SAN FRANCISCO PUBLIC LIBRARY

223 5722 3837

THE NAVAHO
THE NAVAHO

Clyde Kluckhohn

and Dorothea Leighton

REVISED EDITION

Revisions made by
Lucy H. Wales and
Richard Kluckhohn

With a Foreword by
Lucy Wales Kluckhohn

Harvard University Press

Cambridge, Massachusetts
1974
 970.3 K711n 1974

Kluckhohn, Clyde,
1905-1960.
The Navaho /

1974.

Copyright © 1946, 1974 by the President and Fellows of

Harvard College
Copyright renewed © 1974 by Dorothea Cross Leighton
and Florence Kluckhohn Taylor
All Rights Reserved
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 62-6779
ISRN 0-674-60603-5
Printed in the United States of America

5. S’. PUBLIC LIBRARY

3 1223 05722 3837

To Alfred Tozzer and John Collier
 CONTENTS

Foreword 3

Preface: Indian Education Research 20

Project

Introduction: “The People” and this Study 23

BEFORgJHE-XlAWf^-OFHISTORY

THE SPANISH-MEXICAN PERIOD [1626-1846]

THE AMERICAN PERIOD [1846- ]

2. Land and Livelihood 45

THE LAND IS CROWDED

SOURCES OF NAVAHO LIVELIHOOD

Livestock, Agriculture, Wild Plants and Ani¬

mals, Lumber and Minerals, Arts and Crafts,
Wage Work, Relief, Average Income.
NAVAHO TECHNOLOGY

Weaving and .Silver Work, Agriculture, Ani¬

mal Husbandry, Hunting, Transportation.
REGIONAL VARIATIONS IN ECONOMY AND TECH¬

NOLOGY

THE ROLE OF THE GOVERNMENT IN THE NAVAHO

ECONOMY

Soil Conservation and Stock Improvement,

Tribal Enterprises, Other Economic Services.

6 46140 SFPL: C-BKS

 THE NAVAHO

DISTRIBUTION OF GOODS

The Trading Pest.

THE FUTURE OF NAVAHO ECONOMY

3. Living Together 84
WHAT THE PEOPLE LOOK LIKE

^"Physique, CIotTungT^
THE WORLD OF THE HOGANS ^

“A Room of One’s Own,” Sleeping and

Eating, Cleanliness, Division of Labor,
Recreation, Navaho Humor.
PERSONAL RELATIONS IN THE -WORLD OF THE

HOGANS

The Biological Family, The Extended Fam¬

ily, Dealing with Kinfolk, Ownership and
Inheritance.
RELATIVES BEYOND THE HOGAN GROUP

The “Outfit,” The Clan, Linked Clans.

N. --*
THE WIDER CIRCLE OF PERSONA!. KF.I.A.TIONS

Names and Naming, The “Local Group” or

“Community,^ Leadership and Authority,
The People as a Tribe.

4. The People and the World Around

Them 124
OTHER INDIANS

DIVISIONS AMONG WHITES AS SEEN BY THE

PEOPLE ...... “ '

TRADERS TO THE PEOPLE

THE WORD OF AN ALIEN GOD

THE PEOPLE AND THE GOVERNMENT: THE

NAVAJO AGENCY

The Administrative Setup, Education for

Navahos, Medical Services and Navaho
Health, Law and Order.
 CONTENTS

THE PEOPLE PARTICIPATE IN GOVERNMENT

The Navajo Council, Tribal Courts.

THE GOVERNMENT AND THE PEOPLE: PRESENT

PROBLEMS

NAVAHOS WORKING IN THE WHITE WORLD

BETWEEN TWO WORLDS

NAVAHO ATTITUDES TOWARD WHITES

BEINGS AND POWERS

GHOSTS

WITCHES

THE NAVAHO THEORY OF DISEASE

FOLK TALES AND MYTHS

Folk Tales, Origin Myth, Rite Myths, Myths

and Tales in Daily Life, The Family in Myth
and Folklore.

6. ^The Supernatural: Things to Do and

Not to Do j 200
THOU SHALT NOT

THOU SHALT

RITES OF PASSAGE

Birth, Initiation.
FINDING THINGS OUT

THE WAY OF GOOD HOPE

DRYPAINTINGS

NAVAHO CEREMONIAL MUSIC

CURING CHANTS

OTHER RITES

7. The Meaning of the Supernatural 224

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL ASPECTS OF CERE¬

MONIALS
 THE NAVAHO

The Cost in Time, The Cost in Money, Co¬

operation and Reciprocity, Social Functions:
the “Squaw Dance” as an Example.
WHAT MYTHS AND RITES DO FOR THE INDIVIDUAL

Prestige and Personal Expression, Curing,

Security.
WHAT MYTHS AND RITES DO FOR THE GROUP

THE GAIN AND COST OF WITCHCRAFT

Anxiety, Aggression, Social Control.

8. The Tongue of The People 253

NAVAHO SOUNDS

NAVAHO WORDS

A QUICK GLANCE AT NAVAHO GRAMMAR

Nonverbal Parts of Speech, Navaho Verbs.

BY THEIR SPEECH SHALL YE KNOW THEM

WHY BOTHER ABOUT THE LANGUAGE?

Establishing Good Relations, Dealing with

Interpreters, Getting the Navaho View¬
point.

9. ’ The Navaho View of Life 294

NAVAHO VALUES

SOME PREMISES OF NAVAHO LIFE AND THOUGHT

SEEING THINGS THE NAVAHO WAY

Acknowledgments 322
Notes and References 3^7
Bibliography 333
Index 34i
 FIGURES

1. RANGE CAPACITY OF NAVAHO LANDS .... 49

2. DEGREE OF EROSION OF NAVAHO LANDS ... 50
3. ESTIMATED SOURCES OF NAVAHO INCOME, I94O . 55
4. ESTIMATED NAVAHO INCOME FROM LIVESTOCK,

194°. 56
5. PARTIAL PARADIGM OF THREE NAVAHO VERBS . 264
6. “rough”.277
7. “dig66n”..278
8. “beesh”.279
9. “1 DROP IT.”.280
10. “it bent.”.282

11. “he went to town.”.283

12. “1 kicked him.”.284

TABLES

TABLE i: NAVAHO INCOME BY SOURCES, PER

CENT TOTAL. 60
TABLE HI NAVAHO SCHOOL ENROLLMENT BY

type of school, 1939-1958. 147

 THE NAVAHO

PLATES

following page 48
1. Navaho family return from hoeing their com
(Paul J. Woolf)

2. Flocks go down for water in a deeply eroded wash

(Milton Snow)

following page 87

3a. A three-forked-poles hogan

(Milton Snow)

3b. A “modern type” hogan

(Milton Snow)

3c. An earth-covered hogan

(Milton Snow)

following page 92

4a. Shearing a sheep

(Harry Tschopik, Jr.)

4b. Woman husking corn

(Harry Tschopik, Jr.)

following page 96

5. Recreation: an impromptu horse race

(Paul J. Woolf)
6. A Navaho family
(Milton Snow)

following page 141

7. Council meeting in a schoolhouse

(Milton Snow)

8. Early morning at a ceremonial

(Milton Snow)
 CONSOLIDATED UTE RES General area of
early Nava ho
settlement in the
COLORADO Southwest Region
NEW MEXICO
Shiprock
xirmingtog

JICARILLA
APACHE
RES.

CANYON

Mt. Taylor

CANYONCITO
ZUNI
RES.
Ramoh

ACOMA and LAGUNA RES.

NEW MEXICO

PUERTOCITO

NAVAHO COUNTRY
SHOWING

GROWTH OF
NAVAHO RESERVATION
THE NAVAHO
 FOREWORD

The Navajo* Indians, whose reservation lands occupy ap¬

proximately 25,000 square miles in the four-corners area of
Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado, are the largest
tribe in the United States today. The population, estimated
by Kluckhohn and Leighton in 1946 at 55,000, grew to
approximately 90,000 in i960 and to more than 120,000 in
1969. The growth rate would indicate an estimated popula¬
tion of 130,000 in 1974. The effects of this population
growth are readily visible. Navajo communities are spring¬
ing up around established centers (trading posts, govern¬
ment schools, chapter houses) throughout the Reservation,
where no such communities were before. Hogans can be
seen from the road; in 1940 they were usually out of sight.
The increased population cannot be supported solely by the
traditional activities of sheepherding and farming. Since
the population can no longer live off the land, more services
have been needed—schools, hospitals and clinics, jobs, bet¬
ter roads and transportation. These have been provided by

* When The Navaho was written in the early 1940’s and when
it was revised in 1962, “Navaho” was the spelling used by most
anthropologists. The Navajo Tribe, however, has long used the j
and in the 1960’s the Navajo Tribal Council formally stated its
preference. Today most anthropologists conform to tribal usage,
and I have done so in this preface. But because The Navaho has
been reissued by photographic processes, the h has been retained
in the text of this edition.

3
 THE NAVAHO

a combination of federal, state, tribal, and private sources.

In many ways the Navajo of the 1970’s are different from
the group studied by Kluckhohn and Leighton in the early
1940’s; yet in many other ways they remain the same. Areas
where change is the most apparent include the economy,
technology and material culture, health and education and
political organization and administration. The changes in
social organization and religion have been more conserva¬
tive. In all areas, the Navajo have adopted new items and
retained old items of a cultural inventory' where suitable,
and they have molded both to a distinctive Navajo way of
life. This pattern of adoption and gradual change was in
progress when Kluckhohn and Leighton did their field work;
it is still going on.
The Navajo economy in the 1970’s is far more dependent
upon the job market than it was in the 1940’s, although the
trend was evident by i960. The railroad was once the major
employer for wage work, both on and off the Reservation,
but the base for wage work has widened. The federal gov¬
ernment is now the hugest single employer of the Navajo
(Aberle 1969:242). Many Navajos work in clerical and
administrative positions at the Navajo Area Office of the
Bureau of Indian Affairs in Window Rock. Tribal and state
governments provide jobs in addition to those available from
federal sources. Fairchild, General Dynamics, and EPI
Vostron companies have established plants on the
Reservation.
Other sources of income for Navajo families include the
traditional ones. Families raise crops (corn, melons, and
squash) for their own use. They herd sheep and goats.
Cattle, which require less herding but need more acres per
head, are increasing in importance. Arts and crafts provide
family income as well. The Navajo Arts and Crafts Guild
has helped with the distribution of these works. The price
of silver has increased rapidly since i960, dramatically since
1970, and the demand for American Indian jewelry has

4
 FOREWORD

reached the point that major department stores are not only
offering the jewelry but are advertising the wares in news¬
papers from coast to coast. How much the individual crafts¬
man derives from this outlet, however, I do not know. Relief
and welfare were important sources of family livelihood in
the early 1940’s and remain important today, but the focus
has changed from federal welfare checks to a program
sponsored by the tribe, with the guidance of the Bureau of
Indian Affairs and the Public Health Service.
To fund programs and services for individual families,
the Navajo Tribe needs income. The sources of tribal income
have expanded in the last three decades. The improved road
system across the Reservation has paved the way for tour¬
ism, an industry that was hardly envisaged in the early
i94o’s. Several Navajo tribal parks have opened, beginning
with the establishment of Monument Valley Tribal Park in
1958, followed by the Lake Powell and Little Colorado
River Navajo Tribal Parks (1962) and the Window Rock-
Tse Bonito Tribal Park (1963). Kinlichee Tribal Park
opened in 1964; the Anasazi ruins there (A.D. 800-1300)
have been excavated by the Museum of Northern Arizona
and stabilized by the Navajo Tribe. Grand Canyon Navajo
Tribal Park opened in 1966. Guided tours are available: the
Navajo Parks and Recreation Department pamphlet invites
the visitor to see Navajoland on five-day package tours
“featuring Navajo college students as driver-guides and
pretty Navajo coeds as hostesses on sightseeing buses.”
Tribal leases for mineral rights have been important since
1921, and with the ecology movement and energy crisis of
the 1970’s, leases are still important and are now controver¬
sial. Coal from the strip mine at Black Mesa is slurried across
the Reservation to the western boundary near Page,
Arizona. Extending 97 miles, the right-of-way brought in a
lease income of approximately $14,93345 for the first half
of 1967 (NAO BIA 1967:17). The leases enrich the tribal
coffers, but it is hard to herd sheep on a strip mine. There

5
 THE NAVAHO

is air pollution from the Four Corners Power Plant south of

Shiprock. Seven natural gas plants are planned for an area
in the eastern Navajo Reservation in northwestern New
Mexico. The Navajo residents in the area have voted over¬
whelmingly to oppose the projects (Fradkin 1973:2).
Tribal leasing involves more than gas and mineral rights.
Business leases have been approved; a total of twenty-four
business leases, five of them to Navajos, generated an in¬
come for the tribe of $109,400 in the first half of fiscal year
1968 (NAO BIA 1967:16). A supermarket opened in 1968
at Window Rock, providing a much-needed service to the
central Navajo area. Navajos in other areas must travel great
distances to non-Reservation towns or depend on the local
trading post for their day-to-day needs (see Adams 1963;
Aberle 1969).
Change since the 1940’s is apparent in the areas of tech¬
nology and material culture as well. Housing has changed.
Cinder-block houses are being built with increasing fre¬
quency; 190 low-rent units were occupied in 1967, and 410
were under construction at that time (NAO BIA 1967:35).
Yet a family group retains a hogan for ceremonial use, and
the front door of a cinder-block house still faces east when¬
ever possible. The availability of electricity across the Reser¬
vation has had its effect in the increased use of material
goods. Furniture and appliances—beds, tables, chairs, bu¬
reaus, stoves, sewing machines, televisions, radios, washing
machines, and freezers—are increasingly prevalent. Floors
that once were dirt are now cement, often covered with
linoleum. Dishes and pots and pans made of plastic, metal,
and china, common in the 1940’s all over America but not in
the hogan, are now the rule rather than the exception for the
Navajo. Transportation is by pickup truck rather than wag¬
on, and the settlement pattern has changed according to
where a truck can go or cannot go. Clothing has continued
to change, and a great variety is seen: men in business suits
or western shirts and jeans, women in dresses, blouses and

6
 FOREWORD

skirts, or pants, according to current fashions available

locally. Young women can, and do, wear jeans or slacks;
even as late as 1958 this was considered outrageous, inde¬
cent, but it is now accepted for children and young adults.
Health services for the Navajo are improving. There is
increasing use of the medical facilities available through the
Public Health Service (the Department of Health, Educa¬
tion, and Welfare took over administration from the BIA in
1955), a change from the 1940’s, when the level of distrust
of anything Anglo was high. The Cornell-Many Farms pro¬
ject started in July 1955 was helpful in bridging the gap
between Navajo and Anglo Medicine; both are used today.
There are new Public Health Service hospitals in Gallup and
in Tuba City, and clinics are held at the chapter houses. The
first class of nurses in the new program at Navajo Commu¬
nity College was graduated in January 1973 (four girls were
in this class, three Navajo and one Hopi).
Other public services are available to the Navajo. The
Public Health Service and the Office of Navajo Economic
Opportunity (ONEO) sponsor a popular Home Improve¬
ment Training Program. ONEO also sponsors legal aid
services, programs for migrant agricultural workers, pro¬
grams on employment and alcoholism, VISTA, and others
(Bathke 1969:13). Overall, the picture is one of the Navajo
Tribe, the BIA, and ONEO working in cooperation (and/or
competition) to provide the Navajo with needed services.
The Navajo Tribal Education Committee has worked
hand in hand with ONEO to use resources to the best ad¬
vantage to meet the unique Navajo educational needs.
ONEO has provided Head Start classes with Navajo teach¬
ers (seventeen kindergartens opened in 1968), and students
can attend state public schools, federal day schools, BIA
boarding schools, or mission schools, according to the wishes
of their parents and the availability of transportation. An
indication of the importance of education to the Navajo is
the Rough Rock Demonstration School. D.I.N.E., Inc.

7
 THE NAVAHO

(“Demonstration in Navajo Education”; dine is the Navajo

word for “The People”) was established as a nonprofit
organization to receive funds and to direct the school; the
school board is all Navajo. The first classes were held in the
fall of 1966. The school is a unique example of Navajo
community involvement in education: parents as well as
teachers participate in the education of the children, and
Navajo culture (including mythology, the kinship system,
medicine and medicine men, and language) as well as
American culture is emphasized. Courses are taught in both
Navajo and English. English as a second language is taught
for those who need it; courses in Navajo are offered for those
who need to leam Navajo (see Johnson 1968).
Higher education is available to Navajo students at the
Navajo Community College, which opened in temporary
headquarters at the Many Farms High School, near Chinle,
Arizona, in January 1969. In 1971 the Navajo Community
College Press published volume 1 of Navajo History, written
under the direction of the Navajo Curriculum Center at the
Rough Rock Demonstration School (Yazzie 1971). Con¬
struction is under way for the new Tsaile campus of the
college, at the foot of the Chuska Mountains. In addition,
Navajo students today attend colleges elsewhere in the
United States, many of them helped by tribal scholarships
or by grants from the BIA. I remember the pride with which
Clyde Kluckhohn greeted the first Navajo student at
Harvard University—in 1959. Dr. Kluckhohn stated that
there had been a few Navajo students at the University of
New Mexico, but he knew of none at Harvard before 1959.
Political organization and administration have changed
in emphasis since the lgqo’s. The major governing body of
the Navajo Tribe, the Tribal Council, is still responsible for
the major decisions affecting the tribe, as it was then. Estab¬
lished in 1923 with Henry Chee Dodge as the first chairman,
the council was reorganized in 1938; membership increased
from 12 delegates and 12 alternates to the 74 now serving

8
 FOREWORD

for four-year terms (see Young 1961 for details). At the

local level, however, chapters are now important. Estab¬
lished to provide a means of reaching Navajo communities
with new ideas, the first chapter was set up at Leupp in
1927 (Young 1968:63; Shepardson and Hammond 1970:
37). With the support of BIA funds and materials and
Navajo labor, local meetinghouses were gradually built
across the Reservation. In the aftermath of the stock re¬
duction program, however, and as BIA appropriations to
the Navajo decreased after World War II (Jorgensen
1972:139; see also Brophy and Aberle 1966), many of the
chapter houses fell into disrepair, and the chapter system
languished. The Tribal Council revived the chapters in
i955, and by 1969 there were 100 chapters across the
Reservation (Bathke and Bathke 1969:12). Today the chap¬
ter house serves as a town hall, the source of Tribal Council
information for the local community, the locus of several
tribal programs, and the like—chapters today are an impor¬
tant part of the political system. Organized to meet an
imposed need, they illustrate the Navajo capacity for retain¬
ing what is essentially Navajo; owing to its decentralized
nature, the chapter system is reminiscent of the nineteenth-
century fragmentation of the Navajo political system struc¬
tured around headmen. The local community today retains
its integrity and its importance.
Changes in social life and religion have been less pro¬
nounced than changes in other areas of Navajo life. Mem¬
bers of extended families and matrilineal kinsmen still
provide support and mutual aid when needed. This is more
difficult for Navajos living in towns than for those in the
more remote areas of the Reservation, but family ties remain
strong and are highly valued. Many recent studies have been
done on the social organization of the Navajo (see, for ex¬
ample, Aberle 1961; Downs 1972; Lamphere 1970; Levy
1962; Reynolds, Lamphere, and Cook 1967; Shepardson
and Hammond 1970; Witherspoon 1970; and others).

9
 THE NAVAHO

Religious ceremonies are still held, and they are as impor¬

tant as ever. They are still scheduled to fit in with the other
activities of the participants; many are now held on week¬
ends. What is new since the 1940’s is the increased
membership in the Native American Church. The use of
peyote on the Navajo Reservation was banned by the Tribal
Council in June 1940, and for many years members of the
Native American Church were arrested for practicing their
religion. The struggle to allow peyote continued through the
courts, and peyote is now legal on the Reservation; despite
harassment, the number of peyotists among the Navajo has
continued to rise; by 1965 there were approximately 35,000
peyotists, between 35 and 39 per cent of the Navajo popula¬
tion at that time, and the present estimate is at least that
percentage, or larger. In addition, several evangelical Chris¬
tian denominations recruit members from among the Nav¬
ajo. Religious affiliation and the increased medical facilities
available on the Reservation, however, do not seem to
diminish the desirability and efficacy of the Navajo curing
ceremonies. All are considered necessary.
In sum, the Navajo today are a vital, effective, and
growing people; they call themselves “The People”—and,
as a tribe, their administrative activities are so varied that
the computer at Window Rock has trouble keeping up with
the work load. Though today’s problems are complex, it is
the Navajo, not the government in some form, that takes
the lead in trying for adequate solutions. When Kluckhohn
and Leighton wrote The Navaho, the reverse was true.
They set out to evaluate the whole Indian administrative
program with special reference to the effect of its policy on
Indians as individuals, to indicate the direction toward
which this policy was leading, and to suggest how the effec¬
tiveness of Indian administration might be increased. In
short, Kluckhohn and Leighton attempted to use the tools
of anthropology and medicine to clarify what was viewed
as “the Navajo problem” and to bridge the gap between

10
 FOREWORD

The People and those who were engaged in administering

the Navajo area in the Southwest. In the process, Kluckhohn
and Leighton provided a valuable ethnography of the
Navajo in the early lg/fo’s; many aspects of Navajo culture
remained unchanged when the work was revised, and many
remain unchanged today. Most of the 1962 revisions, how¬
ever, were woven into the text; as Levy pointed out (1963:
732)> the changes were hard to detect. The following key
to what was revised and what was left alone should remedy
this situation.
Preface. The last two sentences were omitted: “The book
was written in the years 1942-1944. Unless a specific year
is mentioned, ‘now’ or ‘today’ refers to the 1942—1944
period.” In the 1962 revisions, the words “now” and “today”
were avoided where possible in favor of specific years.
Where general terms were used, however, they refer to the
period through 1959.
Introduction. Population figures were revised from 55,-
000 in 1946 to 90,000 in 1961. To conform with current
accepted usage, “Navajo Service” was changed to “Navajo
Agency.” The rest of the introduction remains as originally
written.
Chapter 1. This chapter is nearly untouched. In the dis¬
cussion about the governmental policy sympathetic to the
Navajo which was evolved in the early 1930’s, “fifteen
years” was changed to “thirty years,” and “two generations”
to “three generations.” The last paragraph in the chapter
was revised to include material on the Indian Claims Com¬
mission, established in 1946.
Chapter 2. Although the geography of the Navajo Reser¬
vation has remained relatively constant, the use of the land
has been changing since 1946. Revisions in Chapter 2 can
be identified by such phrases as “since the war,” “since
1940,” “in the postwar years,” or “recently” followed by
statistics through 1958. Data were added concerning road
construction (1951-1958), tribal income from oil and gas

11
 THE NAVAHO

leases, range capacity, and soil classification. Data on pop¬

ulation, infant mortality, median age, Reseivation acreage,
and population density were revised through 1958.
The order in which the material is presented on the
sources of Navajo livelihood was maintained as originally
written. Statistics were revised, however, and new material
on postwar changes was added at the end of the appropriate
paragraph. As a rule of thumb, the last sentence or para¬
graph in each section is new to the revised edition (note
the identifying phrases).
Table I, Navaho Income by Sources, was added, and
material on the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), which
employed many Navajos in the 1940’s, was deleted. Be¬
cause of the change in relief assistance as the tribe took over
some of the responsibility from the Navajo Agency, material
concerning per capita income for 1940 through 1957 was
added, as well as family income statistics for 1957. The in¬
crease in Navajo automobiles was noted (and “fifteen years
ago” was changed to “thirty years ago”). A list of enter¬
prises within the Tribal Program was added. Other material
remains the same.
Chapter 3. There were but three changes in this chapter,
two of them minor. A heading was changed by one word
(“Hogan Group” replaced “Indian Group”), and the last
sentence of the section “The Local Group or Community”
was recast to include a cross reference to Chapter 4. The
third change should not have been made. Within the hogan,
women traditionally do sit on the north side (as stated in
the 1946 edition, and as corrected in this edition), men sit
on the south. In the 1970’s, that requirement is maintained
for ceremonials. Although research on the social organiza¬
tion and kinship system has been done since the 1940’s, the
chapter remains true to the picture of the Navajo as seen
by Kluckhohn and Leighton in the early 1940’s.
Chapter 4. By the time the 1958 statistics were available,
the postwar changes were not only evident across the Reser-

12
 FOREWORD

vation but were especially marked in the relations of the

Navajos with those around them. The revisions in this chap¬
ter reflect this rapid expansion of contact. Wage work in¬
creased during the war years (in response to the war), and
it continued after the war. Two paragraphs on the Gallup
Inter-Tribal Indian Ceremonial were added; minor changes
took note of the increase in contact between Navajos and
Anglos at day schools and trading posts. The increase in
missionary activity on the Reservation was also noted in
new material. General dating was added to by twenty
years, and contact “for the past two generations” became
contact “for the past three generations.” Statistics on the
Navajo Agency budget were revised as of 1958, as were
the acreage figures (from 350,000 in 1946) and population
(districts varied in population from 1,100 to 6,400 in 1946)
for the eighteen districts. Since range riders and wartime
rationing were obsolete by i960, a sentence was deleted.
Several statements were added at the ends of paragraphs
concerning Navajo education, to reflect the growth not
only in numbers of students but in appropriations from the
Navajo Tribe and the Federal Government. Nineteen day
schools were closed in 1944-1945, sixteen in 1945-1946,
for lack of funds; statistics for 1958 concerning the types of
schools were substituted. New data on school salaries for
i960 were added. In the 1970’s most of these data are obso¬
lete, but to bring them up to date would be a vast project
in itself.
Literacy has increased among the Navajos, and conse¬
quently certain statistics were updated. Data from the
1930 census was deleted (71 per cent of the tribe spoke no
English and only 10 per cent spoke it “reasonably well”),
and a table showing the enrollment in the various types of
schools on the Reservation was added. The “present school
program on the Reservation” is described in the past tense
and the date (1961 instead of 1946) was changed. Minor
changes were made in the rest of the education section

13
 THE NAVAHO

(“war years” became “past twenty years”; “range riders”

became “local sub-agents”). A statement that “the scholar¬
ship program for developing professional and sub-profes¬
sional Navaho teachers could be worked out much better”
was deleted (which followed “Some things need more
thought and action,” p. 151).
The statistics in the section “Medical Services and Nava¬
ho Health,” especially those for tuberculosis, were revised
(there were an estimated 2,500 active TB cases on the
Reservation in 1946); sulfanilomide and other antibiotics
reduced the incidence of trachoma from 5 per cent in 1946
to 3 per cent in 1958. Statistics on Reservation hospital
facilities were revised as of 1958, and material on the
Navajo-Cornell Field Health Project at Many Farms was
added.
Concerning law and order, the 1946 edition noted that
“the Navaho Police Patrol is headed by a white man, but all
policemen are themselves Navahos.” The difficulties faced
by tribal policemen in the 1940’s included not only a wide
area to cover and poor transportation but also resentment
of “white-made law,” and of white sanctions that differed
sharply from Navajo means of dealing with offenders. The
revised statistics note the increase in financial responsibility
of the Navajo Tribal Council (starting in 1953) and the
cooperation with the Federal Government in terms of trial
and punishment in certain cases.
Material on the Navajo Tribal Council was revised as of
1961 (Young 1961:378-390), and the change from the
“absence of women” in 1946 to the “comparatively small
number of women in responsible positions” was briefly
noted. Two paragraphs speculating on the growth of the
Council’s usefulness were replaced by material concerning
the growth in The People’s awareness of and participation
in the world around them since 1946.
New data were added to the section “Tribal Courts.” The
statement on federal jurisdiction was revised to include

14
 FOREWORD

eleven major crimes (embezzlement was added to the list

of ten cited in 1946). The statistics given in the 1946 edi¬
tion for 997 convictions in 1942 were for disorderly con¬
duct (391 cases), liquor violations (148), and adultery
(110). These statistics were replaced by data from 1958.
Other material in this section was retained.
In the 1946 edition the section “The Government and
The People: Present Problems” specifically pertained to
the 1935—1945 decade. The section was entirely rewritten
by Richard Kluckhohn.
Most of the material in the section “Navahos Working in
the White World” was retained. The present tense was
changed to the past tense, and the increasing acceptance of
off-Reservation work was noted.
The section “Navaho Attitudes toward Whites” was
changed to indicate the increase in trained and educated
Navajos in the 1946-1960 period. A statement that “it is too
early to estimate the effects the 3600 returned veterans will
have upon tribal fife” was deleted, as was a statement con¬
cerning the laws of disfranchisement of Arizona and
New Mexico.
Certain comments were added to reflect the change of
attitudes (Navajos are now willing to invest for future
return), and a statement concerning the unpopular stock
reduction program was deleted. The excerpt and translation
from the government report were retained as written in
1946.
Chapters 5 through 9. No changes were made in Chap¬
ters 5 and 6. One minor change was made in Chapter 7.
The increase in ceremonials noted in 1946 was said to be
the result of more money available on the Reservation, on
account of soldiers’ allotment checks” and the availability of
jobs. Since allotment checks were less important as a source
of income in i960 than in 1946, that phrase was deleted.
Chapters 8 and 9 are unchanged.

15
 THE NAVAHO

To update all the topics covered in The Navaho would

have required far more time and research than was avail¬
able. The topics I chose for comment here were those with
which I am most familiar or on which material was avail¬
able; many more topics deserve equal space and time. Any
reader interested in learning more about the Navajo should
consult the bibliography provided below and also The Nav¬
ajo Times (available by subscription from Window Rock,
Arizona, and in some libraries across the country).
In preparing this foreword, I gratefully acknowledge the
help of certain people who prefer to be nameless, and I
thank Dorothea Leighton and Terry Reynolds not only for
bibliographic help but for encouragement when I needed it.

Lucy Wales Kluckhohn

June 1974

16
 FOREWORD

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Aberle, David F., “The Navaho,” Matrilineal Kinship, ed.
David M. Schneider and Kathleen Gough (Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1961).
The Peyote Religion among the Navaho, Viking
Fund Publications in Anthropology, No. 42 (New York:
Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research
Inc., 1966).
“A Plan for Navajo Economic Development,” To¬
ward Economic Development for Native American Com¬
munities: A Compendium of Papers Submitted to the
Subcommittee on Economy in Government of the Joint
Economic Committee, Congress of the United States,
gist Congress, 1st Session, Joint Committee Print (Wash¬
ington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1969), 2 vols.,
continuously paged, pp. 223-276.
Adams, William Y., Shonto: A Study of the Role of the
Trader in a Modern Navaho Community, Smithsonian
Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 188
(Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1963).
Bathke, Alice, and Jerry Bathke, “They Call Themselves
‘The People/ ” The University of Chicago Magazine,
61, No. 5 (1969), 2-17.
Brophy, William, and Sophie D. Aberle, The Indian:
America’s Unfinished Business (Norman, Okla.: Uni¬
versity of Oklahoma Press, 1966).
Correll, J. Lee, Historical Calendar of the Navajo People
(Window Rock, Ariz.: Navajo Tribal Museum, 1968).

17
 THE NAVAHO

Correll, J. Lee, and Editha Watson, Welcome to the Land

of the Navajo: A Book of Information about the Navajo
Indians, Prepared by Navajo Parks and Recreation
(Window Rock, Ariz.: The Navajo Tribe, 1969).
Downs, James F., The Navajo, Case Studies in Cultural
Anthropology (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston,
Inc., 1972).
Fradkin, Philip, “Gas-From-Coal Plants Will Change Life-
Style of Navajos,” Los Angeles Times, Sunday, October
21, 1973> Part II, pp. 1-3.
Johnson, Broderick H., Navaho Education at Rough Rock
(Rough Rock, Ariz.: Rough Rock Demonstration School,
D.I.N.E., Inc., 1968).
Jorgensen, Joseph G., The Sun Dance Religion (Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1972).
Lamphere, Louise, “Ceremonial Cooperation and Networks:
A Reanalysis of the Navajo Outfit,” Man, 5, No. 1
(1970), 39-59-
Levy, Jerrold, “Community Organization of the Western
Navaho,” American Anthropologist, 64 (1962), 781-801.
Review of The Navaho, by Clyde Kluckhohn and
Dorothea Leighton. American Anthropologist, 65 (1963),
732-733-

Navajo Area Office, Bureau of Indian Affairs (NAO BIA),

Annual Report of Activities, 1967 (Window Rock, Ariz.)
Mimeographed.
Reynolds, Terry R., Louise Lamphere, and Cecil Cook, Jr.,
“Time, Resources, and Authority in a Navaho Commu¬
nity,” American Anthropologist, 69 (1967), 188-199.
Shepardson, Mary, and Blodwen Hammond, The Navajo
Mountain Community (Berkeley and Los Angeles: Uni¬
versity of California Press, 1970).
Witherspoon, Gary, “A New Look at Navajo Social Organ-

18
 FOREWORD

ization,” American Anthropologist, 72, No. 1 (1970),

55-65-
Yazzie, Ethelou, ed., Navajo History, Vol. 1 (Unrecorded
History),written under the direction of the Navajo Curri¬
culum Center, Rough Rock Demonstration School,
Chinle, Arizona (Many Farms, Ariz.: Navajo Community
College Press, 1971).
Young, Robert W., The Navajo Yearbook, VIII (Window
Rock, Ariz.: Navajo Agency, 1961).
“The Role of the Navajo in the Southwestern Drama”
(Callup, N.M.: Gallup Independent in cooperation with
the Navajo Tribes, 1968).

19
 PREFACE

This book was written as a part of the Indian Education

Research Project undertaken jointly by the Committee on
Human Development of the University of Chicago and the
United States Office of Indian Affairs. The immediate ob¬
jective of the project was to investigate, analyze, and com¬
pare the development of personality in five Indian tribes
in the context of their total environment—sociocultural,
geographical, and historical—for implications in regard to
Indian Service Administration. The ultimate aim of the
long-range plan of research of which this project is the
first step is to evaluate the whole Indian administrative
program with special reference to the effect of present
policy on Indians as individuals, to indicate the direction
toward which this policy is leading, and to suggest how
the effectiveness of Indian administration may be increased.
The results of the project are being reported in mono¬
graphs on the several tribes and in shorter reports on spe¬
cial phases of the research in all the groups. Tribal mono¬
graphs already published are The Hopi Way, by Laura
Thompson and Alice Joseph (University of Chicago Press,
1944) and Warriors without Weapons, a study of the Pine
Ridge Sioux, by Gordon Macgregor (University of Chicago
Press, 1946). Studies of the Papago and Zuni tribes are in
preparation.
Such research necessarily depends in part upon informa¬
tion previously available. The sources of the present book

20
 PREFACE

lie largely in published literature about the Navahos and

in the field work, still largely unpublished, carried on by
the writers and others for some years before the Indian
Education Research Project began. To these have been
added the field work of the project and many conferences
with professional students, administrators, and teachers
who have had first-hand dealings with the Navahos.
The task of the writers, then, has been to synthesize
their own materials with those in the literature and those
supplied in oral conference. Since there is an exhaustive
bibliography of the Navahos up to 1940 (Clyde Kluckhohn
and Katherine Spencer, A Bibliography of the Navaho In¬
dians, New York: J. J. Augustin, 1940), bibliographical
references in this book have been limited to publications
which have appeared since 1939 or are directly quoted
herein. Detailed documentation of all statements has not
been attempted because it would have created pages where
footnotes outweighed the text, pages which would have
pleased only the specialist. For a relatively complete tabu¬
lation of printed materials the reader may combine the list
of references at the end of the book with those included
in Kluckhohn and Spencer’s bibliography.
Authority for assertions is to be found partly in the lit¬
erature, partly in the field notes of the writers and of their
colleagues who have generously supplied unpublished
data. (See Acknowledgments.) A few facts are drawn from
oral statements made in conference by Indian Service per¬
sonnel. Interpretations have also been importantly influ¬
enced by these discussions and by administrators’ criticisms
of the book in manuscript.
Children of The People, also published by the Harvard
University Press, is a companion volume by the same
writers. Each book is a separate study, though the two
supplement each other. Children of The People deals pri¬
marily with the individual (studying children especially)
and with the formation of personality. The Navaho deals
primarily with the situational and cultural context of

21
 THE NAVAHO

Navaho life. While each book stands by itself, two ap¬

proaches, differently emphasized in the two books, are
necessary for the deepest understanding. The Navaho way
of life may be learned only by knowing individual Nav-
ahos; conversely, Navaho personality may be fully under¬
stood only insofar as it is seen in relation to this life-way
and to other factors in the environment in the widest sense.
Understanding of Navaho culture is dependent upon ac¬
quaintance with personal figures, but equally these per¬
sonal figures get their definition and organization as in¬
dividuals when the student is in a position to contrast each
one with the generalized background provided by the cul¬
ture of The People.
In this volume the accent will be heavily upon Navaho
life today. The past will be treated to the extent that seems
necessary for a comprehension of contemporary problems
or of the characteristic attitudes with which Navahos face
these problems. Greater attention will be given to Navaho
dealings with the government than might be appropriate
in another sort of general book about this tribe.

C. K.
D. L.

22
 I

INTRODUCTION: "THE PEOPLE” AND

THIS STUDY

The Navahos form the largest Indian tribe in the United

States. Today they number about 90,000. This fact alone
gives them a claim to the interest and attention of the
general public, for in 1868 there were hardly more than
15,000 of them—some authorities say only 8,000. This in¬
crease is the more startling because their linguistic and
cultural cousins, the Apaches, have done little more than
maintain their numbers during the same generations.
“Navaho” is not their own word for themselves. In their
own language they are dine, "The People.” A case can be
made for translating this expression as “men” or “people,”
but since there are no articles in Navaho, the translation
used in this book is formally permissible and is better
semantically. A number of interpreters habitually use the
English rendering “The People.” Technically, dine‘e
(“tribe,” “people,” or “nation”), an old plural of dinS, is
the more correct Navaho term, but actually simple dine
is heard more frequently. This term is a constant reminder
that the Navahos still constitute a society in which each
individual has a strong sense of belonging with the others
who speak the same language and, by the same token, a
strong sense of difference and isolation from the rest of
humanity.
“Navajo” is, of course, a Spanish word, and this spelling
is followed in government publications. The anglicized
spelling with an h instead of a / is followed in this book

23
 THE NAVAHO

because it has become standard anthropological usage and

also because the / is apt to be mispronounced by those
who are not familiar with Spanish or with this particular
tribal name.
The exact origin of the term is by no means certain.
The view that “Navahu” was a place name used by Tewa-
speaking1 Pueblo Indians and that it might be translated
“large area of cultivated lands” has been widely accepted
in recent years. This interpretation gains plausibility from
the fact that the seventeenth-century Franciscan friar
Benavides speaks of the Navaho as “the Apache of the
great planted fields.” Some scholars claim, however, that
the Tewa word really means “to take from the fields.”
There is also some support for deriving “Navajo” directly
from the Spanish in the sense of either a clasp knife or
razor or a large, more or less worthless, flat piece of land.
In recent years the Navahos have become the nation’s
foremost Indian problem. The social and economic assimi¬
lation or adjustment of so large a minority group could
never be, at best, a simple matter. Their rapid increase in
numbers continues, and the adjacent areas can no longer
absorb the overflow. Moreover, the resources of their own
ancient lands have been shockingly depleted by erosion.
How are The People to make a living? Today, too, the
Navahos are facing, for the first time in their completeness
and full intensity, these difficult questions: How are The
People to live with white Americans? What alien ways
must they learn if they are to survive? How much of the
old pattern of fife can they safely and even profitably
preserve?
Until a little while ago these questions hardly seemed
pressing. The Navahos were so many, their country was
so vast, that only the few who spent some time in board¬
ing schools in cities or who happened to be drawn per¬
ceptibly within the web of white economy were deeply
troubled. But today almost every Navaho has reason to
feel uneasy. They all know that they can no longer move

24
 INTRODUCTION

freely to new and uncrowded ranges. Every day the de¬

mands of different, and to a large degree antagonistic, ways
of life press upon them.
In some very real senses this book is not about The
People only but about two much wider issues that must
concern all men everywhere. The first is the more specific:
How can minority peoples, especially those which have a
manner of life very different from that of the Euro-Ameri¬
can tradition, be dealt with in such a way that they will
not be a perpetual problem to more powerful governing
states, and in such a way that the human values which
minority peoples have discovered will not utterly disappear
from the heritage of all humanity? This is no academic
query. The United States, Great Britain, and others of the
United Nations have inescapable responsibilities in all parts
of the world to all manner of “primitive” and partially in¬
/
dustrialized peoples.
The second and more general problem is in many re¬
spects the most crucial of our age: How shall we apply
technical knowledge without disrupting the whole fabric
of human life?
It is believed that every reader will agree, after finishing
this book, that he has been reading about many of the most
central dilemmas of world society, seen in microcosm. The
very fact that they are seen in microcosm makes possible a
canvas small enough to be manageable and to permit con¬
vincing workmanship of detail. Moreover, the fact that the 77
Navaho Indians are in our American world but not yet of /
it guarantees the relevance of the data and at the same
time affords the opportunity of studying them with con¬
7
siderable detachment, since it is not our own immediate
interests and prejudices which hold the center of the
picture.
In an endeavor to meet the highly critical situation of
the Navahos since 1933, the government has drawn on the
resources of many physical and social sciences—ecology,
agronomy, animal husbandry, medicine, education, and

25
 THE NAVAHO

others. Whatever its defects, the government program has

been without a doubt one of the closest approaches yet
achieved to an intelligent, planned, and integrated appli¬
cation of scientific knowledge to the practical affairs of a
whole people. In some ways the results of this experiment
have been gratifying, but in others they have been dis¬
appointing in terms of the knowledge, sldlls, and resources
expended. Where was the flaw?
The central hypothesis of this book is that the incom¬
plete success of the program has been due in an important
degree to lack of understanding of certain human factors.
It was necessary to know the physical needs of The Peo¬
ple, to discover means of conserving their land and of im¬
proving their techniques of agriculture and livestock care.
This knowledge was imperative, but it was not enough.
Consideration of the human needs of the Navaho and
comprehension of the problems of human relations were
wanting in an important measure. Also lacking was an
understanding that Navaho psychological processes and
assumptions differ from those of the white men on which
the administrators unconsciously based all their plans.
Hence these plans often failed because of intangible factors
which, being largely unknown to the administrators, were
unpredictable.
For example, government technicians developed a stock-
reduction program which was probably, at the purely ra¬
tional level, in the best interests of the Navahos. But the
Navahos did not see it in rational terms; they saw it in
v emotional terms. Large herds were not just sources of meat,
wool, and money to them, but symbols of prestige and of
the sort of life that is right and proper. They became
frightened, angry, and suspicious. Practical and realistic
as they are in many ways, they could not be persuaded
that if they had fewer and better sheep they might actually
be better off. They even seemed to find satisfaction in gen¬
eral resistance to anything else that was proposed by the

26
 INTRODUCTION

government which had thus tried to alter the established

routine of their economic and social life.
The writers of this book believe that the Navajo Agency
has been too exclusively concerned with material things,
with externals. Issues have been seen too little in the light
of the life experience and patterned attitudes of the indi¬
vidual Navaho. All the so-called “intangibles,” the human
factors, have been left too much out of account. Though
the policy-making group in the Indian Service has certainly
been aware of these factors in theory, too often administra¬
tors have forgotten that to change a way of life you must
change people, that before you can change people you
must understand how they have come to be as they are.
Obviously, the partial failure of the government’s pro¬
gram cannot be traced wholly to lack of understanding of
the psychological and cultural factors involved. There are
also the stubborn and irreducible facts of natural resources;
there are legal difficulties; there have been sheer historical
accidents which no amount of psychological knowledge
could have foreseen—and which could not have been con¬
trolled if they had been foreseen. But it is the claim of the
writers that some failures might have been avoided or
tempered had there been available more information on
typical Navaho attitudes. If the ways in which The People
—as contrasted with whites—react to external situations had
been investigated as carefully as the situations themselves,
the results could have been much better.
For facts never speak for themselves. They must always
be cross-examined. And every different human society has
its own techniques of cross-examination. In many, probably
in most, cases the same fact has a different meaning to a
Japanese, a German, an Englishman, an American. Mean¬
ing is derived only partly from the external reality. It also
derives from the premises, goals, categories in terms of
which the facts are conseiously or unconsciously evaluated.
This is what is meant by “culture” in the technical
anthropological sense. A culture is any given people’s way

27
 THE NAVAHO

of life, as distinct from the life-ways of other peoples.

There are certain recurrent and inevitable human problems,
and the ways in which man can meet them are limited by
his biological equipment and by certain facts of the ex¬
ternal world. But to most problems there are a variety of
possible solutions. Any culture consists of the set of habitual
and traditional ways of thinking, feeling, and reacting that
are characteristic of the ways a particular society meets its
problems at a particular point in time.
More than anything else, this book is a description of
those aspects of Navaho culture that bear most immedi¬
ately upon the government’s capacity to help The People
strike a working balance between human needs and fluc¬
tuating resources. The focus is upon the normal problems
of Navaho existence today as determined, on the one hand,
by the situational factors of geography and of biology (the
location, climate, size, and quality of Navaho lands; popu¬
lation density and health conditions) and, on the other
hand, by the traditional ways which the Navahos have de¬
veloped for meeting the dilemmas, posed by the external
situation.
The writers have tried to steer a steady middle course
between “economic determinism” and “psychological de¬
terminism.” In recent times one group of students of hu¬
man affairs has loudly proclaimed that everything is due
to situational factors, especially technology and economic
pressures. Another group—which has lately become increas¬
ingly fashionable—says in effect: “Tools and economic sys¬
tems are but the expression of human personalities. The
key to the world’s problems lies not in new techniques of
distribution or in more equitable access to raw materials,
or even in a stable international political organization. All
we need is a saner method of child training, a wiser edu¬
cation.” Each of these “explanations” by itself is one-sided
and barren. Probably the tendency to oversimplification in
these two directions corresponds to what we find in con¬
trasting schools of historians, who, ever since Greek times

28
 INTRODUCTION

at least, have seen history either as the interaction of im¬

personal forces or as a drama of personalities. Either con¬
ception has a strong appeal to human beings who crave
simple answers to complex problems, but neither alone tells
the whole story; we need both.
The central aim of this book, then, is to supply the
background needed by the administrator or teacher who is
to deal effectively with The People in human terms. Only
such items have been taken from the literature, from field
notes, and from other sources as were felt to bear directly
upon this problem. Since the evidence has been so care¬
fully screened from this point of view, the book has no
pretensions to being a complete description of Navaho
history, life, and customs. The ethnographer will find many
gaps.
But the volume is more than a handbook for those
relatively few persons who deal with Navaho Indians. It
attempts to suggest partial answers to some questions
which are vital in dealing with any minority group. How
can technological changes best be reconciled with human
habits and human emotional needs? How can recommen¬
dations made by technicians who have carefully studied a
given external situation be most effectively explained to
the people whom these recommendations are designed to
benefit? What dangers must be foreseen and what errors
avoided if facts are to be so communicated to a people of
a different tradition that they will be understood rather
than distorted? How can knowledge of a people’s history,
of its hopes and fears, of its unspoken assumptions about
the nature of human life and experience, give a respon¬
sible administrator some idea of what to expect from a
particular policy and how to present the policy in ways
which will evoke cooperation? These are large questions,
and no single book can provide full solutions even for a
single specific case.
But the explicit suggestions and the implications of the
discussion of the Navaho case will have meaning for all

29
 THE NAVAJHO

persons who have to deal with others in practical ways,

whether they are teachers, administrators, or welfare work¬
ers. They will also have meaning for anyone who is inter¬
ested in human beings. Readers are asked not to approach
these pages with any single-minded conviction that they
deal only with strange folk and strange ways. Navahos are
human beings. They have had to face all the perennial
problems with which mankind must somehow deal. The
solutions which The People have worked out through
countless generations of trial-and-error learning must have
some message, some meaning, to other groups of our com¬
mon humanity who have met the same issues in different
contexts and worked out other answers. The effects which
the special Navaho situation and the traditional Navaho
solutions have had upon personality development illumine
processes which are in some sense universal. To the teacher
or administrator working with people who have a social
heritage different from his own (whether the society be
Indian or Asiatic or another “ethnic minority” in our coun¬
try) the lessons which may be drawn from these materials
doubtless have an application of special practicality. But
this book has something to say to anyone who cares about
human life.

30
THE NAVAHO
 1. THE PAST OF THE PEOPLE

BEFORE THE DAWN OF HISTORY

There are many indications that the Navaho and the
various Apache groups originally came from the north. The
Feoplehave such a tradition. Certain words and phrases
in their language suggest a more northern environment.
Further, ^and more conclusively, linguistic analysis places
the Navaho and Apache tongues with the Athabascan lan¬
guages spoken also by a group of tribes in the interior of
northwestern Canada.
When and how the Apaches and Navahos arrived in
the Southwest are still matters of speculation. The date
may be as early as the period around the year 1000; it
may"be later, or even earlier. It seems unwarranted to as¬
sume either that they did or did not arrive at one time or
in a single group. Certain clues suggest that traits of In-
termontane and Tlains cultures had been added to what¬
ever social heritage had been brought from the northern
homeland. The Plains traits at least, however, may have
been taken over in the Southwest as part of a general
Plains Jpdian influence that seems to have moved west
ward and. ±o have had its effects upon Pueblo towns as
well as upon the Navahos. Certainly no known archaeologi¬
cal sites in the Plains area suggest specifically Navaho re¬
lationship, whereas some archaeologists have seen jjucpite
early cultures of the Great Salt Lake and Fremont River
regions in Utah a first blending of the way of life of hunt¬
ing, Athabascan-speaking peoples with Puebloid influences.
A case has been made for the view that ruins of hogan

33
 THE NAVAHO

type in western and central Colorado, some of which would

appear to have* been built before a.p. loop, were the
dwellings of precursors of the Navaho or the Apache or
closely related groups.
In New Mexico, archaeology is just beginning to fill in
the picture of prehistoric Navaho life. Navaho archaeology
is very difficult, partly because the hogan dwellings usually
were not constructed of stone and so have not withstood
the ravages of wind and water. Even so, dwelling arrange¬
ments and pottery and other artifacts which are plainly
Navaho have been uncovered. The earliest known hogan
site, which Hall dated by the tree-ring method, shows that
Navahos were living in the Covemadnr. New Mexico, re-
gion at least as early as iciao. Nearby sites excavated by
"Keurgivea faMy~full recordfor the ensuing two centuries
and show that many Navaho artifacts had already attained
a relatively stable pattern. Yet they show resemblance&JXL
considerably earlier cultures of the region which in turn
may be connected with others of eastern affiliation. Com¬
petent authorities agree only on the fact that Navaho cub
ture was already highly composite before the historical
period,.
These complex origins of Navaho culture make it diffi¬
cult to be positive about any single specific trait. For ex¬
ample, some specialists believe that the Apaches and Nav¬
ahos learned the rudiments of agriculture from the Plains
Indians on their journey southward, but there are grounds
for believing that they knew little of agriculture before
they reached the Southwest. It is now the general belief
that the Navahos learned to weave in the Southwest, but
Reichard has pointed out very specific similarities between
Navaho weaving and thaTot the Salistt peoplesof the
Puget Sound regionT~~
Of one thing we may be certain: the Apache and Nav-
aho intruders were greatly influenced by the town-dwelling
Indians of the Southwest. In Navaho myth and folk tales,
these Pueblo tribes appear as wealthy, sophisticated peo-

34
 THE PAST OF THE PEOPLE

pies, rather awesome in the power of their religious cere¬

monials. It seems certain, too, that when the Jsfavahos
arrived in the Southwest they had no ceremonials as com-
plexus^those of today.
In sum, we must think of a comparatively simple culture
being enriched during the prehistoric period hy^contact
with other tribes, especially the Pueblo Indians. Further¬
more, there must have been a whole series of gradual
adaptations and adjustments to the physical environment
of those portions of what is now New Mexico,(and perhaps
Arizona) to which the' intruders came from the country
farther north.

THE SPANISH-MEXICAN PERIOD [1626-1846]

The first known reference to the Navahos in a European

document is in the report of a Franciscan missionary in
1626. A few years later Friar Benavides, another Francis¬
can, wrote a more extended description. By this time The
People were already agriculturalists. No longer were they
aTmigratory people, dependent upon hunting and upon the
gathering of wild plants, seeds, nuts, and fruits. Their adop¬
tion of the techniques ~of cultivation had made them at
least partially sedentary. But Benavides does not mention
livestock or weaving among the Navahos of his day.
The Rabal documents, which were reports, to the Spanish
Viceroy of Mexico covering the period from 1706 to 1743,
give us our first detailed accounts of the Navahos. The Peo-
phrilved at this time in small, compact communities lo¬
cated away from the fields on the tops of adjacent mesas.1
Agriculture was the basic economic pursuit, but sheep and
goats (and horses and cattle in lesser numbers) had al¬
ready been obtained from Europeans by trade, by raid, or
indirectly through the Pueblo Indians. Woolen blankets
and dresses for women were woven. Men dressed in buck¬
skin.
In the later eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries

35
 THE NAVAHO

references to the Navahos become much more numerous.

But, since they occur almost entirely in reports of Spanish
and Mexican government officials, they deal mainly with
warfare. Skirmishes, Navaho raids and Spanish reprisals,
punitive campaigns on the part of the Spanish or Mexican
governments, are described so continually that the reader
of these scanty historical records is likely to interpret them
in unconscious accordance with the common folklore about
American Indians. The Navahos, it should be noted, were
primarily raiders, not fighters. They were interested in tak¬
ing food, women, horses, or other booty; they waged war
chiefly in reprisal. They were no match for the military
cultures of Plains Indians such as the Utes and Comanches.
To these Indians war was the apex of living. To The Peo¬
ple war was one important practical pursuit, carried out
partly through ritual techniques.
In another respect the Spanish documents are probably
misleading. There are suggestions of a kind of tribal soli¬
darity which we do not know from the period of fuller
records. Leaders are mentioned to whom is ascribed control
over the “nation.” Upon these “generals” the Spaniards and
Mexicans relied to restrain raiding parties against white
and Pueblo settlements.
Only in passing was anything set down in Spanish-
Mexican documents which did not concern warfare or
trade. For example, in 1713 there appears a tantalizing
reference to “the great dances of the Navaho.” Otherwise
the chroniclers content themselves with characterizing
Nayaho religion as “heathen.” By the mid-eighteenth cen¬
tury the Spaniards had established missions in the vicinity
of Mount Taylor, but they were not long maintained. Small
groups of The People did have sustained contacts with
Europeans and seem to have been partially Christianized.
In the process, however, they became largely dissociated
from their own tribe, so that to this day their descendants
in the Canyoncito and Puertocito areas are called “The
People who are enemies.”

36
 THE PAST OF THE PEOPLE

The extent to which European ideas reached and were

accepted by the Navahos during the Spanish-Mexican
period cannot be determined with certainty. It is known
that young Navahos were taken as slaves to Santa Fe and
other settlements and that some of them escaped and re¬
turned to their people, bringing with them some knowledge
of the Spanish language and presumably also some famili¬
arity with European concepts as well as techniques.
What is certain is that major alterations in the Navaho
way of living occurred between 1626 and 1846. These
were partly due to intensified contacts with the Pueblo In¬
dians dining this period. After the Pueblo Rebellion of
1680, Indians from Jemez and other pueblos took refuge
for some years among The People. In the eighteenth cen¬
tury numerous Hopis fled from drought and famine to live
with the Navahos, especially in Canyon de Chelly. These
Pueblo Indians not only taught the Navahos their own arts,
such as weaving and the making of painted pottery, but
also acted as intermediaries in the transmission of various
European technologies, which were acquired by The Peo¬
ple in part through direct contacts.
By the time English-speaking Americans had their first
dealings with The People, the Navahos were herders and
weavers as well as agriculturalists. They had firearms and
other objects of metal. Indeed if they had not already be¬
gun to work metal they were about ready to learn. But
the greatest revolution in Navaho economy was that con¬
sequent upon the introduction of domestic animals and the
associated trait-complex of saddles, bridles, branding,
shearing, and the like.
Horses enormously increased the mobility of the Nava¬
hos for tribal expansion in warfare and in trade. Greater
mobility in all these activities enlarged the range and fre¬
quency of their contacts with many other peoples. In the
eighteenth century, for example, we find the Navahos
trading and fighting with the Pawnees in western Ne¬
braska. The People could now rove widely, and they

37 '
 THE NAVAHO

learned much. Moreover, the character of social relation¬

ships within the tribe was altered. The horse made it pos¬
sible to supply hogans and outlying sheep camps with food
and water from considerable distances. More frequent
visits and the gathering of substantial numbers at cere¬
monials and meetings of a “political” nature became rela¬
tively easy for the first time.
But the horse did not make the Navahos into “nomads.”
Navaho “nomadism”—at least during any historical period—
is a myth, and it is most unfortunate that through popular
writings this myth has become so deeply rooted in the
notions which educated people have of the Navahos. The
very fact that clan names are mainly place names suggests
that sedentary groupings were the rule. The horse made
the Navahos mobile, to be sure, but the shiftings were con¬
fined, in most cases, to well-defined areas. Once a family
had moved into a new region, one or more dwellings would
be built in places which became fixed centers of family life
for many years. While actual buildings were often de¬
stroyed or abandoned because of deaths or for other rea¬
sons, the new ones erected would seldom be very far off.
Within the range claimed by a particular family group,
the number of desirable sites was limited by the necessity
for protection from the weather and the scarcity of wood
and water.
Since agriculture was always the basis of the subsistence
economy, it was necessary that at least one dwelling be
close to the fields; during a large part of the year some of
the family were anchored to plant, protect, and harvest
the crops. Because the sections which could be farmed
profitably by floodwater irrigation and with Navaho tools
were few in number, this factor also narrowed the choice
of possible home sites. And so, while some members of
the family made extended journeys to hunt, to collect
pinyon nuts or plants, to obtain salt, or to trade, and while
individuals or whole families would move with the sheep
into lower or higher altitudes at certain seasons, the Nav-

38
 THE PAST OF THE PEOPLE

ahos were never “nomads,” for they always had fixed

abodes.
The myth of nomadism has probably been reinforced by
the undoubted fact that many families have “winter
hogans” and “summer hogans” at some distance apart. For
example, the population of the Dennehotso Valley is much
greater in summer than in winter because the supply of
wood for fuel is inadequate during the cold months. On
the other hand, the farming opportunities are so much bet¬
ter in the valley than on the wooded tablelands that many
families regularly shift back and forth between summer
and winter establishments, which are in some cases as
much as forty miles apart. But they are no more “nomads”
than well-to-do New Yorkers who commonly migrate twice
yearly over greater distances than do the Navahos.
Sheep and goats, which had been brought into the
Southwest by the Spaniards, provided a larger and more
dependable food supply, and this was a fundamental con¬
dition of Navaho population increase. Furthermore, live¬
stock animals, wool and mohair, hides, and woolen textiles
revolutionized Navaho economy in another way: they
supplied a steady source of salable or exchangeable wealth,
permitting the acquisition of metal tools and other manu¬
factured articles. Surpluses were now more than occa¬
sional, and they ceased to be disposed of mainly by intra-
and inter-tribal gift and exchange. As the bounds of trade
were thus widened, a whole new series of demands for
goods from the European world was gradually created.
Finally livestock formed the basis for a transition to a
capitalistic economy, with new goals for individuals and
for family groups, a new system of social stratification and
prestige hierarchy, an altered set of values.

