and peach trees, and the craft of weaving. From the Spanish they acquired, legally or illegally, horses and sheep, the latter of which soon became the base of their economy. Sheep assured them a steady Supply of meat and protein in their diet, wool to be spun into yarn for weaving, and skins for their own use or for trade.

Traditionally, the Navajo are a matrilineal society in which clans are organized through the lineage of the oldest woman or mother. A son is responsible for fulfilling the religious duties of the clan. Upon marriage man goes to live with his wife and her family. Woman's position in the society is assured, for she owns both the hogan, a six- or eight-sided log house in which the family lives, and the flock of sheep which provides a steady source of income. An increasing reliance on wage economy has begun to change the picture to something closer to the style of white society, but women are still highly important in Navajo philosophy and daily life.

With the conclusion of the Mexican War in 1848, the United States became responsible for protecting citizens from raiding Indians. Kit Carson, a trapper, guide, and finally Indian agent, was charged with subduing the Navajo. By killing their sheep, burning their corn, and cutting down their peach trees, he starved them into submission. They were assured food and clothing if they would go to a huge internment camp in Fort Sumner, or Bosque Redondo, New Mexico. In 1864 some eight thousand consented and began what came to be known as the "Long Walk" into exile, a tragic experience in the history of the Navajo.

After four years a treaty was signed and "the People" were allowed to return home. The government issued sheep and goats and provided rations in its attempt to resettle the Navajo in their homeland. It was during this period that a few Navajo men learned the art of silversmithing from a traveling Mexican. With the encouragement and guidance of friendly traders, the women developed their world famous talent for weaving rugs. These arts and crafts, so representative of the traditional Navajo culture, are an important factor in the economy of the tribe today.

On their return to their homeland in 1868, the Navajo worked hard to reestablish themselves, Their recovery and growth is unique among Indian tribes of North America and leads one to ask how to explain this change. The Navajo are not only industrious but are avid and rapid learners. They have enriched their religious ceremonies by adopting and adapting symbolic and artistic elements from the rites of the neighboring Pueblos. While holding to their traditional beliefs and ways, they have not hesitated to accept the technological resources of the modern world.

During the early decades of the twentieth century, they lived an idyllic pastoral life with their sheep, goats, and homes until it was interrupted by a governement order that called for a reduction of sheep, the source of their economy. The land was being destroyed by overgrazing, and it was plainly evident that the desert land could not support the rapidly growing population. To meet the critical situation many Navajos migrated to cities where they found employment.

The Second World War contributed to the advancement of the Navajo in a peculiar way. The young men who served in the war were introduced to the world as they had never experienced it prior to their service. Seeing the advantages of education, they returned home with a new world outlook. Whereas they had had a limited Western education because their parents had opposed the government schools, they now insisted that their younger brothers and sisters and their own children "learn paper"

A variety of schools is available to children from five to eighteen years of age, depending upon their needs and the wishes of their parents. These include bureau of Indian Affairs Boarding Schools, day schools, public schools, mission schools, and headstart classes. Of special interest is the Rough Rock Demonstration School, an experiment in total community development. The school is administered by a Board of Education composed of Navajos, and the curriculum teaches Navajo language and culture in addition to courses in English to prepare students for the modern world.

The College of Ganado, it two-year junior college, was opened in September 1970. On April 13, 1971, a campus site of twelve hundred acres for the Navajo Community College was dedicated at Tsaile. A curriculum organized to meet the needs of the students has led to the writing and publication of new text books. Navajo tribal scholarship funds have been available only to graduate students. Undergraduates are assisted through the Bureau of Indian Affairs Grant Program. Some hundreds of Navajos have graduated from colleges off the reservation and some have achieved advanced degrees in law, medicine, and other fields.

The Navajo are governed by a Tribal Council composed of eighty-seven members elected for a term of four years from the nineteen districts scattered over the reservation. The council administers the business affairs of the tribe in cooperation with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Department of Interior, Washington, D.C.

The leasing of oil, coal, gas, and mineral rights has provided income which, with the addition of government grants, has made possible vast improvements in the welfare of the People. One cannot predict the future of the Navajo nation, but one can be assured that they will determine their own destiny.


Navajo Religion

The Navajo Creation Myth narrates an evolutionary sequence of four worlds culminating in the fifth world in which one lives today. Gladys Reichard in her comprehensive study, Navajo Religion, wrote, "The body of Navajo mythology is to the Navajo chanters what the Bible is to our theologians." The desideratum of' Navajo religion is the attainment of a state of harmony with nature, the cosmos, one's, family, and one's self.

For the curing of illness, protection from contacts with non-Navajos, and establishing the state of harmony with nature and all living things, there exists a large repertoire of chants which are performed by "singers" who constitute a body of religious specialists, trained in the esoteric rites of particular chants. These ceremonies, often spoken of as "sings," last from three to nine days and call for careful and detailed preparation. The making of sand paintings depicting mythological characters is an important element of the ceremony.

Dr. Leland Wyman, an authority on Navajo religion, states, "The name of the rite, Hozhooji, which we render Blessing Way, is derived from a stem that has no single equivalent in English . . . the Navajo term includes everything that a Navajo thinks is good - that is good as opposed to evil, favorable to man as opposed to unfavorable or doubtful . . . its song and prayers cover every aspect of domestic and social life, they invoke blessings upon all of man's possessions, renewing their efficacy and purifying them when necessary.

A characteristic feature of Navajo songs and prayers is the delicacy and color of the imagery of the sacred texts. The ceremonial music is entirely vocal and ranges from deep-voiced chanting to piercing falsetto, often with drum or rattle accompaniment.