THE AMERICAN PERIOD [1846- ]

In his proclamation to the inhabitants of New Mexico in

August 1846, when the United States took possession of

39
 THE NAVAHO

the southwestern territories acquired from Mexico, General

Kearny promised protection against the depredations of
marauding Indian tribes. In the winter of the same year
came the first military expedition against the Navahos. The
history of the next fifteen years is a record of numerous
military operations, of the establishment of army posts
within Navaho territory, of the arrival of the first civilian
agents to the Navahos, of a succession of Navaho raids
and “incidents,” of unsuccessful attempts to bring peace
and stability by negotiation. Treaties were entered into
with local headmen whom the whites believed to be tribal
“chiefs.” When the agreements were violated by members
of other groups not under the jurisdiction of these leaders,
the American authorities, totally misunderstanding the na¬
ture of Navaho social organization, judged the tribe to be
hopelessly perfidious.
During 1862 the Navahos and Apaches took advantage
of the army’s preoccupation with the Civil War to increase
their raids upon Rio Grande settlements. An alarmed gov¬
ernment ordered Colonel Kit Carson into the Navaho coun¬
try in June 1863, with specific instructions to destroy all
crops and livestock. The land was systematically pillaged;
fleeing bands of Navahos were pursued; some Indians were
killed in various engagements, and others were taken pris¬
oner. Word was sent out that all The People were to sur¬
render at Fort Defiance. Finally, in early 1864, substantial
groups began to give themselves up. On March 6 of that
year 2,400 persons, 30 wagons, 400 horses, and 3,000
sheep and goats began the “Long Walk” of 300 miles to
Fort Stunner, 180 miles southeast of Santa Fe. Only chil¬
dren and cripples rode in the wagons. By the end of April
3,500 more, in three separate parties, had made the same
long march. Eventually 8,000 Navahos were in captivity at
Fort Sumner, while a number of bands remained at large,
hidden in the depths of the Grand Canyon, on the top of
Black Mesa, north of the San Juan River, and in other
inaccessible spots.

40
 THE PAST OF THE PEOPLE

Probably no folk has ever had a greater shock. Proud,

they saw their properties destroyed and knew what it was
to be dependent upon the largess of strangers. Not under¬
standing group captivity and accustomed to move freely
over great spaces, they knew the misery of confinement
within a limited area. Taken far from the rugged and vivid
landscape which they prized so highly, they lived in a flat
and colorless region, eating alien foods and drinking bitter
water which made them ill.
Fort Sumner was a major calamity to The People; its
full effects upon their imagination can hardly be conveyed
to white readers. Even today it seems impossible for any
Navaho of the older generation to talk for more than a
few minutes on any subject without speaking of Fort Sum¬
ner. Those who were not there themselves heard so many
poignant tales from their parents that they speak as if they
themselves had experienced all the horror of the “Long
Walk,” the illness, the hunger, the homesickness, the final
return to their desolated land. One can no more under¬
stand Navaho attitudes—particularly toward white peo¬
ple—without knowing of Fort Sumner than he can compre¬
hend Southern attitudes without knowing of the Civil War.
When The People went “home,” late in 1868, there were
more privations and hardships to undergo. The old equilib¬
rium of the society had been destroyed. Buildings had
been razed and flocks removed. The People had to start all
over again in their struggle to make a living. Eventually the
government issued seed, tools, and some livestock, but
there were many delays and for some time large numbers
of Navahos existed on rations issued at Fort Wingate and
Fort Defiance. To add to this distress came several years of
severe drought, during which many Navahos shifted from
place to place in misery.
When stable conditions were finally reestablished, there
followed a period of relative prosperity and rapid growth
of population. But the generations since Fort Sumner have
experienced more disillusionment and bitterness in their

41
 THE NAVAHO

relations with whites. Soon The People were forced to sur¬

render to the advancing railroad much of their best winter
range land and many of their finest watering places. The
areas later added to their Reservation as a compensatory
measure were notably less desirable. Many of the early
agents were ignorant and corrupt politicians. Promises
were not kept. Even the establishment of the first schools
about 1870 added to the rancor, for Navahos soon observed
that their children, after many years in boarding school far
from home, emerged fitted neither to five as white men
nor to return to their places in the tribe.
Although there were several trading posts on the Reser¬
vation by the early 1870’s, it was the building of the rail¬
road across New Mexico and Arizona in the 1880’s which
brought intoxicants, diseases, and other disrupting forces
of white society to The People. The gradual but steady
increase in white population in surrounding areas came
to mean economic exploitation and a mounting general
pressure upon the Navahos. There have been many and
serious misunderstandings on both sides; but even those
Navahos whose direct contacts with whites are limited
or negligible have a heightening sense of a net being
drawn ever tighter around them, of being at the mercy of
a more powerful and often unfriendly people. As more of
their own number became bilingual and conversant with
white ways, informed individuals spread bitterness among
the tribe by quoting chapter and verse as to the deceit and
trickery of the white rulers. In 1920, for instance, when
Navaho tribal funds were allocated for the building of a
bridge which was obviously intended for the use of white
residents of Utah and Arizona, a wave of indignation swept
over The People. Only during the last thirty years has a
sympathetic governmental policy been evolved. Even re¬
cent administrations have found their serious practical
problems complicated by the bewilderment, cynicism, and
resentment bred by three generations of treatment that was
often vicious, almost always stupid, and always based on

42
 THE PAST OF THE PEOPLE

the attitudes towards “backward peoples” current in white

society at the time.
From 1868 to the present, the persistent theme in Nav-
aho history has been the struggle with the whites for land.
The treaty of 1868 set aside a total of about 3,500,000
acres—much less than the area which had been occupied
by The People for generations. This Reservation, half in
Arizona and half in New Mexico, has been extended from
time to time, often through the efforts of white sympathiz¬
ers with the Navaho, until it now includes about 15,000,-
000 acres, reaching north into Utah to the San Juan River
and west of the Hopi Jurisdiction to the Colorado River.
But lands have also been taken away and use-rights
thrown in doubt. One complication dates back to the
building of the Santa Fe Railroad in the eighties, when all
odd-numbered sections (mile-square tracts) on each side
of the right of way to a depth of 40 miles were granted
to the railroad. Thus a “checkerboard strip” was created in
the region which had the heaviest concentration of Navaho
population. On many of the sections Navaho families had
lived or run their sheep for years. In 1908, owing to the
efforts of white friends, about 3,500,000 acres were added
to the Reservation; but white livestock operators of New
Mexico and Colorado cast jealous eyes on parts of the
Navaho range and brought political pressure to bear, so
that in 1911 about the same acreage was restored to the
public domain. These lands were opened to non-Indian
stockmen, even though they were already fully occupied
and stocked with Navaho herds. Further confusion was
created when Arizona and New Mexico selected certain
lands to be leased or sold for the support of public schools.
Subsequently difficulties arose from conflicting Indian
homestead allotments and white homestead claims, and
confusion reached a climax.
Some clarification was achieved in 1934 when the Ari¬
zona Navaho Boundary Extension Act provided for the
exchange of white-owned land within the Arizona part of

43
 THE NAVAHO

the Reservation for land selected from the public domain.

Similar action in New Mexico has been blocked by power¬
ful political interests.
The Federal Government stepped in after the war, and
in 1946 the Indian Claims Act was passed, establishing
the Indian Claims Commission. One of the earlier cases
before the Commission concerned the control of grazing on
the Reservation range; compensation for lands taken dur¬
ing the mid-nineteenth century is another case which is
in progress before the Indian Claims Commission. Any de¬
cision will not, however, alter the problem which confronts
The People and the Indian Service: that of making self-
support possible in an overpopulated region upon com¬
paratively unproductive, deteriorated lands. The practical
issues have been distorted by cultural bias on the part of
both the Navaho and the white people of the surrounding
country, heightened by strong emotional convictions.

44
 2. LAND AND LIVELIHOOD

Set a stretch of sagebrush interspersed with groves of

small evergreens (pinyon and juniper trees) against a back¬
ground of highly colored mesas, canyons, buttes, vol¬
canic necks, and igneous mountain masses clothed in
deep pine green, roofed over with a brilliant blue sky, and
you will have a generalized picture of the Navaho land¬
scape. The sagebrush-pinyon-juniper-greasewood combina¬
tion is characteristic of elevations of 5,500-6,500 feet. At
higher altitudes the varying greens of pine, oak, aspen,
and fir replace sagebrush gray as the main background
color. Lower altitudes have the bleakness of desert flora
except when relieved by lone or clumped cottonwoods
along intermittent watercourses. At all elevations the land¬
scape is seasonally brightened in years of favorable mois¬
ture by a profusion of wild flowers. Even the desert is yel¬
low with the bloom of dodgeweed or spotted with stalks
of white yucca blossoms and red and yellow cactus
blooms. Not that, winter or summer, one misses color in
the Navaho country. One is seldom out of sight of brilliant
rocks, worn by wind, water, and weather into fantastic
forms. The most typical hue is a carmine very like the
red of the Navaho rug.
If tablelands covered with pinyon and juniper and cut
by sage-floored valleys are the most typical of all land¬
scapes, still within a few hours by automobile one can
always see quite different worlds. There are splendid yel¬
low-pine forests; there are also treeless wastes. The canyons
cut deep into red or orange or red-and-white-banded sand¬
stone masses and the wind-sculptured buttes of passionate

45
 THE NAVAHO

colors have made the country of The People world famous.

Variety and color are the keynotes.
Beautiful as this land may be, it does not favor the sur¬
vival of large numbers of people who have limited tech¬
nologies and remain isolated from the main arteries of
commerce. The Navaho country only tenuously fringes a
railway and major automobile highways. Within the Nav¬
aho domain, distances are great even on a map; but com¬
munication cannot be estimated by the geographical miles.
In the prewar period the Roads Division of the Navajo
Agency# maintained nearly 1,300 miles of primary roads,
about the same mileage in secondary roads, and 700 miles
of truck trails. Of these, the road engineer stated that not
over 150 miles could be kept open for traffic under extreme
weather conditions. In such regions as Navaho Mountain,
all travel by road is impossible for several months of the
year because of snow. Mud blocks traffic for days or weeks
during the spring thaw and again during the summer rains.
One torrential summer rain can ruin anything short of a
surfaced highway. Sand is as bad in dry periods as mud
during rains. To gauge correctly the difficulties of travel by
either Navahos or whites, distances must be measured in
terms of bad roads and intervening canyons or other ob¬
stacles, rather than in terms of miles on a map.
Since the war, however, the need for improvement in
the Reservation road system has been recognized, and
through the Long Range Program authorized by the 81st
Congress (Public Law 474) the conditions have been im¬
proved. During the period 1951-1958, a total of $13,870,-
180 was appropriated for road construction, and 371 miles
of road were improved. Road maintenance is also neces¬
sary, in large part for school operation, and during the fis¬
cal year 1958 a total of $392,000 was appropriated for
the maintenance of 2,791 miles of Reservation roads. Even

* The Navajo Agency is the current designation for the local

agency of the U. S. Office of Indian Affairs, which administers
the affairs of the Reservation.

46
 LAND AND LIVELIHOOD

this is low, however, by contrast to State maintained roads

situated outside the Reservation: an average of $140 per
mile as opposed to the States’ $500 per mile of primary
roads and $300-$400 for secondary roads.
In such a terrain, one might expect to find minerals
and other resources. The Reservation does indeed have po¬
tential resources in marketable timber, coal, oil, helium,
vanadium, and other minerals, but only recently have these
potentialities begun to be realized. The tribal income
from oil and gas increased from nearly $50,000 in 1935
to nearly $30,000,000 in 1958. Individual Navaho income
from uranium and vanadium (first noted by the Navajo
Agency Branch of Realty in 1952) increased from $2,-
692.10 in that year to $595,666.00 in 1958.
Yet for a folk who make so much of their living by
agriculture and livestock, the environmental hazards are
enormous: the ruggedness of the country, its depleted
soils, treacherous frosts, and scanty and undependable wa¬
ter supply.
Variations in climate are connected more with altitude
than with northern or southern position. The Navaho land
is all part of the Colorado Plateau, an intensely dissected
rocky region of elevations that range from about 3,500 feet
above sea level to more than 10,000 feet. Altitude is the
principal determinant of temperature and length of grow¬
ing season, of rainfall and the character of the vegetative
covering. Nights are cool in the height of summer through¬
out most of the area, and heavy snows are the rule for a
month or more of the winter.
Although most of the Navaho area lies between 5,000
and 7,000 feet, one must, from the standpoint of livelihood,
distinguish four types of topography and three distinct
climates. Topographically there are flat alluvial valleys
(such as those of the San Juan River and the Chinle
Wash), broad, rolling upland plains, rugged tablelands,
and mountains. In roughly half of the total acreage (at
lower elevations) a warm, arid “desert” climate prevails;

47
 THE NAVAHO

perhaps two-fifths must be assigned to an intermediate

“steppe” climate characterizing the middle elevations; the
remainder is mountainous, with a cold, subhumid climate.
None of these situations is really favorable to agricul¬
tural production save where irrigation water is available. To
be sure, there are many live streams in the mountains—
one range also has lakes—and springs, seeps, and natural
rock reservoirs are more frequent than the casual traveler
suspects. But in general flowing water is rare. Rainfall is
scanty in most parts of the Reservation. In nearly half of
the lands of The People, it averages eight inches per year
and occurs principally during July, August, and Septem¬
ber. High temperatures during summer and sub-zero
weather during winter, high winds, frequent sand storms,
and high evaporation rates are characteristic. These liabili¬
ties also affect the steppe regions, where average annual
rainfall is better than 12 inches. In the mountains rainfall
averages 22 inches, but the brief growing season of ninety
days is often interrupted by killing frosts, which are known
to have occurred during every month of the year.
Nor are these the only perils. In years when the figure
for total moisture would indicate adequacy, the precipita¬
tion may have come too early or too late, or in the form of
snow, or as a sudden downpour which washed out seeds or
young plants. Then there are the droughts. Practically
every year in most regions there are two periods (April
through June and October through December) when there
is little or no precipitation. Cycles of longer droughts also
seem to be expectable. Every three to eight years during
the last fifty there have been periods of twenty to twenty-
five months without measurable rain or snowfall in many
sections. Such periods are sometimes broken by a single
month or two with rainfall, followed by another protracted
dry spell. Thunderstorms of some violence are frequent in
summer, when lightning kills livestock (and occasionally
humans) as well as igniting forests and dwellings. Crops
are sometimes destroyed in the fields by hail.

48
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o
 LAND AND LIVELIHOOD

Soils reflect influences of the climates under which they

have developed. Desert soils are high in salts, high in min¬
eral plant foods, low in plant matter, highly erosive, sub-
ject to movement by wind, and in general extremely un¬
stable. Steppe soils are similar, but not quite so salty, high
in mineral plant foods, slightly higher than the desert soil
in plant matter, subject to rapid water erosion but not
affected so severely by wind. The subhumid soils are more
stable than those of desert and steppe.
These same hazards apply to the livestock industry. In¬
adequate or irregular rainfall limits the growth of edible
plants and water storage for the animals. Desert vegeta¬
tion (principally grasses and browse plants) is sparse,
grows very slowly, produces only a small margin for graz¬
ing use, is easily injured by overgrazing, and requires long
periods for recovery after depletion. Steppe vegetation is
composed of grasses, sagebrush, and pinyon-juniper; it
will ordinarily produce more forage than the desert but
cannot safely be overgrazed. The subhumid zone produces
yellow pine timber, oak, and associated grasses and shrubs.
The mountain area is summer range and with proper use
yields good forage.

18,000,000 acres

•••• 11 •*•••••••••••!• 111 • ••• j

Total one sheep tov:';:'-' ] one sheep to.. tone sheep to gjj: one sheep to;:;
Waste • 50 acres'-'.'-’.;.;-.-. j 25 - 50 acres §17- 25 acres$l6 or less acres;

Fig. i. Range Capacity of Navaho Lands

In the early 1940’s, of the total Reservation, nearly 12

per cent could be described as complete waste; 30 per
cent would support profitably less than one sheep for each
50 acres; 20 per cent would support one sheep for each
17 to 25 acres; only 20 per cent would support a sheep
on less than 16 acres. (See Figure 1.) Range resource fig¬
ures for 1958 indicate a much smaller amount of good
grazing lands: only approximately 5 per cent will support

49
 THE NAVAHO

one sheep on less than 16 acres. Nearly 50 per cent will

support one sheep per 30 to 65 acres.
This predominance of poor-quality lands has been
greatly accentuated during the last seventy-five years. A
natural erosion cycle which probably began in the late
i88o’s has caused part of the trouble, but land destruction
seems to have been accelerated by uncontrolled and abu¬
sive land use, primarily overgrazing associated with over¬
population. Whatever the causes, the wasting of grass¬
lands by gully-cutting has been catastrophic. The loss of
much of the vegetative cover has likewise resulted in a
great wastage of the scanty rainfall, for there are not
enough plant roots to hold it, and it runs rapidly down
the slopes, carrying valuable top soil with it.

18,000,000 acres

Fig. 2. Degree of Erosion of Navaho Lands

Extreme—three-fourths to all of top soil removed
Advanced—one-fourth to three-fourths of top soil removed
Serious—up to one-fourth of top soil removed
Moderate—most top soil remains but this land also includes
much bare rock

Erosion has taken a heavy toll of Navaho land. As of

1945, up to one-fourth of the productive top soil has been
removed from 45 per cent of the lands set aside for the
subsistence of The People, and between one-fourth and
three-fourths of the productive soil was gone from 23 per
cent. In 10 per cent of the Reservation, over three-fourths
of the top soil, and in many areas even some of the subsoil,
was washed and blown away. (See Figure 2.) At present,
the soil may be classed as follows: 15 per cent total waste,
23 per cent as poor, 29 per cent as fair, 22 per cent as
good, and only 11 per cent as excellent. While important
progress in the control of soil erosion has been made dur-
 LAND AND LIVELIHOOD

ing the past two decades, the total productivity of the

Navaho lands has probably been reduced by at least half
since 1868.
This erosion has far-reaching effects. The Navaho coun¬
try delivers only 2.5 per cent of the water which the Col¬
orado River carries into Lake Meade above Boulder Dam
but supplies 37.5 per cent of the silt which has threatened
the dam’s effectiveness. The completion of the Glen Can¬
yon Dam will change this situation. But what looks at
first like an exclusively Navaho problem is still one of
critical importance to large numbers of white people as
well.

THE LAND IS CROWDED

Since 1868 when the original Reservation was established

The People have more than tripled in number. By 1940
they totaled almost 50,000, of whom it was estimated that
between 9,000 and 13,000 lived permanently off the
Reservation proper. By 1958, The People numbered ap¬
proximately 85,000.
Figures for 1942-1944 have indicated a Navaho in¬
crease in number greater than that for the country as a
whole—2 per cent per year, as compared with 1.1 per
cent for all Indians of the United States, 1.4 per cent for
the whole population of Arizona, and o.g per cent for the
entire United States. The increase for the 2,371 persons in
the Many Farms area was at the rate of 3.1 per cent, but
this is undoubtedly due in large part to the clinic and
health facilities there. The U. S. Public Health Service uses
a figure of approximately 2.30 per cent for the annual net
increase in Navaho population.
Such an increase may well be attributed to the high
birth rate—38.7 per 1,000 as compared with 25.00 for the
United States, all races. Yet the Navaho infant mortality
rate far exceeds that for the rest of the country—in spite
of tremendous decrease in recent years. In 1952, the Nav-

51
 THE NAVAHO

aho infant mortality rate was 110.2 per 1,000 live births,
that for the United States 28.4; provisional figures for 1957
show a Navaho rate of 74.7 as opposed to a United States
rate of 26.3. In spite of such a high infant mortality, The
People are comparatively younger than the general popula¬
tion—57 to 58 per cent are estimated to be less than 20
years old, in contrast with the general population of the
United States of which more than 50 per cent are over 30
years of age. In terms of median age, the 18.8 years for
Reservation Indians is nearly ten years younger than that
for rural whites (28.2 years).
The determinants of Navaho population increase are un¬
doubtedly manifold. Perhaps The People’s varied origins,
so heterogeneous from both biological and cultural sources,
have resulted in an outstanding manifestation of that phe¬
nomenon known to biologists as “hybrid vigor.” At all
events, there can be no doubt that the fecundity of the
tribe is but one symptom of a generally radiant vitality.
They want to five. They want children, many children.
The birth rate appears to be appreciably higher in western
areas, where livestock economy, plural marriages, and
matrilocal residence prevail.
Navahos have long since swarmed beyond the bounda¬
ries of the original Reservation, which has been increased
in area repeatedly. Reservation lands now include 15,-
088,227 acres, an area just a little larger than the states
of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire com¬
bined. An additional area, estimated at some 3,500,000
acres, or somewhat larger than Connecticut, is occupied
by Navahos living off the Reservation on individually
owned allotments and leased lands, many of them in the
“checkerboard strip.” Thus a total of over 18,000,000 acres
is in Navaho hands.
Larger still is the territory which, in spite of the white
“islands” within it, may be properly designated as “Nav¬
aho country.” This vast, but arid and unfriendly, domain
stretches in irregular outlines from the Jemez Mountains

52
 LAND AND LIVELIHOOD

of New Mexico westward to the Grand Canyon in Ari¬

zona, and southward from the southern mountains of Utah
and Colorado to depths of from ten to eighty miles below
the Santa Fe Railroad and Highway 66. The old South¬
western saw, “Let’s give the country back to the Indians,”
is no longer a pleasantry to many stockmen of the Navaho
country. The People are taking the country back.
Yet even this vast domain is not enough for The People.
Already the land is crowded. The density of population
estimated by the Navajo Agency—2.1 per square mile-
sounds low but is actually more than twice that found in
adjacent rural areas peopled by whites. The density is not
constant but ranges, for example, from 1.8 in Coconino
County to 16 for McKinley County. If even the low living
standards of prewar years were to be maintained and the
absolutely essential soil conservation measures carried out,
agriculture, stockraising, and government employment
(the major wage work during the war years) combined
could not support The People. The development of new
means of livelihood has become a necessity.
The People’s traditional remedies for such a situation-
raiding and migration—are no longer open to them. The
lands surrounding their island are fully occupied and al¬
ready overused. In cold-blooded terms, the Navaho prob¬
lem is this: There are already too many people for the
resources; the people are increasing steadily and the princi¬
pal resource (land) grows steadily less productive. How
are The People to live?

SOURCES OF NAVAHO LIVELIHOOD

Contrary to the impression of many Easterners, the Nava-

hos do not make a living mainly through weaving rugs
or making silver for sale to tourists. As Figure 3 shows, arts
and crafts form only a minor source of Navaho total in¬
come. In the prewar years, agriculture, livestock, and wage
work have been far more important in the Navaho econ-

53
 THE NAVAHO

omy.1 Since the war, wage work has come to contribute

the major part of Navaho total income—79.9 per cent in
1958.

LIVESTOCK

For the year 1940, 44 per cent, or nearly half, the total
income of The People came from livestock. Three-fourths
of this income resulted from sales of livestock. The major
part of this commercial income represented sales of lambs
and sheep and of wool, the remainder coming from cattle,
horses, pelts, mohair, and butchered meat. (See Figure
4-)
The importance of livestock in the total Navaho econ¬
omy can, however, be easily misunderstood from these
data. In 1940, Navahos on and off the Reservation owned
about 432,000 sheep, 71,000 goats, 16,000 cattle, and
38,000 horses. But they were far from evenly divided
among The People: 2,500 out of the 9,500 Navaho fami¬
lies owned no livestock at all; about 4,000 families owned
less than 60 head of sheep; at the other end of the scale,
110 families owned more than 500 head each. Hence it is
obvious that a high proportion of the tribe’s total livestock
income—and indeed of the total income—was concentrated
in a small number of well-off families. Since the war,
there has been a great change: by 1957, more than half
of all Navaho families owned no livestock.

AGRICULTURE

Agriculture in the 1940’s was estimated to be the source

of about one-seventh of all Navaho income. Not more than
40,000 acres are now devoted to agriculture, and of these
only some 18,420 acres were in 1952 in irrigated tracts
with an assured supply of water. As noted on Figure 3,
however, this distribution of total income, even in 1940,
could not be taken without serious qualification, for esti-

54

\
 LAND AND LIVELIHOOD

mating the value of foods consumed is difficult and un¬

satisfactory.
Agriculture is still the basis of the subsistence economy,
as it has been for at least three hundred years. Almost
every family raises some of its food, and many families live
for weeks at a time chiefly from the produce of their gar-

Fig. 3. Estimated Sources of Navaho Income, 1940

Note: “Income” as used here includes the estimated value
of products used as well as those sold. It should be empha¬
sized that this diagram represents income for all Navahos
and is therefore overweighted toward livestock, since the
few large and many moderate family incomes come chiefly
from livestock. The value shown for agriculture is probably
too small because most of the products are consumed, and
estimates may well be too low. Subsistence incomes from
hunting and from collecting wild plants are left out al¬
together.

55
 THE NAVAHO

dens and fields. There is considerable variation between

parts of the Reservation in the amount of “income” from
agriculture, but throughout the Reservation it has been the
mainstay of life for all save the most prosperous families.
In the postwar years, the decrease in the number of fam¬
ilies with agricultural cash income has been steady—11,-
177 in 1946, 9,078 in 1951, and by 1956 such figures
were no longer available. Agriculture and livestock com-

Fig. 4. Estimated Navaho Income from Livestock, 1940

bined to make up 58 per cent of the total Navaho income

in 1940; by 1958, however, only 9.9 per cent of the total
income derived from this source.
Still, maize and squash are the staple crops, with mel¬
ons a valued addition, and in some areas, beans, wheat,
and oats are important. On the ditch-irrigated farms along

56
 LAND AND LIVELIHOOD

the San Juan River, as many as 42 different crops were

being raised in 1945. As part of the Long Range Program,
many new areas are being irrigated.
In 1944 the total number of acres planted by Navahos
under the jurisdiction of the Navajo Agency totaled about
38,000. Acres harvested were as follows:

Maize 18,320 Alfalfa 3,818

Other Cereals 1,085 Other Forage 1,335
Potatoes 713 Wild Hay 418
Beans 1,501 Grapes 535
Squash 942 Tree Fruits 9,118
Melons 615 Garden 417

Trustworthy figures on average yield per acre were un¬

available, but there was general agreement among compe¬
tent judges that the average Navaho farmer obtains less
from his farm land than the average white farmer in the
Southwest would obtain. This is partly because adequate
machinery is lacking, but even more because crop rota¬
tion, use of fertilizer, planting at the right time, and proper
techniques of irrigation have been neglected. One experi¬
enced observer says that most Navahos earn only about
$20 per acre from irrigated land as against the $100 per
acre of their white neighbors.

WILD PLANTS AND ANIMALS

Livestock now eat most of the wild plants which furnished

food for The People in the old days. Even so, almost every
family will have a few dishes of wild greens during the
summer, and the poorer families still occasionally utilize
certain wild seeds as cereals. The fruits of several species
of cactus are gathered to make confections.
There are, however, a number of plants which furnish
cash income as well as food. Herbs are gathered and sold
for ceremonial purposes and for use as household medi-

57
 THE NAVAHO

cines; some of the rarer species can be sold within the tribe
for high prices.
The important wild plant resource is the pinyon nut, of
which a sizable harvest is gathered every three or four
years. Four-fifths of these nuts are sold to traders and go
eventually to the New York market, where they are salted
and packaged for sale like peanuts. In 1936 a single trader
paid $18,000 for the nuts. In such a good year they furnish
a poor man with a cash crop that is comparable to the
fall sales (surplus animals) of well-to-do livestock owners.
Game counts for little in the Navaho economy nowa¬
days. It furnishes a few meals for the family during the
year, and in some seasons rabbits and prairie dogs may
tide a family over until it can produce or purchase other
meat. Furs—coyote and wildcat skins and, in some areas,
beaver—account for only a minute proportion of commer¬
cial income ($3,770 in 1940). This too has greatly de¬
creased in recent years.

LUMBER AND MINERALS

Many of the mineral resources on the Reservation (coal,

oil, helium, vanadium, and copper) are leased to white
operators and so provide a small amount of unearned in¬
come.* A major contribution to Navaho economy, how¬
ever, is in the wage work they afford.
A few Navahos own and operate small coal mines, but
the income forms only a tiny fraction of tribal income.
Much of the wood cut on the Reservation is consumed as
fuel or in building, but the Navaho sawmill has become
an increasingly valuable source of income for The People,
not only in terms of log production but in terms of wages,
for g5 per cent of those employed at the sawmill are
Navahos.

* Increasing mineral exploitation, and the discovery of ura¬

nium have considerably increased the tribal income from this
source in the past fifteen years.

58
 LAND AND LIVELIHOOD

ARTS AND CRAFTS

Of all Navaho products, rugs are perhaps the most widely

known. Yet they accounted for less than a tenth (9 per
cent) of Navaho income in 1940. This was mostly com¬
mercial income, since of all their woven products, only
saddle blankets are in wide use among The People them¬
selves. Much weaving is done for credit with the traders.
Baskets and beads form a small part of the income from
arts and crafts, but the chief item other than rugs is silver
jewelry, which accounted for about 2 per cent of the total
income in 1940. This income is concentrated in a very few
families. Adair estimated the total number of silversmiths
in 1940 at six hundred, over half of them in the Smith
Lake region south of Crownpoint. About 14 per cent of
these smiths were professionals who worked at their craft
the year round and earned from $400 to over $1,000 per
year. Others worked intermittently. Most of the smiths
made jewelry for their fellow tribesmen, who customarily
supplied the raw materials and usually paid in livestock,
blankets, or agricultural products. The fact that one-third
of the smiths cited by Adair had known their craft for less
than five years indicates that the increasing demand for
Navaho silver may make silver work a more important
source of income in the future. The Arts and Crafts Guild,
operating as a tribal venture, has helped to promote a
market for the crafts, and to stimulate the production of
fine rugs and jewelry. Yet as a source of total Navaho
income, it has declined in the past fifteen years.

WAGE WORK

By 1940 about a third of all Navaho income was in the

form of wages. On the Reservation the government was
the chief employer of Navahos, supplying 84 per cent of
wages in 1940, 33 per cent to regular employees and 51

59
 THE NAVAHO

per cent for temporary or irregular work. Since the war,

however, the railroad has become the chief employer,
supplying 26.4 per cent of the wages. The contrast is
shown in Table 1.

table 1

NAVAHO INCOME BY SOURCES,

PER CENT TOTAL*
Year
Source 1940-1958 1940 1958
A. Reservation Area
1. Payroll—Federal Government 24.6 12.2
2. Payroll—Tribal 0 6.6
3. Payroll—Mine/mill 0 4.7
4. Payroll—Natural gas 0 0.8
5. Payroll—Tribal Public Works 0 2-5
6. Arts and Crafts 9.0 i-3
7. Stockraising and Agriculture 58.4 9-9
8. Oil, gas, uranium leases 0 5-6
9. Miscellaneous—Construction 8.0 2.4
Total 100.0 46.0
B. Off-Reservation
1. Railroad wages 0 26.4
2. Ordnance Depots 0 3-o
3. Agricultural wages 0 3-4
4. Non-Agricultural wages 0 2-5
5. Miscellaneous 0 2.5
Total 0 37-8
C. Unearned Income
1. Social Security—C.A. 0 6.4
2. Other welfare and benefits 0 4.8
3. Railroad compensation 0 5-o
Total 0 16.2
Grand total 100.0 100.0
* Navajo Yearbook, Report No. VII, Fiscal Year, 1958, p. 108.

60
 LAND AND LIVELIHOOD

Wage work is varied in composition. Navahos are on

the government payroll as interpreters, teachers, day-school
assistants, matrons, advisers, maintenance workers at
agency plants, road and irrigation employees.
Other Reservation wage employment has come from
traders, who use Navahos as interpreters and handy men;
from missionaries, whom they serve as interpreters and
guides; and from some of the more prosperous Navahos,
who employ their tribesmen during the lambing, shearing,
and harvesting seasons.
Fees for performing ceremonial rites should also be
mentioned as a source of individual income. The sum
total probably does not bulk large in cash terms, but to
many families the income in livestock, goods, and cash
earned by one or more of their members is of considerable
importance, and the prosperity of certain families is based
primarily upon the substantial fees charged by famous
Singers.
Work off the Reservation has also been varied. Navahos
have for years worked for white ranchers on a seasonal
basis or during the seasons of heavy work. In ever increas¬
ing numbers they have been going as seasonal laborers
to the best fields of Colorado, to Arizona mines, and to
ranches as far away as Texas. Since 1940 the large ord¬
nance depots near Gallup and Flagstaff have employed
many Navahos. In 1944, Navahos earned $785,000 in
planting, weeding, and harvesting irrigated crops at Blue-
water, New Mexico. It is interesting to note that while the
increase in income from stockraising and agriculture was
67.5 per cent, that from Reservation wages was 87.5 per
cent. The increase from all categories of wage work was
2.133 Per cent, for the period between 1940 and 1958.

RELIEF

During the war years, the Navajo Agency supplied relief

in the form of rations, intended to supplement an inade-

61
 THE NAVAHO

quate budget rather than to furnish complete support. In

1947 the Navajo Tribe assumed some of this responsibility
and voted the appropriation of $143,000 to assist destitute
Navaho families. The Bureau of Indian Affairs has also
provided assistance, and in 1958, a total of $210,302 was
made available for those ineligible for relief from other
sources. The Welfare Program of the Navajo Agency has
grown in the past years, and has concerned itself largely
with child welfare.

AVERAGE INCOME

In 1940, the total income of the Navaho was estimated at

$4,027,530, or $81.89 Per capita. Per capita estimates for
other years run from $45 to $98. During the later war
years tribal income probably totaled $10,000,000.
These figures should not be accepted without qualifica¬
tion, for the economy of The People is still on a subsistence
rather than a commercial basis, and there is reason to
believe that barter, irregular wages, and gifts have not
entered sufficiently into the computations on which the
estimates are based. For example, the contributions to
Navaho income of hunting and plant collecting are not
easily converted to money terms without the danger of
distortion due to inevitable guesswork, and it is probable
that the data given above are too exclusively commercial
and understate the role of wild products.
Furthermore, some allowance must be made for “indi¬
rect income” in the form of health, educational, and other
services which are supplied by the government to a greater
degree than among whites in many rural regions. Navahos
on the Reservation are free from land-tax obligations, but
other taxes, such as income and sales taxes, apply to them
as to citizens of the surrounding area.
Nevertheless, the above estimates give a sound indica¬
tion of the low Navaho standard of living. It is instructive
to set against the estimated $82 Navaho income the per

62
 LAND AND LIVELIHOOD

capita income for the United States as a whole in 1940—

$579- F°r the state of Arizona, per capita income in that
year was $473, and for New Mexico it was $359. Even the
lowest state in the nation, Mississippi, which is like the
Navaho country in that it is largely rural and has an im¬
portant minority group, had a per capita income two and
a half times as large as that of the Navahos—$205. These
estimates are, of course, not strictly comparable with those
of Navaho income, but the gap is startling even when the
services which Navahos receive from government are taken
into account. This is indeed a “scarcity culture,” in which
the margin between eating adequately and going hungry,
between “good clothes” and “old rags” is a narrow one for
the vast majority of families.
Since 1940, however, the estimated average per capita
income has increased to $467, an increase of 470 per cent.
Nonetheless, in 1940, the average per capita income in the
states of Arizona and New Mexico was respectively 6 and
4V2 times that of the Navaho. By 1957, the Arizona per
capita income was 3.7 times that for the Navaho, and the
New Mexico figure was 3.4 times that for the Navaho. The
national average per capita income was 4.5 that of the
Navaho.
Still more revealing and suggestive than per capita in¬
come figures, which are at best a very rough index, is in¬
formation on family income among the Navaho. In 1942
(the only year for which such data are available) the me¬
dian family income among the 9,500 Navaho families was
about $450. In 1935-36, the only recent year in which in¬
come distribution was studied for the country as a whole,
the median income among all families was $1,160. For
farm families it was $965. In the South, where income is
the lowest in the nation, the median for all families was
$go5. In the region which includes the Navaho Reserva¬
tion, median family income was $1,040. With all due al¬
lowance for probable errors of comparison, it is obvious
that in a peak year the median Navaho family income was

63
 THE NAVAHO

about half of the median farm family income in a de¬

pression year.
There are a few wealthy families on the Reservation,
and about 1 per cent of all Navaho families had incomes of
$2,000 or over in 1942. About 16 per cent had incomes
over $1,000. But half the families received less than $400.
Recent data indicate a large increase in the family in¬
come, but Navaho income ($2,335 Per family) is still
far lower than the national family average ($6,130) re¬
ported by the Department of Commerce in 1957- h1 spite
of the increase, the Navaho remain among the least priv¬
ileged groups in the nation.

NAVAHO TECHNOLOGY

Before The People had white contacts, their artifacts were

very simple in comparison with those of other American
Indian groups. They had none of the famous architectural
skills of the Mayas of Yucatan and Central America. Nav¬
aho huts were comfortable but rude; while the construction
involved hard work and a little cleverness in one or two
matters of jointing, it showed no trace of sophisticated
engineering. Navaho stone-carving was crude in the ex¬
treme when contrasted with that of the early Indians of
the Mississippi valley. The People completely lacked the
metallurgical knowledge and the subtle dyeing techniques
of pre-Columbian Andean civilization. Pottery, weaving,
and silversmithing have been their only crafts of any com¬
plexity. Of these, true Navaho pottery was a rough cook¬
ing ware. For a relatively brief period around 1680 painted
pottery was made, and this technique survived in a few
areas until quite recently, but these decorated pots were
merely inferior imitations of Pueblo models. Weaving tech¬
niques also were almost certainly derived from the Pueblo
Indians only a few centuries ago.
Silversmithing was learned even more recently. Wood¬
ward’s data show that the Navahos started to work silver

64
 LAND AND LIVELIHOOD

at some time between 1853 and 1858. Techniques were

probably learned from whites, either directly from Mexi¬
cans or indirectly through other Indian tribes. Much about
metal-working may have been learned from the smiths at
Fort Sumner during the captivity in the sixties. Of design,
Woodward says:

The ancestry of Navaho silver ornament forms has its

roots in the silver trade jewelry distributed to the tribes
east of the Mississippi River after 1750, and in the Mexi-
can-Spanish costume ornaments and bridle trappings of
the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.2

The silver distributed to eastern Indians goes back to the

traditions of the great English smiths. Thus modem Nav¬
aho silver blends English and colonial traditions with Span¬
ish and (ultimately) Arabic. This explains why the solid,
simple pieces in the classical Navaho tradition often re¬
mind connoisseurs of antique English silver.
Some “primitive” groups, like the Eskimos, have a de¬
served fame for the ingenuity of the devices they have
developed to face a severe environment. The People seem,
by contrast, singularly uninventive. While the Navaho In¬
dians came to surpass the Pueblo Indians as weavers, this
superiority was gained not by technical advances but by
the aesthetic imagination of the Navaho. As far as is
known, the wedge weave is the only variation from ordi¬
nary Pueblo tapestry-weaving technique. The writer
(C.K.) has seen only one mechanical device that was ap¬
parently a Navaho invention: a box arrangement used as
a very rough-and-ready hay-baler in Canyon de Chelly.
Today The People use the white man’s manufactured
objects widely. Almost all their implements except their
rawhide lariats and hobbles, occasional bows and arrows,
rocks for grinding com and medicines, and a few crude
handmade objects such as troughs hollowed out of logs
are of white manufacture. Ceremonial articles, however,
are made by The People themselves. The houses of “medi-

65
 THE NAVAHO

cine Inen” contain buckskin pouches for keeping ritual

equipment, wooden composite fire drills for kindling cere¬
monial fires, and other archaic objects.
Pottery and basketry are now made exclusively for cere¬
monial purposes, and even here The People are relying
more and more on the pottery and basketry produced by
other Indian tribes. Most everyday containers in use at
present are tin, enamelware, glass, or china bought at
trading posts. When unbreakable metal vessels of Euro¬
pean manufacture became available at not very high
prices, it was no longer worthwhile to make pottery, and
the craft grew obsolete. The utilitarian need for baskets
was similarly extinguished. As baskets and pots grew to
have only ceremonial uses, both crafts became surrounded
with so many ritual restrictions that most women either
were afraid to undertake the manufacture of them or were
simply unwilling to go to all the bother.
A survey among the 665 Indians (131 biological fami¬
lies) of the Dennehotso area made in 1934 shows how
widely white manufactured articles are distributed. In this
group there were 38 wagons, 71 sets of harness, 99 saddles,
39 ploughs, 43 drags, 9 sewing machines, 17 trunks and
16 suitcases (for storing ornaments and family treasures),
6 tents, 2 automobiles, and numerous axes, hammers, and
knives.
While the bulk of the material objects used today by
The People show European derivation or influence, then-
way of life and their religion are much less altered. This
is in full accord with the common anthropological finding
that these latter are much more resistant to change. The
ancient methods which have persisted are mostly the ones
associated with ritual activity. Women seem to change
more slowly than men: in women’s costume, their ways
of preparing food, and their commercial craft more of “old-
fashioned” ways have been preserved. This has come about
partly because of the nature of men’s activities, and also
because the white people’s custom of dealing with men

66
 LAND AND LIVELIHOOD

as the heads of households has made them the accepted

intermediaries of their tribe with white society.
The really astonishing thing is the degree to which The
People have taken over parts of white technology with so
little alteration in the distinctive flavor of their own way of
life. Most Indian groups which have accepted so many
European material objects have tended to abandon their
own customs and become a rather degraded sort of “poor
white.” The Navahos show, on the one hand, a general
lack of emotional resistance to learning new techniques
and using foreign tools, and, on the other, a capacity for
making alien techniques fit in with their preexistent design
for living. This is in sharp contrast to the ways of some
neighboring tribes. Certain Pueblo Indians, for example,
still thresh their grain in the fashion familiar to us from
Biblical descriptions, even though they know about com¬
bines and can well afford to buy them.

WEAVING AND SILVER WORK

Most persons, if they know nothing else about Navahos,

realize that they weave rugs. At first their textiles were
made as wearing apparel and were valued as outer wraps
by other Indians and by Mexicans, but by 1890 they were
producing mainly a coarse rug for commerce. Although
several revivals of old designs and of vegetable dyes have
occurred since then, the product remains commercial. The
Navahos prefer to wear Pendleton blankets made in Ore¬
gon, which they also use together with sheep and goat
pelts for bedding. The People use their homemade textiles
only as saddle blankets.
Experimentation in weaving has been almost exclusively
limited to design. Unlike their teachers, the Pueblo In¬
dians, who have never departed from their original simple,
banded patterns, the Navahos have used their lively imag¬
ination to elaborate patterns, and they have utilized the

67
 THE NAVAHO

commercial dyes introduced by the traders to produce

riotous color combinations.
All of the weaving is done by women. A Navaho family
makes all the tools the weaver needs, save for her metal¬
toothed tow cards. A spinning wheel and a more complex
type of loom would doubtless be impracticable when fam¬
ilies move so frequently.
The silversmiths have adopted innovations somewhat
more freely and now obtain both tools and materials almost
entirely from white traders, who market most of the fin¬
ished products. It is true that silver mining and smelting
could hardly be expected, but the forging of their own
tools would be quite possible. Here again the creativeness
of The People is as artists, not technicians, in making new
designs for stamp dies or for casting, in evolving new forms
and arrangements.
The smiths are almost all men, but about half of the
smiths interviewed by Adair received help from their wives.
The women are apt to do the lighter work, such as setting
turquoise.
Most of the silver work is hammered, but the more diffi¬
cult cast work is highly valued. Only half of the smiths
known to Adair knew how to do cast work.

AGRICULTURE

Floodwater farming is the common type, but ditch irri¬

gation is practiced in a few regions. For the most part.
The People have tried to take over the white agricultural
techniques with which they are familiar, in so far as they
have been able to purchase factory-made equipment. Close
to the railroad and to centers of white influence, metal
ploughs, barbed-wire fences, and the like are the rule to¬
day, although in more remote regions like that of Navaho
Mountain digging sticks and brush fences are still com¬
mon. Even where white techniques have been followed,
however, The People still have much to learn about their

68
 LAND AND LIVELIHOOD

application. The income per acre from irrigated land is

probably much less than that obtained by nearby whites
working under identical climatic conditions. Dry-farming
income shows a comparable differential.
The old sunwise and other ceremonial ways of planting
have almost disappeared, but most Navahos still use the
Indian method of planting com in hills rather than in rows.
Planting dates are determined by various means—at Nav-
aho Mountain, for instance, by the position of the Pleiades
—and simple folk rites continue to be a basic part of ag¬
riculture.

ANIMAL HUSBANDRY

The techniques of animal husbandry have been derived

first from the Spanish-speaking peoples of the Southwest
(for whom many Navahos have worked as herders) and
more recently from government stockmen, although there
are a few minor variations which are distinctly Navaho.
White influences have come to predominate more and more
in recent years. Now one seldom sees undocked sheep, or
flocks in which ewes and rams are herded together
throughout the year. Most herding is done by children,
however, and adult Navahos often herd on horseback—a
practice disapproved by most white experts. Furthermore,
the flocks are usually corralled for too many hours during
the heat of the summer days.
Navaho sheep average about 6 pounds of wool when
sheared, and only 57 lambs survive for each 100 ewes,
while sheep owned by whites in nearby regions average 8
pounds of wool and produce 70 lambs per 100 ewes. Part
of the trouble comes from the practice of using children
for sheepherders, which means that, instead of utilizing
distant ranges and moving the flock frequently, the flock
is kept near home and brought back to the same corral
every night.
The following description of herding methods used by

69
 THE NAVAHO

one moderately successful middle-aged Navaho shows also

the mixture of sound observation and magical belief which
characterizes Navaho methods of livestock care.

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. They eat grass all day. They mustn’t
eat loco weed or they go crazy and run all around. If
they eat sagebrush, I mustn’t give them water or they
will get blown out. At first they hold their heads and
tails up and I must keep them quiet for one or two
hours. Then when their stomachs are big, I punch them
until they throw up. [Don’t some people put needles
into their stomachs?] Yes, sometimes they put a knife in
to let the air out but that is not good. The flies get on
the cut and generally they die. They get blown up if
they eat milkweed in the spring even without water.
But oats don’t get blown up. This tears out their guts.
If you open them up you find their guts are torn. Then
there is owl-foot weed. If they eat that they throw up
and die. When you are out herding there are songs for
the protection of the sheep and to make them increase.3

On the whole, Navaho livestock enterprise is uneco¬

nomic. Because of terrain and available forage, because of
herding practices, and because sheep provide wool as well
as meat and can be slaughtered and consumed more easily
and quickly than cattle, sheep are usually more suitable to
Navaho economy. But other animals are not used to the
best advantage. Goats are valued for their milk and their
intelligence in the flock, but too many of them are kept.
Cattle are owned by only an occasional family except in a
few parts of the Navaho country, and their number and
distribution are not at the optimum. Indeed, probably half
of the total carrying capacity of the range has been used
by nonproductive stock: excess horses, old cows and steers,
and goats.

70
 LAND AND LIVELIHOOD

HUNTING

In the old Navaho life, the hunting of certain animals was

a matter of ritual, some of which persists today. In most
parts of the Reservation guns are used, but in certain iso¬
lated localities bows and metal-tipped arrows are still in
use. Deer and antelope are hunted according to ritual, but
some Navahos today shoot them with a rifle. Steel traps are
in use for prairie dogs, coyotes, and occasionally for wild¬
cats, but native traps are used to catch birds for cere¬
monial purposes.

TRANSPORTATION

Travel by horse over trail and wagon road is still the usual
form of transportation. The Navaho country is perhaps the
only part of the United States where one may see great
numbers of farm wagons, including covered wagons. Bug¬
gies are seen now and then. Cowpuncher saddles in all their
luxuriance and variety are highly prized. Some Navahos
use bits and bridles of Mexican type, but bridles beauti¬
fully ornamented in silver appear less and less frequently.
Thirty years ago, Navaho-owned automobiles were rari¬
ties. Fifteen years ago, perhaps one family out of every
fifty owned a car. At present, more and more own auto¬
mobiles. Very few are bought new; most originate in the
interesting jalopy marts at Gallup and Flagstaff. Navaho
men do most of the driving, even of wagons; only most
rarely does one see a Navaho woman driving a car. Nava¬
hos—as compared with Hopi Indians, for example—make
poor automobile drivers and mechanics. But The People
are good-natured, patient, and persistent in tinkering with
broken-down machines; by sheer trial-and-error methods
some are able to keep ancient models in circulation. All
too often, though, they show supreme neglect of such ne¬
cessities as grease and battery water.

7i
 THE NAVAHO

REGIONAL VARIATIONS IN ECONOMY AND

TECHNOLOGY

In view of the numbers of The People and the size of then-

country, it is hardly surprising that the words “always”
and “never” may seldom be used with any exactness. Re¬
gional and local variations in many features of the way of
life are numerous and multiform. In large part, these re¬
flect differences in the intensity of contacts with whites in
accord with the location of the area, type of terrain mak¬
ing for greater or lesser isolation, etc. Moreover, sustained
contact with the Ute and Piute Indians on the north has
produced modifications of a different sort from those of the
southern and eastern regions, where various Pueblo tribes
or Jicarilla Apaches have been the neighbors of most in¬
fluence. Additions of Indians from other tribes to The Peo¬
ple have given a special character to certain areas. Thus
the Navahos of the famous Canyon de Chelly and Canyon
del Muerto are considered by The People of other regions
to show a Pueblo cast to their ways, due to the coming
of the Hopi mentioned in Chapter 1. Finally, there are local
variations which may be traced merely to historical acci¬
dents. Silversmiths, for instance, are numerous in the Smith
Lake region south of Crownpoint, but there are very few
in some other parts of the Reservation. The making of
baskets has disappeared in many regions. Similarly, various
areas are characterized by minor preferences in the archi¬
tecture of dwellings and in favorite ceremonials, and by
other cultural variations.
Other differences are due to climates, soils, and topog¬
raphy. Along the northern, western, and a portion of the
southern boundary of the Reservation stretches a broad
C-shaped belt where the environment favors a livestock
economy and where, except for a few localities, farming is
of decidedly secondary importance. This type of economy
also is characteristic of the eastern Navaho country, though

72
 LAND AND LIVELIHOOD

in the “checkerboard” sections factors of land ownership

and competition with non-Indian operators pose rather dif¬
ferent problems. In most of the great central and eastern
portion of the Reservation, conditions permit the develop¬
ment of considerable cropland, most of which is in small
tracts conveniently located for receiving flood waters or
sufficiently high to enable utilization of the increased rain¬
fall in dry farming. These more favorable conditions have
fostered an economy in which livestock and crops are about
equally important. In a few restricted areas (Shiprock,
Chinle, Ganado, and Tuba City) soil conditions and as¬
sured water supply permit intensified farming, and five-
stock plays a secondary or insignificant role.

THE ROLE OF THE GOVERNMENT IN THE

NAVAHO ECONOMY

SOIL CONSERVATION AND STOCK IMPROVEMENT

When The People returned from Fort Sumner, they had

few livestock left. About 14,000 sheep and 1,000 goats
were issued in small family lots. Perhaps eventually as
many as 35,000 animals were given out, but the record on
this point is not entirely clear. Most of the administrators
from the time of Fort Sumner to the start of the New Deal
were imbued with the current philosophy that quantity
expansion and exploitation of nature is the way to pros¬
perity, so they urged the Navahos to increase their flocks.
The People complied with such enthusiasm that within a
few years’ time their livestock had outgrown the country’s
ability to feed the stock and at the same time maintain
its plant cover—at least under the impact of the natural
erosion cycle which apparently began in the 1880’s.
As the range became overgrazed, the rainwater, which
should have been caught and held by surface growth,
swept down from the steep slopes and cut deep gullies that
sometimes stretched for more than a hundred miles, eating

73
 THE NAVAHO

the bottoms out of fertile valleys. The damage was ac¬

celerated by every fresh storm and by wind. In time these
washes and gullies cutting down below the surface drained
away subsurface waters. The loss of these waters and the
lack of rain caused the perennial grasses to dry out while
hardier but less useful weeds took their place. This process
went on over thousands of square miles as The People
moved their sheep, goats, and horses into the more remote
reaches of the country set aside for them.
By 1933 erosion had reached a critical state. The new
administration pointed out to the Navahos that it was im¬
perative to bring about drastic reductions in the number of
horses and unproductive livestock and considerable reduc¬
tions in the number of useful sheep, and it undertook an
energetic program to reduce the numbers of livestock.
While this program undoubtedly caused much hardship
and suffering, it seems evident that in the long run it will
pay cash benefits in better wool and mutton as well as in
preserving the grass cover of the soil. A careful study of
the facts indicates that overstocking is one important rea¬
son why in recent years the wool has been poor and the
lambs light. If the number of animals on the range is re¬
duced, the same amount of feed can produce better sheep
and thus actually raise the income.
Concomitant with the reduction in numbers, the Navajo
Agency has tried to improve the breed and breeding prac¬
tices. The tribe has spent considerable money for good
rams, which are rented out to individual owners, and the
government has established a laboratory at Fort Wingate
to experiment with developing the best type of sheep for
the range, which would produce the wool and meat of the
type needed by Navahos and also be salable in the com¬
mercial market.
Moreover, a livestock disposition project has been estab¬
lished to make it possible for the Navahos to sell their
poor-quality sheep, which are unsalable commercially and
pull down the quality of the flock if kept and used for

74
 LAND AND LIVELIHOOD

breeding. These sheep are bought for a reasonable price

and sold as fresh meat locally or canned for use in Reserva¬
tion schools and hospitals. While not profitable commer¬
cially, the meat is nevertheless perfectly good as food and
has been of great help in improving the diet in government
institutions, where meat was formerly too costly to be
served frequently.
Actual results of the various efforts can be seen in the
following figures assembled in 1944:

Navaho sheep reduced from 594,000 to 423,00c.4

Navaho lambs increased from 317,000 to 326,000.
Average weight of lambs increased from 53 to 60 lbs.
Average weight of fleece increased from less than 4 to
6 lbs.
If wool is worth 30^ and lambs are worth 10^ a pound,
the total value of these two products increased from
$2,126,747 to $2,681,630.

In spite of this gain in value, the Navahos do not recog¬

nize very thoroughly the benefits of and the necessity for
stock reduction, and the program has encountered strenu¬
ous opposition. Part of this hostility might have been
avoided if communication had been less faulty and if the
decisions made by highly competent technicians in the
early stages of the program had taken into account the
human problems of land use and the unreasoning senti¬
ments which The People have for their sheep and horses.
For example, range allotments followed the pattern for the
U. S. Forest Service tradition—not the Navaho custom.
Without adequate preparation along the fines of emotional
reorientation and education, the government has tried to
alter the whole technological basis of Navaho society in a
few years’ time.
Many Indians still feel that their means of livelihood is
being stolen from them. Part of this opposition stems, no
doubt, from the natural skepticism and resentment on the
part of the dirt farmer toward the theories of the desk

75
 THE NAVAHO

farmer, especially when these theories are backed up by

fiat. In this reaction Navahos do not differ greatly from
many white farmers who have opposed and still oppose
conservation measures. As recently as May 1944, Vermont
farmers armed themselves with rifles to “prevent a Federal
invasion” in connection with a flood-control project.5
Yet opposition to the government land-use program is
not universal among the Navahos, and some of them now
request the services of the Soil and Moisture Conservation
division of the agency. Besides the control of erosion and
the conservation of water, this division cooperates with
other parts of the agency staff to promote fertilization of
farm lands, crop rotation, reforestation, conservation of
wild life, fire control, revegetation of ranges and pastures,
construction of livestock waters, and control of floods and
silting.
The agency’s farm program is mostly restricted to the
irrigated areas, where Indians are supervised in their use
of water and encouraged to improve their farming prac¬
tices. No control is exercised over other farms beyond re¬
quiring a permit for breaking uncultivated grQund.

TRIBAL ENTERPRISES

The Navajo Tribe and the government jointiy have set up

a number of projects known as “tribal enterprises.” Two of
these—the Livestock Disposition Project and the Livestock
Improvement Project—have already been mentioned. The
five cooperative trading stores will be referred to in a fol¬
lowing section.
The largest and most important of the other tribal un¬
dertakings from the commercial point of view is the saw¬
mill located on the plateau above Fort Defiance. Large
ponderosa pines that are ripe or overripe are harvested
scientifically so that the forest is not depleted. Many thou¬
sand board feet of lumber milled from these trees helped
to supply building materials for the war effort and work

76
 LAND AND LIVELIHOOD

opportunities for the Indians (of 170 mill and shipping

employees, all but 15 axe Navaho Indians). The mill is
managed by white foremen, but profits revert to tribal
funds.
The flour mill at Round Rock, near Many Farms, was
established in the center of the wheat-growing area of the
Reservation to give the Indians an opportunity to have
their wheat processed near home. It also undertakes the
marketing of Navaho wheat and flour.
Other enterprises within the Tribal Program, as it is now
called, include the Arts and Crafts Guild, the Tribal De¬
partment of Water Development, Insect, Predator and Dis¬
ease Control, Farm and Range Conservation, the Higher
Education Scholarship Program, and the Tribal Legal De¬
partment. In short, The People are attempting to take care
of their own needs.

OTHER ECONOMIC SERVICES

The Traders Relations Divisions of the Navajo Agency sees

to licensing traders on the Reservation, investigates com¬
plaints against them, helps with the new Navaho coopera¬
tives, and keeps record of the volume and types of business
in the stores as an index of the economic state of the tribe.
The Roads and Communications Division maintains high¬
way and telephone systems.
Government contributions to Navaho income through
wage employment and the provision of relief have already
been mentioned. Wage totals have been greatly increased
during recent years by large outlays for public works, in¬
cluding soil conservation, construction, wells, roads, hospi¬
tals, schools, etc. In the three fiscal years 1934-1936, for
example, the government spent over ten million dollars on
improvements within the Reservation and another million
in areas immediately adjacent. Through these expendi¬
tures, The People gained not only the improvements them-

77
 THE NAVAHO

selves, but also many opportunities for employment during

the construction period.

DISTRIBUTION OF GOODS

A great deal of gift-giving, barter, exchange, buying and

selling, goes on among the Navahos. One family, for in¬
stance, was asked to keep an exact record for a few months.
During one month the family received the front quarter of
a sheep from a clan relative of the husband, a liver from
the husband’s nephew, half a goat from the husband’s
sister. They traded a pair of earrings to a clan brother of
the husband for a ewe lamb. They received $2.25 in trade
at the store for mending silver jewelry for another relative.
The following month they received three pieces of mutton
and two pieces of horse meat from various relatives. They
again made a little cash by doing odd jobs.
A major proportion of livestock income is used to buy
food, clothing, and household or productive equipment
from traders or from merchants in the towns. Wages, rugs,
jewelry, and pinyon nuts also move through the trading
posts in exchange for items needed for home use. Agricul¬
tural products have only a local market, largely because
there is no surplus production, but it should also be re¬
marked that the types of com ordinarily raised by Navahos
cannot be sold commercially. In 1940 traders paid The
People $1,865,150 for their various products, while the
Navahos bought goods to the value of $2,640,450. Of this,
62 per cent went for flour, coffee, sugar, potatoes, and
other foods; about 25 per cent was spent on clothing; and
most of the rest purchased household and farm equipment.
One estimate gives $37 spent by the average family in
1940 for food at the trading store as against $20 per year
of home-grown foodstuffs.
The wants of The People used to be few. Today they
purchase from commercial channels more than half of
what they consume. The average expenditure of four fami-

78
 LAND AND LIVELIHOOD

lies in the Ramah area at one of the four trading posts in

1936-37 was distributed as follows:

Food Clothing
Flour $44.07 Blankets & Shawls $33-37
Fruit 20.51 Cloth 19.08
Sugar 16.70 Shoes 13-95
Coffee 14-55 Overshoes 6.30
Cooking Fat 12.56 Shirts 5-27
Jams & Jellies 8.29 Blue Jeans 4.89
Bread 5-91 Trousers 3-65
Potatoes 5-79 Coats 3-4i
Baking Powder 4.67 Stockings 2.00
Soda Pop 2.22 Hats 1.87
Candy 1.98 Gloves i-33
Onions .64 Total $95.12
Tea •55
Total $138.44

THE TRADING POST

Charles Crary opened and operated the first trading post

in the land of The People in 1871 or 1872. In 1943 there
were 146 trading posts on and adjacent to the Reservation.
Of these, 95 are licensed and bonded posts under Indian
Service control. There are also now five cooperatives owned
by the Navahos of the “communities” which they serve.
The trading post has been well characterized as “the
best remaining example of frontier commerce.” One can
buy there anything from a bottle of pop to a farm wagon.
The posts serve the same social functions as did the general
store in rural white society a generation or so ago. Trading
is prolonged as much as possible, since the store is also a
center for the exchange of news and gossip, and for seeing
one’s relatives and friends. It is usually the post office, and
mail received by the Navahos is discussed in great detail.

79
 THE NAVAHO

The storekeeper is banker as well as merchant. The sea¬

sonal nature of the livestock economy and the fluctuations
in other sources of cash income mean that even well-off
families need credit during most months of the year and
sometimes advances in money as well. In 1940 outstanding
accounts amounted to $370,500. Poor and rich alike get
minor credit through pawning jewelry, saddles, guns, or
any article which has a resale value. In 1940 traders ad¬
vanced $190,670 on pawned articles. Jewelry, in particular,
is a Navaho substitute for a bank. Reserve capital is in¬
vested in silver and turquoise which can always be pawned
or sold if need arises.
Some traders, foolhardy or unscrupulous, have granted
credit so liberally as to keep families in perpetual debt,
have reduced them in fact to a state of peonage depend¬
ency. The trader also has a source of power in that he is
able to advance silver and tools to silversmiths, dyes to
weavers. The risks which he takes in advancing unsecured
or inadequately secured credits justify him in charging
higher prices than those of the cash stores in town. If
Navahos were always able to pay.cash, the whole price
scale could come down at least 10 per cent. Further, since
The People are exchanging raw materials or simple craft
products for costly manufactured articles, they labor under
the continual disadvantage of buying in a protected, and
selling in an unprotected, market.
Recently, with the increase in cash income and closer
acquaintance with white economy brought about by the
war, more and more Navahos have opened bank accounts
in nearby towns. They have also invested in war bonds,
their first significant participation in the capital-investment
system.

THE FUTURE OF NAVAHO ECONOMY

To some outside observers it seems that the resettlement

sooner or later of large numbers of Navahos outside their

80
 LAND AND LIVELIHOOD

present lands is indispensable to satisfactory solutions to

the problems of the Navaho. However, plans definitely
formulated at present center upon the re-creation of basic
land and water resources within the Reservation and the
improvement of methods of agriculture and animal hus¬
bandry. There is no doubt that much can be accomplished
along these lines. Through irrigation developments, espe¬
cially in the San Juan valley, between 110,000 and 160,-
000 acres of irrigated farm lands might be provided—if
funds could be obtained and complicated legal and political
questions solved.
If even 5,500 irrigated acres could be added to the
lands now farmed, The People could produce annually all
the unprocessed agricultural products which they now pur¬
chase. An additional 14,000 acres would produce the 35,-
000 tons of wheat flour that the Navahos buy each year.
The wheat could be ground at tribal mills, thus providing
employment for an appreciable number of men and
women. In many ways these measures would effect a major
readjustment in present Navaho economy. Experts dis¬
agree, however, as to whether this much land could be
made available without exceedingly expensive dam and
waterworks constructions. Furthermore, it should be real¬
ized that, even with this undertaking completed, the per
capita agricultural acreage would be increased by only
eight acres. Agricultural income can, however, be appreci¬
ably increased when The People learn to use better farm¬
ing methods. At present, for example, they use almost no
fertilizer, although quantities of sheep manure are readily
available.
Livestock income can perhaps be doubled through stock
improvement and sensible land and stock management. It
has been shown that one animal of good breed is worth
several of inferior quality. The Sheep Laboratory at Fort
Wingate is making good progress in its efforts to develop a
type of sheep that will be readily salable in the commercial
markets and also meet Navaho needs for meat and wool.

81
 THE NAVAHO

Within the “demonstration areas” wool clippings have

been increased from the Navaho average of 4 pounds per
head to 8 pounds per head. The lamb crop has risen to an
average of 76 per cent, even to 90 per cent in one such
area. The total income from sheep has been increased from
$1.33 per breeding ewe to $3.84 per breeding ewe, and
from $1.13 per forage acre to $1.27 per forage acre. How¬
ever, it is doubtful whether without close supervision The
People will handle their flocks so efficiently. It should also
be remembered that many Navahos own only very small
flocks and cannot realize profits from large-scale enter¬
prises. Perhaps the pooling of herds can be encouraged,
with a saving in manpower and a gain in efficiency of
herding practices.
Further development of present tribal industries and
creation of new ones would add to wage income and also
lower the cost of a few purchase items. Tanneries could
produce leather locally. Pinyon nuts might be processed
within the Reservation, at least for the western market. A
small industry might be made of the pinyon post and fire¬
wood trade. Exploitation of nonmetallic minerals may per¬
haps provide employment for many.
However, the success of these and other objective plans
can be realized only if the human factor is dealt with as
skillfully as the technical factor. Means of communication
must be enormously improved if Navahos are to be per¬
suaded to abandon established routines of handling their
sheep in favor of more efficient habits. Here is the great
opportunity of the Education Division, especially the day
schools, and of the Navajo Agency generally. Rich stock-
owners could be encouraged to lease land off the Reserva¬
tion. But obviously neither encouragement nor simple per¬
suasion will be enough. If measures are put through by
force or threat of force, the rich men will rouse their rela¬
tives and the general population unless educational pro¬
grams (in the broadest sense) make the majority see and
feel that such an objective is unequivocally in their own in-

82
 LAND AND LIVELIHOOD

terest. The People’s present feeling about proposed changes

is eloquently indicated by the following paraphrase of a
recent speech at the tribal council:

Give us our sheep, give us our mutton, let us have

herds as our fathers and our grandfathers had. If you
take away our sheep, you take away our food, and we
have nothing. What then will become of our children?
What will we say to our young men who have gone to
war? What will they eat and how will they live when
they come back to us? They are fighting now for our
homes and our land, and these things will be useless if
you take away our sheep. This is not right. You must
let us keep our sheep or we die.

We have seen that Navahos are willing and able to

adopt white technologies—that, unlike the Pueblos, they do
not insist on preserving old ways merely because they are
old. Yet, although The People have not always lived by
sheep raising—it has come only within the past 400 years—
they now feel that sheep have always been the basis of
their economy. The emotional value and prestige value of
their sheep has come to be so great that only the most
skillful and patient explanation will convince them that
other ways of making a living for at least some of the tribe
will save their soil and make it possible to support their
rapidly increasing numbers.

83
 3. LIVING TOGETHER

Human beings always get their food and shelter by work¬

ing with other human beings. These social interactions, of
course, come to have significance far beyond making pos¬
sible the physical survival of the group, but it is well to
remind ourselves that, at bottom, the established patterns
for human relationship represent adjustment to needs for
subsistence. In what groups does most of the social partici¬
pation of The People take place? How is it organized by
the tradition of the tribe? First, however, let us see The
People as they appear to the visitor.

WHAT THE PEOPLE LOOK LIKE

Most white visitors find The People interesting and at¬

tractive, both in physique and in costume.

PHYSIQUE

There is by no means a single Navabo physical type. The

fact that about twenty of the Navaho clans are said to
have been started by non-Navaho ancestresses is at least
symbolic of historical truth. It is certain that during the last
few centuries, and probably earlier also, The People have
absorbed large numbers from other tribes. Not inconse¬
quential amounts of white blood are also present, much of
it dating back to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries,
when the children of Navaho women who had been cap¬
tured and kept as slaves by the Spanish escaped and re¬
turned to the tribe. Some white blood has come indirectly

84
 LIVING TOGETHER

through the Pueblos, and since the establishment of the

Reservation, some white traders have left various progeny
with and without benefit of wedlock. Even Navahos who
are known to have a white father, however, think of and
refer to themselves as Navahos.
Hence the range of physique is great. While, for ex¬
ample, Navahos tend to be taller than Pueblo Indians,
some individual Navahos would be indistinguishable in
various Pueblo villages, except for costume. It may be that
certain western and northern Navaho types are more rep¬
resentative of the “original” Navaho population, but this is
a complicated problem. Perhaps they represent rather a
greater infusion of Ute, Walapai, or other strains, as op¬
posed to the greater Pueblo admixture elsewhere.
The reader will probably find looking at the photographs
of Navahos more helpful than any extended description of
physique. A few facts, however, may be of use. Navahos
are not among the tallest American Indian groups, but
they fall in the second tallest category. About nine hun¬
dred men, measured at many different places on the Reser¬
vation, averaged 66 Vi inches in height, but single indi¬
viduals ranged all the way from 60 to 72 inches. A smaller
sample of women had a mean stature of 61 inches, with
a variation from 56 to 65 V2 inches. Most Navahos are
fight in weight; the nine hundred men averaged 140
pounds but varied from 91 to 240. Almost all Navahos
are broad headed, but the cradleboard flattens the natural
head shape in infancy, and this influences the measure¬
ments. In a very general way, one may say that there are
two principal Navaho types: the shorter, stockier “Pueb-
loid” type and the taller, leaner, longer-faced, more fre¬
quently moustached, raw-boned “Tuba City” type. Body
build is often best described as “medium.”
The most typical Navaho woman may be described as
having thin legs, small feet, hands, and arms, long face
and nose, thick lips, and long chin. A less common type

85
 THE NAVAHO

is distinguished by delicate lips, nose, and face and large

eyes.
As with body structure, there is great variety in skin
color, which is partly correlated with the amount of ex¬
posure to the sun and partly with the admixure of other
Indian and white blood. Hence there are some fairly tight
faces on the Reservation, some very dark, and others mark¬
edly ruddy. The slanted oriental eye is fairly common
among children and women.
There is a characteristic Navaho style of walking, typi¬
cal gestures, and other motor habits which strike the eye
but are difficult to describe briefly in words. Flora Bailey,
who has made a special study of these typical movements,
makes the following general characterization:

One of the most striking differences first noted be¬

tween Navaho movement and that of the white Ameri¬
can is the smoothness and flowing quality of the action.
Briefly, the Navaho gestures and moves with sustained,
circular motions rather than with the angular, staccato
movements characteristic of white culture.1

CLOTHING

By and large, the present dress of Navaho men and boys

is a colorful variation of the cowboy costume: blue denim
pants, bright shirts and scarves, and large felt hats. A few
old men still wear the calico shirts and trousers which
show Pueblo (and ultimately Spanish) influence. Fancy
cowboy boots are prized possessions, but heavy work shoes
are more common. Buckskin and cowhide moccasins are
worn chiefly by older people and for ceremonial occasions.
Breechcloths are worn under the trousers by most Navaho
males after puberty.
Women’s costumes are much more conservative. The
long, fluted calico skirts and bright calico or velveteen
blouses reflect the Spanish influence and also the fashions

86
 LIVING TOGETHER

worn by the wives of American Army officers at Fort

Sumner in the later 1860’s.
In public, women wear Pendleton blankets draped over
the shoulders except in very hot weather, when the blanket
is usually carried folded over the arm. Men, on the other
hand, usually wear these blankets only for warmth. In
cold weather children and adults may wear several layers
of clothing, but as a rule underclothing is not worn by
either sex except where white influence is strong. Men
sometimes wear heavy “union suits” in winter.
The hairdress of women and of conservative, long-haired
men is adapted from that of the Pueblos. Both long-haired
and short-haired men often wear a scarf tied across the
forehead.

THE WORLD OF THE HOGANS

The word hogan has been taken over into English and
designates two general types of the dwellings of The Peo¬
ple. The more ancient variety has three forked poles for
its chief support. This older style is today less popular
than the more spacious six-sided hogan. For this type,
some builders set a framework of four forked posts in the
ground to form a square. Braces are laid in the forks of
these posts to connect them rectangularly. Around this
framework six walls, leaving a space for the door, are
built of small logs that at times are slightly cut at the
comers to hold them in position. The roof logs are gradu¬
ally built in toward the center, forming a crib-work roof
shaped like the top of a beehive, with a central opening
left for a smoke hole. Some builders omit the framework
inside, so as to obtain as much space as possible. Others
round off the comers or even make the hogan eight-sided,
and still others (where timber is scarce) build the walls
of stone laid in mud mortar.
In summer families often live in rude brush shelters that
afford shade. In a sheep camp, a hastily constructed brush

87
 §
to
o

~<D

4—1£
g
s
O
ss

43
co
3c. An earth-covered hogan
 THE NAVAHO

windbreak usually suffices, but canvas tents are frequently

seen.
Cabins of wood or stone which follow white prototypes
are now common in the regions closest to the railroads,
but native dwellings are still in the majority for a variety
of reasons. In the first place, further imitation of European
examples would be expensive in materials, and most Nava-
hos lack carpentry skills. In addition, the hogan is an
excellent simple adaptation to the climate: its thick walls
keep out cold in winter and, to some extent, heat in sum¬
mer; the centrally placed fire keeps all parts of the dwelling
warm, and there is room for more occupants to sit or
sleep around the fire. The writers have found hogans gen¬
erally more comfortable than the thin-walled cabins of
white homesteaders. Furthermore, the crevices in the walls
and the “eaves” of the crib-work roof provide storage
space. Finally, curing chants can be carried on only in a
hogan. Since few of The People have abandoned their
religion, even those who five in white-style cabins must
also have hogans.
Every Navaho establishment includes more than a single
structure. Even a sheep camp has a brush corral for the
animals as well as a windbreak or tent. At permanent
residences there are corrals, “shades,” and usually one or
more storage dugouts. Out of sight, in the timber or in a
secluded hollow or rock cove, will be found at least one
sweathouse, a small-scale replica of the old-style hogan
without the smoke hole. It is exceptional to have only a
single hogan as the nucleus of a Navaho establishment.
Two or more related families often reside in close prox¬
imity, and there is at least one hogan or cabin for each
biological family. More often than not, even an isolated
family eventually builds two or more dwellings, one of
which is used mainly for storage. The supplementary
cabin is increasingly popular as a place where women
can weave or sew when it is raining hard and whither
they can withdraw for tasks requiring concentration when

88
 LIVING TOGETHER

the weather is neither so hot nor so cold as to make the

cabin uncomfortable.
The greater number of families have more than one
permanent establishment. The need for these is dictated
by such factors as the desirability of getting the herds
some distance from crop lands, the fact that grazing lands
may be desirable in summer but unusable in winter be¬
cause of too much snowfall, seasonal variations in water
supply, and availability of wood for winter fires. Some
families who possess a thousand or more sheep have as
many as five or six separate clusters of buildings. Usually,
however, each family has one location which is its main
residence. It should be emphasized again that no establish¬
ments, except sheep camps, are in any true sense transi¬
tory. If a previously dependable source of water for humans
or animals disappears, then a radical shift of residence may
occur. Otherwise, the new buildings which are built when
death or lice infestation or some other event brings about
abandonment of an old hogan will be located within a
stone’s throw (or at most a half-mile) from the previous
dwelling.
To The People, their hogans are not just places to eat
and sleep, mere parts of the workaday world, as homes
have tended to become in the minds of white people,
particularly in cities. The hogan occupies a central place
in the sacred world also. The first hogans were built by
the Holy People, of turquoise, white shell, jet, or abalone
shell. Navaho myths prescribe the position of persons and
objects within; they say why the door must always face
the rising sun and why the dreaded bodies of the dead
must be removed through a hole broken in the hogan
wall to the north (always the direction of evil). A new
hogan is often consecrated with a Blessing Way Rite or
songs from it (see Chapter 6), and, at the very least, the
head of the family will smear the sacred com pollen or
meal along the hogan poles with some such petition as

89
 THE NAVAHO

hdzhdd lelgoo ’6fe, “let this be assurance that the place

will be happy.”

“a room of one’s own”

To the white visitor it is astonishing how many individuals

can eat, sleep, and store many of their possessions within
one room not more than twenty-five feet in diameter. As
a matter of fact, livable order is attained only by adherence
to a considerable degree of system with respect both to
objects and to persons. Women always sit on the north side
of the hogan, men on the south. Small children stay close to
their mothers. The male head of the family and officiating
“medicine men” (or other distinguished visitors) sit on the
west side, facing the doorway. The places of other persons
and the seating arrangements under special circumstances
are prescribed in considerable detail.
Goods have a fixed disposal which utilizes all available
space. Herbs and some types of dried foods, ceremonial
equipment, guns and bows and arrows, hats and articles
of clothing in current use, are stowed away in comers of
the rafters or suspended from beams by thongs or nails.
Reserve clothing and bedding, prized jewelry and cere¬
monial articles are stored in trunks or suitcases, which
are stacked against the walls where the roof is lowest.
Pots and pans are stacked near the central fire or placed
with the spoons and supplies of flour, lard, coffee, and
sugar in crude cupboards made of boxes nailed to the wall
by the door. There may be a sack of salt from Zuni Salt
Lake, which will be ground to the desired fineness as it is
needed. Ordinarily there are no heavy or bulky pieces of
furniture. Stoves and beds are very much on the increase
but are much more apt to be placed in the supplementary
cabins than in hogans. The same may be said for tables,
but these are still quite unusual.
The area around the hogan is also used as living space

90
 LIVING TOGETHER

when weather permits. Sheepskins, blankets, and women’s

skirts are hung to air and sun on poles placed between
branches of trees. In summer coffee pots, frying pans, and
three-legged iron Dutch ovens stand under the trees or
hang from their branches until time to cook the next meal.
The loom is frequently set up outside. Smiths too some¬
times work in the open near the hogan.
White persons who are told of the strong Navabo sen¬
sitivity with regard to bodily exposure wonder how privacy
can possibly be maintained under hogan conditions. There
are several answers. Navahos do not undress when they go
to sleep. Sex relations take place during the hours of dark¬
ness. Excretion is done outside the hogan. It should not
be forgotten that there are occasions when work or an
excursion to the trading store or a ceremonial takes most
of the family away for a considerable time, giving a lone
remaining person a long interval of seclusion when a bath
or a complete change of clothing in privacy is possible.

SLEEPING AND EATING

There is no set hour for the children to be put to bed,

and the whole family usually retires rather early if there
are no guests. Sheepskins and blankets are brought in from
outdoors, if they have been airing, or unrolled and spread
on the floor around the fire or stove. The baby lies in its
cradle near the mother. Several small children will proba¬
bly sleep together. If the family has a number of older
children, there is apt to be a second hogan where the boys
sleep. In summer some or all of the family will probably
sleep outdoors. Indoors or out, everyone takes care not to
step over a sleeping person, lest some evil befall him.
When the group to be served at a meal is large and
two “settings” are necessary because of space considera¬
tions, the men and boys may eat first and the women
who have been preparing the food may eat later. But
usually the whole family eats together. A sheepskin wool-

91
 THE NAVAHO

side down, blanket, or tarpaulin—among more prosperous

families or on state occasions a piece of oilcloth—is spread
on the ground and bowls of food placed on it. A few
families now use tables and chairs. Since individual plates
are not the rule, several persons will probably use a com¬
mon bowl. Spoons are the usual eating implements, and
bread may be used to hold pieces of meat or to dip up
gravy. In summer the whole family is likely to eat out¬
doors.
Navaho diet has changed greatly since The People’s
contacts with whites. Except for some com dishes, strictly
native foods are infrequently seen on other than cere¬
monial occasions. The taste for coffee and tea was ac¬
quired during the Fort Sumner period, and one or the
other is an indispensable part of every meal, even for small
children. The use of milled flour also dates from that time
and has gradually supplanted hand-ground com flour.
Despite the fact that salt can be bought at every trading
store, many Navahos still make long journeys to various
“sacred” salt deposits. Although this procedure is often
more expensive, the ancient habit persists, partly because,
as The People say, this salt is not so “bitter” as the com¬
mercial variety. Food preparation shows considerable non-
Navaho influence, as in the ordinary form of bread, which
resembles the Mexican wheat-flour tortilla. In all likeli¬
hood, however, mutton, goat, and beef are prepared in
the fashion formerly used for venison.
Bread and meat—usually mutton or goat flesh—are the
staples of the diet. A few families in some sections have
pigs or keep chickens for their eggs. A prosperous family
will slaughter a sheep or a goat nearly every week through¬
out the year, but poorer people get much less meat.
Though meats, peaches, and melons are sometimes dried
and most families store roasted com in a pit, not much
food is accumulated because of the size and type of dwell¬
ings and the movements to sheep and other camps.
The energy content of most Navaho foods runs between

92
4a. Shearing a sheep
. Woman husking corn
 LIVING TOGETHER

3.5 and 4.5 calories per gram of air-dry matter, but meats
have a higher value. The habit of eating the internal or¬
gans and indeed all edible portions of the animal is a com¬
pensation for the deficiency of vegetable greens, and this
food is probably the principal source of many needed
vitamins and minerals. The rarity of decay in the teeth
of Navaho adults as compared to whites suggests dietary
adequacy from this point of view.
Most Navahos are accustomed to tightening their belts
and going for days on nothing more than coffee and a little
bread, but they will gorge when opportunity offers. They
pride themselves on being able to go a long time without
food. The whole pattern is that of alternation between eat¬
ing a little and eating a lot.

CLEANLINESS

Cleanliness of clothing, bedding, and other furnishings

varies a great deal from hogan to hogan. Some Navaho
women—like some white women—tend to be “immaculate
housekeepers” and, at the other extreme, some are slovenly.
The number of lice differs in accord with the newness of
the bedding and frequency of sunning it, but there are
few hogans where no lice are ever to be found. Sometimes
a family will move and build a new hogan primarily to
escape these pests. Delousing, particularly of the hair, is
usually a social activity, performed for the child by the
mother or some older relative or by two children for each
other.
There is likewise much individual variation as to per¬
sonal cleanliness. Washing the hands and face one or more
times daily is seldom neglected, but bathing is less fre¬
quent. This is partly, of course, because water is scarce
and laborious to haul. Whites are easily shocked by Nav¬
aho habits in this regard, but the writers have observed
that whites who for weeks are deprived of running water,
privacy, and the comforts of bathing in evenly heated

93
 THE NAVAHO

rooms rapidly abandon the daily bath. How often the

Navahos wash their clothes depends on the season and
the availability of the water. Except in very hot weather,
changing the shirt or blouse tends to be a matter of put¬
ting the clean garment on top of the dirty one.

DIVISION OF LABOR

The husband takes the primary responsibility for building

dwellings, corrals, and fences, although his wife and other
women folk assist in plastering and chinking the hogan.
The wife airs the bedding and keeps the dwelling and
cooking utensils clean and orderly. She cooks, butchers
mutton, gathers those crops from the field which are to
be used for immediate consumption, and looks after the
children, although the man will assist in all these tasks if
the woman is ill, or under other special circumstances.
The man is expected to cut most of the firewood, unless
there are boys old enough to do this. All assist in bringing
wood to the fire, although this is a special chore of children.
Men do most of the work in the fields, look after horses,
wagons, saddles, and cattle, and haul wood and water. At
times of heightened activity in the care of the sheep, as
when the lambs are being bom, every able-bodied family
member assists. At other seasons responsibilities are dis¬
tributed according to availability of personnel and to ar¬
rangements within the extended family, but herding tends
to be the duty of youngsters and of the old. Women spend
their spare time in weaving, and occasionally in making
baskets or pots. Dressing skins and making moccasins are
male occupations. Some men are silversmiths, and women
are also beginning to participate in this craft.
Many activities are sex-typed to such a degree that
many adults would find it embarrassing to perform a task
associated with the other sex. A young married man, for
example, refused to be photographed milking a goat, pro¬
testing that “it wouldn’t look right.” Nevertheless the dis-

94
 LIVING TOGETHER

tinctions are less rigidly drawn in some respects than in

white society. Many Navaho men find it no disgrace to
cook, even when their wives are present. They will pub¬
licly assume responsibilities for babies and children which
white men commonly evade. There is also highly spe¬
cialized cooperation in many activities such as house¬
building, farming, and various work connected with the
flocks and herds. At the sheep dip, for example, the men
conduct the full-grown animals through the vats, but the
women usually superintend the lambs and kids. And so,
in many ways, the fine between the sphere of men and
the sphere of women is less obvious than in white society.
Exactly who does what depends upon all sorts of ac¬
cidents of the situation. The whole system of division of
labor and assignment of tasks is—like all Navaho social
organization—highly informal from the white point of view.
There are endless discussions and disputes about it within
the extended family.
Occupational specialization is slight, on the whole. Al¬
most all women who have good eyesight and general health
are weavers. A few spend some proportion of their time
as midwives, ceremonial practitioners, or herbalists, and
in making baskets or pots, and some assist their husbands
in making silver jewelry. A few men weave, make moc¬
casins for persons beyond the circle of their immediate
families, or gather plants for sale; others assist silversmiths
part of the year. Half of the smiths themselves, according
to Adair, work only intermittently at their craft. In some
areas a returned schoolboy or two makes all or most of
his living through a white craft such as blacksmithing or
carpentry. Some figures for the Dennehotso Valley in 1935
will put these generalizations into the concrete for one
“community.5* Out of 669 persons covered in the census,
there were 177 weavers, 27 “medicine men,” 6 silver¬
smiths, 12 stone masons, 4 interpreters, 2 blacksmiths, 1
basketmaker, 1 carpenter.

95
 THE NAVAHO

RECREATION

Navahos love to have a good time. In and around the

hogan, they make cats-cradles or play the moccasin game,
stick dice, or the arrow game. In some areas “American”
card games are played. During the winter evenings around
the fire, myths and folk tales are repeated, often for the
edification of the children. Men and boys hunt in groups
of two or three, and they have small informal foot or horse
races and cowboy sports.
The People enjoy singing and they believe that it is
important in keeping their peace with the Holy People.
They sing as they make fire in the morning, as they let
the sheep out of the corral, as they work silver, and as
they ride.
But—as is natural for isolated people—the greatest pleas¬
ure lies in an occasion which brings crowds together. This
may be a ceremonial, held at home or at that of a nearby
neighbor. Or it may be a distant “squaw dance” in sum¬
mer or a Night Way or one of the other great chants held
in the autumn. At most ceremonials there are talk, feast¬
ing, games, and races. Or the occasion for getting together
may be a meeting or a communal rabbit hunt. Trips to
“chicken pulls” or rodeos near trading stores are times of
excitement.
Singing and watching or participating in races and in
cowboy sports are felt to be delights in themselves. But
in all the major recreational activities there are common
threads: the exchange of news and gossip, seeing and be¬
ing seen in one’s best finery, laughing and joking with old
friends, opportunities for sexual adventures. Drinking must
be mentioned as another diversion for an increasing num¬
ber of Navahos on these occasions. There is also an op¬
portunity at public gatherings for some serious business,
for jewelry and other articles are bought and sold, trades

96
Recreation: an impromptu horse race
A Navaho family
 LIVING TOGETHER

of animals or equipment are arranged, and parents can

look over prospective mates for their children.
Less frequent are visits to the Gallup Inter-Tribal In¬
dian Ceremonial, the Flagstaff “Powwow,” or various
Pueblo fiestas. A shopping expedition to Gallup or Farm¬
ington or Winslow is a major diversion. Movies are much
enjoyed, even by Navahos who know not a word of English.

NAVAHO HUMOR

As W. W. Hill has written:

A popular fallacy has long existed that the American

Indian is a stolid, unemotional individual incapable of
expression or appreciation of humor or wit. Nothing is
farther from the truth. Examples taken from the Navaho
show that in his own social sphere the Indian can and
does scintillate in conversation and in action in a man¬
ner comparable to that of peoples of European cultures.
His humor runs the gamut of puns, practical jokes, and
obscenities. In addition, he is an excellent mimic and
pantomimist with a superb sense of timing and climax.2

All observers agree that The People have a keen sense of

humor. They appreciate ridiculous or incongruous situa¬
tions, either accidental or prepared, at least as much as
do whites. However, their practical jokes are seldom cruel,
and individuals are not often satirized in their presence.
All types of humor are about equally indulged in and
reacted to by all classes of persons. There is much less
difference due to age, sex, and social position than there
is in white society. A respected older man who is usually
quite dignified does not feel that there is anything out of
the way in acting the buffoon for a few minutes'.
Wit and repartee axe highly valued in conversation.
Many Navaho jokes have a whimsical quality. For in¬
stance, kinship terms may be applied to dogs and other
animals. The nature of the language permits some quite

97
 THE NAVAHO

subtle digs: if a fat person is seated in a hogan, someone

may use the verb form which means “the round object is in
position” instead of the correct form, meaning “the living
object is in position.”
Much Navaho humor is expressed in a patterned kind
of teasing that is supposed to be carried on between dif¬
ferent classes of relatives, as illustrated by the following
incidents related by a middle-aged Navaho:

My brother is riding a good horse. It is his best one

and I say how much will you sell that horse. He says
$10 or $20 and I say you’re not so good-looking on that
horse. And he says your wife won’t like you to ride
that horse, you’re not so good-looking as he is. After¬
wards I say you don’t look very good on top of that
horse. We say that if a man has a new hat or shoes
or shirt. My brother comes to visit and early in the
morning before the sun is up we would have some very
cold water. Then I would pull his blanket off and pour
water on him. He won’t say anything but he’ll remem¬
ber it for a year or two years and when you visit him
he’ll do anything. You ask to use a gentle horse, and he
gives you a bucking one. He says this horse is a gentle
one, you don’t need to hold him. Then in a little while
he bucks.
The last time my brother and I teased he was mean.
We were rounding up some horses and we couldn’t
catch one. We used to rope one- and two-year-old colts
in a sandy arroyo and then ride them bareback. He was
older than I was and he could ride better. But we used
to bet and then if he fell off I could double up the
rope and hit him on the back. And if I fell off he did
the same to me. Well, we were trying to rope his horse
and every time the horse ran by me and I tried to rope
him my brother would hit me with that heavy buck¬
skin rope. I cried and after a while I picked up a rope
and ran after him. He was scared and ran as fast as

98
 LIVING TOGETHER

he could. [How old were you?] Seven or eight years

old. After that we never teased.
But the only one you can tease about girls is your
sister’s son. He would come and joke with me about
girls. He would say I can still hear the noise we made
together. Then I would give him that name “hears the
noise.” And he would give me a name like it.
My half-brother [actually, father’s brother’s son] and
his grandson were taking a sweatbath together. They
came out and they were joking. The old man said, I’ve
got to get some wood, I have to go home. The boy
went back into the sweathouse. Then the old man took
the boy’s clothes and took them away and hid them.
The boy came out and he couldn’t find his clothes and
some boys helped him. It was getting dark and then
they found them. When he got home he and his grand¬
father laughed very hard. But the boy remembered. And
some day they had another sweatbath together and
when the old man went in the sweathouse the boy put
a piece of cactus in the toe of his shoe. Then afterwards
they put on their clothes and the boy was watching.
The old man put on his trousers and his shirt and his
moccasin and when he pulled the other one it went on
fast and he jumped up and let out a holler and he was
hollering all over the place. The boy ran away. Every¬
one laughed and yelled what’s the matter. The grand¬
father stopped then and he doesn’t tease the boy any
more. [Did you see this?] No—but the old man tells
this story when Navahos get together.
My half-brother lived over there with my grand¬
mother. She used to tease him by hitting him on the
shins and she’d say go get some wood. Sometimes he
cried. He had a .44 pistol and one day she went to the
store and bought a lot of tilings. She put the things
on her back and started home. He followed her. She
couldn’t look back with that big bundle behind her and
he made no noise. When he got close he fired the gun

99
 THE NAVAHO

and the woman fell right down and hollered. The boy
rolled on the ground laughing and from that time on
she wouldn’t tease him any more.

PERSONAL RELATIONS IN THE WORLD

OF THE HOGANS

The importance of his relatives to the Navaho can scarcely

be exaggerated. The worst that one may say of another
person is, “He acts as if he didn’t have any relatives.”
Conversely, the ideal of behavior often enunciated by
headmen is, “Act as if everybody were related to you.”

THE BIOLOGICAL FAMILY

The basic unit of economic and social cooperation is the

biological family, consisting of husband, wife, and unmar¬
ried children. Descent is traced through the mother.
Where the husband has more than one wife, each wife
with her children usually occupies a separate dwelling.
Joint wives are most often sisters. If a man has married
a woman who has a daughter from another marriage, he
may also marry the daughter when she becomes mature.
Marrying an older woman and her niece was another old
Navaho form but is not very frequent today. When the
two or more wives are relatives, the dwellings are ordi¬
narily side by side or, at any rate, within sight of one
another; when a man marries unrelated women (which
is much less frequent), they usually maintain quite sepa¬
rate establishments some distance apart. It is very seldom
that a man has more than two wives, but a few cases of
as many as four are known.
Since missionaries and formerly the government have
combatted plural marriages, an attempt is made to conceal
them from whites. Hence it is difficult to estimate their
frequency. In one area where the facts are definitely es¬
tablished, seven out of about 100 married men have more

100
 LIVING TOGETHEK

than one wife. In general, plural marriages are associated

with higher economic status. There is also some correla¬
tion with the type of basic economy. Where livestock is
the main source of income, men have more than one wife
much more frequently than in the farming areas, where
monogamy is characteristic, possibly because the extended
livestock operations make large families very useful. Matri-
local residence is more uniformly prevalent in livestock
than in farming areas. Probably 85 per cent of the families
in the western livestock region follow matrilocal practices.
Formally, from the Navaho angle, the “head of the
family” is the husband. Whether he is in fact varies with
his personality, intelligence, and prestige. Navaho women
are often energetic and shrewish. By vigorous use of their
tongues they frequently reverse or nullify decisions made
by their men. The Indian Service has made the mistake
of dealing too exclusively with men (just as social welfare
agencies in white society tend to deal too exclusively with
women) only to wonder or be annoyed when agreements
reached with them were not carried out.
It is understandable that the superficial white observer
concludes that the Navaho woman is little better than a
chattel of her husband. She may be seen walking when
her husband is on horseback; the casual white visitor does
not realize that the reverse is also true, depending on
which of them has a horse available, for horses are in¬
dividually owned and there is no conception of joint prop¬
erty between husband and wife. The white man sees the
men of the Navaho family riding in comfort in the front
of a pickup, with women exposed to cold winds in the
open truck behind. He notices a Navaho wife trailing with
apparent meekness behind her husband as the pair walk
the streets of Gallup. He marks the absence of small cour¬
tesies and deferences that white men normally show to
their wives. A Navaho husband never, for example, assists
his wife in alighting from a wagon or automobile.
Despite the absence of the symbols which whites as-

101
 THE NAVAHO

sociate with high status of women, however, there can be

no doubt that the position of women among The People is
very good. Their ownership of property, the system of
tracing lineage through the female, the prevailing pattern
of residence with the wife’s people, the fact that more
women than men have a ready and continual source of
extra income (through their weaving), all give women a
strategic advantage. Such situational circumstances are re¬
inforced by mythology and folklore. The oft-repeated songs
of Blessing Way drum in the conception that woman is
supreme in the hogan. The east pole is that of Earth
Woman, the south that of Mountain Woman, the west
that of Water Woman, and the north that of Com Woman.
The fact that some of the most powerful and impor¬
tant divinities (Changing Woman, Spider Woman, Salt
Woman) are female speaks volumes for the high place of
women in the traditional conceptions of The People.

THE EXTENDED FAMILY

Some tasks, especially animal husbandry and agriculture,

are carried out more often than not by a wider group of
relatives than the simple biological family. Commonly this
“extended family” consists of an older woman with her hus¬
band and unmarried children, together with her married
daughters and then husbands and unmarried children.
Not all groupings, however, conform to this picture in
every detail. In the first place, a considerable number of
biological families live apart as independent units. In the
second place, there are usually one or more unattached
collateral relatives on the scene: the aged father of the
older woman, or her widowed, childless sister, or a crippled
niece who has never married. Such isolated individuals
usually occupy separate quarters if they are able to care
for themselves. If not, they may eat and sleep in the dwell¬
ing of one of the biological families, or they may have
their separate hogan with some youngster assigned to cut

102
 LIVING TOGETHER

their firewood and otherwise assist them. One study of one

hundred biological families showed the following com¬
position: 184 parents, 369 children of these unions, 182
other dependents.
In the third place, not all married daughters invariably
five in or even near this group. One daughter and her
husband may live alone and at a distance, or they may
have associated themselves with the husband’s people.
Whether a young married couple goes to live with the
girl’s or the boy’s parents depends upon a variety of factors:
the relative economic status of the two groups, the need
for workers in one or the other, various prestige elements,
the congeniality of the persons involved, and indeed all
the considerations of interpersonal relations. The influence
of white customs and especially of white interpretations of
inheritance laws has increased residence with the hus¬
band’s people in recent years, but there is evidence that
this was not unheard of as long as two generations ago.
Some couples regularly divide their time and their services
between the two groups. In some sections it is the custom
for bride and groom to five and work for some years after
marriage with one of the parental families, and later, after
they have established their ability to care for themselves,
to move some distance away into a state of almost com¬
plete independence.
Economic and other individuality is not lost in the ex¬
tended family. But for many purposes there is economic
cooperation. While every adult may have his separate ac¬
count at the trading store, the older or more prosperous
members of the extended family will see to it that credit
is extended to the more dependent if food or clothing is
really needed. Labor is pooled in herding and other pro¬
ductive activities.
Under the system of residing with the wife’s people,
men commonly participate in the activities of two ex¬
tended families; for, even though their residences are with
the extended families of their wives, they continue to visit

103
 THE NAVAHO

frequently at the homes of their own mothers or sisters.

There they often leave their sheep or other property. They
are expected to attend ceremonials at their old homes and
to share the expenses of these. Not infrequently the de¬
mands of a man’s family of orientation (his mother’s) and
family of procreation (his wife’s) are conflicting, and this
is a deep source of strain in Navaho social organization.
Perhaps the husband becomes resentful of the criticism of
his father-in-law, or one brother-in-law feels that another
shirks his share of the work. Some part of these tensions
may be released by the patterned kind of joking that has
been described previously. However, the struggle for sub¬
sistence survival .is so intense that continued quarreling is
too great a threat to all concerned. Either the antagonisms
are repressed or suppressed most of the time, or one or
more of the marriages is dissolved. These frictions within
the extended family have probably been accentuated in
recent years because white example and practice give no
support to the native patterns.

DEALING WITH KINFOLK

The lines of contact in Navaho society are primarily those

of kinship. The Navaho language differentiates many cate¬
gories of relatives, making distinctions which are unfamil¬
iar to white people: relatives on the mother’s side are
normally called by different terms from the corresponding
relatives on the father’s side; younger and older brothers
and sisters are always distinguished; some relationships are
foreshortened, so that the children of the mother’s sisters,
for example, are addressed with the same word as actual
biological brothers and sisters, just as the mother’s sisters
are also called “mother.”
Toward relatives of different classes there are, of course,
prescribed ways of behaving. Some must be treated with
varying degrees of respect or avoidance. Thus the relation
between adult brothers and sisters, while one of deep affec-

104
 LIVING TOGETHER

tion, is marked by great reserve in physical contact and by

certain restrictions in speech. Conservative Navahos are
still careful in addressing some relatives by marriage to
employ the same special linguistic forms as brothers and
sisters use. These “polite” forms give a rather stiff or stilted
effect to a conversation. Mothers-in-law are never supposed
to look upon their sons-in-law. With some relatives one is
not supposed to joke at all, with others one may not “joke
bad,” while with certain relatives one is expected to make
jokes of sexual or obscene connotation.
Traditionally, the relationship of maternal uncles to their
nephews and nieces was of great importance. These uncles
assumed many of the disciplinary and instructional func¬
tions which fall to the lot of the father in white society.
They had great influence in arranging, encouraging, or
vetoing the marriages of their sisters’ sons and daughters
(particularly the latter). Moreover, there were various
economic reciprocities and inheritance rights involved. A
niece, in particular, could expect to inherit at least a small
amount of property from each of her maternal uncles.

OWNERSHIP AND INHERITANCE

One of the difficulties in understanding an alien culture

lies in concepts of ownership and inheritance. The kinds
of tilings that are owned by persons and may be trans¬
mitted by them to their heirs, and the kinds of things
which belong only to larger or smaller groups vary greatly
between societies.
Among the Navahos certain things are “communal prop¬
erty,” in which no individual or family has vested or ex¬
clusive rights. Water resources, timber areas, and patches
of salt bush (which serve livestock in lieu of mineral salt)
belong to all The People, and certain conventions are ob¬
served in regard to this type of property. It is not good
form to cut wood within a mile or so of someone else’s
dwelling. One uses no other than his accustomed water

105
 THE NAVAHO

hole except when that source fails or he goes on a journey.

Attempts of some Navahos to emulate white practices with
respect to wood and water rights are among the most
bitterly resisted of all innovations.
Farm and range land “belongs” to a family. The domi¬
nant Navaho idea of ownership of such land has been well
called “inherited use-ownership”; that is, the man who
“owns” farm or range land can only control it for a limited
period, and no “owner” can give away or otherwise alienate
land from his family. Furthermore, in this matrilineal so¬
ciety, the real “owners” are the wife and children, and the
husband is hardly more than a trustee for them.
In recent times a few wealthy Navahos who are heads
of “outfits” (see p. 109) have acquired virtual control over
extensive ranges. In regions off the Reservation, the prev¬
alence of allotments and recent fencing under the Taylor
Grazing Act have brought Navaho range practices closer
to that for farm land and to the white pattern in general.
The concept of inherited use-ownership applies to some
degree to livestock. Every animal in a flock is assigned to
some member of the family, but he is not altogether free
to sell his animals in quantity in order to buy a car or
satisfy some other personal whim. Persons who do so are
severely criticized.
Even young children have their own animals with pri¬
vate earmarks. In well-off families a child is given new
animals each year, and this undoubtedly adds to his sense
of security. Yet there is subtly implanted in him the notion
that the family—not the giver, but the family as a whole—
retains the right of “eminent domain.” The child must take
his turn in supplying meat for family meals and contribute
his share when animals are being slaughtered to feed par¬
ticipants and guests at a ceremonial. Always it is empha¬
sized that the produce of animals (wool, lambs or lads,
milk) is in part for the general use; when necessary it is
entirely for the general use.
Peach and other fruit trees are owned by a family or

106
 LIVING TOGETHER

an individual. If they are located on land not now in the

possession of the family or individual, the owner may come
only at harvest to claim the fruit.
The only property which is indisputably that of the
individual consists of clothing, ornaments, saddles, ceremo¬
nial equipment, and intangibles such as songs and prayers.
These the individual may dispose of exactiy as he likes.
In former days Navaho inheritance was largely through
the mother and her relatives, to whose clan every individ¬
ual belonged, as he does today. In some areas today the
usual practice is for daughters to inherit from the mother
and sons from the father. In other localities, the bulk of all
except “personal property” of both father and mother is
divided before their death equally among sons and daugh¬
ters, but land and livestock undivided at death remain
within the extended family where the deceased was resi¬
dent. In still other places, white inheritance customs are
becoming more prevalent; wills are made and the surviving
spouse shares in the estate. But in almost every area there
is doubt and dispute.
There is no formal transmission of rights to grazing land.
Every person, as a member of his family, inherits the right
to graze livestock within a fairly well-defined area. Un¬
used lands, so long as there were any, belonged to the first
comers.
The inheritance of farm land, livestock, and fruit trees is
confused at present. Much of such property is transmitted
to children during the lifetime of the “trustee-owners.” By
the time the children are adult, each may have most of the
livestock he can expect to receive from his parents. The
herd which is still earmarked for elders is probably small,
and will often be largely used up in connection with the
ceremonials which can be expected during the illnesses of
old age.
Sons who have become permanent residents with the
families of their wives often ask for and receive their full
share from their own parents so that they may care for

107
 THE NAVAHO

their own growing children. There is usually strong pres¬

sure on them to leave the animals in the parental herd,
however, and there follows the difficulty and friction which
usually attend absentee ownership. A woman who “owns”
farm land gradually turns it over to her daughters and
their husbands, and a son may receive a piece of the farm
if there are no daughters, or only one or two. As indicated
previously, the man who “owns” farm land is under con¬
flicting pressures. His wife and daughters urge him to sur¬
render his rights, while he is still living, to his daughters or
sons-in-law acting as trustees for his grandchildren. At the
same time his own mother or aunts or sisters remind him
that his land belongs to their (and his) clan and that he
should give it to one or more of his nieces and nephews.
The inheritance of personal property is also not without
doubt and dispute. Much personal property is buried with
the dead. This property is usually selected by the owner
before his death, and he often specifies which survivor
shall receive this or that saddle or piece of jewelry which
is not to be buried with him.
Items that have not been thus disposed of before the
burial are parceled out at a meeting of relatives, where
the older and closer family connections take the lead in
the discussion. When a prosperous man or woman dies
the gathering is ordinarily quite large, and includes many
who, according to white standards, are very distant kin but
who will expect to receive at least some token gift, however
small. It is of great importance to be on hand when the
division occurs, even if one is a member of the immediate
family. Such a remark as this is frequently heard: “I was
at school when my father died, so his relatives didn’t give
me a thing.”
There is usually an infonnal understanding that cere¬
monial equipment goes to sons or sororal nephews who
know how to carry out the appropriate rite. Failing this,
the property will be claimed by the nearest relative (in¬
cluding clan members) who can qualify. Some ceremonial

108
 LIVING TOGETHER

equipment, however, especially that connected with Bless¬

ing Way, is retained by the immediate family, even in
default of practitioners, because it is believed to afford
protection to the dwelling and its occupants.
It is obvious that differing patterns of inheritance are
likely to be sources of conflict within the tribe. Further¬
more, the incompatibility of persisting Navaho usages and
white inheritance laws and court interpretations is the
source of serious friction between Navahos and whites.

RELATIVES BEYOND THE HOGAN GROUP

A Navaho’s “relatives” include more than the members of

his biological and extended families and affinal kin. “Out¬
fit,” clan, and finked clan are important extensions of the
circle of relations.

the “outfit”

This Western term is used to designate a group of relatives

(larger than the extended family) who regularly cooperate
for certain purposes. Two or more extended families, or
one or more extended families linked with one or more
independent biological families, may habitually pool their
resources on some occasions—say, planting and harvesting,
or the giving of any major ceremonial for an individual
member. The differentiae of “outfit” and extended family
are twofold: the members of the true Navaho extended
family always five at least within shouting distance of each
other, whereas the various families in an “outfit” may be
scattered over a good many square miles; an extended
family has its focus in the families of sisters or of brothers
and/or parents and their, married children, whereas the
families in an “outfit,” while always related, include a
wider circle of kin. Participation in cooperative work is not
absolutely regular, and indeed membership in an “outfit”
is somewhat fluid. But the solidarity of an “outfit” will
 THE NAVAHO

always be recognized, however vaguely, by the white

trader who knows the region; he will take this unit into
account in extending credit and the like.
The variations in the size and composition of “outfits” are
infinite. Commonly, one biological or extended family is
a kind of nucleus for the whole group, and the “outfit” will
be referred to colloquially by using the name of the princi¬
pal man in the nuclear family. Careful analysis shows,
however, that when the traders or Navahos speak of “So-
and-so’s folks,” this does not include all his relatives within
certain degrees. Geographical distance and other factors
may have the effect of excluding some relatives actually
closer by blood than others embraced within the “outfit.”
The test is always the intensity and regularity of the eco¬
nomic and other reciprocities involved. The size of an
“outfit” tends to depend on the wealth of its leader or,
more exactly, of the leader and/or his wife or wives.
Wealthy Navahos who control thousands of sheep are often
the focal points of “outfits” which include a hundred or
more individuals in a ramified system of dependence.
Sometimes the members of an “outfit” live on lands that
have unbroken geographical contiguity. In this case the
“outfit” constitutes a “land-use community” which may oc¬
cupy from 12,000 to 80,000 acres and include from fifty to
two hundred persons.
One can usually see best who actually belongs to an
“outfit” when communal ploughing is taking place in the
spring or sheep dipping in the summer. Some data from
the Dennehotso area in the north and from the Klagetoh
area in the south give a specific picture of how individuals
split up into these various units. Iu the Dennehotso Valley
in 1934 the 669 people lived in 131 hogans. Eighteen of
these were isolated; the remainder made up 37 distinct
extended family groups, each of which had from two to six
hogans. Nine different “outfits” could be recognized, but
108 persons could not be said to belong to any “outfit.” At
Klagetoh in 1939 there were 233 people living in 29 ho-
 LIVING TOGETHER

gans. All but four of these families combined in various

ways to make up eight or nine extended families. There
was some cooperative work between any two or more of
these extended family groups at the busy seasons.

THE CLAN

Like white people, the Navahos use relationship terms to¬

ward all “blood kin.” However, The People do not limit
their “relatives” along strictly biological lines. They also
designate as “sisters,” “fathers,” etc., all members of their
own clan and, in theory, all members of the clans linked
with their own. The term used depends upon the sex and
the relative ages of the two speakers. Members of one’s fa¬
ther’s clan are also considered relatives, but they are
grouped in a smaller number of categories.
There are, or have been, sixty or more Navaho clans.
The names are predominantly those of localities, suggesting
that the clan was at one time a local group. Even today
the clans, though having a wide geographical spread in
individual membership, tend to be concentrated in certain
sections. There is, for example, no area of a few hundred
square miles within which members of every clan can be
found, but 888 persons in the Chaco Canyon in 1938 did
include one or more representatives of thirty-one different
clans. It is seldom, however, that any “community” goes
beyond twenty. There were members of twenty-one dif¬
ferent clans in the Dennehotso Valley, but three of these
were represented only by single individuals. The people at
Klagetoh belonged to fourteen clans, and the majority rep¬
resented only a few of the clans. In Chaco Canyon the
Poles-Strung-Out, Under-His-Cover, Mud, Zuni, Red-Fore¬
head, Standing-House, Parallel-Stream, Bitter-Water, and
Trail-to-the-Garden clans included 595 out of the 888 per¬
sons, while the other 293 were scattered among twenty-two
other clans. At Dennehotso, the Shore, Red-Forehead, Bit¬
ter-Water, Under-His-Cover, and Red-House clans ac-

111
 THE NAVAHO

counted for 315 out of 665. Similarly, five of the fourteen

clans at Klagetoh had a much larger representation than
the others. The clans represented by not more than four
or five persons have usually been brought in by those who
enter the region through marriage.
Each Navaho belongs to the clan of his mother, but it
must not be forgotten that he is equally spoken of as “born
for” the clan of his father. The father’s clansmen are all
considered to be relatives. Thus a girl might identify herself
in Navaho by saying, “I am Bitter-Water, bom for Salt.”
In the contemporary fife of The People the principal im¬
portance of clan is that of limiting marriage choices: one
may never marry within one’s own clan or one’s father’s.
There are still exceedingly few violations of these prohibi¬
tions. The Navahos treat incest of this sort and witchcraft
as the most repulsive of crimes. Incestuous persons are in¬
evitably suspected of witchcraft and are thought to be,
or to be doomed to become, insane. On the other hand, at
certain periods and in certain sections there have also been
positive marriage preferences connected with clan. For ex¬
ample, to marry into the clan of paternal or maternal
grandfather is still highly approved in some areas.
Clan is also important in establishing the larger circle
of one’s relatives. Clans may be thought of as threads of
sentimental linkage which bind together Navahos who
are not biologically related, who have not grown up in the
same locality, who may indeed never see each other, or
may do so but once in a lifetime. This sentimental bond
gives rise to occasional economic and other reciprocities.
Sometimes clansmen who discover each other accidentally
at a large gathering will exchange gifts. A Navaho will
always go out of his way to do a favor or show preference
for a clan relative, even if the individual in question has
been previously unknown.
In the past the clan was, with little doubt, an important
agency of social control. All clansmen were responsible
for the crimes and debts of other members of their clan,

112
 LIVING TOGETHER

hence it was in their own interest to prevent murder, rape,

and theft on the part of any and all clan relatives. Since
any person, moreover, was dependent for emotional and
economic support upon the good will of his relatives, he was
usually responsive to their pressures. Government impo¬
sition of a law-and-order organization based on white pat¬
terns has tended to destroy this aspect of the native social
system. The great increase in population has probably also
played a part in breaking down the old pattern. Certain it
is that the two systems do not mesh well together. Under
the present setup native judges, policemen, and other offi¬
cials are constantly accused of favoring their clan relatives.
Enough of the old sentiments remain so that Navaho offi¬
cials probably do feel pressure toward this sort of favorit¬
ism. But a judge, for example, is not disqualified accord¬
ing to the new law because he is a clansman of a plaintiff
or defendant, for government officials have not recognized
clan relationships.

LINKED CLANS

Every clan is associated with from one to five or six others.

Thus, the Poles-Strung-Out, Mountain-Rincon, Who-En-
circles-One, Close-to-Water, Grey-Earth-Place, and Yucca-
Blossom-Patch clans “go together,” as The People say. It is
usually stated that originally the linked clans were but a
single unit. They doubtless represent in most cases a split¬
ting up under the stimulus of geographical dispersion or
intra-clan quarrels, although in some instances the associa¬
tion is probably imaginary or accidental or the result of
the affiliation of new clans derived from other tribes, rather
than the product of actual historical splitting.
All of the prohibitions and obligations which apply to
clansmen apply, in strict theory, to all members of linked
clans, but, today at least, these must be thought of as
binding only in a very mild form. Marriages into linked
clans, especially those of the father, are not very infre-

113
 THE NAVAHO

quent. There are disagreements even among older Navahos

as to whether or not certain clans should be considered
linked, while many younger Navahos are almost com¬
pletely ignorant of any such associations.

THE WIDER CIRCLE OF PERSONAL

RELATIONS

Among The People relatives are all-important, but as in all

other societies there are patterns for interaction with per¬
sons unrelated by blood or marriage.

NAMES AND NAMING

So long as the child’s world is bounded by the family

circle there is very little need for names. Kinship terms
are enough for him to address or refer to everybody, and
they in turn can designate him adequately. In case of pos¬
sible confusion, a qualifier can be added to the kin term:
“my oldest maternal nephew,” “my maternal nephew who
is the middle son of my youngest sister.”
However, when the child goes outside his family group
he must have a designation. Navahos do have names. The
trouble is that they always have more than one “name,”
and this whole system is to the white man one of the most
baffling aspects of the Navalio way of life. There are, first
of all, the “secret” or “war” names. Names are powers to
The People. To use a name very often would wear it out,
whereas if the name is kept fresh and full of strength, ut¬
tering it may get its owner out of a tight hole sometime.
Although “war” names are still called “secret”, names by
English-speaking Navahos, they are disclosed rather freely
today, at any rate by girls and women. An adult woman
may generally be referred to as “Tall Woman” or “Big
Woman,” but she will give a white census taker her “war”
name with little or no reluctance. In an increasing number
of families, parents will refer to their little girls or older

114
 LIVING TOGETHER

unmarried daughters by such names. In the case of boys

the war” name is used or revealed much less often. Some¬
times the name is still protected with much caution and
spoken only in songs and proclamations at Enemy Way.
(See Chapter 6.) It is a sign that a family has gone a long
distance toward giving up the old way of life when the
parents cease to give their children these “war” names, but
this is not an uncommon happening among younger and
more “modem” parents.
Besides these “war” names, during the course of his life
every Navaho is dubbed with one or more nicknames. If
a baby is tiny, the family is likely to refer to it as “Little
One”; if it is unusually light-skinned they may call it
“Clean Girl.” These nicknames sometimes last throughout
life, but more often people outside the family will coin a
designation that refers to some personal characteristic or
some event or occupation. Thus we get such names as
“Bent Man,” “Little Schoolboy,” “Son of the Late Silver¬
smith.”
These nicknames are terms of reference, not of address.
If a person is present, he will be spoken of by a kinship
term or as “this one” and will be addressed as “my friend”
or simply “thou.” It is considered very impolite to use
someone’s name in his presence, and only Navahos who
have spent much time with whites get accustomed to this.
Many older Navahos will manifest embarrassment or re¬
sentment if they are called by thek names to their faces.
However, the white practice of summoning children by
name is rapidly gaining in popularity. Usually the English
or Spanish names are called out, but Navaho nicknames
and even “war” names for girls are heard more and more.
Finally, school children and adults have one or more
(usually morel) European names. When a child enters a
school, it is asked its name. Today many are prepared for
this contingency and can give both a first and a last name,
or produce them on a paper written by some literate mem¬
ber of the family. However, the acquisition of these names

115 r
 THE NAVAHO

hardly conforms to white practices. The youngster is as

likely to use the family name of the mother as that of the
father. Often the first name will be placed before the first
and last name of the father. Thus we get Lilly John Pino,
Frank Sam Pino, and the like. There is a tendency in some
regions to use the name of one’s clan for a last name. Some¬
times a teen-age youth will take a name which is not
that of any relative just because it happens to strike his
fancy. It is quite common for a family or an individual to
alter a first name which has been carried for a number of
years. Someone known for ten years as Charles suddenly
becomes Ben.
The European names come directly or indirectly from
school names or from names assigned by traders or govern¬
ment officials for convenience. Some of the earlier teachers
either were hard pressed to avoid duplicates or had a per¬
verted sense of humor. Such names as Algernon Schuyler
and Mumbo Jumbo do not ease the adjustment of Indians
into a white world. This was amply demonstrated in recent
Selective Service activities, when candidates for the Ma¬
rine Corps had to answer to such names as Shadowing
Lady, Popsicle, Fish Sombrero, and Angel Whiskers.
What really confuses white people is the fact that many
Navahos have two or more different European names,
each of which is or has been in use and appears in one
or more different records. A Navaho living among or near
Spanish Americans may have been assigned a Spanish
name by a Spanish-speaking rancher, trader, or priest.
But a government representative finds this difficult to pro¬
nounce and spell, so he provides an English substitute. Or
an English-speaking trader tells an old Navaho he will put
his account under “Shoemaker,” but when the Navaho
renders this for the trader’s successor it sounds so improba¬
ble that the new trader invents a fresh designation. Hence,
a single Navaho will have as many as seven or eight dif¬
ferent names which are current in a region. In white so¬
ciety only authors, actors, and criminals use aliases. If

116
 LIVING TOGETHER

one goes into a new community and hears about Percival

Q. Bloggins and also about Archibald L. Smythe, one is
justified in assuming that two different people are being
spoken of. Not so among the Navahos. But because census
takers work on an assumption which is correct enough
among whites, one and the same person appears upon the
census rolls as several individuals.

THE “local group” OR “COMMUNITY”

These terms are used in quotation marks to warn the

reader that they are not intended to convey the meaning
and connotations which apply to a close group like a vil¬
lage. But groups which are determined by locality and cut
across the fines of kinship are important today in the work¬
ings of Navaho society. It is probable that in the old days
the band was the significant large social grouping, and to¬
day certain local groups—especially those isolated from the
rest of the Navahos, like Ramah, Puertocito, and Canyon-
cito—tend still to have the character of a band. They are
referred to by other Navahos by words designating the
locality, and they have, or in the recent past have had, a
single headman each.
The extent to which The People who live in areas set
apart either by topography or by tradition have developed
definite rules for working together varies greatly. In some
sections the local group simply fives in the same area. In
others there is regular cooperation in such activities as
building or caring for a day school, the annual sheep
dipping, “meetings,” and “courts.” Any mention of “chap¬
ters” established by the Indian Service in the 1920’s, cf.
Chapter 4.

LEADERSHIP AND AUTHORITY

When The People work together in groupings other than

those of kinship it is exceedingly difficult to define the in-

117
 THE NAVAHO

tegrating forces or the basis of leadership. At a ceremonial

it is, of course, the “medicine men” who give directions.
Otherwise, one can only say that older men and women
are generally deferred to and that there are local “head¬
men.” But both of these statements need qualification and
explanation. In some areas at present leadership appears
to be less in the hands of older people than of the middle-
aged or even the young, largely because they have the
great advantage of speaking English during a period when
effective communication with governmental authorities is
the principal means by which leaders justify their position
or fail to do so.
Headmen have no powers of coercion, save possibly
that the people sometimes fear them as potential witches,
but they do have responsibilities. They are often expected,
for example, to look after the interests of the needy who
are without close relatives or whose relatives neglect them,
but all they can do with the neglectful ones is to talk to
them. Decisions as to “community” policy can be reached
only by the consensus of a local meeting. The People them¬
selves are the real authority. No program put forward by
a headman is practicable unless it wins public endorse¬
ment or has the tacit backing of a high proportion of the
influential men and women of the area. Rich men often
exert great power through economic pressure, but they
work mostly behind the scenes and are seldom invested
with the authority of formal leadership. This avoidance of
choosing the wealthy for public office is seen in Ramah,
where most headmen and delegates to the tribal council
have come from the lower economic half of the group.
Headmen were formerly appointed by the Indian Serv¬
ice, but in many cases this constituted only official recog¬
nition of de facto leadership. In some areas today the
chapter presidents or delegates to the tribal council per¬
form the functions formerly exercised by the headmen, but
in other localities a headman exists in addition to the chap¬
ter officers. Elections are held each year at meetings in
 LIVING TOGETHER

which all adults in the locality, both men and women, may
participate and vote for the delegate to the tribal council
and the president, vice-president, and secretary of the
chapter. Sometimes the same individuals are reelected
year after year, but more often there is quite a turnover in
these offices. The headman, on the other hand, normally
holds office for life unless he so completely loses the con¬
fidence of his group that a forced, formal abdication or a
gradual, informal abdication takes place, or unless he feels
that he no longer has the energy to carry out his duties.
In the latter case he usually recommends a successor, or¬
dinarily a nephew or some other clan relative or his son, but
possibly a non-relative. Such a recommendation is more
often than not accepted by the meeting.
When a headman dies suddenly, his successor is selected
after discussion in a meeting. In case the succession is not
so clear-cut there is a long talk in a meeting. It is not ex¬
pected that a man will openly seek the office, but rival
candidates will often make speeches at the invitation of
others. In the old days, after group approval had been
expressed at a meeting, the final warrant of authority was
the performance of a special form of Blessing Way (Chief
Blessing Way) over the new incumbent. Today this rite
is often omitted, but there appears to be a strong bias in
favor of selecting as headman someone who is himself a
practitioner of Blessing Way.
Selection of headmen and of chapter officers and all
formal choices of policy are arrived at by group decision
in assemblages convoked by the headman or by a chapter
officer. Meetings are also often held on the occasion of a
“court,” when Indian judges visit the community. Once
the meeting occurs, anyone present may introduce new
business of any sort. Excessive drinking or the sexual con¬
duct of individuals may be discussed. Complaints of injury
to property or person may be made, and the offender in¬
structed to make payment by way of restitution. Meetings
are almost invariably long drawn out. Talking goes on in-

119
 THE NAVAHO

terminably with great respect for conventions of oratory

which prescribe various courteous references to preceding
speakers, endless repetitions of matters previously covered,
extended circumstantial accounts of events which are—
from a white point of view—utterly irrelevant. When a
Navaho family go to a meeting, they go for all day. Dis¬
cussion continues for many hours without a break, but in¬
dividuals walk in and out of the building or the outdoor
circle where the speakers are holding forth. The gathering
provides an occasion for the exchange of gossip, for trading,
and for negotiations between families over a projected mar¬
riage, as well as for the announced business. The present
practice of actually voting for candidates or on policy deci¬
sions is a white innovation and still makes most older and
middle-aged Navahos uncomfortable, since the Navaho
pattern was for discussion to be continued until unanimity
was reached, or at least until those in opposition felt it was
useless or impolitic to express further disagreement.
While meetings are interesting and of great importance
as providing an occasion for free voicing of sentiments and
for public thrashing out of disagreements, their significance
is considerably less than the decisions informally arrived
at between the heads of “outfits” and other leaders behind
the scenes. Indeed, informality is the keynote to the whole
system.
The contrast here with Pueblo Indians is instructive. Al¬
though Navahos and Pueblos have much in culture and in
situation which is very similar, Pueblo social organization
is mainly formal, whereas Navaho social organization is
mainly informal. This makes inevitable different ways of
attaining ends and different types of social change.
Other leaders, as well as headmen, exert their influence
in an informal way. Age and experience, ceremonial
knowledge, oratorical skill, wealth, and any combination of
these factors can bring prestige and influence which may
extend beyond the blood and affinal kin within an “out¬
fit.” To such leaders, quarrels between husband and wife,

120
 LIVING TOGETHER

between relatives, between extended families or different

“outfits” are brought for mediation. These leaders will be
called upon to give general advice and moral exhortation
to all assembled at a curing ceremonial or a wedding. At
the larger gatherings for a “squaw dance” or a Night Way
(Yeibichai) or Mountain Top Way Chant several leaders
may speak more formally, deploring the amount of drink¬
ing carried on by the young, condemning an outbreak of
petty thievery, exhorting cooperation with (or resistance
to) a government program of the moment.
An important part of the difficulty in describing the
Navaho patterns to outsiders is that The People have a set
of categories altogether different from that of white West¬
ern culture. The category “government,” something fixed
and powerful to white people, is foreign to Navaho think¬
ing. Authority, to their minds, extends only indefinitely and
transitorily beyond the established rules of behavior be¬
tween sex groups, age groups, and, especially, classes of
relatives. There are headmen, but the sphere of their in¬
fluence widens and narrows with the passage of time, the
emergence of a new leader, the rise of a new faction. The
prestige of some headmen often spreads beyond their own
local region. Through channels excessively informal they
can sometimes “swing” most of the population of a number
of local groups to a given course of action. By and large,
however, control of individual action rests in The People
as a group and not in any authoritative individual or body.
The whole mechanism of Navaho social control is too
fluid, too informal, too vague to be readily understood by
white people who think of authority in terms of courts,
police, and legislative assemblies. But Navaho social con¬
trols are extremely effective for those who remain within
their own group. Never to be lost sight of is the fact that
the basis of the system was and still is the family. To live
at all in this barren region the individual must have the
economic cooperation of others, and such cooperation is
hardly likely to come to those who deviate from the “right

121
i
 THE NAVAHO

way of doing things,” as The People see it. Thus the major
threat which restrains the potential offender is the with¬
drawal of the support and the good will of his neighbors,
most of whom are “family” to the Navaho. Gossip and
criticism were and are major means of social control
throughout Navaho society. These diffuse sanctions are less
effective today than in former times because, by taking up
wage work for whites, the offender can escape both the
need for economic cooperation by the group and the criti¬
cism which the group aims at deviants.
Still significant are a variety of diffuse and organized
sanctions involving the supernatural. Navaho ideology, in
effect, defines disease as a social sanction. If a man or a
woman gets ill, the question is asked: What has he or she
done which is socially disapproved? Likewise, those who
engage in certain forms of antisocial behavior are liable to
suspicion, accusation, and, in extreme cases, execution as
witches.

THE PEOPLE AS A TRIBE

At times in the last century there tended to be a major

headman for the northern, eastern, southern, and western
Navahos respectively—though such a simple schematiza-
tion is misleading. “Twelve peace chiefs” or “the twelve
peace chiefs and twelve war chiefs” are mentioned in old
descriptions of the Navahos, but it seems likely that these
are ideal patterns with a strong element of retrospective
falsification. Whether they ever existed or not, it has not
been established that there ever was a “Navaho Tribe” in
the sense of an organized, centralized “political” entity.
Just as there is no complete cultural or “racial” unity,
so also The People are only beginning to have what may
accurately be designated as a “tribal” or “national” con¬
sciousness. Previous to 1868, the largest unit of effective
social cooperation seems to have been a band of Indians
who occupied a defined territory and acknowledged the

122
 LIVING TOGETHER

leadership of a single headman. These local bands acted

without much reference to other such units. Interior
groups, for example, habitually raided Mexican settle¬
ments, knowing full well that they themselves were pro¬
tected by distance and inaccessibility and that bands whom
the troops could reach more easily would bear the brunt
of the reprisal. When The People were all treated as a unit
by the United States Government and were assigned a com¬
mon Reservation, this doubtless had the effect of promoting
tribal cohesiveness. This tendency was counteracted, how¬
ever, by the later division into six administrative districts,
which existed until 1933. Moreover, the original separatist
tendencies were reinforced by the establishment of trading
posts, missions, and schools in localities which often cor¬
responded to the centers of the earlier bands.
Whatever tribal feeling The People have today rests
upon the following factors: a common language; a com¬
mon designation for themselves as The People as distinct
from all others; a cultural heritage which is, in general,
the same; a territory with a certain topographical unity,
where the occupants are mostly Navahos and where many
mountains and other natural features are enshrined in a
common mythology; the fact that almost all The People
constitute a single governmental administrative unit with a
single elected council for the whole tribe. The system of
clans and linked clans also makes for unity, to the extent
that they have cross-regional representation and make le¬
gion the number of individuals whom any given Navaho
addresses as “my relative.” To some degree, all of these
factors point to a general tendency: The People are be¬
coming increasingly conscious of common background,
common problems, a common need to unite to protect
their interests against the encroachment of whites.*

* Considerable additional material, both factual and psycho¬

logical, on interpersonal relations is to be found in Leighton
and Kluckhohn, Children of The People (Cambridge: Harvard
University Press, 1947).

123
4. THE PEOPLE AND THE WORLD
AROUND THEM

For 300 years some Navahos have had some contacts with
white people, and their contacts with other Indian tribes
of course go back beyond the dawn of history. But in the
last century The People’s contacts with their neighbors
have been greatly intensified and have been far-reaching in
their results, and of this period the last twenty-five years
have perhaps had the greatest total effect upon The Peo¬
ple in terms of their relationships with the world around
them.
The relations of The People to non-Navahos in recent
times have been principally, of course, a matter of then-
relations with whites, for all The People have been directly
or indirectly affected by the white world, whereas many
Navahos have never seen even those other Navahos who
live on the opposite side of the Reservation from them¬
selves. In some of the more remote parts of the Reserva¬
tion, face-to-face contacts with whites are limited to a
few white persons, none of whom (except perhaps the
trader) is seen very often. But, even where actual penetra¬
tion of whites into the tribe is so limited, no Navaho is
immune today to the conflicts engendered by the dissemi¬
nation of white ideas through missionaries, traders, govern¬
ment employees, and other white persons. Furthermore,
during the war years at least 20,000 Navahos left the Res¬
ervation to join one of the armed services or to engage in
other work related to the highly increased labor market
during the war years. The very large majority of these

124
 THE PEOPLE AND THE WORLD

people has returned either to the Reservation or to its

borderland. In the years following the war, this process
of departure and return has continued. The reasons are
many and varied, and although the intensity is less than
during the war years, it nonetheless continues with great
regularity. This has accelerated the dissemination of white
ideas almost beyond belief.

OTHER INDIANS

The relationships of Navahos with other Indians are con¬

ditioned by geography. The People of the Navaho Moun¬
tain region trade and intermarry with a small remnant
band of Piutes. Navahos of the Shiprock region have all
seen Utes, and a number of them have attended Ute cere¬
monials. Navahos of the southwestern part of the Navaho
country see Havasupai and Walapai Indians, if only at the
white-sponsored Fourth of July celebrations in Flagstaff,
and many have had some dealings with White Mountain
or San Carlos Apaches. Those on the extreme east meet
the Jicarilla Apaches, those of the southeast meet the Mes-
calero and Chiricahua Apaches occasionally. Contacts
with the various Apache groups tend to be more intimate
than those with other Indians (except possibly the Pueblos)
because of the similarities in language and the sense of a
common ancestry and background. Certain Navaho and
certain Apache families have a “guest-friend” relationship.
That is, they visit back and forth every year or so, ex¬
changing hospitality and gifts. This same pattern prevails
between many Navaho and Pueblo families. Almost all
Navahos except those in the northwest Navaho country
have had fairly frequent dealings with Pueblo Indians—
Hopi, Zuni, Jemez, or Laguna-Acoma—depending upon
where the Navaho family lives.
With all these Indian groups there are more or less sys¬
tematic exchanges of goods. The Navahos trade rugs and
silver to the Utes for the baskets used in the Navaho cere-

125
 THE NAVAHO

monies like that of marriage. They get beef from Apaches,

com and fruit from the Hopi, gourds, reeds, and other
things used ceremonially from Rio Grande Pueblo Indians.
Certain items of ceremonial equipment are regularly ob¬
tained from as far off as Taos. Enterprising Laguna and
Hopi Indians peddle peaches, melons, and other fruit in
trucks over wide stretches of the Navaho country in late
summer and autumn.
In recent years, the Gallup Inter-Tribal Indian Cere¬
monial has become a magnet to Navahos from all parts of
the Reservation—but in like manner, it has attracted num¬
bers of all of these other neighboring groups, and indeed,
has even brought members of tribes from as far away as
Florida, North Carolina, and the Plains states. The annual
Ceremonial, which occurs in midsummer has for the In¬
dian a twofold purpose. It provides a major outlet for the
display and sale of craft and art work from all participating
Indian groups. The range of materials brought to the Cere¬
monial is wide indeed: one may find many of the best ex¬
amples of the traditional weaving, silverwork, pottery and
basketry. Other fine examples, however, are not traditional,
but designed with the needs and desires of the outside
world in mind, A traditional silver conch belt is exhibited
only a few steps from a table service for twelve; a sand
painting may be equally close to a watercolor or oil paint¬
ing. In spite of the variety in type, quality of the works
brought to the Ceremonial is consistently high. Ceremonial
prizes are an added incentive for preserving traditional
crafts and maintaining high standards of workmanship.
The social activities conducted during the Gallup Cere¬
monial are probably the greater attraction. Far more In¬
dians come for this reason than come to display and sell
their wares. Indeed, it may be said that for many of The
People, the Ceremonial is the highest social event in the
year. At various times during the day, traditional dances
are performed before a large public audience. For many,
however, the contacts made dining “non-working” hours

126
 THE PEOPLE AND THE WORLD

are far more important. Navaho squaw dances are held

throughout most of the day and night, and are quite freely
attended by Indians of all the other groups, and not infre¬
quently by whites. Most other Indian groups hold similar
gatherings at some point during the festivities. In its en¬
tirety, the Gallup Inter-Tribal Indian Ceremonial offers
The People the widest range of face-to-face contact with
both Indian and white peoples.
At the local level also, there is a good deal of mutual
interest in each other’s ceremonies and attendance back
and forth, though Pueblo Indians (especially those of the
Rio Grande valley) exclude The People from certain rites.
Some Pueblos have dances that are called “Navaho” or in
which Navahos are impersonated; others have borrowed
Navaho songs; sometimes Pueblo clowns mimic or bur¬
lesque Navahos at public out-of-door ceremonials. Con¬
versely, there is no doubt that, in both ancient and recent
times, Navahos have borrowed myths and rituals from
Pueblo Indians.
In all contacts—ceremonial, social, and economic—ex¬
changes of ideas and information occur. In past years this
has also taken place in off-Reservation boarding schools
where some of the students have come from Indian tribes
whose territory is distant from the land of The People.
Recently this has also occurred in some mixed day schools,
and occasionally in colleges. Thus many young Navahos
have had personal contact with the thoughts and ways of
Indian groups that older Navahos seldom or never knew.
More adequate generalizations about the relationships of
Navahos with their Indian neighbors would entail lengthy
and complicated discussion, but the most interesting fact
for our purposes would seem to be the growth during re¬
cent years of some sense of solidarity with all other Indians,
in spite of historical particularism and animosities. A few
words should, however, be said about the more clear-cut
stereotypes. In many contexts the Navahos classify all
Pueblo Indians by a single word which means “town-

127
 THE NAVAHO

dwellers.” The feeling-tone is an intricate mixture of the

old contempt (for Pueblos as poor fighters and as a trifle
effete generally) and fearful respect (for Pueblos as skillful
magicians and as sophisticates in rational techniques), to¬
gether with “realistic” hostility in those cases (Hopi, Zuni,
etc.) where there are disputes over land rights.1 The
Pueblos return the contempt with interest, looking down
on Navahos as ignorant, barbaric, and untrustworthy. The
Navaho attitude toward the Apaches is sometimes patron¬
izing—the Navahos seem to feel that the Apache way of
life is ruder than theirs—but there is also a strong note of
respect based upon the war prowess of the Apaches and
their general toughness. Piutes, Utes, Havasupais, and
Walapais are usually spoken of (and sometimes treated)
with a slight superciliousness tinged with mockery.

DIVISIONS AMONG WHITES AS SEEN BY

THE PEOPLE

Over and above the distinctions made among whites on

the basis of their occupational roles as traders, missionaries,
Indian Service employees, and the like, the Navahos tend
to have a picture of groupings in white society which dif¬
fers from the one that would usually be given by the white
resident. “
Navahos almost invariably make the distinction between
“Americans” and “Mexicans” (Spanish Americans), most
of whom are the descendants of Spanish colonials whose
settlement of New Mexico long antedated the founding of
the present Mexican nation. The differentiation has a his¬
torical foundation but also reflects present-day variations
in behavior. The relationships between Indians and Spanish
Americans in towns like Gallup, Grants, and Flagstaff show
many instructive nuances. On the one hand, there are many
subtle recognitions of the fact that both are “depressed
groups.” A common front is implied in frequently reiterated
verbalizations, and is expressed in action as well. For ex-

128
 THE PEOPLE AND THE WORLD

ample, Spanish Americans will not only sell Indians liquor

for profit but also obtain it for them as a favor. They will
shelter drunken Indians and otherwise protect them against
the law of the “Anglos” as non-Spanish-speaking whites
are called in the Southwest. A “Mexican” who thinks he
has been “witched” will sometimes go to a Navaho “medi¬
cine man” to be “treated.” It is most exceptional for In¬
dians to receive hospitality in white homes in the towns,
but many Indian and Spanish-American families in rural
areas maintain a connection of reciprocal guest-friendship.
On the other hand, gangs of adolescent or young adult
Spanish Americans often waylay, beat up, and rob Indians
(especially intoxicated ones) by night, as they would not
dare to treat Anglo-Americans. Bitter and bloody knife
fights between small groups of Indians and Spanish Ameri¬
cans are common—but not between either group and
Anglos.
While in many contexts Navahos lump all Anglos to¬
gether, they frequently refer to Mormons, and occasionally
(fairly consistently in some regions) to Texans, by separate
words. The complete story behind these practices would
be interesting but long. One comment, however, should
be added. During the past forty years, more and more
trading stores on and near the Reservation have come into
the hands of Mormons. This trend is partly a function of
geography, of intra-Mormon solidarity, and of economic
practices characteristic of Mormons. But other evidence
could be adduced to show that in the early days Mormons
got along a little better with Indians than did most pioneers
who entered the region. The writers are inclined to connect
this fact with Mormon teachings that Indians are descend¬
ants of the lost tribes of Israel. Hence, Mormons tended to
show more respect for and interest in Indian customs; more
than other whites perhaps, they gave Indians a sense of
being a part (and a worthy part) of the world as a whole.
Today the picture is not so clear; nevertheless, Navahos

129
 THE NAVAHO

continue to apply a different word to Mormons from that

used for other Anglos.
We see, then, how a thoughtful Navaho who was asked
about the relations of the various groups of people in his
country would not differentiate them merely as “Indian”
and “white.” Each of these groups would be clearly sub¬
divided in his mind and his attitudes toward them would
be quite distinct. Unfortunately many white people do not
grasp this fact. It is not a priori inference but mere re¬
porting of firsthand observation to declare that the intelli¬
gent white administrator who visits the area fleetingly sees
the problem solely in terms of the Indian non-Indian
dichotomy or, at best, in terms of whites and different In¬
dian tribes. Most resident administrators (whose under¬
standing of other aspects of the situation is often far from
superficial) grasp only the latent or active hostilities be¬
tween various Indian tribes and the fact that these tribes
differentiate, somehow, between Anglos and Spanish Amer¬
icans. The strong feeling attached to the various terms
used by The People in their own language colors their
reactions to the white individuals who play various occu¬
pational roles in the Navaho country.

TRADERS TO THE PEOPLE

As noted in Chapter 2, the place of traders in the Navaho

economy is a highly important one, but perhaps even more
significant is their role as white individuals who have
spread white ideas and practices among The People. Dur¬
ing decades when most Navahos saw government em¬
ployees only rarely and felt the government chiefly as a
remote limiting agency, they had weekly or even daily
contacts with the nearest trader. He and his family con¬
stituted, for all practical purposes, the white world.
Today, when most parts of the Reservation are not so
completely isolated from the larger white world, traders are
still thought of as important exemplars of white ways of

130
 THE PEOPLE AND THE WORLD

doing things. Storekeepers perform a variety of social serv¬

ices for The People: the trader’s wife often dispenses sim¬
ple medicines and gives first aid; the trader sometimes
buries Navaho dead, mediates in quarrels, assists in settling
estates, and translates and writes letters. This latter service
became doubly important during the war years. In many
ways the trader acts as a buffer against white society: he
may help a Navaho get an automobile license or intercede
with the police in his behalf. Navahos seek the opinions of
trusted traders on governmental policies and programs and
have acquired from them much useful information on ani¬
mal husbandry, agriculture, and weaving.
It is hard to make fair generalizations about the charac¬
ter of the traders. Some of the finest men and women the
writers have ever known have been traders to The People.
There have also been a few who have mercilessly and
shamelessly exploited the Indians’ ignorance of markets
and of simple arithmetic. The old situation is rapidly al¬
tering with the great increase in the number of stores,
with more frequent opportunities for Navahos to trade in
the towns, and with the increase of their school knowledge.
But traders are still significant in helping the Navahos
market their goods, in encouraging native handicrafts, and
in otherwise promoting the economic development of the
tribe.
As always in the field of relations with whites, there is a
great deal of pure misunderstanding. In past times, because
The People objected to any charige in the prices of such
staples as coffee, flour, and sugar, some traders instituted
the practice of selling these items at a constant figure,
which was sometimes below cost; naturally they compen¬
sated by markups on other articles. These devices were not
necessarily dishonest, but those who have left the Reserva¬
tion and returned noticed the discrepancy. In a general
atmosphere of suspicion, they interpreted these practices
as further evidence of the victimizing of Indians by whites.
On the other hand, the advent of several Navaho com-

131
 THE NAVAHO

munity-ownecf stores has been felt by many white traders

as a threat.

THE WORD OF AN ALIEN GOD

The Franciscan Fathers and the Christian Reformed,

Presbyterian, Episcopal, Methodist, Baptist, and Latter
Day Saints (Mormon) churches carry on missionary activi¬
ties in the Navaho country. There are also a number of
non-denominational Christian groups working among The
People. Each group has one or more mission stations on the
Reservation which serve as centers for religious activities,
and staff members visit government schools to give reli¬
gious instruction to pupils whose parents request or ac¬
cept it. By 1942 for example, there were at least 300
workers among the Navaho; by 1945 the number of mis¬
sionaries increased considerably, due in large part to the
cessation of missionary activities in various war areas.
Many of the missionaries represent aggressively “funda¬
mentalist” denominations. Today many of these workers
are Navahos. Although in the past they served almost ex¬
clusively as interpreters or in other subordinate capacities,
Navaho preachers have recendy been conducting Sunday
services in Navaho built churches.
In addition to teaching and preaching the Christian re¬
ligion, the missionaries operate schools and hospitals and
offer various other social services. Their curriculum re¬
sembles diat of the traditional public school of the area
rather than the work in the government schools, where the
objectives are to prepare children for life on the Reserva¬
tion as well as in white society. Mission vocational work is
mostly the traditional shopwork, homemaking, and typing
taught in white schools. All of the mission schools place
great emphasis on learning English, and some of them
have had marked success, though this has been accom¬
plished in certain instances at the price of forbidding chil¬
dren to speak their native tongue in or out of the classroom.

132
\
 THE PEOPLE AND THE WORLD

Both on and off the Reservation, hospitals, clinics, and

other medical facilities are provided for the Navahos by
the missions. In connection with the hospital at Ganado,
for instance, there is a school of nursing whose special ob¬
jective is to train Indian nurses of various tribes.
Missionaries offer other social services, such as reading
and writing letters and giving advice on business and legal
matters. They also distribute clothing and other forms of
assistance.
It is difficult indeed to evaluate the influence of these
religious groups in the past and at present. The number
of nominal Christians among the Navahos is fairly large
in some localities, but most of them continue their adher¬
ence to native beliefs and practices. Perhaps one factor to
account for this is the sheer number of missionaries, and
the divergent tenets of their religions. Of those who prac¬
tice the Christian religion exclusively, it is merely factual
to point out that a higher proportion are directly or in¬
directly dependent on the missions for their livelihood.
The smallness of the number of practicing converts is
not too difficult to account for. Christianity speaks of far-
off lands and places which the Navahos cannot visualize;
their own stories tell of the four sacred mountains, at least
one of which is visible almost everywhere in the Navaho
country. The Bible speaks only of a male God and of a
society where authority and responsibility centers chiefly
in men. Navahos miss Changing Woman, perhaps the prin¬
cipal Navaho divinity, and the whole feeling for the posi¬
tion of women embodied alike in their own social organiza¬
tion and religious lore. The picture of a god who is entirely
good is hard for The People to understand, for their whole
outlook insists that all beings have an evil as well as a good
side.
Navahos do make wide use of the social services pro¬
vided by the missionaries, and the advice of some of them
is frequently sought. Some of the medical facilities are
good, and Navahos utilize them freely.

133
 THE NAVAHO

The difficulties that have arisen from missionary activi¬

ties appear to have stemmed largely from their efforts to
suppress native custom or to urge strenuously the substitu¬
tion of white customs, oftentimes in spheres which seem to
the Navahos outside the province of the missionaries. This
policy has engendered resistance among The People, and
even ridicule. The comment of one young mission-school
graduate is representative.

That missionary came here today and tried to make

my husband buy a marriage license, but my husband
said he didn’t have a dollar. He has been trying to get
my brother to buy a license for a year. The other mis¬
sionary tried for two years and got tired of it. His wife
said, “We’re married all right. We don’t need any paper.
You tell him you don’t know, you’ll have to ask your
wife—then he won’t talk so long to you.”

Certain Protestant schools, in particular, have consist¬

ently followed a policy of exterminating the native culture.
Students who want to attend Navaho ceremonials are for¬
bidden to do so, and thus are caught between the expecta¬
tions of their parents and the demands of the missionaries.
This sort of activity results in the confusion of those young
Navahos who belong to both worlds—white and Indian.
Much of this policy comes from the failure of many
missionaries to understand the native point of view and
their apparent lack of interest in doing so. For example, a
young Navaho woman was asked in 1933 what she re¬
membered about her school experience. Her account,
which is given below, refers to the period between 1918
and 1926, but its high points can be paralleled from ac¬
counts by recent students in mission schools, though physi¬
cal punishment seems to be rare today.

My sister got sick and they brought her home. I

wanted to take her place so bad that they let me, so
my father and mother took me to the Mission School

134
 THE PEOPLE AND THE WORLD

and the matron wanted to take our pictures, but I didn’t

want to and I ran away but the matron caught me and
dragged me back by my blanket. I put my blanket over
my bead and that is the way they took my picture. The
matron wanted to give me a bath but I cried so hard
my mother bad to come. They took me into the bath¬
room and the matron tried to take my clothes off but
I didn’t want her to and I screamed so hard my mother
spanked me and that made me cry harder. Then they
put me into the tub and I jumped out and tried to nm
away but they caught me and my mother told me to
shut up. I stayed at — through the eighth grade . . .
[Do you remember sometimes when you were scared,
or had a good time?] Once, I ran away. The teacher
wanted us to sing songs and some of us didn’t sing. She
said if we didn’t sing we would have to stand up and
sing alone. She made some of the boys do this, but I
wouldn’t. The song was “My Country ’Tis of Thee.” She
took me into her room and strapped me. Then she looked
at me, she wanted me to cry but I wouldn’t. She said,
“Have you had enough?” I didn’t say anything so she
strapped me again. [Did you sing?] Yes, I sang a little
bit. She said, “If you haven’t had enough I’ll send you
to Mr. X. He is the head missionary and he has a long
heavy strap.” Then I ran away but my family sent me
back again. [Were some of the teachers nice?] Yes,
some were, but that lady was always that way . . .
Then once in the sixth grade, we had a man who
brought the food to the dining room. He was always
strapping the boys and when we worked in the kitchen
the cooks always strapped us. Once I was hit very hard
and my nose bled because I peeled the potatoes too
thick. But when this man came around he strapped a
boy and the boy jumped up. He was going to fight.
[Was the man an Indian?] No, he was a white man.
[Was he a missionary?] No, he was just a Christian. He
knocked that boy down and he sat on his stomach and

135
 THE NAVAHO

then he kept hitting him in the face and one of the cooks
ran in and she was crying but she couldn’t stop the man.
That boy’s face was all red and swollen, and his sister
swore at that man and he came over to our table and
said to me, “Did you say that?” I said I didn’t say any¬
thing but he made me come in the kitchen and he took
some thin pieces of wood from a box and he hit my
hands until he broke the wood but I wouldn’t cry, so he
got a piece of pinyon from the woodbox. It was that kind
they use in the stove. He kept on beating my hands.
They got cut and swollen and I couldn’t close them.
That night he took me over to his room where he lived.
He said, “Why did you say those things?” but we said,
“We didn’t, we told you so.” We got after him and he
said, “Well, I want you to be good girls. I am leaving
here.” I think of that man lots of times. I hate him*.
Sometimes I see him even now and get so mad I want
to get even with him.
[But you were there eight years and you only got
punished twice.] Oh, no, lots of times we had to hold
out our hands so they could hit it with a ruler. Generally
they did this twelve times. Then we got demerits. Most
of us got them for talking Navaho. We were not allowed
to talk Navaho. When I got a few they made me eat
standing up. Sometimes they made us stand on a stool
while everyone ate supper. [Did everyone laugh at
you?] Yes, that’s what they did. And after supper when
we could sometimes play they made us stand in a comer.
But if you had more demerits the worst thing was on
Sunday afternoon they made us stand in the sun all
afternoon out by those posts. [You mean for half an
hour?] No, from one o’clock to five.

It should be stated here that this sort of senseless brutal¬

ity to Indian children was not peculiar to the mission
schools, for similar treatment of children in government
boarding schools for Indians at that period is a matter of

136
 THE PEOPLE AND THE WORLD

record. It may be suspected that in the mission schools (at

least in the past) it arose in part out of the frustrations
experienced by missionaries and their assistants. Most of
them were unquestionably sincere people. They worked
hard at their self-imposed task7"but—with reason—they de¬
spaired of attaining their objectives. For six or eight or
more years before the children came to the missionaries,
they had heard the myths and seen and participated in the
small rites of daily life. They had been patients in the cur¬
ing chants. They had gone with their families to all-night
public exhibitions, where dancers, masked to imitate the
Navaho divinities, sang, danced, and shouted in the light
of large fires. This imagery and the excitements and fears
accompanying it were stored away in the unconscious long
before the youngsters could reason or objectify what they
saw. All this conditioned them fundamentally, so that sub¬
sequent Christian imagery could not supplant or alter it.
Anything which affected them from white culture in later
years was a veneer which readily cracked when they had
occasion to reexperience their own tribal religious emotions.
The very woman whose story appears above, after eight
years at a missionary school where every possible effort was
expended to erase the influence of her culture, and after she
herself thought she was a Christian, went through the Nav¬
aho initiation ceremony at her very first opportunity. She
was already twenty-one years old at this time, but white
influence dating back thirteen years had not quieted the
emotional values of her tribal imagery. This is how she de¬
scribed her initiation a few years later:

They say you must do this four times and if you don’t
your eyes will be bad when you are old because you
have looked at the Yeibichai’s masks. I was so scared
when the men came. [You mean when they yelled at
you?] Yes, I thought my heart would stop and I was
shaking all over.

137
 THE NAVAHO

Another woman of about the same age who is a graduate

of the same school was also a “backslider.” She said:

I went to the Mission School when I was a little over

five and I went away when I was fourteen. Later I was
married. I was a Christian. I told everyone they had
better be Christians or they would be lost when they
died. When I think how I talked to my people I am
ashamed. My father said I had better stop that talk, why
did I want to go with white people after I died and
leave my people? Then my baby about two years old
got sick. I took her to the hospital at that Mission and
they couldn’t make her well. She got worse so I brought
her home and they had a four-night sing. In two days
she was well. Then my sister died when she was having
a child and a couple of days later I was walking to a
hogan in the moonlight and I saw her. She was on horse¬
back and she rode right by me. She was just two yards
away. I was so scared I didn’t know anything . . . After
that I don’t believe all that stuff the Christians talk
about. They say after you die you go to heaven or you
go down and get punished. I don’t believe that. I believe
after we die we five right here. We go around just the
same. Some Navahos believe we go back to the world
we came from.

Apart from the results of their medical and social service

aids to the Navaho and certain aspects of mission school¬
ing, the influence of the missionaries would seem to be
restricted to rather small clique groups. The effectiveness
of their purely religious activity has been limited in part
by the fact that so few of them have had any command
of the language of The People. There are some exceptions
to this generalization. Some of the Franciscan Fathers, for
example, have learned the language, lived long among the
Navahos, and won their confidence. In general, it can be
said that the effect of any given missionary is chiefly de¬
pendent upon his personal qualities. On the whole, how-

138
 THE PEOPLE AND THE WORLD

ever, the attitude today of most missionary groups is more

tolerant and understanding than was the case thirty and
more years ago.

THE PEOPLE AND THE GOVERNMENT:

THE NAVAJO AGENCY

Most of the contacts of The People with the government

for the past three generations have been with the Bureau
of Indian Affairs in the Department of the Interior, referred
to subsequently as the Indian Service, through its local
agency, now called the Navajo Agency. Prior to 1934
there were six separate agencies for the Navahos. The
Navajo Agency, which is responsible for the economic and
social welfare and the health of seventy-five thousand
Reservation Navahos, performs functions which are proba¬
bly more varied, multiform, and complex than those of
any other governmental unit in the country. They include
services rendered in white communities by local, county,
state, and federal agencies in the fields of natural resources,
engineering, administration, and community services such
as health, education, social service, and law and order. Thus
the Navajo Agency carries on many of the activities of
county supervisors and farm agents,2 boards of education,
departments of public welfare, public health departments,
and the general administrative machinery of city govern¬
ments. In addition it has functions which elsewhere are
commonly performed by insurance companies, banks, and
other private agencies. All of these tasks must be carried
out in the face of linguistic difficulties and old and deep-
seated antagonisms and misunderstandings, in a vast area
where travel and communication are uncertain at best. It
is small wonder that such duties require for even curtailed
services an immense staff (nearly 1,200 persons in 1945),
many of them technicians. The prewar annual budget ran
to almost $3,000,000, but was cut during the war years
to $1,800,000 (1944). Since the war, the budgetary ap-

139
 THE NAVAHO

propriation of the Federal Government to the Navahos has

increased somewhat—in 1957, $4,604,545. But, during this
period, and especially in the last decade, the income of the
Navajo Tribe derived from natural resources has greatly
increased—$50,000 in 1940 as compared with almost $30,-
000,000 in 1958. With these increased funds, The People,
through the Tribal Council, have undertaken many serv¬
ices formerly provided by the Federal Government.

THE ADMINISTRATIVE SETUP

In 1934 the six independent Navajo agencies were unified

and centralized into the Navajo Agency with headquarters
at Window Rock. The Resources Branch of the Agency has
divisions responsible for land use and management, soil
conservation, farm extension work, livestock management,
grazing, and forestry. The Engineering Branch directs ir¬
rigation, construction, roads, and communications activi¬
ties. Community Services includes all work in health, edu¬
cation, and social service. In the Administrative Branch
are centered the fiscal, personnel, and other “housekeep¬
ing” functions of the Agency. Traders relations and the
maintenance of law and order are functions of two other
sections of the Agency. The work of the Resources and the
Engineering Branches, traders relations, and the furnishing
of relief have been indicated in Chapter 2. Other com¬
munity services and the maintenance of law and order
will be discussed in following sections of the present
chapter.
All the work of the Navajo Agency is carried on under
the direction of the general superintendent at Window
Rock. For purposes of local administration, the Reservation
and nearby areas are now divided into nine districts, which
range in size fiom 185,000 to 1,750,000 acres and in popu¬
lation from about 1,800 to 8,500. Each district is in the
charge of a district supervisor, who is responsible for car¬
rying out in his district all programs of the Agency except

140
 THE PEOPLE AND THE WORLD

education, health, and construction. His duties therefore

include administrative relations with Navahos in the work
programs of farm, range, and livestock, the maintenance of
law and order, distribution of relief, and selective service.
One of his principal responsibilities is increasing Indian
participation in the programs of the Navajo Agency. The
job of the district supervisor calls for almost superhuman
ability if it is to be carried out with real success, but some
district supervisors have excellent relations with the Nav¬
ahos and real understanding of them and their problems.

EDUCATION FOR NAVAHOS

It is not certain when the first schools for Navaho children

were established. The first recorded institution, a day
school, dates from about 1870, but there may have been
earlier establishments. The first boarding school was built
at Fort Defiance in 1883.
The guiding principle of early Indian education was that
the children must be fitted to enter white society when
they left school, and hence it was thought wise to remove
them from home influences and often to take them as far
away as California or even Pennsylvania in order to “civi¬
lize” them faster. The policy was really to go behind the
existing social organization in order to dissolve it. No effort
was made to prepare them for dealing effectively with
Reservation conditions. Yet more than g5 per cent of the
Navaho children went home, rather than to white com¬
munities, after leaving school, only to find themselves
handicapped for taking part in Navaho life because they
did not know the techniques and customs of their own
people. Moreover, many of the government boarding
schools did not differ greatly from the mission school
previously described. The children were forbidden to speak
their own languages, and military discipline prevailed.
Pupils thus spent their childhood years under a mercilessly
rigid system which could not offer the psychological ad-

141
Council meeting in a schoolhouse
,arly morning at a ceremonial
 THE NAVAHO

vantages of family life in even the poorest Indian home.

Small wonder that many students of that era are today
bitter critics of the government.
Eight of the old boarding schools still exist on or near
the Reservation, and most of these have been expanded
or rebuilt. The plants consist of boys’ and girls’ dormitories,
dining hall, classroom building, farm and shop buildings,
and teachers’ and other employees’ quarters. None of these
plants could be called modem and few major improvements
have been made since 1912. Since about 1933 the curricu¬
lum and philosophy employed have differed radically
from the earlier program. The present attempt is to pro¬
vide the pupil with the necessary educational tools to en¬
able him to take his place in either the white or the Nav-
aho world. Only three of the boarding schools maintain a
high-school department at present, and there are approxi¬
mately eight hundred high-school pupils. The other board¬
ing schools carry instruction through the sixth grade. How¬
ever, the whole picture of Navaho education is at present
undergoing rapid expansion; for example, during the years
1951-1958, the Federal Government appropriated over
$32,000,000 for Navaho school construction.
In addition to the boarding schools, community day
schools were built at nearly fifty locations, in order to bring
schooling to the Navahos instead of taking Navahos away
to the school. It was felt that the children’s adjustment
would be easier if they had been in touch with home life
throughout their elementary education. Moreover, it was
desired to give unschooled adults a chance to have some
contacts with the program.
Most of these day schools were (and some still are)
two- or three-room buildings, although a few are much
larger. Some are hogan-shaped structures, and others are
more in the Spanish architectural tradition, usually built of
locally quarried rock. The plant includes a kitchen and
dining room where the children get their noon meals, and
shower rooms which are available to adults as well as to

142
 THE PEOPLE AND THE WORLD

the children. Most schools also have sewing and laundry

facilities and some shop or blacksmith equipment. In the
last decade, trailers have been utilized as additional day
schools at the elementary level.
Originally it was planned to have the children brought
from their homes daily by bus, but bad weather, poor
roads, shifting of family residences, morning darkness dur¬
ing the winter months, and other factors have made this
plan nearly impracticable. Hence, wherever possible, sim¬
ple dormitories have been put up near the school, so that
children can sleep there during the week and return to
their families over the weekend.
Some schools might be even smaller and simpler than
the present style and be located within walking distance
of the pupils’ homes, where there are enough children
within walking distance and where water, roads, and other
such facilities can be provided economically. Such schools
would be sponsored by local leadership and intimately re¬
lated to the structure of nearby “outfits.” This plan was
tried experimentally before the present program was in¬
augurated; but before a year had passed, white mission¬
aries, traders, and government employees had persuaded
the Navahos that they were being offered inferior educa¬
tion and should demand better, which they did. (One evi¬
dence of the alleged inferiority was the fact that the desks
were freely movable instead of being screwed down to the
floor!) It must be admitted that the difficulties of super¬
vising hundreds of little schools would be very great.
In 1958, the following schools were in operation: 49
boarding schools, 37 trailer day schools, 17 off-Reservation
boarding schools, and approximately 25 mission schools.
The total school enrollment (all grades) has increased
from 6,375 h1 *939 t0 28,055 in 1958. Estimated addi¬
tional facilities for the period 1958-1963 are for an addi¬
tional 1,200 elementary students, 500 additional junior
high, and 600 high-school students. Higher education is
also advancing, and the majority of funds for this have

143
 THE NAVAHO

been provided by The People themselves, through the

Tribal Councils Scholarship Committee. In the academic
year 1957-1958, almost 300 young Navahos were attend¬
ing colleges, universities, and nurses’ training schools, most
of them within the Southwest, but some as far afield as
New York City.
The present program is designed along “progressive”
lines rather than in the more traditional pattern. Teachers
are provided with materials and information about Navaho
life-ways, which they are expected to use in teaching the
children to speak English and to read, write, and number.
At the same time the children learn about soil erosion,
what to do in a trading post, how to improve their health,
etc. The specific studies or “projects” are not the same
year after year but vary with the assortment of pupils and
the interests they show. Some of the boarding schools have
programs a little more traditional in tone than that of the
day schools. On the other hand, there are considerable
efforts to inculcate many white values. Indeed the observer
familiar with a variety of cultures may suspect that there
is so much in the curriculum (e.g., strong emphasis on
routines and time-mindedness, a perhaps exaggerated pre¬
occupation with vitamins, nutrition, daily bowel move¬
ments, and the like) that later historians will judge even
these progressive educators to have been pretty thoroughly
imbued with the fashionable mythologies of white society
in the mid-twentieth century.
It can easily be seen that guiding such a program is
much more difficult than taking pupils through one text¬
book after another. It requires real ingenuity and resource¬
fulness on the part of the teacher, particularly since she
may have students of widely differing ages and school ex¬
perience in the same group. Thus one of the problems of
Navaho education lies in the securing of adequate per¬
sonnel. The solitude of the day-school teachers adds to the
difficulties of recruitment. Although fairly satisfactory liv¬
ing quarters are provided in or near the day-school build-

144
 THE PEOPLE AND THE WORLD

ing, most of the schools are so far away from towns and
white communities that the trader and his family may be
the only other white persons within miles. In past years,
this disadvantage was not compensated for by high salaries.
As of 1944, 90 per cent of the teachers received $1,620
per year; only 10 per cent received $1,800 or $2,000. Re¬
cently, however, salaries have increased to a point where
they are competitive with those offered in most white areas.
For example, a position open in i960 at the Shiprock
school included a salary of over $4,000 and rent-free ac¬
commodations.
Up to 1933, most of the Navahos employed in the
school system were custodial or other unskilled workers.
Since that time, more and more native teachers have been
utilized. Even twenty years ago, for example, five of the
day schools had entirely Navaho staffs. Other schools had
Navaho teachers of weaving and silver work, matrons,
boys’ and girls’ advisers, and housekeepers. It is hoped that
many of the Navaho men and women who return from
experiences off the Reservation will help to increase educa¬
tion of Navahos by Navahos. But salaries of workers with¬
out college training are still often ridiculously low.
If teachers were Navahos from the community it would
eliminate the shifting around of teachers which is one of
the evils of the present system. The use of Navaho teachers
would also solve the problem of cultural isolation to which
so many of the white teachers object. The very fact that
most of the returnees are not college graduates is an ad¬
vantage in many respects. The Navaho who has gone
through college has almost inevitably broken the most inti¬
mate ties with his own people. But the returnees will have
had national and international experience which may make
them more useful as teachers of the Navaho than would
any amount of college training.
The principal conscious educational goal expressed by
Navahos today seems to be the ability to use English.
They realize that without it they are at a disadvantage.

145
 THE NAVAHO

and they have discovered the usefulness of communications

and records in writing. At the same time, English is so
different from their own language that it is very difficult
for Navahos to learn. (See Chapter 8.) Selective Service
records, during World War II, classified 88 per cent out of
a total of 4,000 male Navahos between the ages of 18 and
35 as illiterate. English remains a problem, but, with 93
per cent of the children between the ages of 6 and 18 at¬
tending schools, this is becoming less so. The children work
hard at it and are much more likely to practice it among
themselves—on the playground, for example—than are
Pueblo pupils.
One promising project in the language field was the at¬
tempt by the Navajo Agency to teach reading and writing
in Navaho to both children and adults. A number of read¬
ers on Navaho subjects, with texts in both Navaho and
English, were prepared for use in the schools, together
with a dictionary-grammar and a number of translations
of literary, scientific, and historical works. A monthly news¬
paper published in Navaho had a paid subscription list of
over 100 at the time during the war years when it had to
be discontinued. It has since been reinstated. If this teach¬
ing were carried over into the entire school system, or
even only into the early grades, the results might prove well
worth the effort. Children might learn English much more
rapidly if they were first literate in their own language.
Children coming to school for the first time should be able
to learn more quickly in all subjects if they were taught in
their native tongue instead of having to acquire all infor¬
mation through an alien language. The greatest single
problem faced by the government has been that of com¬
munication. And in considerable part this boils down to
the problem of communicating with a people who as yet
are not wholly literate.
The figures shown in Table n indicate the general trend
of Navaho enrollment in the various types of schools.
In addition to teaching the children of The People, Nav-
 05 t© o vo 00 ’3" O K H
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 THE NAVAHO

ajo Agency schools—particularly the day schools—have an

important function as community centers where various
types of visual education for adults as well as children are
carried out. As noted above, the day schools also have
shower rooms which are available to all the people of the
community; this is indeed a service to inhabitants of a
region where water is so hard to come by. Navaho women
use the sewing and laundry facilities in most schools to
make, repair, and wash clothing and bedding, and men
can repair implements and make other use of the shops
and blacksmith equipment. The adult literacy classes in
Navaho were formerly held here, and there are or have
been projects for making mattresses, learning agricultural
methods, and the like. The schools also furnish a place
where doctors, extension agents, and other specialists of
the Agency can meet with The People. Although the po¬
tentialities of the schools have by no means been fully
realized, they offer a great opportunity for reaching the
whole Navaho tribe.
The People have had varied and mingled reactions to
the present school program on the Reservation. In the past,
some children objected to going to school, and parents have
respected their wishes. Many parents have opposed any
schooling because it takes away the young herders and
the other helpers they need in tire business of wringing a
living from the barren soil. Others have feared that in the
present as in the past their children *would be unfitted for
Navaho life or that girls might be led astray. Mainly,
however, objection has been to the type of schooling. Those
adult Navahos who have been in the old boarding schools
and others who know something of the different methods
of mission and public schools in the region have felt (and
some still feel) that they had a second-rate brand of edu¬
cation foisted upon them. They interpreted the progressive
method as useless play and demanded that their children
be made to work harder and be disciplined as they them¬
selves were disciplined or see their neighbors’ children dis-

148
 THE PEOPLE AND THE WORLD

ciplined in other schools. The project to teach reading and

writing of the Navaho language was held by some Indians
to be an attempt to hold back the wheels of progress.
The day schools once were the prime target of the re¬
sentment Navahos felt for all sorts of government pro¬
grams. They expressed their disapproval toward other gov¬
ernment activities by withdrawing their children from
school. Until recently, when a crisis arrived in the sheep
reduction program, or in relief, or in any other sphere, the
attendance at the day schools dropped either locally or
generally. Such withdrawal served an important function
as a safety valve for the large number of not openly aggres¬
sive Navahos who had no other ready means of protest
against the white administration.
At present, 1961, however, one hears little criticism from
Navahos of the program in the government schools. More
children than can be accommodated wish to enter. The
tribe has sent a delegation to Washington to ask Congress
and the Bureau of the Budget for adequate funds to repair
buildings and pay salaries. Many Navaho parents are
clamoring for compulsory education. This would, of course,
require readjustments in Navaho economic practices, for
the young shepherds would all be in school and elders
would have to assume entire responsibility for the care of
the flocks during most of the year. With sheep permits
rigidly limited, however, there is now less need for herders.
In fact, one of the reasons some parents are at present
eager to find place in school for their children is because
children are around the hogans with time on their hands.
To the observer who knows something of modern educa¬
tional techniques and of the history of Indian schools, the
administration of Navaho schools seems uncommonly en¬
lightened and progressive. True, there was too much haste
at first and too much unfettered experimentation. Some of
the day schools were hurriedly built and badly located.
The sympathies of many Navahos were alienated because,
through lack of proper interpretation, they got the impres-

149
 THE NAVAHO

sion that this was a back-to-the-blanket movement. When

Navahos who are to compete with whites find themselves
judged by the standard of more conventional education, it
does not matter to them which standard is better; what
does matter is that the standard by which they are judged
is different. A small but vocal Navaho group who take
civil service examinations or try to enter college feel bit¬
terly that their education is unrealistic, just as graduates
of white “progressive” schools did at one time.
All minority groups fear differentiation, especially edu¬
cational differentiation. On practical grounds they may be
right in doing so, no matter how enlightened the educa¬
tional system is from the broad point of view.
On the other hand, it must be admitted that for Indian
Service educators to follow outworn and inefficient meth¬
ods just because they continue to be followed to a large
degree by the public school systems of surrounding areas
is hardly a justifiable procedure. Moreover, the state of
New Mexico is itself now officially urging a statewide “pro¬
gressive” school program. In such a program as that of the
Navajo Agency schools, much depends upon the effec¬
tiveness and temperance of the administrative leadership,
upon the quality of the individual teachers, and upon the
skill with which the Navajo Agency handles the public re¬
lations problems involved. Adoption of “progressive” meth¬
ods is certainly ^m invaluable check upon the inevitable
tendency of the teacher to urge his pupils to strive for
what the teacher wants most in life. Obviously, this tend¬
ency is particularly dangerous and disruptive when teach¬
ers and pupils come from such different backgrounds and
have such varying expectations and needs as must be the
case between Navaho pupils and their instructors. One of
the urgent needs is for a systematic study of the habit¬
ual assumptions, ways of life, and value systems of the
teachers.
Another need is for more effective communication to the
Navahos of the reasons for various practices. Navaho par-

150
 THE PEOPLE AND THE WORLD

ents do not always understand why their children do not

learn to read their first year in school. It can be explained
in simple and convincing terms why it is necessary to teach
oral English first and postpone reading until later. Parents
can be made to see that their children after starting to
school must acquire a vocabulary that English-speaking
children have taken five or six years to learn at home be¬
fore starting to school. Similarly, Navahos have very little
comprehension of the role of the specialist in white culture.
If this were explained with some graphic examples within
the framework of their experiences, they would be more
likely both to seek the advice of trained technicians when
needed and to realize the limitations of the specialist in
affairs outside his own field.
Perhaps the most hopeful sign is the extent to which
adult Navahos have cooperated during the past twenty
years in building new dormitories. Part of the trouble in
the past has been that too much has been given without
their request or participation. Naturally The People have
not felt that the schools were theirs as much as would be
desirable. If schools are built on their initiative and with
their cooperation, much better understanding and more
constructive attitudes will grow. If respected elders were
occasionally invited to give oral instruction in Navaho on
Navaho ethics and values, the older generation would have
less reason to feel that schools create a gulf between the
young and the old.
Perhaps, if the teachers were mostly Navahos, and if
nurses, physicians, local sub-agents, judges, road and irri¬
gation men cooperated in educational activities centered in
the small community boarding schools, they might become
what present teachers seldom have time to make them:
community centers as well as effective instruments of edu¬
cation for The People of every age.
Some things need more thought and action. The system
(for all its “progressiveness”) is still amusingly culture
bound. For example, the school terms are set in accord
 THE NAVAHO

with white tradition rather than to fit the special circum¬

stances of Navaho life and seasonal weather conditions in
the Navaho country. But time and patience are required,
for the complications are many and great. Indian education
is not a simple situation in which the Indian Service merely
deals directly with Indians. There are all sorts of inter¬
ferences: from missionaries, from traders, from congress¬
men, from associations of white people organized to protect
Indians. It is hard to get money from Congress for adult
education, because the fact that with Navahos the problem
is that of “educating” not just 30,000 children but virtually
the whole tribe has not been sufficiently dramatized. Con¬
gress has assumed that adults are already “educated” and
that such things as agricultural extension work are just
fancy touches—not absolute essentials.

MEDICAL SERVICES AND NAVAHO HEALTH

A large and important branch of the Navajo Agency is that

which deals with health, and in it lies one of the best
means of establishing better collaboration between The
People and white society. Illness is a matter of much con¬
cern to the Navaho, and he is perhaps more willing to try
new methods of healing than new methods of raising sheep.
This attitude toward illness is not without foundation,
for the incidence and severity of some diseases are thought
to be higher among The People than among whites.3
World War II physical examinations by Selective Service
physicians disclosed tuberculosis in one out of every eleven
Navaho men examined. The estimated death rate for this
disease is very high: 52.5 per 100,000 Navahos as
against a rate for the United States as a whole of only
8.4. In the past two decades there has been a marked
drop in the incidence of tuberculosis, but the ratio re¬
mained virtually constant: 386 for Navahos versus an over¬
all rate of 43.
Other respiratory diseases—chiefly pneumonia (25 times

152
 THE PEOPLE AND THE WORLD

the national incidence) and upper respiratory ailments—

make up the majority of cases in government hospitals in
all seasons except summer. From August through October,
when flies abound, infant diarrheas are common. Conta¬
gious diseases appear in cycles among both adults and
children, often in severe form; most prominent is measles,
but chickenpox, whooping cough, mumps, and diphtheria
occur frequently. Trachoma was formerly noted in about
40 per cent of all Navaho children examined at govern¬
ment institutions, but since the development of antibiotics
and treatment by Indian Service doctors this figure has
dropped to around 3 per cent (still much higher than the
national average). The casual observer will still notice
many cases of blindness and bad eyesight among older
Navahos, however, of which a large proportion is due to
trachoma.
Another point which immediately strikes the visitor is
the high frequency of persons who walk with a limp.
Some of these instances are due to unset fractures sustained
in horseback accidents. Others may be traced to tubercular
lesions or to birth injuries.
There are many deaths among young children (three
times the national average) and maternal mortality is high.
Miscarriages may be more frequent because women are
subject to being thrown from the saddle or out of wag¬
ons by refractory horses. One might expect that Navaho
women would be more likely to die during pregnancy or
childbirth than white women because the later occurrence
of “change of life” among Indian women provides more
opportunities for pregnancy. If they survive childbearing
and the menopause, however, their chances for attaining a
ripe old age are excellent.
Certain diseases do not claim so many victims among
Navahos as among whites. Some degenerative diseases—
cancer, circulatory diseases, and some neurological condi¬
tions—appear to be less frequent.
Average life expectancy is apparently shorter for Nava-

153
 THE NAVAHO

hos than for whites. Peaks in the mortality curve occur in

the age periods 19-24 and 30-38 for men and at 13-18,
29-44, and 49-62 for women. However, if a Navaho is
tough enough to survive the many hazards to health until
he nears 65, he is likely to be exceedingly tenacious of life.
The proportion of the very old is quite striking, and there
may well be a greater number of octogenarians and non¬
agenarians per 1,000 population in Navaho than in white
society.
Given these health problems and expectancies to deal
with, how does the Navajo Agency discharge its responsi¬
bilities for the health of The People? Hospital facilities on
the Reservation are good and are being used increasingly.
The largest hospital is at Fort Defiance, where there are
115 beds. Other smaller hospitals, each with an outpatient
clinic, are located at Shiprock, Crownpoint, Fort Wingate,
Winslow, and Tuba City. During the year 1957-1958,
these hospitals admitted a total of 9,625 patients. In ad¬
dition, Health Centers have been set up (for outpatient
treatment only) at Chinle, Gallup, Tohatchi, and Many
Farms. Hospitals and Health Centers combined received
visits by The People totaling approximately 150,000
(1957-1958). In 1958, the total medical staff was com¬
prised of the following: 37 doctors, 12 dentists, 76 hospital
nurses, 28 Public Health nurses, 14 Sanitarians, and 360
other personnel—a total of 527 trained medical personnel.
While relationships between Navahos and white physi¬
cians (both missionary and government) have been much
improved in recent years, there is still a long way to go.4
Physicians have been often too openly contemptuous of all
Navaho “medical” practices, too fierce in their condem¬
nations of Navaho lack of cleanliness and sanitation, gen¬
erally too little able or willing to see things from the In¬
dians’ point of view. It is useless and only provocative of
irritation to harp continually on certain health practices
that in the nature of things cannot be achieved at present.
How can people wash their hands before eating each meal

154
 THE PEOPLE AND THE WORLD

when water is so precious? Indian Service stress upon medi¬

cal propaganda has more than once affected Navahos as it
did a headman who said at a meeting, “We shall all be
very healthy and die of starvation.” Whites look at “health”
as much more a separable category of experience than do
The People. The Navaho attitude is expressed in the folk
saying: “When the land is sick, The People are sick.”
Recently, however, there has developed an interesting
departure from this white attitude toward Navaho health
problems. The Navajo-Cornell Field Health Project, open¬
ing in 1956 at Many Farms, Arizona, has understood that
Navaho “medicine” may have a real place in treatment.
The staff of this partially research-oriented institution has
developed a “working arrangement” with many of the local
Singers. The Clinic realized that Navaho “medicine” could
serve two important functions for the general improvement
of health conditions in the area. The first, and most obvi¬
ous, is the general reassurance given to a patient by pro¬
viding him with the best assistance from both worlds. The
second function of the Singer is to provide quasi-psychi¬
atric assistance in what are essentially psychosomatic ill¬
nesses. All those who have a reasonable knowledge of The
People have observed cases in which an apparently quite
sick individual was cured by the appropriate ceremony.
(Indeed, this phenomenon and its related forms, is quite
familiar to the practitioner of physical medicine within
the white world.) The Cornell group has understood this
and capitalized on it. In consequence, Singers within the
area have become much less reticent about suggesting
“white medicine” to their patients. The results of this sys¬
tem have proved remarkable, and it is to be hoped that
similar arrangements will come into being at other medical
centers.
In the general course of medicine, however, the irritation
of the physicians is also understandable from their point
of view. They are exasperated by the fact that Indians
sometimes refuse to be operated upon even when opera-

155
 THE NAVAHO

tion is probably the only remedy. They are frequently frus¬

trated by Navahos’ coming to them as a last resort, when
the disease is so advanced that the chances of cure are
slight. They likewise resent Navahos’ leaving the hospital
in the midst of treatment in order to have a ceremonial. All
sorts of Navaho attitudes and behaviors are incomprehen¬
sible to them. For example, a Navaho was taken to a hos¬
pital and given a pillow. He put it under his feet. Nothing
could induce him to put it under his head. He said:
“Feathers under my head would make feathers grow on
my neck and shoulders.” The reactions of one Navaho to
white medicine, as indicated in the following passage, are
typical of unacculturated Navahos:

You go to a hospital and maybe once a day the doctor

comes around and he stays three, maybe five minutes.
He talks a little bit but he asks you questions. Once in a
while they give you a little medicine, just a little of it.
About the only thing they do is to put something in your
mouth and see how hot you are. The rest of the time
you just lie there. But the medicine men help you all the
time—they give you lots of medicine and they sing all
night. They do lots of things all over your body. Every
bit of your body is tr eated.

LAW AND ORDER

Navahos on the Reservation are under federal and tribal

law. In the past, enforcement of the law and maintenance
of order were in the hands of the Law and Order Division
of the Navajo Agency. However, the Navajo Tribal Coun¬
cil has assumed more and more of this responsibility. The
tribal appropriation for the maintenance of law and order
began in 1953 at $32,669 to equip and support an initial
force of six officers. This appropriation has increased to
(1958-1959) $768,766, which pays the salaries of 93 law
enforcement officers and 15 administrative personnel. This

156
 THE PEOPLE AND THE WORLD

has also provided, among other things, for the operation

of four enforcement centers, all radio equipped, and for
fifty similarly equipped radio units. In addition to these
officers, the Navajo Agency has kept a small force of fed¬
eral agents responsible for the enforcement of those laws
and ordinances which must remain within the federal jur¬
isdiction. In point of fact, however, there is a high degree
of cooperation on all crimes by both forces. However, the
Federal Government is finally responsible for trial and
punishment in the following cases (by Act of Congress,
1952): murder, manslaughter, rape, assault with intent
to kill, arson, burglary, larceny, robbery, incest, assault
with a deadly weapon, and embezzlement of tribal funds.

THE PEOPLE PARTICIPATE IN

GOVERNMENT

The People have a large measure of self-government in the

Navajo Tribal Council, and they are largely responsible
for the administration of the tribal code of law, and,
through the years, of the tribe’s accumulating funds.

THE NAVAJO COUNCIL

The history of tribal “self-government” among the Navahos

has been marked with zigzags of official policy, misunder¬
standings, and confusion that have stemmed from igno¬
rance on the part of white administrators of the original
patterns of Navaho authority, and from their attempts to
superimpose white patterns only partially understood by
the Navahos.
Army officers and the first civilian agents tried to work
through the supposed “chiefs” and headmen. When these
men failed to obtain the desired cooperation, new heads
were created by governmental fiat. Of course, such ersatz
leaders had little or no control over their people. Their
prestige declined after 1900, and neither the Navahos nor

157
 THE NAVAHO

the white administrators had much faith left in them.

For some time there were no really effective channels of
communication. The Indian Service depended largely upon
local policemen, while Navahos who were disturbed
enough would make a trip to their agency for a personal
interview with the superintendent. But there were a good
deal of dissatisfaction and a few serious disorders. As re¬
cently as 1914 the military had to be called into the Beau¬
tiful Mountain area to deal with threatened uprisings over
government attempts to suppress plural marriages.
In 1925, “chapters” were established for various local
areas, and it was hoped that these could be made into
responsible local units. But such groupings corresponded
to nothing in Navaho experience, and the techniques of
operation which were laid down were still more foreign.
The cultural provincialism of the Indian Service was shown
in the fact that each chapter was told to elect a president,
vice-president, and secretary and to carry on according to
parliamentary procedure. These conditions alone made it
inevitable that “educated” Navahos took the leading role,
while the participation of the older and probably wiser
“medicine men” and wealthy livestock owners was very
limited. The whole system was entirely artificial, and once
again the government made the mistake of insisting that
“headmen” either agree with its program or be forced out.
As a result, many chapters became centers of antigovem-
ment gossip and agitation. The Indian Service then timidly
withdrew its backing and financial support, and most of
the chapters collapsed.
The discovery of oil on Navaho lands near Shiprock in
1923 made urgent the creation of some body which should
speak, at least in form, for the tribe as a whole, and this
led to the organization of a Navaho council. The members
of this first council were largely hand-picked “yes-men”
who were not the effective leaders of the working social
organization.
The present Indian Service administration early offered

158
 THE PEOPLE AND THE WORLD

The People full self-government under the provisions of the

Indian Reorganization Act. But in an election in 1934, in
which the issues were distorted or but little comprehended,
the tribe voted by a narrow margin not to accept the Act.
Nevertheless, the Indian Service proceeded administra¬
tively, and under the legal principle of inherent and unex¬
tinguished tribal authority, to extend to the elected coun¬
cil some control over tribal affairs. In 1936, a team of men
headed by Father Berard Haile undertook the task of
combing the Reservation for men of proven ability and
leadership. Two hundred and fifty names were submitted
for consideration to the Navajo Agency. Seventy of the
men whose names were submitted were arbitrarily chosen
to compose a constitutional assembly. The old council was
disbanded, and the new assembly appointed a provisional
Executive Committee to conduct routine tribal business
until such time as a constitution could be completed and
another Tribal Council duly elected. This assembly was
never able to agree on an acceptable constitution, but they
were able to finally agree upon, and obtain Indian Serv¬
ice approval for, a series of rules providing for the election
of a new Council. The first election under these new rules
was held in 1938.
The new Council was to be composed of seventy-four
members, and a Chairman and Vice-Chairman, and each
member was to be elected on the basis of population with
400-500 constituents per member. The new rules also pro¬
vided for an eighteen-member Executive Committee to
be composed of one person from each administrative dis¬
trict, chosen by other members to be the Chief Delegate
of that area. There was, however, great general suspicion
of an Executive Committee in that the prior one had at¬
tempted to enforce the unpopular livestock reduction plan
and grazing regulations. The pressure was sufficiently
strong that the Council did not reestablish an Executive
Committee to handle routine tribal business until 1947,
and then only in the form of an advisory committee to

159
 THE NAVAHO

the Council. This new group however was soon delegated

more and more authority by the Council, until it took over
the function of an executive committee. It was (and is)
composed of nine members of the Council, and nine al¬
ternate members; at present (as of 1958) the first order of
business of a newly elected Tribal Council is to vote on
membership on the Advisory Committee, as this group is
now known. In addition to this group there have been
recently established other Council committees on Health
and Welfare, Education, Law and Order, Administration,
Budget, Trading, Loans, and Engineering and Resources.
The Tribal Council has also developed its own legal de¬
partment, primarily to represent The People as a whole in
litigation with the Federal Government or with other In¬
dian peoples.
Until the end of World War II, most action taken by
the Council was initiated by the government, and its func¬
tions were mainly to approve or disapprove governmental
proposals or to advise with administrators, rather than to
initiate policy or pass laws. Since that time, however, this
has rapidly been changing and The People, through the
Council, have taken over much more of their own complete
self-determination. It still works closely with the Navajo
Agency, but now as often as not the representatives of
The People are the initiators of action, though the pro¬
grams of each group are quite closely coordinated. The
end in mind is, of course, the eventual self-extinction of
the Navajo Agency and its full replacement by the Council.
A major problem in the past, and still present to a de¬
gree, has been the lack of tribal feeling of unity and soli¬
darity. Navahos understand responsibility to relatives and
even to a local group, but they are only commencing to
grasp the need for thinking in tribal terms. Further, they
have no notion of representative government. They are ac¬
customed to deciding all issues by face-to-face meetings of
all individuals involved—including, most decidedly, the
women. The native way of deciding an issue is to discuss

160
 THE PEOPLE AND THE WORLD

it until there is unanimity of opinion or until the opposi¬

tion feels it no longer worthwhile to urge its point of view.
Moreover, because they are not familiar with the represent¬
ative principle, The People (like many other groups) by
no means always send to the Council the men who really
count in local affairs. This fact, and the comparatively
small number of women in responsible positions, tend to
make Council meetings more a sounding board for am¬
bitious politicians than a true expression of tribal sentiment.
In addition, it is not yet a Navaho practice to plan far
ahead or even to think much beyond the present. The re¬
sult is that, although the delegate now knows that he is
expected to speak for his own people back home, neither
he nor they thoroughly realize that he might by his vote
bind their future actions.
These conditions still pertain to a certain extent, par¬
ticularly involving the more remote districts of the Reser¬
vation. Nonetheless, the return of others from wage work
outside the Reservation, the great increase in school fa¬
cilities and attendance, and the added communication,
through the building of many new roads within the Reser¬
vation; all these are sharply increasing The People’s knowl¬
edge of the outside world and their own feeling of unity.
Coupled with this has been the sharp increase during the
last decade of the income to The People from natural re¬
sources; this increase has almost automatically given the
Tribal Council more real power than ever before. This
change has been further enhanced by the government’s de¬
cision to allow the Indian to vote. So far this right has by
no means been fully exercised, but a large part of the rea¬
son for this is the still quite low over-all literacy rate among
The People. Still, in the U.S. general election of 1956 some
4,600 actually did exercise their franchise. It is very much
to be expected that the next decade (1960—1970) will
bring to The People a much greater political awareness, in
terms of their active participation both in their own self-
government and development and in their role as U.S.

161
 THE NAVAHO

citizens; indeed the system of tribal self-government within

the framework of the state and federal governments might
well be likened to that of an incredibly large (in area)
township or county in other areas.

TRIBAL COURTS

Navahos, like other Indians, are subject to state criminal

laws when they are off the Reservation, but when they are
within the Reservation they are answerable only to federal
or tribal courts. As noted above, the Federal District Court
has jurisdiction in cases involving eleven major crimes as
well as over offenses which are ordinarily under federal
jurisdiction throughout the country. All other offenses com¬
mitted by Navahos on the Reservation are tried in the
Tribal Court on the basis of a tribal code of law adopted
in 1937, which takes Navaho custom into account. How¬
ever, the total number of offenses tried under the tribal
courts is immensely larger than that tried by the federal
courts. In 1958, for instance, only 88 cases were presented
for federal prosecution, and of these, 73 were remanded
to the Court of Indian Offenses. On the other hand, dur¬
ing that same year, there were 8,351 convictions in the
Tribal Court—the majority of these for disorderly conduct
(4,980) and liquor violation (1,585). The types of offense
handled by the Tribal Court in 1958 include seven out of
the eleven offenses which may be tried under federal jur¬
isdiction (10 cases of manslaughter, 6 of rape, 1 of incest,
35 of assault with a deadly weapon, 11 of burglary, 9 of
larceny, and 1 of embezzlement). In addition, the follow¬
ing offenses are normally handled only by the Tribal Court
system: assault, assault and battery, theft, disorderly con¬
duct, reckless driving, liquor violation, adultery, illicit co¬
habitation, failure to support dependent persons, resisting
arrest, disobedience to Court Order, use of peyote, and
tribal divorces.
The judges of the Tribal Court are all Navahos and are

162
 THE PEOPLE AND THE WORLD

recommended by the Navajo Council. Thus the field of

law and order is the one in which The People themselves
have a large share. Ironically, it is one in which they have
little positive interest and much strong resentment. If
judges and policemen do not speak both English and Nav-
aho fairly well, misunderstanding arises because the in¬
structions of their white superiors are not completely clear
to them or because they fail to translate well the accusa¬
tions or the sentences to those brought before the court.
The strong family loyalties of The People subject judges
to powerful pressures. The very best of judges and police¬
men are constantly placed in most difficult positions be¬
cause they must serve as intermediaries between two dif¬
ferent worlds, so they are often made the scapegoats for
the piled-up resentment of The People against the govern¬
ment and white men in general.

THE GOVERNMENT AND THE PEOPLE:

PRESENT PROBLEMS

To speak of problems in this area now is very different than

to do so twenty years ago; they have become far, far
fewer. At that time the rather paternalistic efforts on the
part of the government, and its major symbol, the Navajo
Agency, were widely mistrusted by The People. Much of
this distrust also rubbed off on the Tribal Council, as they
too were regarded as acting on the basis of a strange and
foreign set of premises—the white man’s ways. However,
since the vast increase in education among The People and
their much greater experience with the outside world, these
attitudes have changed remarkably. This is not to say that
problems do not exist for The People. Land reclamation,
development of resources, raising of the per capita Navaho
income, health and welfare, education, all of these and
more remain problems, but they are problems which are
being jointly faced by The People and the Navajo Agency.
This has been one of the most remarkable changes; now

163
 THE NAVAHO

The People and the government stand almost as equals,

working toward the same ends, and, more remarkable still,
using primarily the same means—the white man’s ways.
In 1950 the Federal Government appropriated over
eighty million dollars to support a long-range program of
development for the Navaho and Hopi Reservations—this
to be over and above the usual operation expenses for the
Navajo Agency. At approximately the same time, the tribal
income began to increase vastly. Shortly after this, the
Navaho became a full-fledged citizen. The various factors
have come together to produce a Tribal Council and a
Navajo Agency which work fairly much together toward
solving the practical problems still faced by The People.
Gone are the days when the Council’s function was that
of a poor relation, there to give advice (only when asked)
and without any real power. The two stand today almost
equal in stature, with bargaining between equals the rule
of the day, and cooperation the result.
It is still true that neither agency is fully understood by
all of The People, all of the time. Mistrust and misunder¬
standings still occur, but they are so much rarer now than
at the beginning of the war that the infrequent visitor is
amazed at the immense change occurring every few years.
This does not mean that The People are changing suddenly
to white ways; they still live between two worlds, but at
least they have gained a far greater understanding of the
“other” world, and have found its ways to be best in
dealing with many kinds of problems, and particularly in
dealing with its representatives, official and otherwise. Just
as the Chinese in Hong Kong has been able to deal with
Western businessmen and their methods, with a British
administration, etc., but still keep in his personal and fam¬
ily life the ancient traditions of China, so the Navaho now
has two sets of rifles and customs. They usually apply to
different situations, and so do not too often come into di¬
rect conflict. He has not given up his language, but he has
come to know the value of learning the other language.

164
 THE PEOPLE AND THE WORLD

He has come to understand that the white man knows far

more about how to improve land and livestock than he,
but he still honors the Navaho rules of inheritance of that
land and livestock.
This change in attitude (and behavior) has not only
meant that The People understand more and appreciate
more the intents and services of the Navajo Agency—it
has also brought about a change in attitude on the part of
the Agency personnel. They have come to place far more
reliance upon the judgment and ability of the Navaho,
especially on those who serve as representatives and offi¬
cials of The People. Thus, through a long and gradual ap¬
proach, and with the help of some fortuitous circum¬
stances (such as the discovery of uranium and other
minerals on tribal lands), The People and the government
stand together, using common means to gain a common
end: the development of The People as a whole, the im¬
provement of their land, and their eventual, complete self-
support and local autonomy.
Yet The People are still not always at one with the
government, nor with neighboring tribes. Under the pro¬
visions of the Indian Claims Act passed by Congress in
1946, the Navaho (and many of the neighboring tribes)
have brought suit against the United States for lands taken
in the westward expansion of the mid-nineteenth century.
A boundary dispute between the Navaho and the Hopi
has been heard by the Indian Claims Commission, but the
matter has not been decided. Arguments in this dispute,
and in the pending Navajo Land Claims Case have tried
to take into account the conditions of the mid-nineteenth
century. The determination of the life and location of The
People at this, however, has proved difficult at best. Be¬
fore the Navajo Claims Case can be settled, arguments
from the neighboring tribes (some against the Federal
Government, some against each other)—the overlapping
claims—will have to be heard. The ultimate solution of
the claims cases may be a long time in coming. In this,

165
 THE NAVAHO

The People are taking an active part; but they are turning
to the white man’s ways.

NAVAHOS WORKING IN THE WHITE WORLD

Population growth is forcing an increasing number of Nav-

ahos into direct economic competition with white people
off the Reservation, chiefly as unskilled workers. The gen¬
eral pattern of interrelations between these Navaho laborers
and their white employers is not very different from that
which prevails between other “depressed” ethnic groups
and white employers elsewhere in the country. The Nav¬
aho is conditioned to subordination. Almost all action is
initiated by whites; Navahos merely respond.
On their own ground, the Indians will sometimes ex¬
press hostility by truculent behavior. But when the situa¬
tion is “white” and whites are clearly in control, Navahos
usually manifest their discomfort and resistance passively.
They withdraw; they scatter like a covey of quail; as a
psychologist would put it, “they leave the field.” White
employers frequently comment, “Navahos are good workers
but not steady. They work hard on the job, but you can’t
count on them. They disappear for days at a time to attend
a Sing or to help their families out.”
In the prewar and early postwar period, it was the
writers’ impression that many Navahos who sought wage
work with whites tended to be those who, for one reason
or another, did not get along in their own society. Such
maladjusted persons were of course likely to be unstable.
Almost all Navahos used to feel so out of place, so uneasy,
in a white environment that they could stand it for just
so long. They grew desperately homesick. They felt lost
without the support of their families. With a few days or
weeks at home, attending ceremonials and renewing the
sense of participation in the cooperative activities of their
familial society, they feel sufficiently relieved and restored

166
 THE PEOPLE AND THE WORLD

to go back to their jobs. But the job to them was a way of

earning necessary money, not a way of life.
To a limited extent this is still true. But this set of at¬
titudes is now held only by those of The People who re¬
main relatively isolated on the mesas, and in the canyon
bottoms of the interior of the Reservation. For the rest, it
has become quite acceptable—indeed almost usual—for
members of the family group to take jobs in the white
man’s world, and even to go far away from the Reserva¬
tion in order to work, or to go to school. This is particu¬
larly true for the southern and eastern parts of the Nav-
aho Reservation, and even more so for those living in
settlements off the Reservation.
Those who argue that the solution of the “Navaho
problem” is immediate absorption into the white world
overlook the tremendous adjustments which The People
must make, and the time required for such adjustments,
before any considerable number can take their places as
permanent members of the white economic system. The
linguistic difficulty will be decisive for a time, but more
important is the fact that Navahos simply do not under¬
stand the rules for competing in the white world. These
rules cannot be learned by rote in school—in fact, the white
man’s way of “getting ahead” in some situations is the re¬
verse of what he teaches in his schools. White competitive
methods can be learned only by experience and over a
period of time. Otherwise, 85,000 people will sink to the
level of “poor whites” and alternate between wage labor
in good times and relief in bad. The Indian Service can
help, however, by the creation of better placement agencies
and by facilitating normal representation of Navahos in
state-wide groups (e.g., livestock associations). In this way
the isolation of Navahos from other citizens of the state
and of other citizens from Navahos may be diminished.
To the extent that manpower (the major resource of the
tribe) is employed with a minimum of segregation and
that mingling of Navahos and whites in public schools,

167
 THE NAVAHO

hospitals, etc., is encouraged, the dividing lines between

The People and the white world will gradually become
less distinct.

BETWEEN TWO WORLDS

Most of The People today who have not left the Navaho
country permanently live in a world which is neither white
nor Navaho in the traditional sense, a world where values
are shifting and where rules of conduct are in a state of
flux. Most of the heavy stresses and pressures for readjust¬
ment to white ways have come to the bilingual generation
of Navahos, particularly the school children; yet even
those who speak no English cannot escape all the frustra¬
tion and conflict introduced by the impact with white so¬
ciety. At the very least, they are disturbed to see their
children adopting non-Navaho ways, and indeed they see
their whole world dissolving around them. But so long as
they do not speak or understand English, they have an im¬
portant measure of insulation against many psychological
insecurities.
Those few Navahos who speak no Navaho at all, or
very little, are also protected in some degree. They have
largely lost contact with the Navaho world except in a very
superficial way. However unsatisfactory their position in
the white world, they are at any rate freed from the neces¬
sity for constant choosing between the white and the Nav¬
aho ways of living.
It is the English-speaking generation which must make
relentless choices. The Navaho girl who has been at board¬
ing school for many years usually has no desire to live in a
hogan when she marries. But to have a house with a
wooden floor, running water, and other conveniences to
which she has become accustomed, she and her husband
must move to a white town or an agency settlement,
where they are cut off from their kindred and generally
isolated. Whichever alternative they choose, they are ex-

168
 THE PEOPLE AND THE WORLD

posed to criticism from either Navahos or whites. Their

middle position is extremely difficult. One must therefore
take with some reserve the statement so frequently made
by whites of the Reservation country, “Give me an unedu¬
cated Indian every time/’ In part this eternal slogan does
reflect the fact that many “educated” Navahos are malad¬
justed and hence difficult to deal with. But it must be
remembered that in part also this view reflects the fact
that schooled Navahos know their rights better and cannot
be coerced by white misstatements or cheated because
they are ignorant of writing and of arithmetic.
Different sets of Navahos (depending partly upon age,
schooling, location of residence with respect to intensity of
non-Navaho contacts, and other factors) have shown dif¬
ferent major responses to the insecurities, deprivations, and
frustrations of the immediate past and especially to the
“between two worlds” problem. The same individuals, of
course, manifest different responses on different occasions,
but most age, age-sex, areal and other groups tend even¬
tually to settle down to one or more preferred reaction
patterns. Some focus their energies upon trying to be as
like whites as possible. Some find relief in becoming fol¬
lowers of vocal leaders. Others dissipate much hostility in
factional quarrels or scatter their aggression in family
fights, in phantasies about witchcraft or in attacking
“witches,” in verbal and other indirect hostilities toward
whites, or they turn their aggression inward with resultant
fits of depression. The culturally patterned releases in hu¬
mor and in “joking relationships” with certain relatives con¬
tinue to play some part. The central response of certain
individuals is in flight—either in actual physical withdrawal
or in the escape of narcotics, alcohol, and sex. Still others
turn to intensified participation in rites of the native reli¬
gion and to new cults (e.g., peyote). Partial solutions are
achieved by a few individuals by rigid compartmental-
ization of their lives and feelings and by various ration¬
alizations.
 THE NAVAHO

Those who have set themselves to follow the white

man’s trail find themselves—as have representatives of other
minority groups—in a (rationally) odd dilemma. While as
youngsters they are rewarded by school teachers and others
for behaving like whites, as adults they are punished for
having acquired skills that make them competitors of their
white contemporaries. The more intelligent ones had, by
early maturity, realized that their education would bring
them into conflict with or isolation from their own un¬
schooled relatives. But the experience of being turned on
by their white mentors comes as a painful surprise. They
find they are seldom received on terms of social equality,
even by those whose standards of living, dress, and man¬
ners they have succeeded in copying almost perfectly.
They learn that they must always (save within the In¬
dian Service) expect to work for a salary at least one grade
lower than that which a white person of comparable train¬
ing and experience receives. They overhear remarks by
those same groups of whites who had goaded them to give
up "those ignorant Indian ways”: "You can never trust
these school boys.” “Give me a long hair’ every time. They
may be dumb but they are honest and they work hard.”
“Educated Indians are neither fish nor fowl. They give me
the creeps.” Rejected by the white world they have made
so many emotional sacrifices to enter, some attempt a bitter
retreat to the Navaho world. Others, in sour disillusion¬
ment, abandon all moral codes. Still others achieve a work¬
ing (but flat and empty) adjustment.

NAVAHO ATTITUDES TOWARD WHITES

Navahos are well aware of the difficulty of their situation.

Surrounded by powerful pressures to change, they know
that indifference and withdrawal can no longer serve as
effective responses. They are conscious of the need to de¬
velop some compromise with white civilization. But doubt
as to the best form of compromise makes them angry and

170
 THE PEOPLE AND THE WORLD

anxious. Until recently suspicion and hostility were a major

emotional tone of their relationships with whites. On the
other hand, as the number of trained and educated Nav-
ahos has increased, there has been a change in attitude on
the part of the whites; with the influx of skilled and un¬
skilled laborers in many areas, whites have become less
patronizing and more openly hostile than was true in the
past—due to the threat of open competition on an almost
equal basis.
This is not, of course, the whole picture, for it is nearly
impossible to describe such a complicated set of interac¬
tions without distortion. It should go without saying that
the relationships of some whites with some Navahos have
been marked with understanding and cordiality on both
sides. Since the early days of the Indian Service, some
government representatives have been kind and even de¬
voted to the Navahos. Some of the missionaries, particu¬
larly the Franciscans and the Presbyterians at Ganado,
have won the affection of many of The People. Many of
the white traders have been persons of unusual character
who earned abiding trust and loyalty from the Indians.
The picture also requires correction from other angles.
While there have been anti-white movements during the
last twenty-five years, while there are Navahos who can
but will not speak English, while a large number of Nav¬
ahos are reserved and suspicious in all dealings with whites,
still the generalized Navaho pattern is not like that of the
Pueblo Indians—to encapsulate themselves and their culture
in an almost impenetrable hard shell of resistance. On the
contrary, the Navahos are distinguished among American
Indians by the alacrity, if not the ease, with which they
have adjusted to the impact of white culture while still
retaining many native traits and preserving the framework
of their own cultural organization. It is almost true to say
that in some areas the culture of the Navahos has altered
more in the past generation than has the culture of their
Pueblo neighbors in the whole four hundred years during

171
 THE NAVAHO

which these town-dwelling Indians have been in contact

with European civilization.
Yet this very rapidity of change makes for uneasiness,
and uneasiness makes distrust or active hatred of whites
the prevalent attitudes. With each new generation that
goes to school, a larger proportion of The People must face
the difficult problem of compromising between the de¬
mands of the two cultures.
The hardship is increased by the treatment meted out
to Indians in getting jobs off the Reservation, in day-to-
day social contacts, and even in state laws governing the
fundamental rights of citizens.
A further cause for distrust and hostility is the fact that
Navahos are dependent upon a distant and mysterious
white institution called “the market.” In the old days of
bartering raw materials, a sheep or a sack of wool main¬
tained a rather constant value. When both are sold to the
trader, The People never know in advance whether lamb
will bring ten cents a pound or only five cents, and they
see no sense in these variations. They share the common
distrust of farmer folk for those who buy and resell the
products of their hard labors, but they are at a greater
disadvantage than the white farmer because they are un¬
familiar with white marketing customs and have no means
of understanding the reasons for the apparently senseless
fluctuations in price and demand. Moreover, since they feel
that they usually are underpaid for their sheep and wool
and that the price they will get varies with no rhyme or
reason, they feel uncertain about improving their products.
Education, the efforts of the Tribal Council and of the
Navajo Agency have begun to produce a marked change
in this attitude. Many of The People now understand the
white man’s way of investment now for future return.
While many of these problems and conflicts would arise
in some degree if the Navahos had been surrounded by
greater numbers of any other group, still it is certain that
it would have been easier for them if the surrounding so-

172
 THE PEOPLE AND THE WORLD

ciety had been one of a more homogeneous and'consistent

sort. The fact that white American culture has itself been
changing at such a dizzy rate for the past three genera¬
tions has added enormously to their difficulties. Much of
what the early teachers and missionaries taught as “the
way white people do things” is now only a memory to
even the most conservative whites. Moreover, with the
breaking down of the former rules, white society has split
into groups that look at life differently, have different
interests and ideals. The Indians are exposed to not one
but a variety of these groups. It is no wonder that they
conclude that white people and their ways are past under¬
standing.
All these feelings and the conflict between old ways and
new ways, between the school generation and the non¬
school generation, come out vividly in the following ex¬
cerpt from the report turned in by a Navaho government
employee who had been sent to a Navaho ceremonial to
show motion pictures as part of the prewar educational
program in connection with soil conservation and livestock
management.5
(
Original Translation
We get to dance late in We got to the dance late
the evening and we went to in the evening. We went to
call of that dance to talk to call on the leader of that
him instead he pointed to dance to talk to him. In¬
the Navaho policemen of stead he pointed to the
that dance and we told them Navaho policemen of that
right from begin to end of section. We told them ev¬
our work and what we are erything about our work,
trying to do to the people. from the beginning to the
He said there no just such end, and what we were try¬
thing the land sick or die we ing to do for the people.
leaving just found we leave They said, “There is just
on our sheep and goats what no such thing as that the
do we about show we no land can get sick or die. We

173
 THE NAVAHO

white men. The white told are living just fine. We live
us lie so many time now and on our sheep and goats.
we don’t care to believe What do we know about a
now. I said him what the he show? We are no white
about. He told us he was men. The whites have told
going to have Navaho the us lies so many times that
work and money if they we don’t care to believe
only reduce the sheep and them now.”
goats now then the goats I said to them, “What
has gone and no work no fie are you talking about?”
money don’t you think we They said, “They told us
will try again and then if we Navahos would have work
let white man work around and money if they would
our reservation and on they only reduce the sheep and
say it they land because goats. Now then the goats
they worked on and soon have gone, but no work, no
they will try to ran the land money. Don’t think we will
all over so we don’t want try it again. If we let white
anything now we living men work around our Res¬
good rite now. ervation and on it, they will
say it is their land because
they worked on it, and soon
they will nm all over the
land. So we don’t want any¬
thing now. We are living
well right now.”

I told them we were not a I told them we were not

white man but one and we white men, except one of
not asking to save land for us, and we were not asking
somebody else or for the them to save the land for
money this is to tell you somebody else or for money.
save by you own hand and We wanted to show them
head and that it will be how to save it by their own
your land and to tell you hands and heads, and it
that you could have a bet¬ would be their own land.
ter wool and sheep in peace We wanted to tell them

174
 THE PEOPLE AND THE WORLD

and all way as it is they is how they could have better

many sheep and goats right wool and sheep, in peace
now and that the land is and for always. As it is now
about to go to pieces now if there are too many sheep
we don’t care make we lose and goats, and the land is
our land some day. about to go to pieces. If we
don’t take care of it, we
won’t have any land some¬
day.

Well they said if you go¬ “Well/' they said, “if you
ing to tell us we will hear are going to talk to us, you
you at big dance tonight can do it at the big dance
but we don’t want the show. tonight, but we don’t want
They were four big head any show.” There were four
men there and three men big headmen there. Three
wanted show and one not. men wanted the show and
one did not.

The head medicine man The head medicine man

of that dance came up after of the dance came up after
we get the show wagon was we got the show wagon all
set up. He ask what’s all the set up. He asked about all
things was have and what’s the things we had there and
all about we going to do what we were going to do.
there.

I told him we going to I told him we were go¬

give a picture shout if they ing to give a picture show
can let us. He said to go on if they would let us. He said
and show to white men and to go on and show it to the
not come around to their white men, but not to come
ceremonial place and try around the Navahos’ cere¬
to take picture and make monial place and try to take
money on it. pictures and make money
on it.

I told him this was the I told him this was Soil
Soil Conservation Service Conservation Service work,

175
 THE NAVAHO

work with Indian to under¬ trying to make the Indians

stand just what it mean to understand just what it
save the land from Erosion means to save the land from
and over grazing land by erosion, and how the land
too many goats and sheep was being overgrazed by
that just running around too many goats and sheep
over the land. that were just running
around over it.

Why your coming back “Why are you coming

again with the white man back again with the white
idea trying to do away the man’s idea of trying to do
goats and sheep from our away with the sheep and
poor people as you might goats of our poor people?
think your helping your You might think you are
people but you not for you helping your people, but
helping the white or the you are not. You are help¬
people of Erosion are trying ing the whites, or the Soil
to run the Navaho land and Erosion people. They are
when they do we the poor trying to run the Navaho
one are going to be the end land, and when they do it
and you young men that are is going to be the end for
trying to be like a white us poor ones. You young
man are going to get what men that are trying to be
you wanted and not the like white men are going to
poor one. get what you want, but not
the poor ones.”

I tell him that I was Nav¬ I told him I was a Nav¬

aho myself that we were aho myself, and that we
working for Navaho not were all working for the
against them and that if we Navahos, not against them
can show let our old man and to let our old police¬
Police talk to them. man ask the people if we
can have the show.

He told me if we was go¬ He said to me, “If you

ing to have show and teach- are going to have a show

176
 THE PEOPLE AND THE WORLD

ing why don’t we go to and some teaching, why

school and not come around don’t you go to a school in¬
or ceremonial place for that stead of coming around our
was no place for it. ceremonial, which is no
place for it?”
One woman beside us ob¬ One woman beside us ob¬
jected but I didn’t ask the jected. I didn’t ask her the
reason but soon learned that reason, but I soon learned
it was for the fox pictures that it was because of the
we show at first dance and coyote pictures we showed
she was afraid we show at the first dance. She was
again but we didn’t for it afraid we were going to
was strong up against reli¬ show that one again, but we
gious ceremonial. didn’t because it is a very
bad thing to have around a
religious ceremonial.

Finally some Indian want Finally some Indians said

to see and they all started they wanted to see the pic¬
talking about it and it was ture, and they all started
OK. After the show we talking about it and de¬
heard nothing bad about cided it was OK. After the
the talk but just a little show we heard nothing bad
about the picture. That was about the talk, just a little
a picture about snake which they didn’t like about the
part of the great ceremonial picture. There was a pic¬
and they didn’t want to see ture of a snake, which is a
in first place but they like part of the great ceremonial,
the show and talk. and they didn’t want to see
it. But they liked the show
and the talk.

note: Much additional data on attitudes and behavior to¬

ward whites appears in Leighton and Kluckhohn, Children of
The People (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1947).

177
 5. THE SUPERNATURAL:
POWER AND DANGER

The arrangement of the materials in this book follows a

pattern which is a white abstraction—not Navaho. Earlier
chapters have described the “economic life” and the “social
life” of The People. We are now beginning several chap¬
ters about “religious life.” This grouping is convenient be¬
cause it fits the way in which white people are accustomed
to think. But it is very important to remember that the
grouping really does violence to the intricate interconnec¬
tions between these aspects of the Navaho’s daily life.
From one point of view, all Navaho “rituals” are socio¬
economic techniques; that is, they are techniques for se¬
curing food, restoring health, and ensuring survival. Yet
this statement is also one-sided. It would be equally true
to say that much “economic” activity is motivated by the
desire to obtain the wherewithal for giving costly cere¬
monials—many of which are great social occasions—and to
acquire ceremonial property, tangible and intangible.
In white society too, religion has its social and economic
aspects. Marriage rites of the church are commonly used
to set up a new social and economic unit, the family.
Prayers often begin sessions of legislative bodies,; and the
oath on tire Bible usually establishes the integrity of wit¬
nesses in courts. Many other instances from daily life could
be cited to demonstrate that the divisions between re¬
ligious, social, and economic life in white society are not
nearly so clear-cut as people often unthinkingly assume.
Because Western thought is so much influenced by the

178
 POWER AND DANGER

supposedly watertight categories into which Aristotle and

the scholastic philosophers believed they could separate
all reality, white persons tend to forget that abstractions
are just a convenience and that really everything in human
life blends into everything else. They talk as if “a thing
is either black or white,” forgetting that it may be both
or neither. Pure black and pure white are both rare; what
we have mostly is an infinite variety of shades of grey, sep¬
arated from each other by almost imperceptible gradations.
Still, it makes a little more sense to speak of religion as
one separable part of life in white society than it does in
the Navaho case. The white world is now mainly a secular
world. As clerics so often complain, white people “turn
religion on and off.” They may go to church on Sundays
and a few other occasions. Birth, marriages, and deaths
are usually solemnized, but most whites do not feel that
religion has anything to do with large sectors of life. With
the Navaho it is quite different. Their world is still a
whole. Evefy daily act is colored by their conceptions of
supernatural forces, ever present and ever threatening.
In another sense, speaking of “Navaho religion” does
violence to the viewpoint of The People. There is no word
or phrase in their language which could possibly be trans¬
lated as “religion.” It is not that they too do not have their
categories. The outstanding feature of their language is
the fineness of its distinctions. But Navaho categories are
much more concrete. And their categories cut across those
of whites. Precisely because the Navaho world is still a
whole, we should not expect to find some separate entity
denoted by a word equivalent to “religion.”
A famous anthropologist has defined religion as “man’s
confession of impotence in certain matters.” In these chap¬
ters we shall be talking about all that The People do and
say with respect to those areas of experience which they
feel are beyond the control of ordinary techniques and
beyond the rational understanding which works well

179
 THE NAVAHO

enough in ordinary affairs. We shall be speaking of the

super natural.

BEINGS AND POWERS

The universe of The People contains two classes of per¬

sonal forces. There are the Earth Surface People, living
and dead; these are ordinary human beings. Then there
are the Holy People. They are not “holy” in the sense of
possessing moral sanctity, for often their deeds have a very
different odor. They are “holy” in the meaning of “power¬
ful and mysterious,” of belonging to the sacred as opposed
to the profane world. They travel about on sunbeams, on
the rainbow, on the lightnings. They have great powers
to aid or to harm Earth Surface People. But it is better
not to call them gods because the word “god” has so many
connotations which are inappropriate. The Holy People
are not portrayed as all-knowing or even as all-powerful.
They certainly are not depicted as wholly good. While
they are supplicated and propitiated, they may also be
coerced. Probably coercion is indeed the dominant note.
In general, the relationship between them and the Earth
Surface People is very different from what Christians think
of as the connection between God and man.
As described in the Navaho origin myth, the Holy Peo¬
ple lived first below the surface of the earth. They moved
from one lower world to another because of witchcraft
practiced by one of them. In the last of the twelve lower
worlds the sexes were separated because of a quarrel, and
monsters were bom from the female Holy People. Finally
a great flood drove the Holy People to ascend to the pres¬
ent world through a reed. Natural objects were created.
Then came the first death among the Holy People. About
this time too, Changing Woman, the principal figure
among them, was created. After she reached puberty, she
was magically impregnated by the rays of the Sun and by
water from a waterfall, and bore twin sons. These Hero

180
 POWER AND DANGER

Twins journeyed to the house of their father, the Sun,

encountering many adventures and slaying most of the
monsters.
In the course of all these events, the Holy People de¬
veloped ways of doing things which were partly practical
and partly magical. When they decided to leave for per¬
manent homes at the east, south, west, north, the zenith,
and the nadir, they had a great meeting at which they
created the Earth Surface People, the ancestors of the
Navahos, and taught them all the methods they had de¬
veloped, so that The People could build houses, obtain
food, marry, travel, and trade and could also protect them¬
selves against disease, hunger, and war. After the Holy
People had departed, the various clans of the Navahos
wandered in the east and the west, and at last there was
a great meeting of all of them in the region where they
now live.
Changing Woman is the favored figure among the Holy
People. She had much to do with the creation of the Earth
Surface People and with the meeting at which they were
taught how to control the wind, lightning, storms, and
animals, and how to keep all these forces in harmony with
each other. This meeting was a ceremonial of the Holy
People and has become Blessing Way, a ritual which oc¬
cupies a key position in the Navaho “religious system.”
Changing Woman, ever young and ever radiant in beauty,
fives in a marvelous dwelling on western waters.
Some Navahos say that Changing Woman had a
younger sister, White Shell Woman, who was the mother
of one of the Hero Twins, Child of the Water. Others
claim that Changing Woman and White Shell Woman
are one and the same being. Turquoise Woman and Salt
Woman also seem almost to be variants of Changing
Woman, different names for different aspects of her story
and her activities.
Next to Changing Woman in importance is her hus¬
band, the Sun. Sun symbolism is all-pervasive in Navaho

181
 THE NAVAHO

religion. Indeed, as Gladys Reichard observes, “the evi¬

dence is quite convincing that all of these master symbols
represent the same thing, Sun’s Weapons which aid man
in controlling the recalcitrant elements in the universe.”1
The Hero Twins—Monster Slayer and Child of the Wa¬
ter (sometimes called Reared-within-the-Earth and Chang¬
ing Grandchild)—are invoked in almost every Navaho
ceremonial. Their adventures establish many of the Nav¬
aho ideals for young manhood. They serve especially as
models of conduct in war and can almost be called the
Navaho war gods. The Hero Twins slew most of the mon¬
sters, but they did not kill all of these potential enemies
of mankind. Hunger, Poverty, Old Age, and Dirt survived,
for they provecTtoTiave a place in human life. The exploits
of the Twins, as well as those of other Holy People, define
many features of the Navaho landscape as holy places.
The lava fields, which are so conspicuous in the Navaho
country, are the dried blood of the slain monsters.
Changing Woman, the Sun, and the Hero Twins are
the four supernatural beings who seem to bulk largest in
the religious thought and lore of The People. In the back¬
ground are First Man and First Woman, who were trans¬
formed from two ears of white and yellow com, and others
prominent in the stories of life in the lower worlds. Most
of The People believe that First Man created the universe,
but another version of the incident, possibly due to Chris¬
tian influence, pictures a being called begochidi as the
creator of the world.
Another group of Holy People are the Failed-To-Speak
People, such as Water Sprinkler, Fringed Mouth, Hunch¬
back, and others who are impersonated by masked dancers
in the public exhibitions of the great chants. Still another
type are the animals and personalized natural forces like
Coyote, Big Snake Man, Crooked Snake People, Thunder
People, and Wind People. Finally, there are various help¬
ers of the supematurals and intermediaries between them
and man. Big Fly is “the messenger of gods and of men.”

182
 POWER AND DANGER

He and Com Beetle whisper omens and advice to Earth

Surface People who are in trouble.
The origin myth is told with variations by different nar¬
rators, but it shows a good deal of consistency in most of
its central elements, and defines for the Navahos many of
their basic conceptions of life. It tells The People that,
from time immemorial, the universe has been a very dan¬
gerous place, inhabited by people who were untrust¬
worthy, if not completely evil. True, not all of the Holy
People are unfriendly to Earth Surface People. Changing
Woman gave com and other valuable gifts to them. Spider
Woman and Spider Man taught them how to weave. Two
of the Holy People helped Woman Speaker’s husband,
Bent Man, to escape from the place of ghosts. Spider Man
established four warnings of death or disaster: noise in the
windpipe, ringing in the ear, twitching in the nose, and
pricking of the skin on the body. If these warnings are
heeded—and The People take them very seriously—some¬
thing may be done to avert the danger, or at least to post¬
pone or lessen it.
But of these beings and powers, of whom we have men¬
tioned only a few. Changing Woman alone is consistently
well-wishing to the Earth Surface People. The other beings
are undependable, even though they may have given man¬
kind many of their prized possessions. The Sun and the
Moon demand a human life each day; the Hero Twins are
often pitiless; First Man is a witch; Coyote is a trickster.
When Woman Speaker died and was buried by First Boy
and First Girl, she gave them ghost sickness because they
did not put her left moccasin on her right foot and her
right moccasin on her left foot, as they should have done.
All of these beings except Changing Woman—and many
others as well—are forever present to Navaho conscious¬
ness as threats to prosperity.

183
 THE NAVAHO

GHOSTS

Not all the powerful beings who are always present as

potential threats to the well-being of the Navaho are Holy
People. Perhaps the most fearful of all to them are the
ghosts of Earth Surface People.
The Navahos seem to have no belief in a glorious im¬
mortality. Existence in the hereafter appears to be only a
shadowy and tminviting thing. The afterworld is a place
like this earth, located to the north and below the earth’s
surface. It is approached by a trail down a hill or cliff,
and there is a sandpile at the bottom. Deceased kinfolk,
who look as they did when last seen alive, come to guide
the dying to the afterworld diming a journey that takes
four days. At the entrance to the afterworld, old guardians
apply tests to see if death has really occurred.
Death and everything connected with it are horrible to
TheTPeople. Even to look upon the bodies of dead animals,
except those killed for food, is a peril. Dead humans are
buried as soon as possible, and with such elaborate pre¬
cautions that one of the greatest favors which a white per¬
son can do for Navahos is to undertake this abhorrent
responsibility.
This intense and morbid avoidance of the dead and of
everything connected with them rests upon the fear of
ghosts. The other Earth Surface People who have fearful
powers—witches—are also very terrible, but they are, after
all, living beings who can be controlled in some measure
and, if necessary, killed. Ghosts are, as it were, the witches
of the world of the dead, a shadowy impalpable world
altogether beyond the control of the living.
Most of the dead may return as ghosts to plague the
living. Only those who die of old age, the stillborn, and
infants who do not live long enough to utter a cry or sound
do not produce ghosts, and for them the four days of
mourning after burial need not be observed, since they

184
 POWER AND DANGER

will not be injurious to the living. Otherwise, any dead

person, no matter how friendly or affectionate his attitude
while he was living, is a potential danger.
A ghost is the malignant part of a dead person. It re¬
turns to avenge some neglect or offense. If a corpse has
not been buried properly, if some of his belongings which
he wished interred with him have been held out, if not
enough animals have been killed at his grave, or if the
grave has been disturbed in any way, the ghost will re¬
turn to the burial place or to the former dwelling.
Ghosts appear after dark or just before the death of
some family member, in human form or as coyotes, owls,
mice, whirlwinds, spots of fire, or indefinite dark objects.
They are usually dark or black. They may change form
or size before one’s eyes or make recognizable sounds (as
of familiar birds or animals) and noises of movement.
Whistling in the dark is always evidence that a ghost is
near. Since ghosts appear only at night, adult Navahos
are afraid to go about in the dark alone, and all sorts of
night shapes and sounds are fearful.
Ghosts may chase people, jump upon them, tug their
clothes, or throw dirt upon them. Not only are their actions
frightening in themselves but they are omens of disaster
to come. When a Navaho thinks he has seen a ghost or
one appears in his dreams, he is sure that he or a relative
will die unless the proper ceremonial treatment is success¬
fully applied.
Both the type of experience with ghosts which is com¬
monly related among Navahos and the way in which chil¬
dren at boarding school interpret events there in terms of
the old beliefs are illustrated in this passage from an auto¬
biography.

One time I was sure scared. I was at school in Cali¬

fornia and two men were doing the shot put. And one
man got hit behind the ear and they took him to the
hospital. I sprained my ankle and every day I went to

185
 THE NAVAHO

the hospital and the next day I asked for him and they
said he is dead. And I said I want to see him so they
took me up. And I was surprised—he was lying there
with his eyes open and he didn’t look dead. Everyone
was sorry he was dead. He was our best football player.
He played quarter back. So we dressed him in his foot¬
ball clothes and took his picture and then we put him
in his citizen clothes and took his picture. We had a
funeral and we all marched and the band played slow
music. His bed was next to mine. We slept on a porch.
And I went to bed and pretty soon I heard someone
coming and then he opened the screen door. I didn’t
see his face. He came in and sat on the foot of that
boy’s bed. I reached for a flashlight under my pillow
and I turned it on and he had disappeared. Boy, I sure
was scared. I didn’t believe in those things before that
but I got out of bed and ran into the house where the
other boys were. And I told them. And then we heard
somebody coming another night. I was scared all right.
So they gave'me a bed upstairs and I was looking out
the window and I saw somebody coming a long ways
off. It was like something black and it came nearer. And
I turned my flashlight on him and there was nobody
there. The disciplinarian didn’t believe it and I said well
you go and sleep down there on the porch, so he did.
And that night he heard somebody coming and he sure
ran.
When I came home from school my father rode to¬
ward Perea one night and I was with my sister in the
hogan. Pretty soon we heard my father galloping toward
us and when he got to the door he fell off his horse
onto the ground and he lay there and didn’t know any¬
thing. So I got on the horse and I rode as fast as I
could to a medicine man over there [pointing] by the
mesa. And he didn’t stop to get a horse. He just took
his bundle and got on my horse and I rode behind him.
He had a hard time with my father. He sang most of

186
 POWER AND DANGER

the night before he got him conscious. The next day

my father said he was riding home and two black things
came after him. They were on each side of him. And
they rode down on him and one of them tried to get
his reins. He rode around dodging them and finally he
got away from them.

WITCHES

The Navahos believe that by witchcraft evil men and

women, acting separately or in a group, can obtain prop¬
erty and produce the illness or death of those whom they
hate. Like ghosts, these malevolent people are active
mainly at night. They often wear the hide of a coyote, a
wolf, or softie other animal. English-speaking Navahos
talk about them as “human wolves” or “Navaho wolves.”
They are ghouls, and they practice incest.
A witch may use four principal techniques against his
victims. He may feed them “corpse poison,” a preparation
made of powdered human flesh, or blow it in their faces.
He may utter spells, particularly over something closely
associated with the victims—nail parings or hair or a frag¬
ment of clothing—which the witch secretes in a grave. Or
he may magically shoot into the victims small objects,
especially something connected with corpses, like a bone
or a bit of ash from a hogan in which someone has died.
(This is commonly “diagnosed” by the presence of a small
bump on the head.) The fourth technique involves the
use of a narcotic plant and is said to be employed primarily
in seducing women, in gambling, and in trading. The prin¬
cipal symptoms manifested by the supposed victims are
fainting, “epileptic” seizures, sudden onset of pain, emacia-'
tion, or a sharp pain in a localized area with a lump or
other evidence of a foreign object there.
Witchcraft is a subject which most Navahos are un¬
willing to discuss, sometimes even to mention, before
whites. This is in part because they anticipate ridicule or
 THE NAVAHO

violent disapproval if they confess such a belief, in part

because of their own intrinsic fear and dislike of talking
about such an unpleasant subject. Consequently, some
whites live for years in the Navaho country with only a
vague awareness that Navahos suspect others as witches,
gossip about them, hold trials, and occasionally carry out
“executions.” Occasionally accounts of witch killings get
into the papers, like that near Fruitland, New Mexico, in
1942 when a man who thought witchcraft had caused the
death of his children killed four “witches” and then com¬
mitted suicide. Witchcraft belief is extraordinarily persist¬
ent. Navahos who seem to be completely “emancipated”
from other aspects of their religion will still show tremen¬
dous fear of witches, once a situation takes on a certain
coloring. •
Various plants and other substances are believed to af¬
ford protection against witches. Still stronger protection is
held to be afforded by possessing ceremonial knowledge
and power and by having frequent ceremonies held over
one. Curing is possible through certain ceremonials, when
the witchcraft has not gone too far. Special features may
also be added to help out victims of witchcraft. For ex¬
ample, if a person is convinced that he knows who the
witch-aggressor is, he may have performed over him the
Enemy Way ceremonial popularly called the “squaw
dance.” (See Chapter 7.) After the first night of chanting
over the patient in the ceremonial hogan, a group of
mounted Navahos ride off to another hogan some miles
distant. The Indian mounted on the fastest horse carries
a small bundle tied to a pole. If the patient thinks he has
been bewitched, this bundle contains something belonging
to the supposed witch (one of his hairs or a piece of his
hat which has absorbed his sweat, for example). Upon
reaching the second hogan this party is met by other
mounted Indians, and a mock battle takes place. The net
result of all this procedure is thought to be that the evil
will be turned away from the patient and back upon the

188

4
 POWER AND DANGER

witch. The Navaho theory under all circumstances is that

if the intended victim is too strong or too well protected
the witch’s evil backfires upon himself.
All ceremonial cures, if successful, are believed to cause
the death of the witch before long, and various deaths are
accounted for in this way. Some Navahos also believe that
witches are commonly struck down by lightning. When
public feeling is sufficiently aroused, the supposed witch
is made to confess, which ensures his “magical” death
within a year, or he is actually put to death, sometimes
by bloody and brutal means.
The following stories, told (in 1944) by a fifteen-year-
old school boy to the boys’ adviser in his school, are typical
of the tales about witches which are constantly circulating
around the Navaho country.

There is one of them down there towards those hills.

They cover themselves with a skin of a dog, or a bear.
They dig up the dead men, then they make them small
so that they can fit in the hand and take it home. Then
they sing and make the small dead man get big again.
Then they put something on that dries them up, and
they grind it up. Then they put the powder in a deer¬
skin bag and carry it with them even if they don’t have
their skin on. When they put this powder on you, you
die.
Last summer when I was herding sheep, I was by
myself and it was midnight. I saw a big dog standing
in the middle of the sheep so I took out the 440 [410
gauge shotgun, no doubt] and shot at him. I missed
him and hit a sheep on the other side. Then my sister
came and I went to the other side. I shot at him and
hit him this time right here [indicating his upper arm].
I saw him on top of one of the sheep, but when I hit
him he jumped up and ran away. . . . When I saw
the sheep, he had a cut on his neck this long [two
inches], but the sheep was still alive when I saw it in
 THE NAVAHO

the morning. Then the next morning, one man told me

that he was going to the sing and wanted me to go
with him. I didn’t go with him, but after he was gone I
went to the place he said the sing was. When I got
there, it was dark. I went into the hogan and sat in a
comer that was dark. I saw a man with some bandages
on his arm right here [indicating his upper arm]. I
asked his sister what was wrong with the man and she
said that he got his arm in the wheel of the wagon and
got it hurt. I knew that that was the man that I shot.
Another man told me last summer that he watched
where the Navaho Wolfs hold their meetings. They dig
a big hole, about this size [3 feet diameter] and dig it
for a long ways, almost over to that building there [30
yards] on the side of the mountain. He went inside and
found a curtain; when he crawled about five feet more,
there was another curtain. He went farther and passed
about five more curtains. Then the last curtain, he could
see through because it was thin. He saw about fourteen
men sitting in a circle, and five women, with no clothes
on. They were all singing, and there was a feather stand¬
ing up and moving like this [indicating an up and down
motion]. When the feather stands up like that, the Nav¬
aho Wolf who is out is all right but when the feather
falls down, then it means that the Navaho Wolf is dead.
When this man saw that, he went out and went about
one hundred feet and climbed a tree and waited for the
Wolf to come back. About five o’clock he came back,
and this man went back and told all of the Navahos
about it. They came back on horses, and made a big
circle. They waited for a long time, and when these
Navaho Wolfs came out, they got them and took them
to Shiprock and got $1,000 for them. They took them
with their skins.
Jack told us about a Navaho Wolf that he chased
when he was looking for his horse. He chased him down
about five miles, and then this wolf ran under a bridge.

190
 POWER AND DANGER

When Jack saw him he took his skin down to his pants,
and there was lines on the man. He told Jack to look
that way, but Jack did not look that way because when
a man looks that way, the Navaho Wolf takes out a
gun and shoots him. Then the Navaho Wolf told Jack
to come down to near Tohatchi where he lived, and
he would give him two hundred dollars, if he did not
tell anybody. Jack said that he wouldn’t tell nobody, but
he didn’t go. When you go far away, you get tired and
hungry, this Navaho Wolf will give you something to
eat; but you will die if you eat that because he puts
some powder on it. At the squaw dances you see some
Navahos with long hair in a knot in the back. These
are the ones that you have to be scared of.
The other night, like I told you, William see a man
come to the dormitory. He was about this small [4 feet],
and then he gets real big, then he gets small again. He
couldn’t hear his tracks. Then two nights passed and
another man came in, but he could hear his tracks. He
could hear when he shut the door.
If the Navaho Wolf catches you at the meeting, they
bring you inside and ask you if you want to learn or
die. If you want to learn, they bring you inside and
say, “Who do you want, your sister or brudder?” If you
say “brudder,” two days after that he will die. Then
they will send you after him, like they show you, and
you bring him back. It is like paying to learn, only you
don’t pay in money. You have to pay with your brudder
or sister.
The Navaho Wolf travels fast. Fast like the auto¬
mobile or horse. They live over near Chinle, but they
can come to Shiprock and go back in one night. Last
year there was a boy here at school whose name was
Albert. He died just about this time. His father was
caught, and he named Albert too. They took him to
Shiprock and he died there. [This boy died at the Ship-
rock Hospital on January 17, 1943, from complications

191
 THE NAVAHO

of a mastoid operation.] They brought him over here

and let everybody see him, but his brudders and sister
and father didn’t cry. Now the father is a Navaho Wolf.
The Navaho Wolfs are rich. The other day a teacher
asked how a man can get rich, and William or James
wrote on the blackboard, “Be a Navaho Wolf.” When
a Navaho Wolf unburies a dead man, he takes away
his silver belt and sells it at Farmington, or away over
at Phoenix. They don’t sell it to the traders near where
they dig up the man because the people know about it.
They sell it far away.

THE NAVAHO THEORY OF DISEASE

We have seen that the possible sources of fear are very

numerous. But what do all these dreaded things do to The
People? Although Navahos worry about property loss or
damage, their fears are primarily focused upon illness and
death. Either disease or an accidental injury may be due
to an attack by the Holy People, brought on by taboo
transgressions which are described in the following chap¬
ter. Or the symptoms may be evidence of “ghost sickness,”
caused by either native or foreign ghosts When there
does not seem to be sufficient background for either of
these explanations—as when an illness is persistent and
stubbornly refuses to yield to the usual Navaho treatment,
or when it is in any way mysterious from the Navaho
point of view—then witchcraft is apt to be assigned as the
cause.
Although The People distinguish between naalniih,
“disease” (mostly contagious infections like measles, small
pox, diphtheria, syphilis, gonorrhea) and the more gen¬
eralized tali honeesgai, “body fever” or “body ache” (often
translated by English-speaking Navahos as “sick all over”),
still all ailments, mental or physical, are of supernatural
origin. The notion of locating the cause of a disease in
physiological processes is foreign to Navaho thought. The

192
 POWER AND DANGER

cause of disease, of injury to the body or to one’s property,

of continued misfortune of any kind, must be traced back
to some accidental or dehberate violation of one of the
thou-shalt-nots (see Chapter 6), or to contact with a ghost,
or to witch activity. It follows logically that treatment
consists in dealing with these causative factors and not
with the illness or injury as such. The supematurals must
be appeased. If a visible sign of attack is present, it must
be removed, or the patient must be treated on the general
principle that he has been attacked by supematurals or
by supernatural means and that his supernatural relation¬
ships need to be restored to normal condition again. The
ultimate aim of every curing ceremonial is this restoration.
As Gladys Reichard has recently written:

The Navajo wants to be natural, to be good, to be

safe, well, and young . . . but he attains this ideal quite
practically. Any deviation from it represents disease,
which in turn makes the body abnormal.
The Navajo can take things as they come and often
tightens his belt but he also values possessions. If ritual
can give him a body which can enjoy wealth, it can also
give him wealth to enjoy.2

FOLK TALES AND MYTHS

The total body of The People’s oral literature is extremely

large. Many of the plots are familiar from other North
American Indian tribes, but the style, the phrasing, the
embroidery of incidents have their own local color and
special Navaho quality. The organization of stories tends
to be much looser and freer than is the case with the cor¬
responding stories among the Pueblo Indians. Throughout
there is humor, a delight in pirns, a tremendous interest in
places and place names, and great imaginative power.

193
 THE NAVAHO

FOLK TALES

Folk tales are secular in that, although things happen in

them which could never occur in ordinary life and are
hence part of the supernatural order of events, they are
told primarily for amusement and entertainment. The most
famous cycles are those of Trotting Coyote and of Tooth-
Gum Woman. They are full of levity and indeed of bawdi¬
ness. Except for this last element, the nearest equivalent in
English would be the Br’er Rabbit stories. They do often
point a moral, but the moral is taken rather lightly. Folk
tales have jione of the high seriousness of the myths which
explain the world and life, supply^authonfy"for all sorts of
everyday behavior, give the rationale of the ceremonials.

ORIGIN MYTH

The content of the origin myth or emergence story has al¬

ready been indicated in the section entitled “Beings and
Powers.” This myth is The People’s nearest analogue to the
Christian Bible. Just as the Bible is traditionally the book,
so also for The People this is the story.
Mythology is the response of man’s imagination to the
uncharted areas of human experience. Since the Navahos
have not rationalized their mythology into theology, there
are some inconsistencies among various versions of the
origin myth and between the origin myth and other myths.
Whatever the discrepancies, the origin myth still gives
definite form to many Navaho notions of things. It is also
the final warrant of authority for carrying out many acts,
ritual and secular, in prescribed ways.

RITE MYTHS

All ceremonial practice is based upon an accompanying

myth which tells how the rite started and how it should

194
 POWER AND DANGER

be carried out. The separate myths which justify each of

the many rites are usually connected in some way with
the origin myth. They are, as it were, separable episodes
which are primarily the private business of Singers who
learn the rite.
Knowing the full myth by heart is not an indispensable
prerequisite to practice, but such knowledge does give the
practitioner prestige and the right to expect higher fees.
Otherwise disparaging remarks are often heard: “Oh, he
doesn’t know the story,” or “He doesn’t know the story very
well yet.” Nevertheless treatment by a practitioner ignorant
of the myth is regarded as efficacious. Navahos are often
a little cynical about the variation in the myths. If some¬
one observes that one Singer did not carry out a procedure
exactly as did another (of perhaps greater repute), it will
often be said, “Well, he says his story is different.” Differ¬
ent forms of a rite myth do tend to prevail in different
sections of the Navaho country and in different localities
of the various sections.
Myths of the various rites are different, yet tend to share
a good deal. As Leland Wyman has recently written:

“As more Navaho myths are recorded the more ap¬

parent it becomes that the total mythology possesses a
somewhat limited number of episodes and incidents or
types thereof which recur over and again in the origin
legends of different chants. It is almost as in the con¬
struction of the chants themselves,' where a limited num¬
ber of types of ceremony are combined in various ways
and with various individual minutiae.”3

There is much fine ritual poetry in the rite myths, and

even the prose passages are often suffused with deep emo¬
tional feeling. Take this passage from the myth of the
Mountain Top Way chant:

But instead of looking south in the direction in which

he was going he looked to the north, the country in

195
 THE NAVAHO

which dwelt his people. Before him were the beautiful

peaks of dibenca with their forested slopes. The clouds
hung over the mountain, the showers of rain fell down
its sides, and all the country looked beautiful. And he
said to the land “ahalani” Greeting! and a feeling of
loneliness and homesickness came over him, and he wept
and sang this song:

That flowing water! That flowing water!

My mind wanders across it.
That broad water! That flowing water!
My mind wanders across it.
That old age water! That flowing water!
My mind wanders across it.4

MYTHS AND TALES IN DAILY LIFE

Parts of the origin myth are widely known. The episode in

which the Hero Twins slay the monsters, whose dried
blood forms the lava fields in the Navaho country, is known
to all The People. Other parts of this myth and some folk
tales are known, if only in outline, by practically all adult
Navahos. Men tend perhaps to know them in greater de¬
tail than women, but there are exceptions to this. Certain
tales or episodes are more current in some regions than in
others. In addition, there are special variants which are
handed down in family or clan lines. Indeed, each clan
has its own story which is attached to the end of the tribal
origin myth.
Both the origin myth and folk tales are commonly told
around family firesides in winter. Some individuals gain
great reputations as narrators, so that they attract audi¬
ences beyond the circle of their immediate families. Such
recitals serve the function of books in this society where
the printed word is only beginning to be of importance to
some of the younger tribesmen.

196
 POWER AND DANGER

THE FAMILY IN MYTH AND FOLKLORE

The picture of Navaho family relations presented above in

Chapter 3, which was based on observation of many in¬
dividuals, is confirmed at some points by standard features
of Navaho myths and tales. At other points, however,
myths give a picture of social relations that diverges from
what is seen in contemporary life. For example, the origin
myth places very little emphasis upon the determination
of residence and inheritance by the mother’s line. These
discrepancies may be due to the fact that the myth, at
least in part, has been borrowed from Pueblo tribes. Or
possibly Navaho culture has changed without a correspond¬
ing change in the mythology.
From the psychological point of view, however, the in¬
terpretations previously advanced receive considerable sup¬
port from the myths. Folklore must be presumed to origi¬
nate in the dreams and phantasies of individuals. But when
the product of one person’s imagination (as mingled with
and modified by the phantasy of other persons over a long
period) is taken over as a part of the mythology of a whole
group, the themes may confidently be assumed to corre¬
spond to widely current psychological situations.
The largely suppressed and repressed tensions between
brother and sister, for example, find an outlet in witch and
ghost stories. In a striking number of tales and myths, the
pursuer who catches a were-animal discovers that the
witch is really his own sister or brother. Another common
plot in myth and tale revolves around the incestuous at¬
traction between a brother and sister.
The uniformities in the myths of the curing ceremonials
are exceedingly revealing. The preoccupation with chil¬
dren is striking. Possibly this could be explained as a device
to interest and to educate children or as an unconscious
harking back to childhood glories on the part of adult
authors and narrators. But the amazing similarity in the

197
 THE NAVAHO

human situations dealt with makes another interpretation

more plausible. A family situation is always central in the
initial episodes. There is a neglected brother or a disobe¬
dient nephew or son or a wicked sister. The hero of the
tale is often the despised child who overcomes the indulged
child. In almost every case, the plot appears to be a sym¬
bolic resolution of characteristic intra-familial difficulties
among The People which must be repressed or suppressed
in actual childhood and life.
The story supplies relief through verbal expression for
the shocks and emotional wounds that occur during the
training of the Navaho child. That brother and sister are
the principal dramatis personae fits neatly alike with the
central conflicts in the Navaho child-training process (sur¬
rendering the breast and the position as favored child to a
younger brother or sister and at the same time coming
under the disciplinary authority of an older brother or
sister) and with the essentially inevitable tensions of adult
life.
The ways in which the myths describe the invention of
the curing rites and the relationship of the inventor to his
first patient suggest that the man who conducts a cere¬
monial is the psychological equivalent of an older relative
who forgives the patient for his or her guilty wishes. This
interpretation is borne out by the fact that the myths pre¬
scribe that a “medicine man” and his patient must be con¬
sidered ever thereafter to be related; they call each other
by kinship terms. The “medicine man” may never marry
anyone over whom he has sung; if he sings over his own
wife they must thenceforth behave to each other as close
relatives between whom any sexual contact would be
strictly forbidden.
Myths give to women a primarily nurturing and pro¬
tective role. Sim’s wife protects even the children of Chang¬
ing Woman, who are the proof of her husband’s faithless¬
ness. Men are portrayed as less dependable, now land,
now cruel: the Sun is a philanderer; the Hero Twins
 POWER AND DANGER

threaten even their mother if she will not tell them what
they want to find out. But Changing Woman is uniformly
trustworthy and gratifying. Upon only one point is she
obdurate—she refuses to change her residence.
The dominant image of women in the mythology ap¬
proaches that of Changing Woman. But there are women
of other types: shrewish First Woman; the quarrelsome
and lascivious women of the preemergence period whose
sins begot the dreadful monsters; the lewd Tooth-Gum
Woman of the folk tales. The interesting thing is that in
the myths the two kinds of female characters are sharply
separated. Women tend to be either unfailingly good or
completely bad, while men tend to be consistently mixed.
This mirrors rather exactly the concepts which Navahos
today have of the two sexes. The “official” view of women
is that they are the stable foundations of society. Under
normal circumstances a man will not think of making dis¬
paraging statements about his female relatives, and the
most that he will let slip against his wife is that “she scolds
too much.” But dreams and the wild recriminations of
drunken men and the pent-up fury released at long last
in a quarrel between a man and his wife or sister make it
plain that the evil women of myth and tale correspond to
a generally suppressed part of the conception of women in
real life. The image of woman, though mostly warm, posi¬
tive, and full of strength, also has a component of distrust
and even of hate which occasionally bursts forth. Is this
partly because the mother is the one who at first grants
everything but at the age of weaning denies, scolds, and
beats away the child who wants the breast? Men are al¬
ways a little undependable. The father is affectionate to
the child, but from the very beginning he comes and goes;
the child can never really count on his comfort. Man is
fickle—but is never thought to be otherwise. Woman is the
one who is either all bad or all good. She gives all or denies
all.

199
 6. THE SUPERNATURAL:
THINGS TO DO AND NOT TO DO

When one first studies Navaho religious belief and prac¬

tice, he thinks more than once that the Eskimos’ description
of their religion—“We do not believe; we fear”—would be
appropriate for the Navahos as well. As one grows more
familiar with The People’s ways of thinking and feeling,
however, he realizes that, although their religion points
out that the world is indeed a dangerous place, religious
activity is also a source of positive joys and confidence in
life. As suggested in Chapter 4, Navahos working away
from their kinfolk find it necessary to go home partly for a
renewal of the sense of security that the Sings and the great
chants bring. In this chapter we shall try to see how The
People deal with their dangerous world, what things Nav¬
ahos do in order to ward off danger and to place them¬
selves in harmony with the beings and powers which are
the source of danger and also of possible aid and benefit.
Some of this knowledge and some techniques are a part
of the daily life of all The People. Some of them are
esoteric, that is, known only to those who have had special
training. We shall begin with those things which every
Navaho does to safeguard himself and his family, and then
go on to those things which must be done, or at least
directed, by the smaller group of the esoterically initiated.

THOU SHALT NOT

A very high proportion of all the acts which arise out of
convictions about beings and powers are negative in char-

200
 THINGS TO DO AND NOT TO DO

acter. Thus lightning-struck trees must be avoided. Coy¬

otes, bears, snakes, and some kinds of birds must never be
killed. The eating of fish and of most water birds and ani¬
mals is forbidden, and raw meat is taboo. Navahos will
never cut a melon with the point of a knife. They never
comb their hair at night. No matter how crowded a hogan
may be with sleeping figures, no Navaho may step over
the recumbent body of another. Mother-in-law and son-
in-law must never look into each other’s eyes. Any kind of
sexual contact (even walking down the street or dancing
together) with members of the opposite sex of one’s own or '
one’s father’s clan is prohibited. Most technical processes
are hedged about with restrictions: the tanner dare not
leave the pole on which he scrapes hide standing upright;
the potter and the basket-maker work in isolation, observ¬
ing a bewildering variety of taboos; the weaver shares one
of these, the dread of final completion, so that a “spirit out¬
let” must always be left in the design. Let these few com¬
mon examples stand as representative of the literally
thousands of doings and sayings which are bahadzid, or ta¬
booed.
Most of these “superstitions” seem absurd to white per¬
sons, but we should not forget that superstition may be
well defined as “what your people believe and mine do
not.” White fears of sitting down thirteen to a table or of
starting a journey on Friday seem ridiculous to a Navaho.
It should also be remembered that Navaho fears which
seem unrealistic to whites are often connected with very
real danger. In a country where rattlers abound and light¬
ning kills livestock and humans and destroys dwellings
every summer, it is not unrealistic to fear snakes and light¬
ning. The connection between “realism” and “unrealism” in
the taboos is not complete—snakes, for example, are avoided
rather than killed—but the danger and the taboo may
nonetheless be connected.
Moreover, even though the practice of The People in
regard to taboos may seem absurd to white persons, a little

201
 THE NAVAHO

reflection shows that some taboos have practical values.

Coyotes eat prairie dogs that might otherwise ruin mead¬
ows and sown fields. The same may be said of snakes. The
taboo against destroying birds helps to control grasshoppers
and other insect pests. The outlawing of sexual rivalry
within a clan undoubtedly makes for clan solidarity. And
it does not seem a farfetched speculation to suggest that
preventing intimate contacts between sons-in-law and
mothers-in-law has socially useful consequences.JThisjdcies
not mean that Navahos at some past time sat down to talk
these matters over and made rational decisions about them.
It probably does mean that only those taboos which some¬
how have value will survive indefinitely.
Avoidances are intensified during critical periods in the
life of the individual. A pregnant woman is supposed to
observe an enormous number of taboos, and her husband
must share some of them lest his wife and unborn child
be injured. For the person who has just been a patient in
a curing rite, for the adolescent girl, for the menstruating
woman, the thou-shalt-nots of daily life are multiplied.
As we have already seen, Navaho fears and avoidance
reach a climax in the complex of beliefs and acts con¬
nected with death. It is believed that only witches will
go near places of burial. There is some avoidance of ut¬
tering even the names of dead people.

THOU SHALT

Navahos are brought up to fear many forces in the super¬

natural world, but they are also taught ways of coping
with them. In most cases, there are ways to effect a cure
after the threat has struck.
Every adult Navaho has “gall medicine,” a preparation
of the galls of various animals, which he takes as an
emetic if he fears that he has absorbed a witch’s “corpse
poison.” Everyone is particularly careful to carry a little
sack of gall medicine on his person when he goes into large

202
 THINGS TO DO AND NOT TO DO

gatherings of strangers. In the hogan will be kept plants

and other protectives against and remedies for witchcraft.
In buckskin pouches in every dwelling will be found herbs,
pollen, bits of turquoise and shell, tiny carved images of
sheep and horses.
The use of the pollen of com and other plants is very
important in maintaining the proper relationship to the
Holy People. In old-fashioned households the day still be¬
gins with the sprinkling of pollen from one of the little
bags and a brief murmured prayer. After the evening meal
the members of the family rub their limbs and say, “May I
be lively. May I be healthy.” More pollen may be offered
and a Blessing Way song sung.
The spectacular ceremonials so capture the imagination
that it is easy to forget that, for all their drama, they are
quantitatively but a small part of the ritual life of The
People. The daily routine of every member of the family is
tinged by ceremonial observances as well as avoidances.
The weaver uses songs and prayers. The tanner places a
turquoise or white shell bead on his pole in order to pro¬
tect his joints from becoming stiff. A squirrel’s tail should
be tied to a baby’s cradle so that the child will be pro¬
tected in case of a fall. Every family has a number of
“good luck songs” which are believed to bring protection
to family members and their property, to aid in the pro¬
duction of ample crops, and to secure increase of flocks
and herds. Such songs are regarded as important property
which a father or uncle may transmit to son or nephew.
The fundamental principles which underlie most Navaho
magical practices are those of “like produces like” and
“the part stands for the whole.” Take this illustration of
the first:

They say that a child who is bom in the summer can

be rolled in the snow early in the morning and then the
snow will disappear. Two years ago, when there was
deep snow up to our waists, our sheep and horses died

3203
 THE NAVAHO

and we were very hungry. My sister took her child and

rolled it in the snow.

The lore of dreams is complex and much discussed by

the folk, for most dreams are thought to have prognostic
value. A dream of anything sick or weak or deformed is a
cause for anxiety. If bad dreams keep coming, the hogan
will be tom down and a new one built some distance
away, because the bad dreams are supposed to come from
ghosts who are frequenting their old haunts and trying
to draw their relatives into ghostland with them.
There are many folk rites connected with travel. There
are songs for safe journey and for success on a trip under¬
taken for love-making or for trading. By the side of old
trails all over the country of The People, there can be
seen cairns three to five feet high made of stones, twigs,
bits of turquoise, and shell. These objects have been de¬
posited by individuals on a journey, uttering a prayer like
this:

Placing rocks, Male One.

Placing rocks, Female One.

Everywhere I go, myself

May I have luck.
Everywhere my close relatives go
May they have their luck.1

When Navahos go near sacred places they will visit the

shrines and leave offerings. Some shrines he on the summits
of mountain peaks; others are found deep in canyons, in
rock crevices, or by streams or springs. They are located
wherever events of great mythological significance are
thought to have occurred.
Many ritual practices are an everyday adjunct of agri¬
culture. Seeds are mixed with ground “mirage stone” and
treated in a variety of other ways. To prevent early frosts,
stones from the sweathouses are planted in the fields or at
the base of fruit trees. If the crop is being damaged by

204
 THINGS TO DO AND NOT TO DO

wind, the wind is called by its secret name and asked to

leave the com alone. Cutworms are placed on fragments
of pottery, sprinkled with pollen, and given other “magical”
treatment. When the harvest is stored, a stalk of com
having two ears is placed in the bottom of the storage pit
to ensure a healthy crop for the next year.
If there is a long dry spell, a rainmaker may be asked
to perform a ceremony of which this song is a part:

I usually walk where the rains fall

Below the east I walk
I being the Talking God
I usually walk where the rains fall
Within the dawn I walk
I usually walk where the rains fall (repeated after each
line)
Among the white corn I walk
Among the soft goods I walk
Among the collected water I walk
Among the pollen I walk
I usually walk where the rains fall

By means of the white com darkness is cast

As I walk where it usually rains (repeated after each line)
Over it dark clouds cast a shadow
Over it male rain casts a shadow
Among it zigzag lightning hangs suspended here and there
Among it straight lightning hangs suspended here and
there
Among it is a gentle spray of rain
Among it is the twittering of rain prairie dogs heard
At the tips of its tassels the twittering of the blue cere¬
monial bird is heard
At its base the whites of water are
As I walk where it usually rains
I being the good and everlasting one
It being pleasant in front of me
It being pleasant behind me

205
 THE NAVAHO

As I walk where it usually rains

As I walk where it usually rains2

At intervals while the com is growing the farmer should

go to his field, walk around and through it in a special
way, singing the appropriate song. At one stage the song
is this:

My com is arising
My com is continually arising
In the middle of the wide field
My com is arising
White Com Boy he is arising
With soft goods my com is arising
With hard goods my com is arising
Good and everlasting ones they are arising3

Not every Navaho farmer follows every one of these or

the hundreds of other negative or positive agricultural folk
rites which could be mentioned, but the writers have not
known any Navaho families who do not observe some
such simple rituals.
Another lay rite is that of the sweathouse. Men retire
there in groups to cleanse themselves, to refresh aching or
fatigued bodies, to engage in social conversation, and
to discuss serious matters of individual decision, or family
policy. However, the atmosphere is ritual. An invitation is
shouted to the Holy People to join in the bath. Before en¬
tering the sweathouse, each bather throws fresh dirt on the
roof to prevent poverty. The songs sung within are sacred
songs. Though formerly groups of women used to take
sweatbaths, the sweathouse is today in most Navaho areas
an exclusively male institution. It seems to represent,
among other things, a place of sanctuary from sex and
from female scolding or interference.

206
 THINGS TO DO AND NOT TO DO

RITES OF PASSAGE
v
One type of ceremonial participation is, in more than one
sense, midway between the rites engaged in by all laymen
and the more complex “priestly” ceremonials: the ritual
occasions which mark passage of a particular milestone in
the individual’s life career. While some of them require
the presence of a trained ceremonialist, they are relatively
simple in character, and all Navahos—not just those who
are “sick”—pass through them. (The rites attending a girl’s
puberty, marriage, and death are described in Chapter 3
of Children of The People, by Leighton and Kluckhohn,
Harvard University Press, 1947.)

BIRTH

The newborn infant is placed in the ceremonially defined

position. It is at first fed only pollen, a ceremonial food.
Naming the baby is a ritual act which may occur within
a few days after birth or not for several months. The in¬
fant’s first laugh is occasion for a ceremonial gift-giving.

INITIATION

Boys and girls are made recognized members of The Peo¬

ple and are introduced to full participation in ceremonial
life by a short initiation ceremony which usually occurs
on the next to the last night of a Night Way. This ceremony
and the whole of the Night Way are popularly known as
Yeibichai, from the principal figures in their initiation cere¬
mony, who represent yei divinities.
Two assistants of the “medicine man” wash their hair
with yucca suds and go into the ceremonial hogan, where
they undress and put on kilts reaching just above the knee,
ornaments of various kinds, skins, and the like. Wherever
their skin is exposed (on the arms, legs, stomach, and
chest), white clay is rubbed. One wears a black mask and

207
 THE NAVAHO

the other a white mask; they represent Grandfather of

the Monsters and Female Divinity. Each covers his mask
with a blanket and walks to a spot three hundred yards
or so away, where the participants in the initiation cere¬
mony are waiting. Here a fire is burning. Mothers have
brought their children and arranged them in a crescent
west of the fire, boys on the north, girls on the south. Each
child is covered by a blanket and is told not to look at the
“gods.” The mothers remain west of the children and the
men gather east of the fire. Much joking takes place among
the women and among the men.
The boys strip to the breechcloth. They are nervous and
self-conscious, frequently feeling for the breechcloth to see
that it is hanging properly and keeping their eyes on the
ground.
The first boy is led out beside the fire. The figure in the
white mask makes a mark on each shoulder with sacred
commeal. Each time he does this the figure in the black
mask utters a particular falsetto cry. Then, using a different
falsetto cry, the black-masked figure lightly strikes the
commeal marks with some reeds bound together. This is
repeated for other places on the body, and the one who
uses the reeds varies the time interval between touching
the boys and uttering his cry, so that its unexpectedness
causes the boys to start convulsively. The crowd laughs and
jokes over this. There are shouts for hard or light strokes
for particular boys, but the masked figure always grants
these requests in reverse.
The girls remain seated and clothed with their blankets
off. “Foreign” objects—such as store combs—are removed
from their persons. The figure with the black mask does
not use reeds for the girls, but instead he carries in each
hand an ear of com wrapped in spruce twigs. These he
presses simultaneously against the commeal marks.
When each child has been treated, the two personators
remove their masks and lay them on either side of the fire.
Each child in turn is given some pollen from the buckskin

208
 THINGS TO DO AND NOT TO DO

bag of the “medicine man.” The child is directed to sprinkle

the pollen on the masks and then to throw some on each
of the personators.
Then the one who wore the black mask places it over
the face of each child in turn. When he is certain that the
child can see through the mask, he gives his peculiar cry
and moves on to the next child. All the children are now
told to look up and always remember the Holy People. The
reversal of the masks is a very intelligent psychological act,
for it allows the child to see that the dread figure is actually
someone he knows, or at least a human being, and thus the
ritual is robbed of some of its terror. Perhaps too the re¬
versal gives the child a sense of the oneness of the Holy
People and the Earth Surface People. The ceremony closes
with the admonition to each child not to betray to unini¬
tiates what he has seen.
Theoretically this rite should be undergone at least four
different times by each individual, so that he has looked
upon four sets of masks, two by day and two by night, but
nowadays few persons under middle age have actually
completed this requirement. The age of first initiation var¬
ies with the accessibility of a Night Way, but initiates must
be at least seven and may be as old as twelve or thirteen.
At any ceremony, therefore, the persons being initiated
may range in age from as young as seven to middle life.

FINDING THINGS OUT

We pass now from those “religious” activities which every¬

one knows how to do to those which are esoteric, known
only by the gifted few. The simplest of these is divination.
Although diviners may be instructed in certain details of
their rites, they do not acquire the ability itself primarily
through long training, as do other Navaho ceremonialists.
It is a “gift” which suddenly descends upon them.
Disease, we have seen, is the result of violation of a taboo
or of attack by one of the Holy People, a ghost, or a witch.

209
 THE NAVAHO

But in a life where the possibilities of transgression and

attack are so multifarious, how is one to discover precisely
which possible cause needs to be treated? Sometimes the
case seems plain to The People. If one has been bold
enough to kill a bear or a snake (or has been under the
unfortunate necessity of having to do so) and subsequently
develops the symptoms of “bear sickness” or “snake sick¬
ness,” then both cause and cure are clearly indicated. More
often, however, the person who is ill is not sine which of
the many things he has left undone which he ought to have
done, or the things he has done which he ought not to have
done, is responsible. The cause is determined by divination.
Divination is also employed to locate property which
has been lost or stolen, to find water in unfamiliar terri¬
tory, to discover the whereabouts of persons, to determine
whether one’s wife has been guilty of adultery, and to pre¬
dict the outcome of a hunting party or (in the past) of
a war raid. In short, divination is the Navaho way of find¬
ing things out. But its greatest function is that of deter¬
mining the proper form of ceremonial activity to be em¬
ployed when any Navaho is in difficulties. By divination
the cause is discovered and the whole ritual treatment may
be prescribed: the precise ceremonial, the time, the right
practitioner to select.
Divination can be carried out through “listening,”
through stargazing, and through chewing a narcotic plant,
but today the form most frequently used is that of “hand¬
trembling. ’ The hand-trembler, like other ceremonialists, is
never sought out directly by the sick or troubled person.
This must be done by an intermediary, usually a member
of the patient’s immediate family, who offers a fee and
arranges a time.
When the hand-trembler arrives he sits down beside the
patient. Water is brought, and he washes his hands and
arms. He then takes pollen and, working from right to
left, puts it on the soles of the patient’s feet, his knees,
palms of the hands, breast, between his shoulders, on top

210
 THINGS TO DO AND NOT TO DO

of his head, and in his mouth. The motion with the pollen
is downward on the feet, knees, hands, and shoulders, up¬
ward on the back and breast. Next he seats himself about
three feet to the right of the patient, takes more pollen
and, beginning at a vein in the inside of his own right el¬
bow, follows it along the inside of the arm, passes over the
thumb and back to the starting place. Then from the start¬
ing place he runs pollen down to the tips of the index,
middle, ring, and little fingers. As he puts the pollen from
elbow to thumb he prays: “Black Gila Monster, I want
you to tell me what is wrong with this patient. Do not
hide anything from me. I am giving you a jet bead to tell
me what the illness of this patient is.” This prayer is then
repeated for each finger, substituting Blue Gila Monster
and turquoise bead for the index finger, Yellow Gila Mon¬
ster and Haliotis shell bead for the middle and ring fingers,
and White Gila Monster and white shell bead for the little
finger. The whole performance is repeated three more
times. While this takes place, no one may leave or enter
the hogan or walk around outside. All those present must
be quiet, and no dogs are allowed within.
Then a song invoking Gila Monster, “who gave the song
in the beginning,” is sung in four verses with variations in
the colors mentioned analogous to those in the prayers.
As soon as the hand-trembler begins to' sing, and sometimes
even before, his hand and arm begin to shake violently.
The way in which the hand moves as it shakes provides the
information sought.
This rite has been described in some (though by no
means complete) detail both because of its intrinsic in¬
terest and because it provides a simple introduction to re¬
current features of Navaho ceremonialism. The use of pol¬
len, of songs and prayers, of offerings of turquoise and
shells; the invocation of a particular supernatural; the as¬
sociation of colors and directions in symbolism; the insist¬
ence upon a carefully defined ritual order; four repetitions

211
 THE NAVAHO

—all these themes are part of the harmony of every

“priestly” rite, and indeed of most folk rituals as well.
In cases other than illness the ceremony is carried on
as described, except that no patient is present. When a
person is lost, some article of his clothing will be used by
the hand-trembler. It is said that the shaking hand will
lead the diviner to a thief, grasp him by the shoulder, and
shake him. If the thief has fled to a distant point, the Gila
Monster will tell the hand-trembler where he is hiding. If
the stolen goods have been hidden, if property has been
lost, or if water is sought, it is believed that the trembling
hand will lead to the right place.

THE WAY OF GOOD HOPE

The rite called Blessing Way is, as English-speaking Nava-

hos are wont to say, “for good hope.” In other words, it
places the Navahos in tune with the Holy People—partic¬
ularly Changing Woman—and so ensures health, prosper¬
ity, and general well-being. The expectant mother whose
pregnancy is proceeding perfectly normally will have Bless¬
ing Way sung over her a short time before birth is antici¬
pated. Navahos were given a Blessing Way by their fam¬
ilies before they left for the Army or when they returned on
furlough. There is a special Blessing Way for newly chosen
headmen. The songs sung in the girl’s puberty rite and in
marriage are from Blessing Way. Blessing Way is thus
precautionary, protecting, prophylactic—not a cure.
The People themselves say that Blessing Way, which is
the ceremonial held by the Holy People when they created
mankind and taught them skills and ritual, is the corner¬
stone of their whole ceremonial system. Changing Woman
gave some of the songs, and the rite in general is most in¬
timately connected with her. Father Berard Haile says the
“legends, songs, and prayers are chiefly concerned with the
creation and placement of the earth and sky, sun and moon,
sacred mountains and vegetation, the inner forms of these

212
 THINGS TO DO AND NOT TO DO

natural phenomena, the control of he- and she-rains, dark

clouds and mist, the inner forms of the cardinal points and
like phenomena that may be considered as harbingers of
blessing and happiness.”4
Blessing Way is given very frequently indeed. Seldom
does a family go for six months without having Blessing
Way sung at least once in their hogan. It is held to be
peculiarly important that every member of the immediate
biological family should be present. Despite the sacredness
of the ceremonial and the rich, complicated, and beautiful
ideas behind it, the rite has the dignity of great simplicity.
There are a few songs one night, a ritual bath in yucca
suds with prayers and songs the next day, an all-night sing¬
ing that night. Commeal and pollen are prominendy used
throughout, and drypaintings of these materials and pul¬
verized flower blossoms are sometimes prepared on buck¬
skin spread upon the ground. Only in Blessing Way is
Changing Woman ever represented in visible form in a
drypainting.

DRYPAINTINGS

Drypaintings are such a characteristic and so famous a

feature of Navaho ceremonials that they merit some discus¬
sion. Although “sandpain tings” is the familiar term, it is a
misleading one. In Blessing Way drypaintings, as just
pointed out, the background is of buckskin spread on the
ground and the designs are formed of vegetable materials
(pollen, meal, crushed flowers). In the curing chants, too,
the background is occasionally of buckskin, and the designs
are made of charcoal and pulverized minerals—not sand at
all in the strict sense. At most, sand forms the background
of the drypaintings.
More than five hundred different drypaintings have been
recorded, and there is every reason to believe that many
others exist. Some are miniatures only a foot or two in
diameter; others are so large—twenty feet or more in di-

213
 THE NAVAHO

ameter—that they can be made only in specially con¬

structed hogans. The small ones can be made by two or
three people in less than an hour. The largest ones require
the work of fifteen men during most of a day. Each dry¬
painting is linked to a particular ceremonial, and the myth
prescribes the design and the manner of making the paint¬
ing. When only an excerpt from a ceremonial is given, only
a single drypainting may be made, but a full performance
ordinarily calls for a set of four on successive days. When
the ceremonial to be used on any given occasion has been
decided upon, the Singer consults with the patient and his
family and selects from the various drypaintings prescribed
for this ceremonial those four that seem most appropriate
to the illness and the assumed cause.
Drypaintings are, on occasion, made out of doors, but
usually they are made within the hogan where the cere¬
monial is carried out. Most of them are appropriate to the
daytime, but a few are created after dark. Before the dry¬
painting proper begins, charcoal and minerals are ground
and placed in bark receptacles. Clean light-colored wind¬
blown sand is carried into the lodge and spread over the
floor in an even layer from one to three inches thick. On
this background the Singer and his assistants kneel or sit
to create the design. Colors vary, but the four principal
hues—white, blue, yellow, and black—are always present.
These colors have symbolic associations with the directions,
which vary with the ritual. Most of the color is laid on with
the right hand of the artist, who holds the coloring matter
against his palm with his closed fingers and lets it trickle
out through the aperture between the thumb and flexed
index finger. Some parts of the picture are measured by
palms and spans; others are drawn freely. Straight lines
of any length are made by snapping a cotton string held by
two persons. The picture is smoothed off at intervals with
the wooden batten used in weaving. Errors are not rubbed
out but covered over with the neutral shade of the back¬
ground. Since the design must not be disturbed, the paint-

214
 THINGS TO DO AND NOT TO DO

ers work from the center out, sunwise from left to right.
Designs represent the stories of the Holy People or ab¬
stractions of sacred powers. The eight chief figures among
the Holy People, other mythological personages such as
Big Fly and Com Beetle, the four sacred plants (com,
beans, squash, and tobacco), other plants such as cactus,
stars, lightning, animals of the mountains, the bluebird
(symbol of happiness), the Gila Monster and other reptiles,
and the sacred arrows or flints often appear in one or
more of the four paintings. Frequently the rainbow sur¬
rounds the picture on all sides but the east, to protect it
from evil influences.
Drypaintings are indeed a form of art, often intricate
and strikingly beautiful in color and design, but they are
not used as forms of self-expression. The pattern is handed
down in memory from one Singer and his assistants to
others, and the variations permissible to the individual
painter are few and minor, like the design or coloring of
the kilts of the holy figures. These highly stylized paintings
serve, in somewhat the fashion of medieval glass painting,
to make visible and concrete the holy figures and religious
concepts of The People. Unlike the windows, they are of
only temporary use in connecting gods and men. This use
is almost invariably centered in the curing of the sick or
the disturbed, as described below in the section on “Cur¬
ing Chants.”

NAVAHO CEREMONIAL MUSIC

The range and complexity of Navaho music are not ap¬

parent to white persons, who usually attend only the
“squaw dances.” (See pp. 222, 228—229 below.) Even
these songs require considerable knowledge and study on
the part of the hearer if their intricate rhythms and subtle
tonal variations are to be appreciated. The verbal im¬
provisations which are a feature of these and other Navaho
 THE NAVAHO

songs demand quick wit and skill in meeting prosodical

requirements.
Helen Roberts provides the following brief technical ac¬
count of Navaho music:

... a falsetto . . . together with rapid, pulsing,

bounding movement, and restless, beautiful melodies
with predominant major triad intervals, may be said to
characterize many Navaho tunes. In the most beautiful
style (which may be heard in the songs of the Yeibichai
ceremony), . . . the dominant, speaking in terms of a
major diatonic scale, is particularly prominent. It fre¬
quently serves as the upper and lower tonal limits, and
ground tone, but is associated principally with the tonic
and third, rather than with the fourth, second and tonic,
as in so much Plains music. These particular Navaho
melodies tend to employ even wider intervals than Plains
times, displaying almost acrobatic feats in bounding
back and forth between octaves, while the continual
downtrend, so conspicuous in the Plains, is here counter¬
acted by the bold upward leaps. Falsetto, prominent in
Navaho music, is rather rare in American Indian music
as a whole.5

Some songs have as much as an octave range, but many

are limited to four or five notes with the melody weaving
back and forth between the high and low tones. Half¬
tones and minor tonalities are unusually arranged so that
it is difficult to reproduce Navaho music accurately upon
a piano or keyed instrument. Where falsetto tones are
used, they are primarily an embellishment rather than an
essential feature of the melody.
Rhythmic patterns are more complicated than tonal pat¬
terns. So involved are the changes of time within a single
song that the white listener does not catch them or be¬
comes confused. But the charm of Navaho music consists
in these subtle variations more than in any other single
feature.

216
 THINGS TO DO AND NOT TO DO

While Navaho music gives more room for individual

exhibitionism than does Pueblo music, there are no soloists
in the white sense. A Singer will render alone certain pas¬
sages which no one else present knows. An individual’s
voice may stand out for a moment at a “squaw dance”
while he introduces a new song or variation. But in such
cases the individuals are acting as song leaders—not as
soloists. The song leader’s task is that of setting the pitch
and tempo and of keeping the group in unison.
Those who are interested in hearing Navaho music will
find certain songs from the Night Chant and the “squaw
dance” recorded by Laura Bolton in the Victor series called
Indian Music of the Southwest.

CURING CHANTS

All chants are curing ceremonials. The chant is given for

a patient, and there may be one or more co-patients. There
are a large number of distinct chants with innumerable
variants, special features, and added ceremonies. The
choice of a chant and its specialties is determined by the
assumed cause of the trouble (as revealed in divination
or as thought to be known from personal experience), by
the ability of the patient’s family to pay, and by the availa¬
bility of a Singer. Most chants have two- or three-night
forms and five-night forms. There are also short excerpts
which may be tried out on the sick person. Separate parts
of the chant may be given independently or, more often,
two or three may be combined in a rite lasting only a
portion of a day or night. If such a brief trial brings some
improvement but not a complete cure, the whole chant
will then be sung. This should be given a total of four
times, usually in alternate five-night and two-night forms.
Repetition of the performances may be delayed over many
years but should eventually be completed.
A Navaho chant is a framework into which are fitted
more or less discrete units (“ceremonies” and “acts and

217
 THE NAVAHO

procedures”) either as dictated by fixed associations or in

accord with the practice of individual Singers, the wishes
of the patient or patient’s family, the precise nature of the
“illness,” or other circumstances. The same units are used
over and over again in different chants, sometimes with
slight modifications. Similarly, while each chant has some
distinctive items of equipment, much of the inventory is
common to all, or most, chants. There is almost always
some kind of a rattle. The Singer or one of his helpers
generally uses the “bullroarer” or “groaning stick,” a piece
of wood from a lightning-struck tree, inlaid with turquoise
and abalone shell to give it features, and so shaped that it
will make a roaring sound when swung on the end of a
buckskin thong. When it is twirled, this device, which was
given to the Navahos by the Lightning People, makes a
sound like thunder. There are always vessels for adminis¬
tering medicines, the minerals used for paints and in dry-
paintings, various aromatic substances which are burned
in the “incense” or “fumigant,” and pollen, precious stones,
and bits of shell used for offering and for tying as a token
in the patient’s hair, so that afterwards the supematurals
will recognize him as one of their own. The possible com¬
binations and permutations of uses of equipment into acts
and procedures, of the order and juxtaposition of acts and
procedures into ceremonies, and of the combination • of
ceremonies into chants have few limitations other than the
ingenuity of practitioners. Definite innovations (in the sense
of new paraphernalia or new rites), however, although
they occur, are viewed with disapproval by the orthodox
and only gradually become accepted after their use has
had favorable results.
Each chant claims some songs, prayers, and herbal
medicines as peculiarly its own. But the greater proportion
are shared with one or more other chants or chant groups.
Such ceremonies as those of the sweatbath and emetic,
the making of prayersticks, the ceremonial bath in yucca
suds, the consecration of the hogan, and singing through-

218
 THINGS TO DO AND NOT TO DO

out the final night are common to most chants. Some pro¬
cedures (such as ash-blowing) and ceremonies (such as
that of the big hoop, unraveling, arrow-shooting) are more
restricted in their appearance. Only a few chants, like
Night Way and Mountain Top Way, make provision for
public dances (such as the “Yeibichai” and the “fire
dance”) or exhibitions.
One ceremony which occurs in most Holy Way and
Evil Way chants is that of the drypainting. The making
and the meaning of drypaintings have been described in a
preceding section of this chapter. Here it is appropriate
to indicate their use in the curing chants. Regardless of
which painting is made or of the particular chant being
carried out, the basic procedure is standard. When the
painting has been completed to the accompaniment of
song and prayer, the patient sits upon it in ceremonially
dictated fashion and the treatment begins. The Singer gives
the patient an infusion of herbs to drink. He touches the
feet of a figure in the painting and then the patient’s feet,
saying, “May his feet be well. His feet restore unto him.”
In turn he presses his hands upon the knees, hands, shoul¬
ders, breast, back, and head of the figure and the patient,
praying for the restoration of each member. When the
treatment is finished and the patient has gone outside, the
painting is destroyed bit by bit in the order in which it
was made. The sand is swept up and carried out to the
north of the hogan. When the last picture has been com¬
pleted and the patient treated in this fashion, his relatives
may walk in ceremonial fashion across the painting, tread¬
ing where the holy figures have trod. Thus not only the
sick man but the family as well have come into close com¬
munion with the Holy People, and all those present have
seen their power.
In all chants there is great stress on the idea of purifica¬
tion. The patient, the Singer, all the central participants
must preserve sexual continence. There are restrictions on
sleeping and on the places of urinating and defecating.

219
 THE NAVAHO

There is an insistence on “clean thinking” and serious de¬

meanor. The suds bath, the sweatbath, the use of emetics
are all based upon this idea, which is one of the most
central notions in Navaho thinking. It has been impressed
on Navahos from youth, when as growing boys they were
told that if they did not take purgatives, emetics, and
sweatbaths from time to time, “the first thing that came
along would kill them because their systems were filled
with ugly things that they should have gotten rid of: they
would be quick-tempered, have weak minds, be unable
to stand life’s hardships and therefore disgrace their
families.”6
Navaho chants fall into a number of groups, differen¬
tiated on the basis of mythological association, common
rituals, direction against the same or related etiological
factors. Thus the Holy Way group of chants deals with
troubles which have been traced to lightning, thunder,
the winds, snakes, various animals, and other Holy People.
If snakes have been offended, Beauty Way is a likely
choice from this group of chants, whereas one of the Shoot¬
ing Way chants is preferred if lightning or thunder is
responsible—though these are also used on occasion for
“snake sickness.” Mountain Top Way is the treatment par
excellence for troubles which are believed to have arisen
from contact with bears.
Life Way chants are employed in case of bodily in¬
juries. In all of them “life medicine” is administered. Their
duration is not fixed as in the case of other chants. The
ceremonial continues until relief occurs or until that par¬
ticular form of treatment is given up as useless.
Evil Way chants are used in curing “ghost sickness.”
Sickness caused by native ghosts is treated by Moving Up
Way and by the Evil Way forms of Shooting Way, Red
Ant Way, and others. Sickness arising from molestation
by the ghosts of foreigners is treated by Enemy Way,
one of the rites formerly used in connection with war but
now known to whites as the “squaw dance.”

220
 THINGS TO DO AND NOT TO DO

All chants are so powerful they are fraught with po¬

tentialities of harm as well as of help. Mistakes either by
the patient or by practitioners are dangerous to all con¬
cerned. If the Singer has, by an error, endangered those
for whom he has assumed responsibility, there are formu¬
las for correction. The whole concept is thus rather me¬
chanical. It is not that the divinities are angered and
punish the offenders. Rather, the whole system works
automatically according to ineluctable rules. Just as the
volition of a divinity is hardly thought of as being in¬
volved in the fulfillment of a petition, so also volition is
not conceived as causing slips in ritual.
The Navaho notion is that the universe works accord¬
ing to rules. If one can discover the rules and follow them,
he may remain safe or be restored to safety—and more. The
divinities must themselves bow to the compulsion of ritual
formulas. The prayers are usually regarded as the most
powerful features of a chant. Reichard describes their emo¬
tional tone thus:

He [the one offering the prayerl does not “count past

blessings,” nor does he give thanks in prayer. Thanks
are not compulsive; all the words of a prayer are. Morti¬
fication and humility, opposites of gratitude, are simi¬
larly absent. The Navajo is never better than he thinks
he is. It would be suicidal to humble himself before his
deities for, if he did, why should they identify them¬
selves with him? He does not ask pity, he uses the
compulsive technique learned from the gods themselves.
Since he never humiliates himself he need not give
thanks for the protection or blessings he has re¬
ceived . . . He bows to acknowledge a power superior
to his, to recognize defeat not victory.7

221
 THE NAVAHO

OTHER RITES

There are minor priestly rites as well as ones of common

knowledge for salt-gathering, for trading with foreigners,
for gambling. The hunting rites were complex but now,
for obvious reasons, are falling into disuse. Deer, antelope,
mountain lion, and bear could be hunted only in cere¬
monial fashion. These rites, like some of the war rites,
are continued to some extent with new functions—to pre¬
vent or control epidemics, for example.
For victims of witchcraft the treatment most highly
valued is one of the several prayer ceremonials. For four
days, long prayers are said without singing. There may
be the ceremony of the bath, and drypaintings may be
made on buckskin.
Enemy Way, though used as a curing ceremonial, has
probably enjoyed its continual popularity because of one
associated feature, the “squaw dance.” The social aspects
of this dance will be discussed later, but here it should
be pointed out that the curative functions of Enemy Way
are in demand for those who, according to the diviner,
have received their sickness from non-Navahos. In the old
days the prime purpose was to protect warriors from the
ghost sickness threatened by ghosts of enemies they had
slain. Today the patients are often those who have mar¬
ried into other Indian tribes or have used white prostitutes
in Gallup or some other town. Sometimes men or women
who have worked in the laundries at Indian agencies,
where they handle clothes of white people and of sick
people, are advised to have this rite. While whites are
often permitted to watch chants in progress, the strictly
ritual parts of Enemy Way are almost invariably closed
to them. And even though white men are often invited
to participate in the “squaw dance” and whites attend
this feature more frequently than any other Navaho cere¬
monial occasion, still an aroma of anti-white feeling is

222
 THINGS TO DO AND NOT TO DO

characteristic of the less apparent emotional atmosphere

of the Navaho crowd in attendance upon Enemy Way.
Enemy Way has never died out among The People.
Most of the other war ceremonials had practically gone
out of use before World War II, but since 1941 a number
of them have been revived. It is interesting to note certain
strange combinations of old Navaho war ceremonials with
bits of other rites and even elements of Christian practice.
These revived and combined rites were used to assure
the safety of Navaho men in the armed forces. One such
ceremonial was held in May 1944 for the well-being of
150 service men, Navahos working in war industries, and
members of the Allied armies. Before the ritual began,
photographs of the service men for whom the ceremonial
was held were piled up in front of the “medicine man.”
This man, a famous Singer, sang ancient war songs, and
Christian Navahos were encouraged to add their prayers
to the tribal chants. After the all-night ritual, prayer feath¬
ers adorned with turquoise were planted to help assure
the warriors’ safe return.8

223
 7. THE MEANING OF
THE SUPERNATURAL

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL ASPECTS

OF CEREMONIALS

THE COST IN TIME

There is good evidence that ceremonials are being per¬

formed now more frequently than for many years. This
is undoubtedly due in part to the fact that there is more
money on the Reservation because of the availability of
more jobs for Navahos at higher wages. Without doubt,
however, The People’s sense of crisis in their economy and
their consequent irritability with both whites and their
fellow tribesmen also lead them to spend more time in
ceremonials. Indeed, in some areas where the facts are
known, this heightened participation goes back to the de¬
pression years and is almost certainly connected with worry
and unrest resulting from white pressure. The following
data on individual participation in curing rites are from
the immediate prewar period and are thus fairly repre¬
sentative for at least the past decade.
In how many ceremonials has the average individual
been a patient during his lifetime? A careful investigation
among the Navahos around Ramah shows that the varia¬
tion among individuals is enormous. One old woman, who
was perpetually ailing, had spent nearly 500 days in curing
rites, keeping both her immediate and extended families
almost continually bankrupt. One of the Singers, on the
other hand, had had ceremonials held over him for only

224
 MEANING OF THE SUPERNATURAL

37 days of his life. And one man—presumably about fifty

years old—had had but a single three-night ceremonial.
Extensive interviewing failed to reveal a single individual
over thirty who had not been the patient in at least one
ceremonial. Rather typical are the cases of a man and a
woman past sixty who were neither rich nor poor by the
standards of this community. The woman had spent 83
days as the patient in ceremonials (women are rather
more frequently patients than men); the man, 71 days.
These represent roughly the mode of about fifty case his¬
tories of older people, making allowance for age differ¬
ences. On the other hand, fully half of those under thirty
had never been “sung over.”
Of all adult Navaho men past the age of thirty-five to¬
day, probably one out of every five or six can do divina¬
tion or conduct Blessing Way, a chant, or some other rite.
Many women are diviners, too, and a few women know
other rites. Most Navahos know how to dance in the
“squaw dance” or in the dances which close some of the
great chants. They also know how to gather plant medi¬
cines properly and how to prepare ceremonial foods. All
adult men and some women can help with a drypainting
and with the singing at a ceremonial.
The amount of time which The People give to ritual
activities includes the periods they spend as patients,
helpers, and spectators; their trips to summon ceremonial-
ists and to gather plants and other materials; the extra
chores in preparing food for practitioners and guests and
in hauling larger supplies of water and firewood than
usual. Study in the Ramah area indicates that adult men
give one-fourth to one-third of their productive time to
activities connected with the “priestly” rites; women, one-
fifth to one-sixth. This is undoubtedly a higher proportion
of time than most white people give to the church, the
theatre, and the doctor combined, and it is excellent evi¬
dence of the importance of their religion to the Navahos.

225
 THE NAVAHO

THE COST IN MONEY

The values which Navahos derive from ceremonials are

literally bought and paid for. A fee is always paid to the
Singer, even if he is the patient’s own father; otherwise
the rite might not be effective. A Singer receives any¬
where from five to five hundred dollars in cash or kind for
each ceremony. The fee varies with his reputation, the
rarity of the ceremonial knowledge involved, the time
spent and the distance traveled for the ceremony, and the
degree of his relationship to the patient. In addition to
fees for conducting ceremonies, a Singer may make and
sell ceremonial equipment, and he claims “royalties” on
the initial performances of Singers whom he has trained.
For most ceremonialists this income is merely a valued
supplement to earnings in secular occupations, but a fa¬
mous Singer earns enough not only to support his imme¬
diate family in comparative luxury but also to help out
many other relatives. This route to affluence is recognized
by The People, and a bright boy with a better-than-
average memory is encouraged to apprentice himself to a
well-known Singer.
The other ceremonialists besides the Singer are also paid
for their services. Those who help with an all-night singing
or assist in the bath ceremony or other rites receive gifts
of calico, baskets, and the like. Others receive their recom¬
pense through the fact that this is part of their training as
ceremonialists. Herbalists are paid for the plants they
gather, and some rare plants bring quite high prices.
Diviners may receive a sheep or a piece of jewelry or cash;
the money value of their services ranges from as little as
two dollars to as much as twenty.
The fees and gifts to the officiating personnel are but
part of the financial burden on the patient’s family. Baskets,
buckskins, herbs, and other equipment must be purchased.
All who attend must be fed. Sometimes, on the final night

226
 MEANING OF THE SUPERNATURAL

of one of the great chants, several thousand spectators

must be provided with bread, mutton, and coffee.
All ceremonials, therefore, are costly, and some are very
expensive indeed. Consequently, poor or only moderately
prosperous families are sometimes rendered bankrupt by
the need to provide a succession of ceremonials for ailing
family members, despite the fact that all family members
are obligated to share the cost. So strong is this pressure
that, if a man does not help to pay the expenses of a cere¬
monial for a brother or sister, his refusal is taken as sure
proof that he is engaged in witchcraft.
Other obligations to hold ceremonials are strongly felt.
Social pressure is put upon the rich to give expensive
chants even when no one in their families is obviously ill.
Otherwise they are ridiculed as stingy and mean. Thus the
system works as a kind of economic leveler: when the rich
man has given fifty sheep to a Singer and slaughtered an¬
other two hundred to feed the spectators, the economic
difference between him and his neighbors is lessened.
Averages of amounts spent for ceremonials are deceptive
in that they tend to obscure the great variation from fam¬
ily to family. Still it is instructive to know that in the
Ramah area, on the average, 20 per cent of total family
income goes into “religion.”
We cannot follow out all of the interconnections between
the “economic” and the “religious” systems, but it is worth
while to point out that the seasons when ceremonials are
held are those when time and money are free. While
most chants can be held at any time of year, the curing
ceremonials which draw the great crowds (Enemy Way,
Night Way, Mountain Top Way) are held almost exclu¬
sively, in fact if not in theory, during a few months of
the year. Enemy Way is almost never given except after
the busy time of lambing, planting, and shearing is over
and before the heavy work of harvest and getting lambs
to market. Night Way and Mountain Top Way cannot be
given until after the first killing frost, but in practice per-

2,2.7
 THE NAVAHO

formances are virtually limited to November and De¬

cember. That is, they follow the season of harvest and
lamb sales. In short, both types of popular rite follow
periods of intensive economic activity when cash and credit
are readiest; they offer change and emotional release be¬
fore settling back into the humdrum of ordinary existence.

COOPERATION AND RECIPROCITY

A rite calls into action the immediate social organization

around the patient. To carry it out properly, the help of
many persons is needed: to pay the Singer and his assist¬
ants; to gather the plants and other materials; and to
carry on the subsidiary activities of preparing food, main¬
taining the fire or fires, and providing water. The whole
system is, of course, founded upon expected reciprocities.
A woman helps her sister with the cooking when the sister’s
daughter is having the girl’s puberty rite, but she will ex¬
pect similar assistance a month later when her husband is
having a Life Way chant to cure a sprain caused by be¬
ing thrown from a horse.

social functions: the “squaw dance”

AS AN EXAMPLE

All Navaho rites have secondary social functions. People

are drawn to them not only because they wish to acquire
“religious” benefits or because they are under pressure to
assist; they come also because the rite offers a chance to
see and be seen, to talk and to listen. Increasingly, it must
be admitted, ceremonial gatherings are occasions for drink¬
ing and violent behavior. This tendency is deplored by
most Singers.
In no ceremonial do these secondary motivations loom
so large as in Enemy Way. The Girls’ Dance (“squaw
dance”), at which marriageable girls ask young men to
dance, was once only an incidental element in this cere-

228
 MEANING OF THE SUPERNATURAL

monial, but today it is the chief attraction for the great

crowds which invariably attend. Most of the girls who
dance are brought there to announce the fact that they
have recently become, or still are, of the right age to
marry. Young men come to sing and to hear the singing,
and to look over the girls. The crowds gather to watch
this public dance each night of the ceremonial and to en¬
joy the accompanying “sway-singing” of the men, which
frequently embodies Rabelaisian quips at the expense of
participants and bystanders.
The dance also has its serious side. The parallel to the
debutante ball in white society is inescapable. Everyone—
particularly members of families who are considering a
marriage alliance—dresses as well as possible and appears
with his best horse, wagon, or automobile. Putting up a
front through borrowed jewelry and other finery is not
unknown. Navaho mothers, a trifle franker than is usual
among whites, literally push their daughters after a
“catch,” saying: “Go ask that boy. His mother has two
thousand sheep.” At last even the shyest girl is induced
to choose a man, and the dance goes on until morning.

WHAT MYTHS AND RITES DO

FOR THE INDIVIDUAL

PRESTIGE AND PERSONAE EXPRESSION

Skill in all the ceremonial arts—singing, dancing, making

drypaintings, telling stories—is highly valued by The Peo¬
ple. Experts are richly rewarded in prestige as well as
money, and not without reason. Prodigious memory is de¬
manded of the ceremonialist. The Singer who knows one
nine-night chant must learn at least as much as a man who
sets out to memorize the whole of a Wagnerian opera:
orchestral score, every vocal part, all the details of the set¬
tings, stage business, and each requirement of costume.

229
 THE NAVAHO

Some Singers know three or more long chants, as well as

various minor rites.
But ceremonial life gives opportunity for personal ex¬
pression to more than the small group of Singers. Lay folk
can show their skill in dancing and singing and in making
drypaintings. They can win plaudits for their adroitness in
helping with the tricks and other “vaudeville acts” which
make up a great part of the public performance on the
final night of Mountain Top Way. They can show off their
good memory and oratorical skill in telling myths.
The giving of a rite—particularly an elaborate one—also
confers prestige. It shows not only that the family are do¬
ing their duty by one of their number but that they have
the wherewithal to pay for it. Hence rites are sometimes
given primarily as gestures of affluence rather than be¬
cause some one of the family is really ill or disturbed.
They seem to be the Navaho form of conspicuous spend¬
ing. To give an unusual ceremonial with elaborate equip¬
ment—to summon a famous Singer and invite guests from
miles away—is perhaps the best way for a family to show
the world that they have “arrived.” The analogous situa¬
tion in white society is the trip to a distant and expensive
specialist when tire patient is really not very ill so far as
anyone else can see; such a trip confers greater prestige
than consulting the local doctor.

CURING

It is difficult for many white people to understand why,

when the resources of white medicine are available to
Navahos in government hospitals and dispensaries, The
People continue to patronize “ignorant medicine men.”
The answer is that native practice brings good results—in
many cases as good as those of a white physician or hos¬
pital. Admittedly there are types of ailments which must
be made much worse by the Singer’s treatment. On the
other hand, the evidence is good that individuals who ob-

230
 MEANING OF THE SUPERNATURAL

tained no relief from white medicine have been cured by

chants.
Some of the help which “sings” give has a perfectly
straightforward physical explanation. Massage and heat
treatments may be expected to bring the results which
white physiotherapy sometimes does. The sweatbath and
the yucca root bath probably have effects on the nervous
system in some ways similar to those of hydrotherapy. It
is possible that some of the herbal concoctions have
therapeutic properties.
But there can be no doubt that the main effects are
“psychological.” There is nothing too mysterious about
this. Skillful physicians have long known that the will to
get well, the belief that one is going to recover, and other
attitudes can be more than half the battle. Moreover, the
fact that many “physical” disabilities have “psychic” causes
is being increasingly recognized.
In the hospital a Navaho is lonely and homesick, living
by a strange routine and eating unfamiliar foods. Illness
often gives the sufferer the suspicion that he is disliked or
unprotected. During the chant the patient feels himself
personally (rather than impersonally) being succored and
loved, for his relatives are spending their substance to get
him cured, and they are rallying round to aid in the cere¬
monial.
Then there is the prestige and authority of the Singer
assuring the patient that he will recover. In his capacity
as Singer, gifted with the learning of the Holy People, he
is more than a mortal and at times becomes identified with
the supematurals, speaking in their voices and telling the
hearers that all is well. The prestige, mysticism, and power
of the ceremonial itself are active, coming directly from
the supernatural powers that build up the growing earth in
spring, drench it with rain, or tear it apart with lightning.
In the height of the chant the patient himself becomes
one of the Holy People, puts his feet in their ihoccasins,
and breathes in the strength of the sun. He comes into

231
 THE NAVAHO

complete harmony with the universe and must of course

be free of all ills and evil. Finally, it is very likely that he
has seen the ceremonial work with others and may have
had it before himself; in this case there will be an upswing
of reawakened memories, like old melodies bearing him on
emotional waves to feelings of security.
As well as this powerful reassurance, occiapation and
diversion are supplied to the patient. He has the sense of
doing something about a misfortune which otherwise
might leave him in the misery of feeling completely help¬
less. Although he does not himself actually carry out most
of the necessary preparations, his mind is full of the things
that have to be done. Arrangements must be made for
paying the Singer and getting the food supplies together
to feed all who come. Ritual material has to be gathered
and people have to be found who will do it. During the
actual ceremonial the patient’s thoughts are busy follow¬
ing the Singer’s instructions, pondering over the implica¬
tions in the songs and prayers, the speeches and side re¬
marks of the Singer. The period of^fopr days of being
quiet and aloof after the ceremonial is a splendid oppor¬
tunity for rumination and for development of the convic¬
tion that the purposes of the chant have been achieved, or
are starting to be achieved.

SECURITY

The Navaho, then, finds his “religion” a way of good hope

when he is sick or disturbed. But myth and ritual also
meet other human needs. Otherwise, the stories of the Holy
People and the great chants which embody the myths
would have died out or have been supplanted by different
beliefs, for sheer repetition in and of itself has never as¬
sured the persistence of any habit. It is true that some
Navaho myths and rituals have disappeared within the last
hundred years, but to say that they became extinct be¬
cause the last old man who knew them died is a very

232
 MEANING OF THE SUPERNATURAL

superficial explanation. Had they not lost their importance

as conditions changed for The People, younger men would
have taken the trouble to learn them. Conversely, the re¬
markable staying power of the great body of religious lore
and practice and the recent resurgence of religious activity
are proof that these beliefs play a definite part in present-
day life among the Navahos.
The basic function of religion everywhere is to give a
sense of security in a world which, seen in naturalistic
terms, appears to be full of the unpredictable, the capri¬
cious, the accidentally tragic. Someone has said, “Human
beings build their cultures, nervously loquacious, upon the
edge of an abyss.” In the face of chance and the unex¬
pected, of want, death, and destruction, all humans have
a fundamental sense of uneasiness. And so they talk and,
by making their talk consistent, they assure themselves that
“reality” too is consistent. They mask the vast role of “luck”
in human life by telling each other that such and such a
thing happened because of something a supernatural being
did or said long ago. In a world full of hazards, myths
affirm that there is rhyme and reason after all. They give
the future the appearance of safety by affirming the un¬
broken continuity of present and past. So it is with The
People. Their mythology gives them a sense of continuity
and security which Christianity cannot give them because
they do not understand it. Their own beliefs continue to
satisfy and to help them in the difficult task of living—as
do all mythologies which are really believed.
Their system of beliefs, then, gives Navahos something
to hold to. The old stories bring both tellers and hearers a
sense of exaltation by renewing their touch with the world
of the past and a feeling of security that comes from see¬
ing human fife as an unbroken chain of events. Myths
guarantee the validity of rites not only by detailing their
supernatural origins but also by citing chapter and verse
as to who was cured and how and when. They relieve the
mind from perplexities by supplying final answers.

233
 THE NAVAHO

This conviction of fixity is the essential element in the

psychological value of mythology. One Navaho remarked,
“Knowing a good story will protect your home and chil¬
dren and property. A myth is just like a big stone founda¬
tion—it lasts a long time.” The insistence upon correctness
in the small points of Navaho ritual, upon preserving the
myth in every detail, reflects the fact that myth and ritual
deal with those sectors of experience which do not seem
amenable to rational control but where human beings can
least tolerate insecurity. Ritual and myth provide fixed
points in an existence of bewildering change and disap¬
pointments. This is especially important to individuals
whose world is changing as fast as that of the Navahos.
Lest the writers be accused of romantic prejudice, it
should be stated clearly that Navaho “religious” beliefs,
especially the negative practices and the great number of
fears they symbolize, do have marked psychological dis¬
advantages. Although the taboos and regulations are in es¬
sence a system of avoiding harm and their use makes a
Navaho feel at least partially protected, these taboos and
regulations work two ways. While they quiet some fears,
they pile up additional apprehensions and hazards. The
situation is not unlike that of the obsessive patient who
attains some comfort and security by his rituals of not
touching things or of washing them repeatedly, but at the
same time makes life intolerable in other ways because he
constantly increases the number of things he may not do
and lives in never-ceasing fear of transgression. But despite
this sort of danger Navaho beliefs (even those pertaining
to witchcraft) do answer many of the deepest needs of
human beings and, as we shall see in the following section,
they help to keep society on an even keel. It is also true
that religious practices constitute, in part, an escape mech¬
anism from pressing realities. This seems to be particularly
true of the non-Navaho peyote cult, which is gaining ad¬
herents especially in the northern portions of the Reserva-

234
 MEANING OF THE SUPERNATURAL

tion, where supplies of the drug are obtained from the

Utes.

WHAT MYTHS AND RITES DO

FOR THE GROUP

The old beliefs have uses for The People as a tribe, as

well as for The People as individuals. Some of these are
the functions of “religion” in any group without a written
language, but others are specifically Navaho. In both
secular and sacred spheres, myths serve as statements of
the right way to behave and the reasons therefor, some¬
what as the Bible does (or did) in Christian societies.
Women must sit with their feet in a certain position be¬
cause the female Holy People sat that way. When ques¬
tioned as to why almost anything is done in a particular
way, Navahos will usually reply, “Because the Holy Peo¬
ple did it that way in the first place.” Even when children
are asked why they play Navaho games according to cer¬
tain rules, they almost invariably make this response.
Thus to some degree the myths are The People’s code
of manners and morals and their law books as well. But
myths, legends, and folk tales are also their literature,
which serves ends from intellectual and moral edification
to simple entertainment.
Because myth and ritual tend to preserve and to carry
forward ancient Navaho tradition, they have a significant
usefulness as brakes upon the speed of cultural change.
As it is, the Navaho way of fife is altering so rapidly that
an individual keeps his balance with difficulty. Were the
old beliefs to be swept away all at once and before Chris¬
tianity had become understandable enough to serve as a
satisfactory substitute, The People would be completely
disoriented. Their cosmos would be a chaos, their life
would be without meaning.
The People themselves are aware of this stabilizing force
of their religious beliefs. Consciously or unconsciously, they

235
 THE NAVAHO

act accordingly. The revival of almost forgotten rites and

the renewed zeal with which others are being used today
are a form of what has been called “antagonistic accul¬
turation.” In other words, The People symbolically affirm
their resistance to white men’s efforts to change their way
of life by giving even more importance and attention to
their own ceremonials.
Rites also play a significant role in interpersonal relation¬
ships among The People. One important contribution of
the curing chants to good group relationships comes from
the informal chat that goes on between the Singer and
the patient and other members of the family. Since the
Singer is usually an intellectual, who often knows the
habits and tendencies of his clientele in the same manner
as the family doctor in white society, it is very likely that,
like the family doctor, he often gives sound practical ad¬
vice based on his knowledge of his people. Probably many
personal and interpersonal problems come nearer to adjust¬
ment at the time of a ceremonial. Indeed, certain pas¬
sages in the myths indicate that The People have a more
or less conscious realization that the ceremonies act as a
cure, not only for physical and mental illness, but also for
antisocial tendencies. For example, the myth of the Moun-
fain~Tbp Way chant says: “The ceremony cured Dsiliyi
Neyani of all his strange feelings and notions. The lodge
of his people no longer smelled unpleasant to him.” Today
ordinary lay Navahos speak of being “changed” so that
they are better men and women in their relations with
their families and neighbors. For instance, an English-
speaking Navaho who had just completed a jail sentence
for beating his wife and molesting his stepdaughter re¬
marked: “I am sure going to behave from now on. I am
going to be changed—just like someone who has been sung
over.”
Any effects in this direction are a contribution to one of
the major problems of Navaho society. The People have a
great deal of trouble with surrounding whites, but they

236
 MEANING OF THE SUPERNATURAL

also have much with each other. This intra-tribal friction

is probably one very important reason why The People
do not cooperate very long in group projects organized
along lines that are not familiar to Navahos, such as the
white-sponsored cooperatives. This tendency to work to¬
gether chiefly in family groups sometimes makes for in¬
efficiency in the use of the uncertain natural resources.
This is not to say that Navahos are by nature more
quarrelsome than other human beings. When people live
under constant threat from the physical environment,
where small groups are geographically isolated and “emo¬
tional inbreeding” within the extended family group is at a
maximum, interpersonal tensions are inevitably present.
The occurrence of illness, which throws increased burdens
on the well and strong, is an additional disrupting force.
Moreover, as already remarked, the myths and rituals are
themselves two-edged swords, relieving anxiety on the one
hand but creating it on the other with all the possibilities
of calamities and errors of behavior, restrictions, and prohi¬
bitions. Worry over white encroachments and the conflict
contingent upon rapid culture change add to uneasiness.
An uneasy folk is commonly an aggressive folk. But
The People have painfully learned that it does not pay to
behave aggressively toward whites. Many of the aggressive
impulses within the family circle also are suppressed or
repressed, for hostile words or acts toward relatives are
strongly disapproved and punished by a society where co¬
operation between relatives is necessary for survival. Hence
many antagonistic feelings go unspoken or do not even
rise into consciousness. They may nevertheless cause some
individuals to develop chronic anxieties. Such persons feel
continually uncomfortable; they say they “feel sick all over”
without ever locating a pain definitely. Diviners and other
practitioners will say that the patient is sick because he
has seen animals struck by lightning, has failed to observe
ritual requirements, or has in some other way violated a
taboo. In this way a substitute is found for the hostility

237
 THE NAVAHO

and guilt that probably caused the symptoms, and the

substitute can be treated and eradicated, thus relieving the
guilt and perhaps reducing the hostility. The patient’s evil
feelings were not at fault, the myths say; the trouble was
just that he was on hand when lightning struck. The proper
rite can straighten this out. Thus ritual resolves social
maladjustments that might otherwise upset the stability of
the group.
But myths and rituals contribute to the equilibrium of
the society in other ways than by “curing” individual mem¬
bers of the society. In the first place, the centering of rites
upon disease and upon the individual serves social pur¬
poses beyond that of helping individuals adjust more ami¬
cably to their relatives and neighbors. Furthermore, to de¬
scribe the rites of The People as purely “individualistic”
and purely for curing is an oversimplification.
The Navaho and the Pueblo Indians five in essentially
the same physical environment. The Pueblo rituals are
concerned predominantly with rain and with fertility; those
of the Navaho primarily with disease. In the absence of
fuller supporting facts, this contrast cannot be laid to a
lesser frequency of illness among the Pueblo, for it seems
well documented that the Pueblo Indians, living in con¬
gested towns, have been far more ravaged by endemic
disease than the Navahos. The explanation is probably to
be sought in terms of the differing historical experience of
the two peoples and especially in terms of the contrasting
economic and social organizations. To people living in rela¬
tive isolation and largely dependent (as were the Navahos
at no distant date) upon ability to move about hunting
and gathering wild food plants, ill health presents a danger
much more crucial for group survival than it does to In¬
dians who live in towns with reserve supplies of com and
better integrated social organizations.
That Navaho myths and rituals are focused upon the
curing of individuals has, thus, a firm basis in the reality
of the external world. But other social ends are served by

238
 MEANING OF THE SUPERNATURAL

the ceremonials. It should be remembered that they are

merely centered upon individuals. Every rite has also an
agricultural overtone. There are prayers for rain and for
growth. Other benefits for the whole People and especially
for those in attendance are held out. The whole character
of Navaho ceremonialism would be quite different Were
participation less general. If rites were carried on mechani¬
cally and apart from the general social fife by a special
class of priests, the cohesive effects might be negligible.
But so many people are involved directly and indirectly
and they feel their involvement so warmly that groups
are knit more closely together. Performance of the rites
heightens awareness that The People have common beliefs,
common goals, a common value system. The ceremonials
bring individuals together in a situation where quarreling
is forbidden. Preparing for and the carrying out of a rite
also demands intricately ramified cooperation, economic
and otherwise, and doubtless thus reinforces the sense of
mutual dependency.
The contrast which anthropologists have for many years
been drawing between the ritual preoccupation of Pueblos
with rain and of Navahos with healing is, in fact, an over¬
simplified schematization. First, as has just been indicated,
the distinction must be seen as one of emphasis—not in all-
or-none terms. Second, though in concrete and specific
terms the observer is impressed by differences in the rela¬
tive frequency of rites oriented mainly to curing and rites
oriented mainly to fertility, the underlying philosophy is
more complicated. One may express the contrast more ade¬
quately at a higher level of abstraction by saying that the
Navahos’ interest is focused upon restoring the harmony
within an individual and between that individual and other
persons or supernatural forces, whereas the basic theme
in almost all Pueblo ritual is that of restoring harmony in
the whole universe. The Navaho outlook is more personal,
the Pueblo more impersonal. The individual counts for a
very great deal in the Navaho way of thinking, while

239
 THE NAVAHO

Pueblo thought tends to regard any single person as a com¬

paratively incidental portion of an intricate equilibrium of
forces.
In sum, myths and rituals jointly provide systematic pro¬
tection against supernatural dangers, the threats of ill
health and of the physical environment, antisocial tensions,
and the pressures of a more powerful society. In the ab¬
sence of a codified law and of an authoritarian chief, it is
only through the myth-ritual system that the Navahos can
present a unified front to all these disintegrating pressures.
The all-pervasive configurations of word-symbols (myths)
and of act-symbols (rituals) preserve the cohesion of the
society and sustain the individual, protecting both from
intolerable conflict.

THE GAIN AND COST OF WITCHCRAFT

We have been talking about practices which have the full

support of the society. Let us now turn to those attempts
to manipulate the supernatural by word and deed which
are done furtively and which come under strong social dis¬
approval. The cost of witchcraft belief is obvious: there
is the addition of just that many more things to be feared;
there are occasional acts of violence; guiltless individuals
are made to suffer mildly or tragically. No one would wish
to minimize these socially disruptive trends, but what is
not likely to be so easily understood or admitted is the
fact that belief in witchcraft, as seen by a dispassionate
observer, is not much more completely black or white, all
bad or all good, than is any other social institution. Even
though The People themselves abhor the deeds which
witches are believed to do, still their having these fears
and talking about them and acting upon them plays a part
in easing the strains in the social structure, in keeping Nav-
aho society a going concern.
There is, of course, no question of defending “witch¬
craft” upon a moral basis. As a matter of fact, the writers

240
 MEANING OF THE SUPERNATURAL

are not even absolutely positive that Navahos try to be¬

come witches. There is good reason to believe that a few
do, and in this discussion we shall assume that this is the
case. However, this is a relatively minor point in under¬
standing the workings of Navaho society. What counts is
that belief in witches is universal and that there are deep
fears, much gossip, and countless and widely current
anecdotes.
These tales are the medium through which witchcraft
touches the lives of all The People. Together with the
myths about witchcraft, they have the effect of plugging
up certain holes in the ideological system. If chants don’t
work, the Navaho doesn’t have to say, “Well, that cere¬
monial is no good.” He is encouraged to say, in effect, “I
am certain that that chant is wonderfully powerful, but
naturally you can’t expect it to prevail against the evil
strength of witches.” In this and in other ways, witchcraft
conceptions supply a partial answer to some of the deeper
uncertainties.
But the more personal significance of witchcraft lore
comes about through the psychological mechanism of
identification. Just as the drab little shop girl can become
Hedy Lamar during the two hours of a moving picture or
the middle-aged housewife can experience the joys and
tribulations of the heroines of “soap opera” on the radio,
so the Navaho who listens to, or repeats, or manufactures
a witchcraft story can identify himself with the aggressor
or the victim. Among other things, this provides a harmless
outlet in imagination for impulses which are forbidden in
real life. The man who consciously or unconsciously wants
to commit incest or other prohibited sexual acts but is
restrained by fear of the consequences or by moral scruples
perhaps finds some relief through identifying himself for a
time with the wicked witch. The crucial question for un¬
derstanding the psychological outlets which The People get
through witchcraft tales is always: does the person see
himself as the witch or as the victim? If he imagines him-

241
 THE NAVAHO

self the witch, presumably he gets hostile impulses out of

his system vicariously; if he takes the victim’s role, some
of his uneasiness is allayed. The main contribution which
this complex of acts and ideas makes to the steadiness of
Navaho society are in handling the anxiety problem and
in serving as a safety valve for and control over aggressive
tendencies.

ANXIETY

Under the present conditions of Navaho life it is inevitable

that there should be a high anxiety level, a large amount
of worry and uneasiness, in the society. One common way
of expressing this is to gossip about witches. A more drastic
way is to become convinced that one is oneself being
“witched.” It is not just “any Navaho” who feels himself a
victim of witchcraft. There is great variation in the fre¬
quency and intensity of such worries, depending upon the
individual’s place in the social structure, his temporary so¬
cial situation, and probably also upon his nervous constitu¬
tion. If, for any reason a person is subjected to unusual
frustration or if his tolerance of frustration is low, he must
imagine an enemy, an aggressor, a cause of his lack of
success. Witchcraft lore provides a means of defining and
personalizing his anxiety which will be accepted by others.
Beliefs and practices related to witchcraft are thus refuges
for those persons who are more under the stress of misfor¬
tune than others, or for those who by reason of constitu¬
tional or other factors are less able to endure misfortunes,
real or imagined.
It is no accident that a high proportion of those who
suddenly show symptoms of being bewitched (such as
fainting or going into a semi-trance) at “squaw dances” or
other large gatherings are women or men who are some¬
what neglected or who occupy low social status. In most
of these cases it is probably not a matter of consciously
capitalizing on the credence of their fellows in order to get
 MEANING OF THE SUPERNATURAL

the center of the stage for themselves. It is unlikely that

Navahos often deliberately complain of the symptoms of
witchcraft as a device for getting attention. The process
normally takes place at an altogether unconscious level:
those whose uneasiness goes beyond a certain point have
to do something; and if they are believed to be at the
mercy of witches they are likely to get help.
Especially in a society where the social units are small,
the disturbance of any person’s daily routines constitutes a
danger to the smooth functioning of the whole social or¬
ganization, and Navaho society could ill afford not to sup¬
port its members who are “witched.” The rare references
to abandonment of such individuals always specify that
the case was hopeless. Being “witched” normally calls forth
the very maximum of social support, and the writers know
of more than one family impoverished from paying for
one “cure” after another.
The expensive prayer ceremonials, demanding the pres¬
ence of the patient’s family and of practitioners who rep¬
resent the wider social organization, symbolically affirm
that the victim is succored by the whole social structure.
The importance of the near presence and support of one’s
fellows as the surest protection against witches is attested
by the facts that were-animals are almost always seen by
lone individuals and that going about alone at night is con¬
sidered peculiarly dangerous. Moreover, if exaggerated fear
of witches arises in a person partly because he feels ag¬
gressive and thus suspects that others feel the same way
toward him, witchcraft “illness” is to this extent dependent
upon a loss of rapport with the society—the penalty for
giving way to feelings the society does not permit. The
most efficacious reassurance for victims of witchcraft is
provided, therefore, by the unusual, complicated, and
costly prayer ceremonials, with many relatives and friends
in attendance, lending their help and expressing their
sympathy.
The important thing for the adjustment of the individual

243
 THE NAVAHO

is that witchcraft is a focus of anxiety which The People

recognize as valid. If a Navaho merely complained or put
forward an explanation which might carry weight in white
society, the reaction of his family would eventually be in¬
difference or active irritation. For a Navaho to tell his
family that he was suffering from lack of vitamins would
affect them much as white people would be affected if
someone were to tell them that he was ill because last year
he had been careless enough to look upon a cow that had
been struck by lightning. But wherever a Navaho or his
family or a diviner can suggest that a witch is responsible
for uneasiness or illness, social support is assured.
In terms of witchcraft a person can justify his being
worried without taking any blame himself. In the case of
those illnesses which are thought to be due to the breaking
of some taboo, to a considerable degree it is the individual’s
own fault that he is sick. But the Navahos consider the
witch victim guiltless, so that if witchcraft can be blamed
instead of carelessness or misbehavior, the sick man achieves
a good position instead of a poor one in the eyes of his
fellows.
Nothing is more intolerable to human beings than to be
persistently disturbed without being able to say why or
without being able to phrase the matter in such a way
that some relief or control is available. Witchcraft belief
allows one to talk about his anxiety in terms that are ac¬
ceptable and which imply the possibility of doing some¬
thing about it. Much of the tension among The People
may actually be traced to the uncertainties of making a
living in a difficult environment with the technological
means at their disposal. Since the caprices of the environ¬
ment are not controllable by the society, the worry related
to this is attributed to witches who, as living individuals,
can be dealt with. A correlation between the amount of
fear and talk about witches and the general state of ten¬
sion prevailing among the Navahos is evidenced by the
fact that dining the recent difficult years of controversy

244
 MEANING OF THE SUPERNATURAL

over the stock reduction program there has been appre¬

ciably more witchcraft excitement than for some time past,
and a number of murders of supposed witches have oc¬
curred. There have also been several well-documented at¬
tempts by Navahos to “witch” government employees con¬
cerned with stock reduction.

AGGRESSION

Witchcraft patterns supply many releases, direct and in¬

direct, actual and imaginative, for hostile impulses. The
most obvious of these is actually becoming a witch. It is
quite possible that the kind of temperament which in the
old days found an outlet through organizing and leading
war parties finds witchcraft the most congenial substitute
available today. Direct aggression is also expressed, of
course, through attacks upon “witches.” These range from
hushed gossip to public accusation or even physical assault.
The classes of persons accused and gossiped about most
frequently, and the relationships between accused and ac¬
cusers, constitute a revealing commentary on the stresses
in Navaho social organization. Rich people, ceremonial
practitioners, “political” leaders, the old—these make up
the vast bulk of those whom gossip singles out. Sons-in-law
spread stories about their fathers-in-law; nephews permit
themselves a sly innuendo in referring to their maternal
uncles. A brother will sometimes express doubt about a
sister, real or clan; but brothers very seldom gossip about
brothers or sisters about sisters, and talk against parents is
virtually unknown. Very often the expression of aggression
is disguised and indirect. For example, a young man will
not name his own actual maternal uncle or even imply
that he might be a witch. He will, however, evidence much
relish in telling a tale laid in a distant locality where the
evil hero just happens to show all sorts of resemblances in
age, appearance, and personality traits to his own tyran¬
nous uncle.

245
 THE NAVAHO

More significant than the release of direct aggression is

that of displaced aggression. That is, Navahos “take out”
on witches by word and by deed the hostility which in
fact they feel against their relatives, against whites, against
the hazards of life itself. Talk about witches commonly has
a violent quality completely out of proportion to the in¬
volvement of the speaker in that particular case. The kill¬
ing of witches is characteristically messy and brutal, even
on the part of those who are not avenging some near rela¬
tive or close friend. Witches, in other words, are scape¬
goats.
In this very general sense of scapegoats “witches” have
probably played some part in all social structures since
the Old Stone Age. They may be either a minority within
the society or an external group. In contemporary America,
for instance, we have the “reds,” the “capitalists,” the
“New Dealers,” the “Japs,” and many others. It would be
too much to say that all societies must necessarily have
their “witches,” that is, persons whom it is proper to fear
and to hate, and under defined circumstances, to behave
aggressively toward. Some social systems are much more
efficient than others in directing aggression into oblique or
socially non-disruptive channels. But there is no doubt that
witchcraft is Navaho culture’s principal answer to the
problem that every society faces: how to satisfy hate and
still keep the core of the society solid. Among other things,
witchcraft is the Navahos’ substitute for the race prejudice
of white society in the United States. The People blame
their troubles upon “witches” instead of upon “Jews” or
“niggers.” In place of selecting its scapegoats by skin color
or by religious tradition, Navaho culture selects certain in¬
dividuals who are supposed to work evil by secret super¬
natural techniques.

246
 MEANING OF THE SUPERNATURAL

SOCIAL CONTROL

Seen from the angle of the survival of the society as a

whole rather than from that of the adjustment of the
single individual, witchcraft functions in two principal
ways: it helps maintain a system of checks and balances,
so that the ceremonial practitioners and the rich are kept
from attaining too much power; and it is an implied threat
against all socially disrupting action, strengthening in vari¬
ous ways social inhibitions consonant with the old native
culture.
Gossip against the rich almost always takes the form of
implying that they got their start by stealing jewelry and
other valuables from the dead. The prevalence of this ra¬
tionalization acts as a kind of economic leveler. The rich
feel pressure to be lavish in hospitality, generous in gifts
to needy relatives and neighbors, prodigal in the cere¬
monials they sponsor. Otherwise they know the voice of
envy will speak out in whispers of witchcraft which would
make their life in society strained and unpleasant, if not
positively dangerous. This trend materially helps in main¬
taining the coherence of Navaho life and preserving its
continuity. Navaho society is in process of transition from
a familial structure where the bonds between kinfolk are
everything to an individualistic, ruthlessly competitive so¬
cial organization like that of white Americans. The change
may or may not be inevitable, but if it occurs too fast one
or more generations of The People will be utterly uprooted
and disoriented. There is also the crucial land question. If
livestock becomes more and more concentrated in the hands
of a few large owners, the majority of the Navahos will
be reduced to peonage or to dependence upon relief sup¬
plied by the government. So anything which tends to pre¬
vent a few from getting rich too fast and sets limits upon
the property they may accumulate is, to that extent, useful.
Singers are also often well off, but here another factor

247
 THE NAVAHO

is added. Navaha religion is formalized so that any man

of enough intelligence can learn to be a Singer, and the
relationship of the practitioner to his power is not altogether
personal. For this reason the possessor of ritual is not feared
in the same way he is among the Apache tribes, where
the power is thought to be completely subject to the
shaman’s will. Navaho fears are concentrated primarily
upon the breaking of ritual formulas, the infraction of
taboos, and upon the supernaturals, the Powers themselves.
Still, feeling toward Singers always tends to be somewhat
two-sided. On the one hand, they have great prestige, are
revered for the aid they bring, are much in demand, and
may obtain large fees. On the other hand, the border of
active distrust that the Singer may have caused the illness
in order to be paid for curing it is always close. A Singer
must not lose too many patients. He must also be more
generous and hospitable than the ordinary Navaho. He
must not presume upon his position by overweening be¬
havior. On the contrary, he is expected to affect humility
by dressing much less expensively than his income would
allow. He must be jovial and good-humored even while
he is in charge of a ceremonial.
There is the same kind of check upon the power and
authority of “political” leaders, who dare not act the auto¬
crat lest they either be accused as witches or have witch¬
craft directed against them or members of their families.
As a matter of fact, this sanction goes too far for utility
because it discourages individuals from assuming the bur¬
dens of leadership or frightens them into relinquishing
office. On the other hand, the effectiveness of leaders is
sometimes increased by the fear that they are witches and
that if they are disobeyed they will use witchcraft against
those who fail to follow them. While this sometimes doubt¬
less has the consequence of perpetuating bad leadership,
it has its good side too in that the anarchistic tendencies
of Navaho society make it peculiarly vulnerable when fac¬
ing a society organized like that of whites. The survival

248
 MEANING OF THE SUPERNATURAL

of Navaho groups is favored by any sanctions which help

to produce a united front behind leaders of some per¬
manence.
At various crucial times in the history of The People
clever leaders have used witchcraft beliefs as a means of
keeping down “agitators.” During the period after Fort
Sumner, for example, some leading headmen took care of
advocates of renewed resistance to the whites by spread¬
ing the word that these persons were witches. Many were
executed within a few days.
There are other respects in which witchcraft belief is
an effective sanction for the enforcement of social coopera¬
tion. The aged, whether they have claims as relatives or
not, must be fed or they will “witch” against one. The
disposition to aid brothers or sisters who are ill is rein¬
forced by the realization that their death may give rise to
suspicion that a survivor is learning witchcraft. Even the
fear of going about at night has social value. One of the
principal sources of friction among Navahos is sexual jeal¬
ousy. Fear of witches at night acts to some slight extent as
a deterrent to extra-marital sex relations because nighttime
would otherwise provide favorable conditions for secret
rendezvous.
In brief, witchcraft lore affirms solidarity by dramati¬
cally defining what is bad: namely, all secret and malevo¬
lent activities against the health, property, and lives of fel¬
low tribesmen. This sanction is reinforced by attributing
to witches all the stigmata of evil: incest, nakedness,
cruelty, bestiality, and other kinds of forbidden knowledge
and actions. The following extract from notes on a talk
with a middle-aged Navaho man shows very clearly how
any individual who is observed to be guilty of behavior
which the Navahos consider antisocial is likely to have
heaped upon his head the additional opprobrium that at¬
taches to those suspected of witchcraft, incest, etc. This
passage is also an excellent example of the way Navahos
think about these subjects and of how a conversation upon

249
 THE NAVAHO

almost any subject may turn to that of witchcraft. Finally

it indicates the problems of an anthropologist in getting
information from a Navaho.

Sometimes they have a two-headed lamb. [Did you

ever see one?] No, but my family did. It was near us
but I didn’t go over. That is bad luck. The man had
that two-night sing. [What made the lamb have two
heads?] Well, something going on with that flock, maybe
a witch-wolf.
Two years ago I went pinyon-hunting and I got
caught with that storm. I hired Tall Boy to herd our
sheep and my father-in-law’s. He did something to those
sheep so I paid him and told him to get out. I was
having a two-night sing and in the night we heard a
ewe bleating like she was going to have a lamb. My
mother-in-law got up and she went out. She found a
lamb there with no head. It just had a neck and two
small ears. [No eyes?] No. [No mouth?] No. She took
it over to where they were cooking and then she called
us all. It was my father-in-law’s lamb. [Did he have a
sing?] No, we were having that sing and the sheep was
in our flock. That sing protects everybody in the hogan
and all the things around like the sheep and horses.
[Was someone in your family sick?] No. [Did someone
have a bad dream?] No, nothing was wrong. I just had
that sing. I have it almost every year. [Your sing was in
the spring?] Yes. [But you went pinyon-hunting in the
winter?] Yes. [How did you know that Tall Boy had
done anything to your sheep?] Well, I just thought so.
[When you came home from pinyon-hunting did you
tell him to get out?] Yes. [But you didn’t have a sing
for three or four months.] Well, I have one [Blessing
Way] almost every year. [What could Tall Boy have
done to your sheep?] He made [i.e., begot] that lamb
without any head. [Yes, I know, but how can he do
that?] Well, he did something wrong to those sheep [i.e..

250
 MEANING OF THE SUPERNATURAL

committed bestiality]. He is mean, that’s why I thought

he did something. [Has he any sheep?] No. He chases
around. He goes to all the dances. He goes with lots of
girls. [Is he married?] Yes, he married two girls. They
came from way over there at Canyoncito. But they went
home. He was mean to them. Sometimes they used to
come over to talk to my wife. He beat them and hurt
them. They used to cry a lot. He hit them with his fists
and sticks.
One day last winter my horses went away. They al¬
ways go up a canyon near my hogan. There was about
that much snow on the ground [indicates 4 inches with
his hand]. I walked up that canyon and I found three
of them. There were no tracks anywhere. Then I saw
some tracks going across the canyon and I thought well
I guess someone is going after his traps. I drove the
three horses home, then I came back for my other two
horses. They were farther up the canyon. Then I passed
those tracks coming back. And I thought well I guess
that person is going home but I didn’t think any more
about it. Then I went to my mare. She is very gentle.
You just catch hold of her tail and jump on. You don’t
need any bridle or any rope around her neck. Then I
saw those tracks again. They were all around there and
then I looked at them and I saw they were Tall Boy’s
tracks. I said I guess I will follow them. But then they
stopped. I only saw my horse’s tracks. I saw where he
got on the mare so I followed her tracks. Over there
was a tree. It had fallen down and when I got there I
saw his tracks where he had stood on that tree [for
purposes of committing bestiality] and then I saw his
tracks where he had run away. [Were the mare’s tracks
backed up to that tree?] Yes. So I took the horses home.
I said to my wife, “Someone’s been doing wrong to my
mare.” She said, “I guess it’s Tall Boy.” She knew right
away. I didn’t tell her. She said, ‘'Well, you had better
go over to Slim Man’s and take him with you.” I went

251
 THE NAVAHO

over to his place and I told him someone had been do¬
ing wrong to my horse up in the canyon and I said,
“Let’s go and track him.” So Slim Man went with me.
Then we followed his tracks and they went back to
Slim Man’s hogan. I said, “Has Tall Boy been here?”
He said, “Yes, he was here this morning. He left just
before you came.” [How did you know these were Tall
Boy’s tracks?] He had two pieces of leather across one
shoe on the bottom. They got snow stuck to them and
made that kind of track.
[You said that lamb without a head was bom two
years ago. You said that Tall Boy must have done
something. But how did you know because he didn’t do
this to your mare until last winter?] Well, we knew he
did those things. He slept with his half-sister. All the
time he was married he was sleeping with that sister.
Then she had a child. It is crazy. Its head goes all over
and its eyes too. It can’t go to school. It can’t do any¬
thing.

These anecdotes indicate how witchcraft gossip may be

used in providing sanctions against socially undesirable
activities. Belief in witchcraft thus plays a part in the
Navaho scheme of things in keeping the society running.
If and when these theories and the associated acts are
stamped out or disappear among The People, other cus¬
toms must be developed to serve the same functions. The
extent to which Navaho witchcraft does provide an outlet
for aggression and anxiety is proved by the fluctuations in
witchcraft phenomena in recent years. These vary with
economic conditions and with the changing intensities of
white pressure in a manner that cannot be adjudged ac¬
cidental.

252
 8. THE TONGUE OF THE PEOPLE

Thus far in this book the point of view has been very
largely that of the outsider who carefully observes an un¬
familiar way of life and tries to interpret it as best he can.
Only insofar as statements by Navahos have been quoted
has there been any attempt to see The People’s life from
the inside.
This chapter1 and Chapter 9 will be devoted to trying
to get a little way inside the Navaho mind. Since the Nav¬
ahos, like all other peoples, necessarily think with words,
at least a superficial conception of the main peculiarities
of the Navaho language must be gained before endeavor¬
ing to see the world as it appears to The People. The
forms of each language impose upon its speakers certain
positive predispositions and certain negative restrictions as
to the meanings they find in their experience.
From characteristic types of expressions even an outsider
may safely infer some of the assumptions which The Peo¬
ple make about the nature of things. For example, the
Navahos do not say, “I am hungry” or “I have hunger.”
They always put it as “hunger is killing me” and “thirst
is killing me.” Similarly, they prefer the active, personalized
“water is killing me” to the English description of the im¬
personal process of natural forces, “I am drowning.” From
such examples an immediate insight is gained into the Nav¬
aho manner of conceiving such events. To The People,
hunger is not something which comes from within but
something to which the individual is subjected by an out¬
side force. Indeed if an articulate Navaho is pressed for an

253
 THE NAVAHO

explanation of this linguistic idiom he is likely to say, “The

spirit of hunger sits here beside me.”
From the psychological point of view, there are as many
different worlds upon the earth as there are languages.
Each language is an instrument which guides people in
observing, in reacting, in expressing themselves in a special
way. The pie of experience can be sliced in all sorts of
ways, and language is the principal directive force in the
background. It is a great pity that most Americans have
so strong an emotional block against the formal analysis of
linguistic structures. They have been made to suffer so
much from having to memorize rules and from approach¬
ing language in a mechanical, unimaginative way that they
tend to think of “grammar” as the most inhuman of studies.
Looked at in another way, nothing is more human than
the speech of an individual or of a folk. No clues are so
helpful as those of language in leading to ultimate, uncon¬
scious psychological attitudes. Moreover, much of the fric¬
tion between groups and between nations arises because in
both the literal and the slangy senses they don’t speak the
same language.
For the Navaho case, Robert Young and William Mor¬
gan have well put the basic problems:

The pattern of Navaho thought and linguistic expres¬

sion is totally unlike that of the European languages with
which we are most commonly familiar. We learn such
foreign languages as Spanish, French, Italian, and Ger¬
man with a minimum of difficulty because there exist
so many analogies, both with respect to grammar and
to words, with our own native English. Moreover, the
pattern according to which we conceive and express our
thoughts in English and in these common European lan¬
guages is basically the same throughout. We translate
readily from one to the other, often almost word for
word. And lastly, similar or very closely related sound

254
 THE TONGUE OF THE PEOPLE

systems prevailing throughout make the words easy to

pronounce and to remember.
On the other hand, the Navaho language presents a
number of strange sounds which are difficult to imitate,
and which make the words very hard to remember at
first. Secondly, the pattern of thought varies so greatly
from our English pattern that we have no small difficulty
in learning to think like, and subsequently to express
ourselves like the Navaho. An understanding of the
morphology and structure of the language, and an in¬
sight into the nature of the thought patterns involved
can go far in aiding to solve the puzzle.2

The tacit premises that are habitually present in the

thinking of Navahos elude the outsider until he actually
studies somewhat minutely some native utterances re¬
corded in text and compares them with translations given
by several different English-speaking Navahos. Better still,
if he learns a little Navaho and tries to express himself—
even on very simple matters—he is speedily compelled to
realize that the categories in which one classifies experience
and tries to communicate it to others are not altogether
“given” by the events of the external world. Every language
is a different system of categorizing and interpreting ex¬
perience. This system is the more insidious and pervasive
because native speakers are so unconscious of it as a sys¬
tem, because to them it is part of the very nature of things,
remaining always in the class of background phenomena.
That is, the very fact that Navahos do not stop every time
they talk about hunger and say to themselves, “When I
talk this way I am personalizing hunger as a force outside
myself,” makes for difficulty of understanding between
whites and The People. They take such ways of thought
as much for granted as the air they breathe, and uncon¬
sciously assume that all human beings in their right minds
think the same way.
It is primarily for this reason that administrators, teach-

255
 THE NAVAHO

ers, missionaries, and others who have to do with the Nav-

ahos—or any foreign people—would do well to learn some¬
thing of the salient features of the linguistic structure. It
is also for this reason that anyone who wants to under¬
stand the Navahos at all must know something about their
language and the way in which it molds thought, interests,
and attitudes.
There is no doubt that Navaho is a difficult language,
but this is not sufficient cause for throwing up one’s hands
and avoiding the Whole subject like the plague. There is a
difference between learning a language and using a lan¬
guage. Few whites have the time or the skill to learn to
speak Navaho so well that they can dispense with an in¬
terpreter. But mastering the tongue or remaining com¬
pletely ignorant of it are not the only alternatives. The
white person who will make the effort necessary to gain a
general orientation to the language will not only find the
information intensely interesting but will also discover that
he can use even this limited knowledge very effectively. If
he will then take the further step of talking a bit, in spite
of the mistakes he is certain to make, he will be rewarded
for this venture considerably beyond his expectations.
The purpose of this chapter can clearly be neither to
give a scientific description of the language nor to provide
a manual for learning Navaho. The aim is to sketch some
structural features to show the reader how the climate of
feeling, reacting, and thinking created by the Navaho lan¬
guage is different from that created by English and other
European languages.

NAVAHO SOUNDS

White people despair at learning Navaho not only because

of its unfamiliar and difficult sounds but also because Nav¬
ahos are accustomed to respond to small variations which
in English are either ignored or used merely for expressive
emphasis. For example, a small clutch of the breath

256
 THE TONGUE OF THE PEOPLE

(“glottal closure”), which the speaker of European lan¬

guages scarcely notices, often differentiates Navaho words.
Tsin3 means “log,” “stick,” or “tree,” whereas tsin (the
representing glottal closure) means “bone.” Similarly, hit a
means “between,” but hit‘a means “its wing.”
The Navahos also distinguish quite separate meanings
on the basis of pronouncing their vowels in long, inter¬
mediate, or short fashion. For example, the words bito‘
(his water) and bitoo‘ (its juice) are absolutely identical
save for the fact that the second vowel in the latter is lin¬
gered over.
Finally, the Navahos, like the Chinese, pay very careful
attention to the tones of vowels (and of the sound “n”
which is sometimes used in Navaho with vowel quantity).
Four separate tones (low, high, rising, falling) are differ¬
entiated. The only difference between ‘azee (medicine)
and ‘azee (mouth) is that the final long vowel of the lat¬
ter has a high pitch, as indicated by the accent mark. The
same thing is true for the difference between ‘anaa‘ (war)
and ‘anaa (eye). The phonetic variations in the following
five words are almost imperceptible to the untrained white
ear.
him, his mind binit, his face
bmn, his nostrils bini, in it
binii, his waist
Perhaps in the case of most nouns, as in the examples
just given, meanings would ordinarily become clear from
context. But when we come to verbs, differences in pro¬
nunciation so slight as to pass unnoticed by those habitu¬
ated to tongues of Indo-European pattern make for a be¬
wildering set of variations, many of which would be equally
suitable to an identical context. For example:
naasKa, I go around with the round object.
naasKaah, I am in the act of lowering the round object.
nasKdah, I am in the act of turning the round object
upside down (or over).

257
 THE NAVAHO

naasKaah, I am accustomed to lowering the round ob¬

ject.
Any of these expressions might easily be confused with
nash‘a, which means “I am skinning it.”
The importance of these minute variations in Navaho
cuts both ways in complicating the problems of communi¬
cation between whites and Navahos. These variations
make it difficult for whites to speak Navaho, and they also
make it difficult for Navahos to learn English sounds ac¬
curately. The very fact that the Navahos themselves are
sensitized from childhood to these (and not to other) types
of sound patterns and alternations makes the phonetics of
English or Spanish hard for them to master.
So far as pronunciation alone is concerned, there are
languages whose systems of sounds present more problems
to the speaker of European background than does Nav¬
aho. There are a number of sounds in Navaho that are
not found in English, but there are parallels to almost all
(except glottalization) in German, Welsh, Polish, and
other European languages. The real difficulty with Nav¬
aho rests in the fact that the small phonetic differences of
the sort that have been illustrated above cannot be by¬
passed. There is no leeway. In the language of the Sioux
Indians there are also long vowels; one can, however, com¬
municate quite effectively without rendering them very
accurately. But there is nothing slouchy about Navaho.
Sounds must be reproduced with pedantic neatness. Tones
can be ignored in Chinese for the sake of stress. Not so in
Navaho. The language of The People is the most delicate
known for phonetic dynamics.
A few white persons (children of traders or missionaries)
who have learned Navaho as small children, speak “with¬
out an accent.” A very few other whites have learned as
adults to speak fluent and correct Navaho but have failed
to acquire certain nuances in the sheer style of speaking.
Learners may take comfort against their mistakes and em-

258
 THE TONGUE OF THE PEOPLE

barrassment from the realization that the only recipe for

pronouncing Navaho perfectly is to take the precaution of
being bom of or among Navahos. The talk of those who
have learned Navaho as adults always has a flabby quality
to the Navaho ear. They neglect a slight hesitation a frac¬
tion of a second before uttering the stem of the word. They
move their lips and mouths too vigorously. Native Nav¬
aho has a nonchalant, mechanical flavor in ordinary dis¬
course—almost as if a robot were talking.

NAVAHO WORDS

It is often said that the word range of all “primitive” peo¬

ples is small and that vocabularies of more than a few
thousand words are rare. This is pure mythology. It is im¬
possible to say how many “words” there are in Navaho
without the statement’s being susceptible of misunderstand¬
ing, for everything depends upon the standard adopted as
to what constitutes a separate word, a peculiarly acute
problem in Navaho. But it may be asserted without quali¬
fication that Navaho has a very rich vocabulary. Some sug¬
gestion of extent may be given by noting that there are
more than a thousand recorded names for plants, that the
technical terms used in ceremonialism total at least five
hundred, that every cultural specialization or occupation
has its own special terminology.
The language has shown itself flexible in its capacity for
dealing with new objects (the parts of an automobile, for
example) and new experiences. But this has been done,
for the most part, by making up new words in accord with
old patterns rather than by taking over Spanish and Eng¬
lish words and pronouncing them in Navaho fashion.
“Tomato” is “red plant.” An elephant is “one that lassoes
with his nose.” Many American Indian languages have en¬
larged their vocabularies by incorporating European words,
but Navaho has admitted very few. An automobile is
called by one of two terms (chidi or chuggi) which imitate

259
 THE NAVAHO

the sound of a car. “Gasoline” then becomes chidi bi to,

cars water.
Words are very important to The People. They are
things of power. Some words attract good; others drive
away evil. Certain words are dangerous—they may be ut¬
tered only by special persons under specially defined con¬
ditions. Hence there are specialized vocabularies known
only to those who are trained in a craft or ceremonial skill.
Young Navahos who have spent much time away at a
boarding school or among whites will often complain of
an uncle or grandfather, “He uses hard words. I can't
understand him.”
Not only are many words differentiated from each other
by small sound changes, but there are many actual homo¬
nyms, words which have very similar or identical sounds
but quite different meanings. The presence of these homon¬
ymous words and syllables gives rise to the many puns in
which the Navahos delight. For instance, ha‘at‘ttshq nili
means either “what is flowing?” or “what clan are you?”
and The People tell stories with many embellishments
about this question’s being asked of a man who was stand¬
ing beside a river. Another favorite pun hangs on the fact
that the same verb means either “to decide on the matter”
or “to put the round object down.” This is often employed
to satirize the ponderous dealings of important people or,
less kindly, to jibe at the hunched back (round object)
of a cripple. Still another worn joke arises from the fact
that hodeeshtal means equally “I will sing” or “I will kick
him.” And so there are many anecdotes of this pattern:
“So-and-so has gone over yonder.”
“What for?”
“He is going to give one a kick.” (i.e., The man [a
Singer] will perform a chant.)
Many puns are more subtle than they appear on the sur¬
face. To enter fully into their humor requires sensitiveness
to no less than three or four changes of linguistic front.

260
 THE TONGUE OF THE PEOPLE

A QUICK GLANCE AT NAVAHO GRAMMAR

Navaho grammar is primarily a matter of the verb. The

other parts of speech can, however, be used by the begin¬
ner to make himself fairly well understood.

NONVERBAL PARTS OF SPEECH

There are few true Navaho nouns, though the list does
include some of the commonest and most basic words in
the language. Most words which English speakers are apt
to term nouns are really nominalized verbs. Some nouns,
in fact, can be conjugated after the fashion of neutral
verbs. Adjectives are almost entirely the third-person forms
of neuter verbs that denote quality, state, or condition. In
the formal sense Navaho has no adjectives. Other parts of
speech are: pronouns, postpositions, and particles.
Many pronouns are absorbed in verbs, but they are also
used independently or prefixed to nouns and postpositions.
Navaho pronouns present features of usage and nuances
of meaning which it is hard indeed for the European to
grasp. For example, “it” as the object of a verb has several
different forms, depending upon whether “it” is thought
of as definite or indefinite or as a place. The speaker must
also choose between a number of possible alternatives for
a third person subject of a verb. One of these, which has
been called “the person of preferred interest,” makes a nice
discrimination that is typically Navaho. This form of “he”
designates the hero of the story as opposed to others, a
Navaho as opposed to a member of another tribe, and so
on.
Independent possessive pronouns have two forms, distin¬
guished only by the length of the final vowel. One form
signifies merely the state of possession; the other indicates
that the owner just came into possession of the object. In
the case of body parts, the Navahos make use of another

261
 THE NAVAHO

subtle distinction. Thus, shibe means “my milk” in the

sense of milk which actually came from my breasts, *
whereas sheabe means “my milk” in the sense of milk
owned by me.
Postpositions are roughly the Navaho equivalent of our
prepositions, except that they follow rather than precede
their objects. There are a great variety of these, and their
usage is relatively simple. They are a godsend to the
foreigner, for by combining nouns and postpositions one
may communicate many meanings without venturing into
the intricacies of the Navaho verb. For instance, one may
dodge the very difficult verb “go” by saying, “Your father,
how about him?” and the child will state where the father
has gone.
Navaho nouns have no gender and, with a few excep¬
tions, have the same forms for singular and plural. Save
for a few subtleties in the use of pronominal possessives,
nouns are quite easy to handle. Thus, a white man can
say a good deal in Navaho if he learns a few hundred
nouns and ten or twenty postpositions.
The particles (numerals, “adverbs,” “conjunctions,” etc.)
are many and varied and bafflingly idiomatic. A few of the
directional enclitics will illustrate the idiomatic quality and
also the precision that is so characteristically Navaho. By
selecting among them, the Navaho divides space into zones
and circles or into lines and directions, or indicates many
other refinements of these ideas. For example, kodi (near
me) and koji (nearer me than you) show zones and circles
thus:
nladhdi, at a point away from me and from you
hldahji, at a point distant from both you and me
They can indicate lines and directions in this fashion:
nleidi, way over there where he is
nahj'i, away from where we are

262
 THE TONGUE OF THE PEOPLE

NAVAHO VERBS

Navaho has a peculiarly intricate construction of verbs

which derive quite definite meanings from the assembling
of elements that are generalized and colorless in them¬
selves. Indeed, it might be called a chemical language.
That is, the basic process is that of utilizing the varying
effects of small elements in different combinations. Syntax,
to the Navaho consciousness, is locked up, confined within
the verb.
In a sense, the conjugation of the verb is primarily a
matter of making the proper alterations in the prefixes.
The verb stem conveys an image which remains constant.
However, this nuclear notion is much more minutely spe¬
cific than is that of the vast majority of English verbs.
Verbs of going, for example, are a great nuisance in all
Athabascan languages. The first difficulty is that there are
usually entirely different stems when one, two, or three or
more persons are involved in the action. Thus one stem
for the simplest kind of “going” is -ghaah in the singular,
-aash in the dual, and -kddh in the plural.
deeshaal, I shall go.
diifash, We (two) will go.
diikah, We (more than two) will go.
The complications are bewildering to a white person:
nil deesKash, I’ll go with you. (The verb has a singu¬
lar subject but the dual stem is used
because two persons are involved in
the action.)
nihil deeshkah,V\\ go with the two of you. (The sub¬
ject is still singular but the plural stem
must be used because more than two
people are involved.)
On the other hand:

263
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bo iG*
 THE TONGUE OF THE PEOPLE

de‘nohhadh. One of you come here (-noh- refers to

plural “y°u” but, since only one person is
expected to act, the stem is singular).
denindah, Come here (you, singular).
denohkadh. Come here (you, plural, in a group).
dehohkadh, Come here (you, plural, one after another).
In short, where English is loose, Navaho is fussy about the
finest shades of meaning, which it expresses by small per¬
mutations of verbal elements.
Navaho is compact as well as precise. The last example
above shows how with great economy the Navaho lan¬
guage by the simple substitution of a monosyllable conveys
ideas which take many words in English. Take two more
examples along the same fine.

Fig. 5. Partial Paradigm of Three Navaho Verbs

(From Robert W. Young, Window Rock, Arizona)
The accompanying schematic presentation is designed to
bring out the relationship existing in the classification of
certain concepts, the relationship being illustrated by giv¬
ing the stem forms which correspond to object class with
relation to a given concept. Thus, the stem ‘adl refers to
the handling of a bulky roundish object; in conjunction
with the derivational prefix na-, down, the idea is “to han¬
dle it downward.” However, in performing this act, the
subject of the verb, or the agent of the act retains contact
with the object, so the English translation is “to lower it.”
When the agent of the act does not retain contact with
the object, with the result that the object falls, a separate
set of stems is required in most instances; these still classify
the object with reference to shape, size, number and other
characteristics, but alter the action concept expressed by
the stem. When the object falls of its own accord, the
stems may again vary from those in I or II. It will be
noted that, in some instances, the same stems are used in
I and II; while in several cases the stem employed for the
concept “to drop it” is merely the corresponding “to fall”
stem rendered causative by the 1-classifier. One would not
expect to find stem distinctions between the closely re¬
lated concepts “to drop” and “to fall.” “To lose it and
“to knock it over” require the stem forms given under II.

265
 THE NAVAHO

dadiikah, We will each go separately.

hidiikah. We will go one after another, in succession.
Some of these prefixes are difficult to distinguish in Eng¬
lish translation. For instance, nd- and rum- are ordinarily
both rendered by “again,” but actually there is a significant
shade of difference.
deesk‘aaz hazlii, It (the weather) got cold.
deesk'aaz ndhasdlii. It got cold again.
deesk‘aaz nddhdsdlH, It got cold again.
But really the third form means “it got cold back”; that
is, a return to a previous state is specified.
Navaho is likewise very finicky in expressing agency.
Tsinaaeel shil nieel, tsinaa‘eel shit ‘aniVeel, and tsinaaeel
nil'eel may all be rendered: “I came by boat.” But the first
form implies that the boat floats off of its own accord, the
second that the movement is caused by an indefinite or
unstated subject, the third that the movement of the boat
was caused by the speaker.
A great many verbs have alternating stems, depending
upon the type of object which is acted upon or is the sub¬
ject of a positional verb. To give the reader an idea in the
concrete of how these stems vary and to show what the
paradigm of a Navaho verb looks like we have reproduced
a hitherto unpublished communication by Robert Young
(Figure 5). This does not show all of the possible class
stems and gives only the more commonly used tenses, as¬
pects, and modes. But the chart does illustrate other prin¬
ciples of the classification of experience as enjoined by the
Navaho language that are discussed in this chapter. In
connection with this figure, the reader should note Figure
10. These class stems embrace such categories as the fol¬
lowing: the long-object class (a pencil, a stick, a pipe);
the slender-flexible-object class (snakes, thongs, certain
pluralities including certain types of food and property);
the container-ond-contents class; the granular-mass class

266
 THE TONGUE OF THE PEOPLE

(sugar, salt, etc.); the things-bundled-up class (hay, bun¬

dles of clothing, etc.—if they are loose and not compact);
the fabric class (paper, spread out leather, blankets, etc.);
the viscous-object class (mud, feces, etc.); the bulky-
round-object class; the animate-object class; and others.4
Thus there is no such thing as saying “I give” in Nav-
aho—there are more than twenty different forms, one of
which must be chosen to accord with the nature of the ob¬
ject given.
It is really a distortion to say that there is any Navaho
verb stem meaning “to give.” With greater correctness we
might say that “give” in Navaho is the transitive corre¬
spondent of “come.” You cause something to come to one.
“To give A to B” becomes, as it were, in Navaho “to
handle such and such an object (the precise stem will de¬
pend, of course, upon the class of object) completively to
or for such and such a person.” To generalize: one cannot
decide what stem to use in Navaho on the basis of the
nuclear idea in English. The structure is too different. The
Navaho language represents an importantly different mode
of thinking and must be regarded as such.
The inflections of the verb in most European languages
perform as one of their principal functions those distinc¬
tions between past, present, and future which we call
“tense.” It is an arguable question whether there are tenses
in the European sense in Navaho. The language of The
People is interested primarily in the category the gram¬
marians call “aspect.”
Aspect defines the geometrical character of an event,
stating its definability with regard to line and point rather
than its position in an absolute time scale or in time as
broken up by the moving present of the speaker. Traces
of aspect inflection may be found in modem Greek, Ger¬
man, and Spanish, but only in Slavic languages such as
Russian and Polish does it have any systematic importance
among contemporary European tongues. Aspect indicates

267
 THE NAVAHO

different types of activity. Thus, the momentaneous aspect

in Navaho means that action is thought of as beginning
and ending within an instant, while the continuative sug¬
gests that action lasts. Inceptive, cessative, durative, imper-
fective, and semelfactive, are some of the other aspects
in Navaho—with a different paradigm of every verb stem
for each.
Grammarians also consider modes as one of the principal
verbal categories in Navaho. Some modes are similar to,
but not identical with, the tenses of English. Others in¬
dicate the way an act is performed—repeatedly or cus¬
tomarily, etc. For example, biih ndshdddh (iterative mode)
means “time and again I put it on,” whereas biih yishaah
(usitative mode) means “habitually I put it on.” The usita-
tive mode implies the speaker’s interest is general, not in a
specific event. Often it should be translated “our custom
is so and so.” It may indeed refer to events that are hypo¬
thetical so far as the speaker is concerned. Hence some¬
times it must be rendered “if I were to” or “whenever.”
The iterative, in contrast, refers to actual repetition of acts.
Future, present, and past time may be left unspecified
or may be indicated by suffixes, but sometimes they are
made clear by the combination of aspect and mode. For
instance, ‘aasKlnl (imperfective aspect, progressive mode)
may be rendered “I am (progressively) making it.” The
imperfective aspect most often conveys a sense analogous
to that of English indefinite present. But the primary idea
which The People express through this aspect is that of
uncompleted action. So far as time is concerned, the act
may take place in the past, provided that the act is un¬
completed. Or it may refer to the future when one is about
to do or in the act of doing something. Depending upon
context and upon the mode with which it is combined,
therefore, the imperfective must be rendered “I am in the
act of” or “I was in the act of” or “I am about to be in
the act of,” and in a great variety of other ways.

268
 THE TONGUE OF THE PEOPLE

Navahos are perfectly satisfied with what seem to whites

rather imprecise discriminations in the realm of time se¬
quences. On the other hand, they are the fussiest people
in the world about always making explicit in the forms
of the language many distinctions which English makes
only occasionally and irregularly, more often than not leav¬
ing them vague or to be clarified from context. In English
one says “I eat,” meaning “I eat something.” The Navaho
point of view is different. “I eat” means “I eat it.” If the
object thought of is actually indefinite, then ‘a- (“some¬
thing”) must be expressed. Furthermore, Navaho always
specifies through the form of the verb the contrast be¬
tween status and action. All verbs in Navaho are divided
by grammarians into two groups: neutral and active.
“Neutral” designates those verbs that do not change their
character. “Active” refers to verbs that denote activities
or that do change their character. There is, in Navaho,
all the difference in the world between the type of idea
suggested by English “I am friendly” and that suggested
by “I habitually do friendly acts.” The English phrases are
rendered by distinct Navaho forms. Each type of verb
may also be either transitive or intransitive. “To be tall”
is neutral-intransitive. “To hold it” is neutral-transitive. “I
see it” (in the sense of “I have it visible”) is the neutral-
transitive form, whereas “I look at it” is neutral-active.
Because so much is expressed and implied by the few
syllables that make up a single verb form, the Navaho
verb is like a tiny Imagist poem. A free translation of such
a microcosm of meaning must normally become a some¬
what extended paraphrase before even the main signifi¬
cance can be included. One Navaho word more often than
not turns into a whole sentence in English. The single
word shiniia, for instance, means “the rigid object (such
as a gun) leans against me.”
Let us look at some further examples showing the ex¬
tent of definition required to convey the sense of a Navaho
verb:

269
 THE NAVAHO

hmdinslaaa, I hand it over to him by word of mouth.

shuijd, He gave me a piece of his mind.
shandoo‘aal, Would that you might give me back per¬
mission to speak.
‘aajiyighdah, He is getting to that point there by you.
niq, A set of round objects extends off in a
horizontal line, or: I brought it.
‘o‘6‘aM, Would that the sun (or moon) might set.
hnnaal, You are shuffling along sidewise.
‘eeshdeel. I have eaten some berries (apples, buns,
or any plural separable objects) one at
a time.
nandiih, Time and again you (sing.) eat it.
naildil, You are accustomed to eat plural separa¬
ble objects one at a time.
hanlcoos. You take a fabric-like object out of an en¬
closed space.
The above translations are no more than crude approxima¬
tions that by no means transmit the total sense of the
Navaho. In the first example the “him” is not just any
“him” but a person being addressed politely or respect¬
fully. The verb form is a somewhat stereotyped formula
used in making certain types of gifts, especially of land.
However, in some contexts it must be rendered “I promise
it to him,” and in others, “I forgive him.” The optative
form illustrated in the third example may also have the
sense of a polite prohibitive, meaning, “Please don’t give
me back the floor.” In the ninth example the form makes
it plain that “it” is a definite “it” not “something” (in¬
definite), which would be a different form (naidiih). The
subtle distinctions inherent in the aspect and tense-mode
forms used in the Navaho verbs are left completely un¬
expressed in the English renderings given. In short, it
would take literally pages to analyze the full implications
of these eleven words.

270
 THE TONGUE OF THE PEOPLE

BY THEIR SPEECH SHALL YE KNOW THEM

Any language is more than an instrument for the con¬

veying of ideas, more even than an instrument for working
upon the feelings of others and for self-expression. Every
language is also a means of categorizing experience. What
people think and feel, and how they report what they think
and feel, is determined, to be sure, by their individual
physiological state, by their personal history, and by what
actually happens in the outside world. But it is also deter¬
mined by a factor which is often overlooked; namely, the
pattern of linguistic habits which people have acquired
as members of a particular society. The events of the
“real” world are never felt or reported as a machine would
do it. There is a selection process and an interpretation in
the very act of response. Some features of the external
situation are highlighted; others are ignored or not fully
discriminated.
Every people has its own characteristic classes in which
individuals pigeonhole their experiences. These classes are
established primarily by the language through the types
of objects, processes, or qualities which receive special
emphasis in the vocabulary and equally, though more
subtly, through the types of differentiation or activity
which are distinguished in grammatical forms. The lan¬
guage says, as it were, “Notice this,” “Always consider
this separate from that,” “Such and such things belong
together.” Since persons are trained from infancy to re¬
spond in these ways they take such discriminations for
granted, as part of the inescapable stuff of life. But when
we see two peoples with different social traditions respond
in different ways to what appear to the outsider to be
identical stimulus-situations, we realize that experience is
much less a “given,” an absolute, than we thought. Every
language has an effect upon what the people who use it

271
 THE NAVAHO

see, what they feel, how they think, what they can talk
about.
As pointed out in the section on grammar, the language
of The People delights in sharply defined categories. It
likes, so to speak, to file things away in neat little packages.
It favors always the concrete and particular, with little
scope for abstractions. It directs attention to some features
of every situation, such as the minute distinctions as to
direction and type of activity. It ignores others to which
English gives a place. Navaho focuses interest upon doing
—upon verbs as opposed to nouns or adjectives.
Striking examples of the categories which mark the Nav¬
aho language are the variations in many of its verb stems
according to the types of their subjects or objects. As has
been illustrated above, the verb stem used often depends
upon whether its subject (or object) is in the long-object
class (such as a pencil, a stick, or a pipe), the granular-
mass class (such as sugar and salt), the things-bun-
dled-up class (such as hay and bundles of clothing), the
animate-object class, and many others.
It must not be thought that such classification is a con¬
scious process every time a Navaho opens his mouth to
speak. It would, of course, paralyze speech if one had to
think, when about to say a verb, “Now I must remember
to specify whether the object is definite or indefinite;
whether it is something round, long, fluid, or something
else.” Fortunately this is no more necessary in Navaho
than in English. The Navaho child simply learns that if
he is talking about dropping baseballs or eggs or stones
he uses a word different from the word he would use if
he spoke of dropping a knife or a pencil or a stick, just
as the English-speaking child learns to use different words
(herd, flock, crowd) in mentioning a group of cows, sheep,
or people.
The important point is that striking divergences in man¬
ner of thinking are crystallized in and perpetuated by the

272
 THE TONGUE OF THE PEOPLE

forms of Navaho grammar. Take the example of a com¬

monplace physical event: rain. Whites can and do report
their perception of this event in a variety of ways: “It has
started to rain,” “It is raining,” “It has stopped raining.”
The People can, of course, convey these same ideas—but
they cannot convey them without finer specifications. To
give only a few instances of the sorts of discrimination
the Navaho must make before he reports his experience:
he uses one verb form if he himself is aware of the actual
inception of the rain storm, another if he has reason to
believe that rain has been falling for some time in his
locality before the occurrence struck his attention. One
form must be employed if rain is general round about
within the range of vision; another if, though it. is raining
round about, the storm is plainly on the move. Similarly,
the Navaho must invariably distinguish between the ceas¬
ing of rainfall (generally) and the stopping of rain in a
particular vicinity because the rain clouds have been driven
off by wind. The People take the consistent noticing and
reporting of such differences (which are usually irrelevant
from the white point of view) as much for granted as
the rising of the sun.
Navaho is an excessively literal language, little given to
abstractions and to the fluidity of meaning that is so char¬
acteristic of English. The inner classification gives a con¬
creteness, a specificity, to all expression. Most things can
be expressed in Navaho with great exactness by manipulat¬
ing the wide choice of stems in accord with the multi¬
tudinous alternatives offered by fusing prefixes and other
separable elements in an almost unlimited number of ways.
Indeed Navaho is almost ovemeat, overprecise. There is
very little “give” in the language. It rather reminds one of
a Bach fugue, in which everything is ordered in scrupulous
symmetry.
The general nature of the difference between Navaho
thought and English thought—both as manifested in the
language and also as forced by the very nature of the

273
 THE NAVAHO

linguistic forms into such patterns—is that Navaho thought

is prevailingly so much more specific, so much more con¬
crete. The ideas expressed by the English verb “to go”
provide a nice example. To Germans the English language
seems a little sloppy because the same word is used re¬
gardless of whether the one who goes walks or is trans¬
ported by a train or other agency, whereas in German
these two types of motion are always sharply distinguished
in the two verbs gehen and fahren. But Navaho does
much more along this fine. For example, when one is talk¬
ing about travel by horse, the speed of the animal may
be expressed by the verb form chosen. The following all
mean “I went by horseback.”
Ill shil niya, (at a walk or at unspecified speed).
Ill shil yildloozh, (at a trot).
IU shil neeltqq, (at a gallop).
Ill shil yilghod, (at a run).
When a Navaho says that he went somewhere he never
fails to specify whether it was afoot, astride, by wagon,
auto, train, or airplane. This is done partly by using dif¬
ferent verb stems which indicate whether the traveler
moved under his own steam or was transported, partly
by naming the actual means. Thus, “he went to town”
would become:
kintahgdd tiyd. He went to town afoot or in
a nonspecific way.
kintahg66 bil ‘liibqqz, He went to town by wagon.
kintahgdd bil ‘o‘oot‘a. He went to town by airplane.
kintahgdd bil ‘in eel. He went to town by boat.
kintahgdd bil ‘oooldloozh,He went to town by horse¬
back at a trot.
kintahgdd bil ‘o‘ooldghod, He went to town by horse¬
back at a run (or perhaps
by car or train).
kintahgdd bil ‘inooltqq, He went to town by horse¬
back at a gallop.

274
 THE TONGUE OF THE PEOPLE

Moreover, the Navaho language insists upon another

type of splitting up of the generic idea of “going” to which
German is as indifferent as English. The Navaho always
differentiates between starting to go, going along, arriving
at, returning from a point, etc., etc. For instance, he makes
a choice between:
kintahgi niyd, He arrived at town.
kintahgoo ‘nya, He went to town and is still there.
kintahgoo naayd, He went to town but is now back
where he started.
Let us take a few more examples. The Navaho inter¬
preter, even though his behavior or side comments may
make it perfectly apparent that he feels there is a dif¬
ference, will translate both hdajish ‘nya and hdagosh ‘nya
as “where did he go.” If you say to him, “The Navaho
sounds different in the two cases and there must be some
difference in English meaning,” the interpreter is likely
to reply, “Yes, there is a difference all right, but you just
can’t express it in English.” Now this is not literally true.
Almost anything which can be said in Navaho can be
said in English and vice versa, though a translation which
gets everything in may take the form of a long paraphrase
which sounds strained and artificial in the second lan¬
guage. In the case of the examples given above, the nearest
equivalents are probably: “in what direction did he leave”
and “for what destination did he leave.”
In English one might ask, “Where did he go” and the
usual answer would be something like, “He went to Gal¬
lup.” But in Navaho one would have to select one of eight
or ten possible forms which, if rendered exactly into Eng¬
lish, would come out something like this: “He started off
for Gallup,” “He left to go as far as Gallup,” “He left by
way of Gallup,” “He left, being bound for Gallup (for a
brief visit),” “He left, being bound for Gallup (for an ex¬
tended stay),” etc.
The People are likewise particular about other differen-

*75
 TEE NAVAHO

tiations, similar to some of those discussed earlier in this

chapter:
kin gone yah ‘iikai. We went into the house (in
a group).
kin gone yah ‘ahiikai, We went into the house (one
after another).
or:
chizh kin gdne yah ‘Unit, I carried the wood into the
house (in one trip).
chizh kin gone yah ‘akenil, I carried the wood into the
house (in several trips).
It is not, of course, that these distinctions cannot be
made in English but that they are not made consistently.
They seem of importance to English-speakers only under
special circumstances, whereas constant precision is a regu¬
lar feature of Navaho thought and expression about move¬
ment.
The nature of their language forces The People to notice
and to report many other distinctions in physical events
which the nature of the English language allows speakers
to neglect in most cases, even though their senses are just
as able as those of the Navaho to register the smaller
details of what goes on in the external world. For example,
suppose a Navaho range rider and a white supervisor see
that the wire fence surrounding a demonstration area is
broken. The supervisor will probably write in his notebook
only: “The fence is broken.” But if the range rider reports
the occurrence to his friends he must say either heesh
‘alcast'i or heSsh ‘alcaat'i; the first would specify that the
damage has been caused by some person, the second that
the agency was nonhuman. Further, he must choose be¬
tween one of these statements and an alternative pair—the
verb form selected depending on whether the fence was
of one or several strands of wire.
Two languages may classify items of experience dif¬
ferently. The class corresponding to one word and one

276
 THE TONGUE OF THE PEOPLE

In this case Navaho distinguishes more kinds of roughness

than does English.

thought in Language A may be regarded by Language B

as two or more classes corresponding to two or more words
and thoughts.5 For instance, where in English one
word “rough” (more pedantically, “rough-surfaced”) may
equally well be used to describe a road, a rock, and the
business surface of a file, Navaho finds a need for three
different words which may not be used interchangeably
(see Figure 6). While the general tendency is for Navaho
to make finer and more concrete distinctions, this is not
invariably the case. The same stem is used for “rip,” “light
beam,” and “echo,” ideas which seem diverse to white
people. One word is used to designate a medicine bundle
with all its contents, the skin quiver in which the contents

277
 THE NAVAHO

Here English will generally use two different words rather

than the same one for both conditions.
are wrapped, the contents as a whole, and some of the
^distinct items of the contents. Sometimes the point is not
that the images of Navahos are less fluid and more de¬
limited but rather just that the external world is dissected
along different lines. For example, digodn may be used to
describe both a pimply face and a nodule-covered rock.
In English a complexion might be termed “rough” or
“coarse” but a rock would never, except facetiously, be
described as “pimply.” Navaho differentiates two types of
“rough rock”—the kind which is rough in the manner in
which a file is rough, and the kind which is nodule-
encrusted. In these cases (see Figure 7) the difference
between the Navaho and the English ways of seeing the

278
 THE TONGUE OF THE PEOPLE

These are all one sort in the Navaho view—mostly because

metals and knives came to them at the same time to take
the place of flint.

world cannot be disposed of merely by saying that Navaho

is more precise. The variation rests in the features which
the two languages see as essential. Cases can even be
given where Navaho is notably less precise: Navaho gets
along with a single word for flint, metal, knife, and cer¬
tain other objects of metal (see Figure 8). This, to be
sure, is due to the historical accident that, after European
contact, metal in general and knives in particular largely
took the place of flint. But in the last analysis most lin¬
guistic differentiations, like other sorts of cultural selec¬
tivity, rest upon the historical experience of the people.
How the Navaho and English languages dissect nature

279
 THE NAVAHO

differently perhaps comes out most clearly when we con¬

trast verbal statements. Take a simple event such as a
person dropping something. The different “isolates of
meaning” (thoughts) used in reporting this identical ex¬
perience will be quite different in Navaho and in English
(see Figure 9). The only two elements which are the

Fig. g. “I drop it.”

English specifies

1. Subject: I
2. Type of action: drop
3. Time of action: while speaking or just before

navaho specifies

1. Subject: sh
2. Direction of action: downward—Naa
3. Definite or indefinite object: (verb form)
4. Type of object: (verb stem) here a
bulky, roundish, hard object—Naa
5. Amount of control of subject over process:

in act of in act of
lowering letting fall

6. From area of the hand: -lak‘ee

NaasKaah lak‘ee Naashne‘ lak‘ee

(I am in the act of lowering (I am in the act of letting

the definite, bulky, round¬ the definite, bulky, round¬
ish, hard object from my ish, hard object fall from
hand.) my hand.)

280
 THE TONGUE OF THE PEOPLE

same are “I” and “sh,” both of which specify who does
the dropping. A single image “drop” in English requires
two complementary images (naa and ‘aah) in Navaho.
English stops with what from the Navaho point of view
is a very vague statement—“I drop it.” The Navaho must
specify four particulars which the English leaves either
unsettled or to inference from context:

1. The form must make clear whether “it” is definite or

just “something.”
2. The verb stem used will vary depending upon whether
the object is round, or long, or fluid, or animate, etc.,
etc.
3. Whether the act is in progress, or just about to start,
or just about to stop or habitually carried on or re¬
peatedly carried on must be rigorously specified. In
English, “I drop it” can mean once or can mean that
it is customarily done (e.g., in describing the process
of getting water from my well by a bucket). All the
other possibilities are also left by English to the im¬
agination.
4. The extent to which the agent controls the fall must
be indicated: naasKaah means “I am in the act of
lowering the round object” but naashne1 means “I am
in the act of letting the round object fall.”

To make the analysis absolutely complete, it must be

pointed out that there is one respect in which the English
is here a bit more exact. “I drop it” implies definitely (with
the exception of the use of the “historical present”) that
the action occurs as the speaker talks or just an instant
before, while the two Navaho verbs given above could,
in certain circumstances, refer either to past or to future
time. In other words, Navaho is more interested in the
type of action (momentaneous, progressing, continuing,
customary, etc.) than in establishing sequences in time as
related to the moving present of the speaker.

281
 THE NAVAHO

Many other sorts of difference could be described, some

of which are illustrated in Figures 10-12. A full technical
treatment would require a whole book to itself. The widest
implications have been beautifully phrased by one of the
great linguists of recent times, Edward Sapir:

Language is not merely a more or less systematic in¬

ventory of the various items of experience which seem
relevant to the individual, as is so often naively assumed,
but is also a self-contained, creative symbolic organiza¬
tion, which not only refers to experience largely acquired
without its help but actually defines experience for us by
reason of its formal completeness and because of our un¬
conscious projection of its implicit expectations into the
field of experience. In this respect language is very much
like a mathematical system wrhich, also, records experi¬
ence in the truest sense of the word, only in its crudest
beginnings, but, as time goes on, becomes elaborated
into a self-contained conceptual system which previsages
all possible experience in accordance with certain ac¬
cepted formal limitations . . . [Meanings are] not so
much discovered in experience as imposed upon it, be¬
cause of the tyrannical hold that linguistic form has
upon our orientation in the world. Inasmuch as lan¬
guages differ very widely in their systematization of fun-

Fig. 10. “It bent.”

Yiitaaz ‘Aliqqh niijool

It bent and stayed that It bent and sprang back to

way. a straight position.

282
 THE TONGUE OF THE PEOPLE

damental concepts, they tend to be only loosely equiva¬

lent to each other as symbolic devices and are, as a
matter of fact, incommensurable in the sense in which
two systems of points in a plane are, on the whole, in¬
commensurable to each other, if they are plotted out

Fig. 11. “He went to town.”

ENGLISH

He went to town.

NAVAHO

a. Kintahgoo ‘nya b. Kintahgoo bil ‘o‘ooldloozh

e. Kintahgod bil ‘o‘oot‘a f. Kintahgoo bil ‘in eel

The verb here implies means of locomotion because, for

example, b. and c. would be used mostly of a horse, d. of
something that rolls, e. of something that flies. In b. and c.
speed of locomotion is also indicated.
283
 THE NAVAHO

with reference to differing systems of coordinates . . .

In many ways the Navaho classifications come closer
to a freshly objective view of the nature of events than
do those of such languages as English or Latin.6

Fig. 12. “I kicked him.”

i. Setal: I kicked him.

2. Neishtah I gave him a kick on repeated occasions.

3. Ndneetaal: I gave him repeated kicks on the same

occasion.

4. Ninanishtal: I gave him repeated kicks on repeated

occasions.

WHY BOTHER ABOUT THE LANGUAGE?

The problems faced by The People in adjusting to white

society, and especially the problems faced by the Navaho
child in school, must be viewed within the framework of
the differences between the English and the Navaho lan¬
guages. Whites who have tried to learn Navaho have a

284
 THE TONGUE OF THE PEOPLE

lively realization of how difficult it is, but they often fail

to comprehend that it is equally hard for Navahos to mas¬
ter English. English sounds are so different from Navaho
and so indistinct by comparison that they are hard for
The People to learn. Most Navahos actually feel that their
own language is easier because they sense the function of
each element, whereas English is difficult for them be¬
cause the proportion of sheer idiom is so much greater
and the underlying conceptual bases of idiom are so dif¬
ferent.
Other more specific problems for the Navaho learner of
English arise from technical differences in the structure of
the two languages. For example, there is no gender in
Navaho verbs, so Navaho youngsters use “he” and “she”
interchangeably or say “he” for “she” to the end of time.
Similarly the English practice of expressing plurality in
nouns by an internal vowel change (goose, geese) is com¬
pletely unfamiliar to Navahos and baffles them.
Because of the structure of their language The People
are bound to have mental processes that are, in some
significant senses, different from those of English-speaking
peoples. The one fact that Navaho is a verb language,
whereas English is mainly a noun-adjective language, of
itself implies a different order of thought habits.
All study of the Navahos and all administrative com¬
munication with them are complicated by these differences
in linguistic and thinking habits. This was painfully true
of the program of giving Navaho children psychological
tests described in Children of The People, by Leighton and
Eluckhohn (Harvard University Press, 1947). Even where
the child spoke enough English so the tests could be ad¬
ministered without an interpreter, it is doubtful whether
the English words used really conveyed the same meaning
to the Navaho child as they would have to a white child
of similar age and temperament. Likewise, there were cre¬
ated for the investigators many puzzles in interpreting the
English phrases used by the child in reply.

285
 THE NAVAHO

ESTABLISHING GOOD RELATIONS

At least some understanding of Navaho ways of speech

and thought is essential to the teacher, the government
official, or any other white person who needs or wants to
understand The People. Part of its usefulness lies in in¬
dicating the good will of the white person, in paying Nav-
ahos the implied compliment of making the effort necessary
to learn something about their language, and in establish¬
ing the friendly relation that arises between the earnest
novice and the expert. To American Indians, whose lan¬
guage has usually been ignored or ridiculed by whites,
there is satisfaction in the spectacle of the white man tak¬
ing the trouble to study their tongue. His very difficulties
and mistakes tend to promote good feeling toward him.
Indians have seldom had the opportunity of laughing at
a white man to his face with impunity. If they can smile
and joke freely when one tries haltingly to pronounce
words or speak a sentence, their hostile impulses toward
him are diminished.
Using the language even a very little helps to build up
easy and confident relations with Navahos. With skill or
luck, the white man may win for himself a place as a
person who is not always in the superior role, as a po¬
tential friend who may sometimes be laughed at or with,
rather than just another member of a distrusted or even
hated race, to whom taciturnity, sullenness, suspicion, or
active hostility are the usual responses. A few words of
greeting and farewell, a face not blank or troubled but
lighting with comprehension when a daily commonplace
is uttered in Navaho, sometimes mean the difference be¬
tween being regarded as a foreign intruder or as a sym¬
pathetic visitor.

286
 THE TONGUE OF THE PEOPLE

DEALING WITH INTERPRETERS

We have seen in this chapter enough of the differences

between Navaho and English to realize that any transla¬
tion from one to the other is a difficult business and re¬
quires sensitivity and skill. Few indeed are the individuals
who are prepared for this demanding task. Not many
Navahos have a quick command of fluent, idiomatic Eng¬
lish. Of those who do, a large proportion speak only
“schoolboy” Navaho, missing much that should be ren¬
dered into English and often foundering completely when
the more involved Navaho constructions are used.
The interpreter’s lot is not a happy one. He is under
pressure from both the Navaho and the English-speaker
to translate quickly, and so does not have time to think
out the full implications of what he is saying in either
language. Old Navahos are exasperated when the inter¬
preter asks them to repeat or re-phrase some verb form
that has baffled him. Whites become impatient at the
amount of time consumed. Both sides blame the interpreter
if they sense that effective communication is not being
established. At the same time they too frequently trust the
translations, believing that their own meanings have been
transmitted intact and without essential distortion. Most
Navahos and whites alike assume naively that an inter¬
preter can or ought to be able to work with the precision
of a machine. The interpreter deserves sympathy for his
almost impossible job, for it is too much to expect one
man to take the whole responsibility for bridging the gulf
between worlds that are as different as their languages.
To turn a sentence from English into Navaho or from
Navaho into English involves a great deal more than choos¬
ing the proper word for word equivalents from a dictionary.
Bewildered by the lack of structural correspondences be¬
tween the two tongues, most interpreters succumb to one
or both of two temptations: either they leave out a great

287
 THE NAVAHO

deal in passing from Navaho to English (or vice versa);

or they translate all too freely, projecting their own mean¬
ings into the sentences they “translate.” Sometimes diffi¬
culties arise because the interpreter tries to stick too closely
to the literal text of the English. For example, at a Navajo
Council meeting within the last few years there was a dis¬
cussion of how to develop mineral and gas resources on the
Reservation. The white speaker from Washington who in¬
troduced the matter used the phrase “hidden beneath the
ground.” When translated literally into Navaho this had
the sense of “secreted beneath the ground.” The Council
got the sense that there was some skulduggery in the whole
business and got so worked up that certain measures
which should have been passed in the interests of the war
had to be held over until the next meeting.
A Navajo Agency interpreter may take a speech that an
official has couched in conciliatory and expository Eng¬
lish, and by his compression and by the Navaho forms he
selects, may give the Navaho audience the impression that
a brusque order has been issued. The official meant to
present a policy for discussion, or to explain and win the
assent of the Navaho group to a policy that had been de¬
cided upon. But the English nuances which imply courtesy
and interest in Navaho opinion are too difficult to get over
(at least without long thought in advance), so The People
get the sense that they are being told to do thus and so
without any if’s, and’s, or but’s. On the basis of detailed
examination of certain cases that are probably all too typi¬
cal, it can be asserted without any doubt whatsoever that
the resentment and resistance that occurred at certain
points during the stock reduction program might have
been avoided, or at least much mitigated, if communica¬
tion had not been so faulty from inaccurate interpreting.
One should not expect too much from interpreters, but
one should expect the right things. Some whites, realizing
that the interpreter is omitting a good deal of the Navaho,
adopt the wrong corrective. They demand that the inter-

288
 THE TONGUE OF THE PEOPLE

preter give a translation of each Navaho syllable. This is

a mistake because only the most sophisticated Navahos
can break even a majority of words into their elements, and
then usually only after considerable reflection and discus¬
sion. (How many English-speakers can, offhand, break
down “parliament,” “stethoscope”—or even a word of An¬
glo-Saxon derivation such as “enthralled”—into their small¬
est meaning units?) In any event, there is enough idiom
in Navaho to make a literal etymological translation mean¬
ingless in many cases. For instance, nahookgs (north)
translates literally as “one stiff slender object makes a revo¬
lution” (from the constellation of the dipper which revolves
about the North Star). For purposes of conveying mean¬
ing the etymology does not matter, and such a rendering
would merely compound confusion—to say the least—save
for the purposes of the scientific linguist.
This is not to say that etymology is irrelevant to all the
nuances of communication. While it would be absurd to
pretend that the whole etymology of ndhookos is present to
the consciousness of a Navaho every time he says the word,
still the sheer formal nature of the verb as well as the
meanings of its separable elements must carry with them
a background of association and connotation that is alto¬
gether lacking in the English noun “north.” Something is
lost of the flavor of the Navaho just as when the English
words “thinker” and “ratiocinator” are indiscriminately
translated into French as penseur. However, this whole
problem of word flavor as contingent upon formal ety¬
mology is but one rather minor instance of the important
generalization that the meanings expressed in one language
can never be transmuted into another language without
some loss or change. The wise Italian proverb: Traditore,
traduttore (“The translator is a betrayer”), is even truer
for Navaho than for most languages.
But this is a counsel of wisdom—not of despair. The
white teacher or administrator who is aware that transla-

289
 THE NAVAHO

tion can never achieve mechanical perfection will keep his

expectations realistically modest. If he has knowledge of
the peculiar difficulties of Navaho, he will have a healthy
respect for the problems faced by his interpreters. This will
lead him, on the one hand, to have more patience and
thus bolster the interpreter’s confidence and produce better
feeling toward the white, both of which will promote
greater efficiency. On the other hand, the white will know
that, at best, a perfect job cannot be done, and will make
allowances in his behavior for partial failure of communi¬
cation. He will be less easily moved to harmful or futile
anger at “broken promises,” for he will realize that, in many
cases, his understanding of an agreement or a situation di¬
verged in important particulars from that of the Navahos
with whom he was dealing.
In many specific ways a white person can put even a
smattering of knowledge about the Navaho language to
useful and highly practical purposes. If he catches even an
occasional Navaho word that the interpreter does not trans¬
late, he can question the interpreter about it. Experience
shows that this procedure results in much greater care in
translation. When the interpreter is aware that there is any
chance at all of his being checked up on, both pride and
the fear of losing his job result in more alertness and pre¬
cision. The white may actually know fewer than a hun¬
dred words, but if they are common words one or more
will eventually enter into any conversation. Navahos who
discover that a white man knows any Navaho at all usu¬
ally tend to exaggerate this knowledge, and this tend¬
ency can be exploited to the fullest in controlling inter¬
preters.
Realization that most Navaho verbs need to be rendered
by at least several English words (cf. p. 269) and that, in
general, any Navaho utterance has to be translated by a
correspondingly longer English remark constitutes a prac¬
tical basis for suspecting that an interpreter is taking the
easy way out by omission and selection. Whenever a white

290
 THE TONGUE OF THE PEOPLE

official knows at least enough Navaho to sense where the

interpreter is going wrong or likely to go wrong, he can
save himself and the Navahos much grief and waste effort
by insisting on repetitions or fuller translations at the right
moment and by phrasing his own remarks with due con¬
sideration for the precision and specificity of the language
into which they are to be translated. Awareness of char¬
acteristic differences in idiom and construction are espe¬
cially helpful to this end.
Young and Morgan’s words on this subject of translation
arise from long practical experience and are sufficiently co¬
gent to be worth quoting at length:

Too often White speakers employ phraseology, idio¬

matic expressions, similes and allegories in delivering dis¬
courses which must be extemporaneously translated,
that baffle and confuse the native interpreter. The re¬
sult is that he either misinterprets due to misunderstand¬
ing, or says something entirely at random to avoid em¬
barrassment to himself.
Use of abstractions, similes, allegories and idiomatic
expressions in speaking should be minimized, and en¬
tirely avoided, if at all possible. Instead of saying “inci¬
dence of tuberculosis on the Navaho reservation reached
a new high in 1942, after which a sharp decline was re¬
ported. In view of this turn of events, a reduced medical
staff will suffice to maintain the Navaho population in
‘tip-top’ condition for the duration,” the White speaker
would be better understood, and a better interpretation
would result if he said something like, “one year ago a
great many people in the Navaho country had tubercu¬
losis. Before then there were less people with tuberculo¬
sis, and since then there are not as many people with
tuberculosis, it is said. Because there are not very many
people with tuberculosis now, less doctors can take care
of the whole Navaho people and keep them well until
the war is ended.”
 THE NAVAHO

It is true that it is not considered good oratorical form

to use “choppy,” childishly simple, and to the orator,
monotonous phraseology bristling with repetitions, as in
the above modified form. However, such simple and
lucid statements can be quickly and easily translated
with a maximum of accuracy, whereas the orator using
the first example would no doubt be horrified to find his
vaunted oratory replaced by a translation distorting be¬
yond recognition the point he was trying so euphoniously
to convey; or perhaps he would find that he had lost
his interpreter at the end of the first phrase, and that
the latter had quoted him as saying “he says that a lot
of you people have tuberculosis, and you must come to
the hospital, but because they are fighting a war, there
are not enough doctors to keep you well now,” or per¬
haps “he says that it has rained a lot this year, and the
roads are so muddy he cannot go out over the Navaho
country to help you until after the war.”
Such renditions of otherwise excellent and valuable
speeches are far too common. Too often council mem¬
bers vote without knowing, or without fully understand¬
ing, that for or against which they are declaring them¬
selves.
The more knowledge one has of the Navaho language,
in this instance, and the pattern according to which the
Navaho conceives and expresses his thoughts, the better
will one be able to express himself in English of a type
that can be translated and accurately conveyed to his
audience—and the better will one be fitted to teach Eng-
fish to Navaho children in terms which they can com¬
prehend.
The ideal would be to give all speeches to the in¬
terpreter beforehand, and require him to make a writ¬
ten translation at his leisure—or to teach English in terms
of Navaho but these ideals cannot always be achieved.
It is quite obvious that the Navaho language is not a
primitive tool, inadequate for human expression, but a

292
 THE TONGUE OF THE PEOPLE

well developed one, quite as capable of serving the Nav-

aho people as our language is of serving us. The mere
fact that translation of English into Navaho is difficult
does not prove, as some believe, that the Navaho lan¬
guage is a poor one, any more than difficulty of transla¬
tion from Navaho to English proves English to be poor.7

GETTING THE NAVAHO VIEWPOINT

More important, however, than the use of the language to

establish rapport or to ask questions, give instructions, or
otherwise make official communications, is the usefulness
of knowing some Navaho in helping the white person to
see things as the Navahos see them. The meanings which
the events of a Navaho’s life have to the Navaho will al¬
ways remain somewhat opaque to the white man unless
he has given a certain minimum of attention to the lan¬
guage, and thus obtained entrance to this foreign world
whose values and significances are indicated by the em¬
phases of native vocabulary, crystallized in the structure
of the language, and implicit in its differentiations of mean¬
ing. All this does not mean that the administrator or teacher
or anyone else who wants to know Navahos must speak
the language like a native, though this would certainly be
ideal. What is needed is merely enough study and thought
to make the white person aware of habitual differences in
ways of thinking characteristic of those who think in Nav¬
aho. Even a few days of intelligent study will do more
than any other investment of the same time to unlock the
doors of the world in which Navahos live, feel, and think,
for it will show that the lack of equivalences in Navaho
and English is merely the outward expression of inward
differences between two peoples in premises, in basic cate¬
gories, in training in fundamental sensitivities, and in gen¬
eral view of the world.

293
 9. THE NAVAHO VIEW OF LIFE

In our survey of The People’s way of life, the least tangible

but by no means the least important subject has been re¬
served for the last. The problems the Navahos face and the
techniques they have developed for coping with them—
their material technology and their ways of handling hu¬
man relations and of dealing with superhuman forces—
have been considered. Through the survey of their lan¬
guage in the last chapter, the view of life which lies behind
the special character of the Navaho adaptation was par¬
tially revealed. This subject must now be further amplified
in more direct and explicit terms.
Adjustments and adaptations are always selective. Al¬
most always more than one solution is objectively possible.
The choices which a people make and the emphasis they
give to one problem at the expense of others bear a re¬
lationship to the things they have come to regard as es¬
pecially important. All people have to eat to survive, but
whether they eat to five or five to eat or five and eat is not
fixed by uncontrollable forces. Even if they five to eat,
there will be choices as to what they eat. No society
utilizes all the foods present in the environment which can
be handled by the available technology. For example, nei¬
ther Navahos nor white people commonly eat snake flesh
although it is perfectly nutritious. The external facts—im¬
portant though these always are—are not the only deter¬
minants of what people do.
The way of life which is handed down as the social
heritage of every people does more than supply a set of
skills for making a living and a set of blueprints for human

294
 THE NAVAHO VIEW OF LIFE

relations. Each different way of life makes assumptions

(and usually somewhat different assumptions) about the
ends and purposes of human existence, about what human
beings have a right to expect from one another and from
the gods, about what constitutes fulfillment or frustration.
Some of these assumptions are made explicit in so many
words in the lore of the folk; others are tacit premises
which the observer must infer by finding consistent trends
in deed and word.
All of the specific things which The People approve or
disapprove cannot be mentioned. Many of these have al¬
ready been stated or implied. But the central directions
of Navaho goals and values need to be indicated. It must,
however, always be remembered that in this respect also
The People are in a transitional stage. They are tom be¬
tween their own ancient standards and those which are
urged upon them by teachers, missionaries, and other
whites. An appreciable number of Navahos are so con¬
fused by the conflicting precepts of their elders and their
white models that they tend, in effect, to reject the whole
problem of morality (in the widest sense) as meaningless
or insoluble. For longer or shorter periods in their lives
their only guide is the expediency of the immediate situa¬
tion. One cannot play a game according to rule if there
are sharp disagreements as to what the rules are. The in¬
cipient breakdown of any culture brings a loss of predicta¬
bility and hence of dependability in personal relations. The
absence of generally accepted standards of behavior among
individuals constitutes, in fact, a definition of social disor¬
ganization.
A stable social structure prevails only so long as the ma¬
jority7 of individuals in the society find enough satisfac¬
tion both in the goals socially approved and in the insti¬
tutionalized means of attainment to compensate them for
the constraints which ordered social life inevitably imposes
upon uninhibited response to impulse. In any way of life
there is much that to an outside observer appears hap-

295
 THE NAVAHO

hazard, disorderly, more or less chaotic. But unless most

participants feel that the ends and means of their culture
make sense, disorientation and amorality become rampant.
Synthesis is achieved partly through the overt statement
of the dominant conceptions and aspirations of the group
in its religion and ethical code, partly through unconscious
apperceptive habits, habitual ways of looking at the stream
of events.
In this chapter an attempt will be made to describe not
only Navaho ethics and values but also some of those high¬
est common factors that are implicit in a variety of the
doings and sayings of The People. In the not distant past
these recurrent themes, these unstated premises, gave a felt
coherence to life in spite of social change, in spite of the
diversity of institutions, in spite of differences in the needs
and experiences of individuals. These distinctly Navaho
values and premises still do much to regulate group life
and to reconcile conflicts and discrepancies. But the basic
assumptions of The People are now under attack from a
competing set of assumptions. The majority of Navahos
no longer feel completely at home and at ease in their
world of values and significances, and an appreciable mi¬
nority are thoroughly disoriented. This chapter will portray
the Navaho view of life in its integrated form as still held
by most older people and many younger ones, for probably
no Navaho alive today is completely uninfluenced by this
set of conceptions of the good life, of characteristic ways
of thinking, feeling, and reacting, although it should be
remembered that many younger people partly repudiate
some of these notions and find themselves in an uneasy
state between two worlds.

NAVAHO “ETHICS”

In no human group is indiscriminate lying, cheating, or

stealing approved. Cooperation is of course impossible un¬
less individuals can depend upon each other in defined

296

/
 THE NAVAHO VIEW OF LIFE

circumstances. Societies differ in how they define the con¬

ditions under which lying or stealing is forgivable or toler¬
able or even perhaps demanded. In their general discus¬
sions The People make virtues of truth and honesty, much
as white people do. In the advice fathers give their chil¬
dren, in the harangues of headmen at large gatherings,
these two ideals never fail to be extolled.
The difference in the presentation of these ideals by
whites and Navahos lies in the reasons advanced. The
Navaho never appeals to abstract morality or to adherence
to divine principles. He stresses mainly the practical con¬
siderations: “If you don’t tell the truth, your fellows won’t
trust you and you’ll shame your relatives. You’ll never get
along in the world that way.” Truth is never praised
merely on the ground that it is “good” in a purely abstract
sense, nor do exhortations ever take the form that the Holy
People have forbidden cheating or stealing. Certain other
acts are commanded or prohibited on the basis that one
or more of the Holy People did or did not behave in similar
fashion, but never in the modes which would seem “nat¬
ural” to Christians: “Do this to please the Holy People
because they love you,” or “Don’t do this because the Holy
People punish wrong-doing.” The Navahos do most defi¬
nitely believe that acts have consequences, but the nature
of the consequence is not wrapped up in any intrinsic
“rightness” or “wrongness” of the act itself. In the matters
of truth and honesty, the only appeal to the sentiments
(other than those of practicality and getting along with
relatives and neighbors) which Navaho “moralists” permit
themselves is that of loyalty to tradition. The old Navaho
way was not to lie, to cheat, or to steal. The prevalence
of such vices today, they say, is due to white corruption.
So much for theory.
When it comes to practice, it is harder to put the finger
on the differences between Navaho and white patterns.
One gets the impression that Navahos lie to strangers with
fewer qualms than the average well-socialized white adult

297
 THE NAVAHO

would feel. (However, the white adult’s easy acceptance

of “white lies” must not be overlooked.) There are also
occasions on which stealing seems to be condoned “if you
can get away with it.” Again, though, a qualification must
be entered; in many parts of the Navaho country, one can
leave an automobile containing valuable articles unlocked
for days and return to find not a single item missing. Thefts
occur chiefly in the areas under strongest white influence,
especially at “squaw dances” frequented by ne’er-do-well
young men who are souls lost between the two cultures.
There is undoubted evidence that white contact brings
about—at least in the transitional generations—some break¬
down in the moralities. This much, however, seems to be a
distinctive part of the native attitude: a Navaho does not
spend much time worrying over a he or a theft when he
is not found out; he seems to have almost no “guilt” feel¬
ings; but if he is caught he does experience a good deal of
shame.
Offenses more strongly condemned are those which
threaten the peaceful working together of The People. In¬
cest and witchcraft are the worst of crimes. Murder, rape,
physical injury, and any sort of violence are disapproved
and punished, but some of the penalties seem relatively
fight to white people. By Navaho custom, murder, for in¬
stance, could be compounded for by a payment of slaves
or livestock to the kin of the victim. To this day the Navaho
way of dealing with violent crimes against the person is
not ordinarily that of retaliation or even of imprisonment
of the offender but of levying a fine which is turned over,
not to “the state,” but to the sufferer and his family to
compensate for the economic loss by injury or death—a
custom bearing marked resemblance to the old Teutonic
wergild, or “blood money.”
The positive behaviors which are advocated center on
affectionate duty to relatives, pleasant manners to all, gen¬
erosity, self-control. It has already been pointed out that
the widest ideal of human conduct for The People is “to

298
 THE NAVAHO VIEW OF LIFE

act to everybody as if they were your own relatives.” A

courteous, nonaggressive approach to others is the essence
of decency. Polite phrases to visitors and strangers are
highly valued. If an English-speaking Navaho wishes to
speak approvingly of another Navaho with whom he has
had a chance encounter, he is likely to say, “He talks
pretty nice.” Generosity is uniformly praised and stinginess
despised. One of the most disparaging things which can
be said of anyone is, “He gets mad like a dog.” Women
will be blamed for “talking rough” to their children. The
Navaho word which is most often translated into English
as “mean” is sometimes rendered “he gets mad pretty
easy.” In short, one must keep one’s temper; one must
warmly and cheerfully do one’s part in the system of re¬
ciprocal rights and obligations, notably those which pre¬
vail between kinfolk.

NAVAHO “VALUES”

Health and strength are perhaps the best of the good

things of life for The People. If you aren’t healthy, you
can’t work; if you don’t work, you’ll starve. Industry is
enormously valued. A family must arise and be about their
tasks early, for if someone goes by and sees no smoke
drifting out of the smokehole it will be thought that “there
is something wrong there; somebody must be sick.” In
enumerating the virtues of a respected man or woman the
faithful performance of duties is always given a prominent
place. “If you are poor or a beggar, people will make fun
of you. If you are lazy people will make fun of you.”
By Navaho standards one is industrious in order to ac¬
cumulate possessions—within certain limits—and to care for
the possessions he obtains. Uncontrolled gambling or drink¬
ing are disapproved primarily because they are wasteful.
The “good” man is one who has “hard goods” (turquoise
and jewelry mainly), “soft goods” (clothing, etc.), “flexible
goods” (textiles, etc.), and songs, stories, and other in-

299
 THE NAVAHO

tangible property, of which ceremonial knowledge is the

most important. An old Navaho said to W. W. Hill, “I
have always been a poor man. I do not know a single
song.” The final disrespect is to say of a man, “Why, he
hasn’t even a dog.”
A good appearance is valued; while this is partly a mat¬
ter of physique, figure, and facial appearance, it means
even more the ability to dress well and to appear with a
handsome horse and substantial trappings.
However, as Adair1 says:

This display of wealth is not a personal matter as

much as it is a family matter. It is not “see how much
money I have,” but “see how much money we have in
our family.”

Thus possessions are valued both as providing security

and as affording opportunities for mild ostentation. But to
take the attainment of riches as the chief aim of life is
universally condemned. This is a typical pronouncement
by a Navaho leader:

The Navaho way is just to want enough to have

enough to eat for your family and nice things to wear
sometimes. We don’t like it when nowadays some of
these young men marry rich girls for their money and
waste it all right away. The old people say this is wrong.
You can’t get rich if you look after your relatives right.
You can’t get rich without cheating some people. Cheat¬
ing people is the wrong way. That way gets you into
trouble. Men should be honest to get along.

Many skills carry prestige. We have spoken of the

ability to dance, to sing, to tell stories. Skill at speaking is
important and is expected of all leaders. “He talks easy” is
high praise. Conversely, “He doesn’t talk easy. He just sits
there,” is a belittling remark. Training in certain occupa¬
tions is emphasized: a man will spend all the time he can
spare from subsistence activities in order to learn a cere-

300
 THE NAVAHO VIEW OF LIFE

monial; grandmothers and mothers are expected to teach

young girls to weave. Knowledge is power to Navahos as
to other peoples, but the kinds of knowledge which are
significant to the Navaho are naturally limited by his
technology and his social organization. The skillful farmer
or stockman is admired. So also is he who excels at cow¬
boy sports, but the runner comes in for his meed of praise
too, even though this skill is today of minimal social utility.
Personal excellence is thus a value, but personal “suc¬
cess” in the white American sense is not. The Navaho lack
of stress upon the success goal has its basis in childhood
training but is reinforced by various patterns of adult life.
A white man may start out to make a fortune and continue
piling it up until he is a millionaire, where a Navaho,
though also interested in accumulating possessions, will
stop when he is comfortably off, or even sooner, partly for
fear of being called a witch if he is too successful. This
statement represents tendency rather than literal fact, for
a few Navahos have in this century built up fortunes that
are sizable even by white standards. The attitudes of the
Navaho population generally toward these ricos are very
mixed. Envy, fear, and distrust of them are undoubtedly
mingled with some admiration. But there is almost no dis¬
position for parents to hold these individuals up as models
to their children. No elder says, “If you work hard and
intelligently you might get to be as rich as Chee Dodge.”
Navaho ideas of accumulation are different from those
of whites. Riches are not identified so much with a single
individual as with the whole extended family and “outfit.”
Indeed the social pressure to support and share with rela¬
tives has a strong leveling effect. The members of a well-off
family must also spend freely, as in the white pattern of
“conspicuous consumption.” But all wealth is desired for
this purpose and for security rather than as a means of
enhancing the power and glory of specific individuals. The
habit of whites in the Navaho country of attributing full
control of the incomes of rico families to the male head of

301
 THE NAVAHO

the family is a falsification, a projection of white ways. As

a practical matter, he does not have the same freedom as
a white millionaire to dispose of his fortune.
That individual success is not a Navaho value is re¬
flected also in the avoidance of the types of leadership
which are familiar in white society. To The People it is
fundamentally indecent for a single individual to presume
to make decisions for a group. Leadership, to them, does
not mean “outstandingness” or anything like untrammeled
power over the actions of others. Each individual is con¬
trolled not by sanctions from the top of a hierarchy of
persons but by lateral sanctions. It will be remembered
that decisions at meetings must be unanimous. To white
persons this is an unbelievably tiresome and time-wasting
process. But it is interesting to note that experiments with
“group decision” in war industry have shown that the
greatest increases in production have been attained when
all workers in a unit concurred. Majority decisions often
brought about disastrous results. (In passing it may be
remarked that these experiments offer perhaps another les¬
son for the government in its dealings with The People:
when the groups of workers were allowed to set their own
goals, far more was achieved than when they were asked
to strive for goals set by management.)
Some personal values which bulk large among whites
have a place among The People which is measured largely
by the degree of white influence. Cleanliness, for instance,
is an easy virtue where there is running water, but where
every drop must be hauled five miles washing is an ex¬
pensive luxury. Navaho social and economic life is not
geared to fine points of time scheduling. If a Singer says
he will arrive “about noon,” no one takes it amiss if he
appears at sundown, though an arrival a day or more late
would call for explanation. Work is not, as it is in our Puri¬
tan tradition, a good thing in itself. The Navaho believes
in working only as much as he needs to.

302
 THE NAVAHO VIEW OF LIFE

In sum, the Navaho,concept of “goodness” stresses pro¬

ductiveness, ability to get along with people, dependability
and helpfulness, generosity in giving and spending. “Bad¬
ness” means stinginess, laziness, being cruel to others, being
destructive. The concept of value stresses possessions and
their care, health, skills which are practically useful. Con¬
cerning all of these topics The People are fully articulate.
Such sentiments are enunciated again and again in the
oral literature, in formal addresses, and in ordinary con¬
versation.

SOME PREMISES OF NAVAHO LIFE AND

THOUGHT

To understand fully the Navaho “philosophy of life” one

must dig deeper. The very fact that The People find it
necessary to talk about their “ethical principles” and their
values suggests that not everybody fives up to them (any
more than is the case in white society). But many char¬
acteristically Navaho doings and sayings make sense only
if they are related to certain basic convictions about the
nature of human life and experience, convictions so deep¬
going that no Navaho bothers to talk about them in so
many words. These unstated assumptions are so com¬
pletely taken for granted that The People take their views
of life as an ineradicable part of human nature and find it
hard to understand that normal persons could possibly
conceive life in other terms.

PREMISE 1. LIFE IS VERY, VERY DANGEROUS

This premise is of course distinctive only in its intensity and

its phrasing. All sensible human beings realize that there
are many hazards in living; but to many whites, Navahos
seem morbid in the variety of threats from this world and
from the world of the supernatural which they fear and

303
 THE NAVAHO

name. Of course this is largely a point of view. To some

detached observers it might seem more healthy to worry
about witches than about what you will live on when you
are old or about the dreadful consequences of picking up
some germ. Whites also tend to personify evil forces. They
found relief in “discovering” that World War I was all due
to J. P. Morgan. All human beings doubtless have the
tendency to simplify complex matters because this gives
the gratifying illusion of understanding them and of the
possibility of doing something about them.
However, while this is clearly not a matter of black or
white, The People do have a more overwhelming preoc¬
cupation than whites with the uncertainty of life and the
many threats to personal security. The great emphasis laid
upon “taking care of things,” upon the industry and skills
necessary for survival, and upon the ceremonial techniques
bear witness to this. There are five main formulas for
safety.
Formula 1: Maintain orderliness in those sectors of life
which are little subject to human control. By seeming to
bring the areas of actual ignorance, error, and accident
under the control of minutely prescribed ritual formulas,
The People create a compensatory mechanism. As we saw
in Chapter 5, these prescriptions are partially negative
and partially positive. The Navaho conceives safety either
as restoration of the individual to the harmonies of the
natural, human, and supernatural world or, secondarily, as
restoration of an equilibrium among nonhuman forces.
This is achieved by the compulsive force of order and
reiteration in ritual words and acts. The essence of even
ceremonial drama is not sharp climax (as whites have it)
so much as fixed rhythms. The keynote of all ritual poetry
is compulsion through orderly repetition. Take this song
which the Singer of a Night Way uses to “waken” the
mask of each supernatural supposed to participate in the
rite.

304
 THE NAVAHO VIEW OF LIFE

He stirs, he stirs, he stirs, he stirs.

Among the lands of dawning, he stirs, he Stirs;
The pollen of the dawning, he stirs, he stirs;
Now in old age wandering, he stirs, he stirs;
Now on the trail of beauty, he stirs, he stirs.
He stirs, he stirs, he stirs, he stirs.

He stirs, he stirs, he stirs, he stirs.

Among the lands of evening, he stirs, he stirs;
The pollen of the evening, he stirs, he stirs;
Now in old age wandering, he stirs, he stirs;
Now on the trail of beauty, he stirs, he stirs.
He stirs, he stirs, he stirs, he stirs.

He stirs, he stirs, he stirs, he stirs.

Now Talking God, he stirs, he stirs;
Now his white robe of buckskin, he stirs, he stirs;
Now in old age wandering, he stirs, he stirs;
Now on the trail of beauty, he stirs, he stirs.
He stirs, he stirs, he stirs, he stirs.2

The song goes on like this for many verses. To white peo¬
ple it has a monotonous quality, but infinite repetitions in
an expected sequence seem to lull the Navaho into a sense
of security.
Formula 2: Be wary of non-relatives. This is, to some
extent, the obverse of the centering of trust and affection
upon relatives. If one feels thoroughly at home and at ease
when surrounded by one’s kin, it is natural that one should
distrust strangers. In white society (and probably in all
others) there is a distrust of strangers, members of the
“out-group.” But the Navaho fears also the other members
of his own people who are not related to him. Hence anti¬
witchcraft protection must always be carried to a “squaw
dance” or any other large gathering. This tendency to be
ill at ease when beyond the circle of one’s relatives is a

305
 THE NAVAHO

truly “primitive” quality and is characteristic, to varying

degrees, of most nonliterate folk societies.
This formula is closely related to the preceding one; if
one wins security by reducing the uncharted areas of the
nonhuman universe to familiar patterns, it is natural that
unfamiliar human beings should be regarded as threats.
Formula 3: Avoid excesses. Very few activities are
wrong in and of themselves, but excess in the practice of
any is dangerous. This is in marked contrast to the puri¬
tanical concept of immorality. To Navahos such things as
sex and gambling are not “wrong” at all but will bring
trouble if indulged in “too much.” Even such everyday
tasks as weaving must be done only in moderation. Many
women will not weave more than about two hours at a
stretch; in the old days unmarried girls were not allowed
. to weave for fear they would overdo, and there is a folk
rite for curing the results of excess in this activity. Closely
related is the fear of completely finishing anything: as a
“spirit outlet,” the basketmaker leaves an opening in the
design; the weaver leaves a small slit between the threads;
the Navaho who copies a sandpainting for a white man
always leaves out something, however trivial; the Singer
never tells his pupil quite all the details of the ceremony
lest he “go dry.” Singers also systematically leave out tran¬
sitions in relating myths.
This fear of excess is reflected also in various character¬
istic attitudes toward individuals. There is, for example, a
folk saying: “If a child gets too smart, it will die young.”
The distrust of the very wealthy and very powerful and
the sanctions and economic practices which tend to keep
men at the level of their fellows have already been
mentioned.
Formula 4: When in a new and dangerous situation, do
nothing. If a threat is not to be dealt with by ritual canons,
it is safest to remain inactive. If a Navaho finds himself in
a secular situation where custom does not tell him how to
behave, he is usually ill at ease and worried. The white

306
 THE NAVAHO VIEW OF LIFE

American under these circumstances will most often over¬

compensate by putting on a self-confidence he does not
in fact have. The American tradition says, “When danger
threatens, do something.” The Navaho tradition says, “Sit
tight and perhaps in that way you may escape evil.”
Formula 5: Escape. This is an alternative response to
Formula 4, which The People select with increasing fre¬
quency when pressure becomes too intense. Doing nothing
is not enough: safety lies in flight. This flight may take the
form of leaving the field in the sheer physical sense. Nava-
hos have discovered that they don’t get very far by trying
to resist the white man actively; so they scatter. The white
man then cannot deal with them as a group—he can’t even
locate and exhort or admonish or punish them as individ¬
uals. Escape may be this sort of passive resistance or it
may be simple evasion, as when a Navaho woman, who
was otherwise fairly happy in a government hospital, left
it rather than ask for one kind of food which she desper¬
ately missed. Had she asked, it would have been given
her, but she found it simpler to leave. Flight also takes the
even more unrealistic form of addiction to alcohol or of
indiscriminate sexuality. In effect, the Navaho says, “My
only security is in escape from my difficulties.”
These types of behavior in the face of danger are docu¬
mented by the following episode related by a fifth-grader
in one of the boarding schools.

We look down to the river, we saw a lot of cows at

the river. My brother said, “I am not scared of those
cows that are at the river.” Soon the cows were going
back up the hill. We just climb up on a big tall tree
and sit there. The cows come in closer and closer. We
stay on the tree. Soon they come under the tree. My
brother and I were so scared that we just sit there and
not move. Soon my brother start crying. When the cows
go away we laugh and laugh. My brother said, “The
cows were scared of me.” I said, “They are not scared of

307
 THE NAVAHO

you.” We say that over and over. Soon my brother got

angry, then we fight in the sand. After we fight we go
home.

PREMISE 2. NATURE IS MORE POWERFUL THAN MAN

Navahos accept nature and adapt themselves to her de¬

mands as best they can, but they are not utterly passive,
not completely the pawns of nature. They do a great many
things that are designed to control nature physically and
to repair damage caused by the elements. But they do not
even hope to master nature. For the most part The People
try to influence her with various songs and rituals, but they
feel that the forces of nature, rather than anything that
man does, determine success or failure of crops, plagues of
grasshoppers, increase of arroyos, and decrease of grass. If
a flood comes and washes out a formerly fertile valley, one
does not try to dam the stream and replace the soil; in¬
stead one moves to a floodless spot. One may try to utilize
what nature furnishes, such as by leading water from a
spring or stream to his fields, but no man can master the
wind and the weather. This is similar to the attitude to¬
ward sex, which is viewed as part of nature, something to
reckon with, but not a thing to be denied.
Many white people have the opposite view; namely,
that nature is a malignant force with useful aspects that
must be harnessed, and useless, harmful ones that must
be shorn of their power. They spend their energies adapt¬
ing nature to their purposes, instead of themselves to her
demands. They destroy pests of crops and men, they build
dykes and great dams to avert floods, and they level hills
in one spot and pile them up in another. Their premise is
that nature will destroy them unless they prevent it; the
Navahos’ is that nature will take care of them if they be¬
have as they should and do as she directs.
In addition to all the other forces which make the ac¬
ceptance of the current program of soil erosion control and
 THE NAVAHO VIEW OF LIFE

limitation of livestock slow and painful, this premise plays

an important and fundamental part. To most Navahos it
seems silly or presumptuous to interfere with the workings
of nature to the extent that they are being told to do. Be¬
sides, they believe it won’t bring the benefits the white
people promise. If anything is wrong these days, it is that
The People are forgetting their ways and their stories, so of
course anyone would know that there would be hard times.
It has nothing to do with too many sheep.

PREMISE 3. THE PERSONALITY IS A WHOLE

This assumption also must be made explicit because white

people so generally think of “mind” and “body” as sepa¬
rable units. The whole Navaho system of curing clearly
takes it for granted that you cannot treat a man’s “body”
without treating his “mind,” and vice versa. In this respect
Navahos are many generations ahead of white Americans,
who are only now beginning to realize that it is the patient,
not the disease, which must be treated. Successful physi¬
cians who understood “human nature” have acted on this
premise always, but it has found verbal expression and ac¬
ceptance only recently; at present it is receiving the
most publicity in the specialty known as “psychosomatic
medicine.”

PREMISE 4. RESPECT THE INTEGRITY OF THE

INDIVIDUAL

While the individual is always seen as a member of a

larger group, still he is never completely submerged in
that group. There is an area of rigidity where what any
given person may and may not do is inexorably fixed, but
there is likewise a large periphery of freedom. This is not
the “romantic individualism” of white tradition, but in
many respects the Navaho has more autonomy, more op¬
portunity for genuine spontaneity than is the case in white

309
 THE NAVAHO

society. Rights of individuals, including children, over their

immediately personal property, are respected to the fullest
degree, even when their wishes run counter to the obvious
interests of the family or extended family. White people
seeking to purchase a bow and arrow that they see in a
hogan are surprised to have the adults refer the question
to the five-year-old who owns the toy and whose decision
is final. If a youngster unequivocally says he does not want
to go to school or to the hospital, that is, in most families,
the end of it. Husbands and wives make no attempt to
control every aspect of the behavior of the spouse. Al¬
though individuals are not regarded as equal in capacity
or in all features of the treatment that should be accorded
them, still the integrity of every individual is protected
from violation at the hands of more powerful people.
Where survival is held to depend on cooperation, the
subordination of the individual to the group is rigorously
demanded. Such interdependence is felt to exist in all sorts
of ways that are not, from the white point of view, realistic.
Success in hunting is thought to depend as much upon
the faithful observance of taboos by the wife at home as
upon the husband’s skill or luck in stalking game. The
individualism which expresses itself in social innovation is
disapproved as strongly as is that which expresses itself in
too obtrusive leadership. The following quotation (which,
incidentally, is also a nice illustration of Navaho logic)
brings out the Navaho feeling exactly.

You must be careful about introducing things into

ceremonies. One chanter thought that he could do this.
He held a Night Chant. He wanted more old people so
he had the dancers cough and dance as old people. He
also wanted an abundance of potatoes so he painted
potatoes on the dancers’ bodies. He desired that there
should be a great deal of food so he had the dancers
break wind and vomit through their masks to make be¬
lieve that they had eaten a great deal. They surely got

310
 THE NAVAHO VIEW OF LIFE

their reward. Through the coughing act a great many of

the people got whooping cough and died. In the second
change many of the people got spots on their bodies like
potatoes only they were measles, sores, and smallpox.
In the part, where they asked for all kinds of food, a lot
died of diarrhea, vomiting and stomach aches. This
chanter thought that he had the power to change things
but everyone found out that he was wrong. It was the
wrong thing to do and today no one will try to start any
new ceremonies. Today we do not add anything.3

On the other hand, where autonomy does not seem to

threaten the security of established practices or the need¬
ful cooperative undertakings, individuality is not only per¬
mitted but encouraged. Men and women feel free to vary
their costumes to suit their temperaments, to experiment
with variations in house style and other technological
products, to break the day’s routine with trips and other
diversions spontaneously decided upon, while displays of
jewelry, saddles, and horses bring admiration more than
disapproval. He who makes up a new secular song or coins
a new pun or quip wins many plaudits. Unity in diversity
is the Navaho motto.

PREMISE 5. EVERYTHING EXISTS IN TWO PARTS,

THE MALE AND THE FEMALE, WHICH BELONG
TOGETHER AND COMPLETE EACH OTHER

With the Navaho this premise applies to much more than

biology. The clear, deep, robins-egg-blue turquoise they
call male, and the stone of a greenish hue they call female.
The turbulent San Juan River is “male water,” the placid
Rio Grande “female water.” The mountains of the north
where harsh, cold winds blow are “male country,” the
warm open lands of the south “female country.” There are
male rains and female rains, the one hard and sudden,
the other gentle; there are male and female chants; male
 THE NAVAHO

and female plants are distinguished on the basis of appear¬

ance, the male always being the larger. The supematurals,
as seen in the sandpaintings or mentioned in the songs and
prayers, are nearly always paired, so that if Corn Boy
appears, one can be sure that Com Girl will soon follow.

PREMISE 6. HUMAN NATURE IS NEITHER GOOD NOR

EVIL—BOTH QUALITIES ARE BLENDED IN ALL

PERSONS FROM BIRTH ON

The notion of “original sin” still lurks in white thinking.

But the premise that children are “bom bad” and have to
be beaten into shape seems completely absent from the
Navaho view. On the other hand, white “liberals” act upon
the assumption that human beings can be educated into
almost complete perfection, that if ignorance is removed
people will act in full enlightenment. Similarly, at least
some Christian groups hold that “grace” can permanently
transform the wayward into paragons of virtue. The
Navaho assumption is that no amount of knowledge and
no amount of “religious” zeal can do more than alter some¬
what the relative proportions of “bad” and “good” in any
given individual.

PREMISE 7. LIKE PRODUCES LIKE AND THE PART

STANDS FOR THE WHOLE

These are two “laws of thought” almost as basic to Navaho

thinking as the so-called Aristotelian “laws of thought”
have been in European intellectual history since the Mid¬
dle Ages. Of course, similia similibus ctirantur has been
important in the thinking of most human groups since the
Old Stone Age or earlier; but among whites this principle
is now largely relegated to the realm of folk belief, whereas
among The People it still dominates the thought of the
most sophisticated members of the society.
Let a few examples do for many. Because the juice of

312
 THE NAVAHO VIEW OF LIFE

the milkweed resembles milk it is held to be useful in

treating a mother who cannot nurse her infant. Since the
eagle can see long distances, the diviner who does star¬
gazing must rub a preparation which includes water from
an eagle’s eye under his own eyelids. Witchcraft per¬
formed over a few hairs from an individual is as effective
against 'the owner of the hairs as if done upon his whole
person. In chants small mounds of earth stand for whole
mountains.

PREMISE 8. WHAT IS SAID IS TO BE TAKEN LITERALLY

As has been pointed out in the last chapter, the easy ambi¬
guities, the fluidities of English speech are foreign to the
Navaho. There is little “reading between the lines,” little
exercise of the imagination in interpreting utterances. A
student was asking about a girl who was said by a white
person to be feeble-minded. He asked, “Can so-and-so’s
daughter speak?” The Navaho replied very positively,
“Yes.” Observation showed that the girl uttered only un¬
intelligible sounds. When this was later thrown back at the
original informant he countered, “Well, she does speak—
but no one can understand her.” And this was said without
a smile or even a twinkle in the eye.
Similarly, a Navaho will seldom take it upon himself to
attribute thoughts or sentiments to others in the absence of
very explicit statements on their part. White workers
among The People find it irritating when they ask, “What
does your wife (or brother, etc.) think about this?” and
get the reply, “I don’t know. I didn’t ask her.” Their sup¬
position is that spouses or close relatives or intimate friends
have enough general knowledge of each other’s opinions to
answer such questions with reasonable accuracy even if
there has been no discussion of this precise point. But the
Navahos do not see it this way.

313
 THE NAVAHO

PREMISE 9. THIS LIFE IS WHAT COUNTS

Because the Christian tradition is so prevalent in white

society, it is necessary to bring this premise out explicitly.
The People have no sense whatsoever that this life is a
“preparation” for another existence. Indeed, except for the
(by no means universally accepted) view that witches
and suicides live apart in the afterworld, there is no belief
that the way one lives on this earth has anything to do
with his fate after death. This is one reason why morality
is practical rather than categorical. While the Navaho
feels very keenly that life is hard, his outlook is quite for¬
eign to that of “life is real, life is earnest, and the grave is
not the goal.” White life is so permeated with the tradition
of Puritanism, of “the Protestant ethic,” that much Navaho
behavior looks amoral or shiftless.
Another reason would seem to be that Navahos do not
need to orient themselves in terms of principles of abstract
morality. They get their orientations from face-to-face con¬
tacts with the same small group of people with whom they
deal from birth to death. In a large, complex society like
modem America where people come and go and where
business and other dealings must be carried on by people
who never see each other, it is functionally necessary to
have abstract standards which transcend an immediate
concrete situation in which two or more persons are in¬
teracting.

SEEING THINGS THE NAVAHO WAY

To most people most of the time, the habitual ways of

speaking, acting, feeling, and reacting to which they have
been accustomed from childhood become as much a part
of the inevitables of life as the air they breathe, and they
tend unconsciously to feel that all “normal” human beings
ought to feel and behave only within the range of variation

314
 THE NAVAHO VIEW OF LIFE

permitted by their own way of life. Then, however, when

they have to deal with other groups who have been
brought up with a somewhat different set of unquestioned
and habitual assumptions about the nature of things, they
all too often label the other group as “ignorant” or “super¬
stitious,” “stupid” or “stubborn.” Many teachers and ad¬
ministrators of the Navajo Agency have very unrealistic
expectations as to the capacities of Navahos to think and
respond in white terms, forgetting that the median school¬
ing of the Navaho adult is nine months!
Difficulties arise largely because, on both sides, the
premises from which thought or action proceeds are un¬
conscious—in the simple sense of unverbalized. Teachers,
for example, urge Navaho children to strive for what the
teachers want most in life without stopping to think that
perhaps The People want quite different things. If a
teacher who has had great success in teaching white chil¬
dren does not get comparably good results with Navaho
children, she thinks this is because the Indian children are
less bright. As a matter of fact, the trouble is often that
the incentives which have worked beautifully to make
white children bestir themselves leave Navaho children
cold, or even actively trouble and confuse them.
For instance, the teacher holds out the hope of a college
education with all that this implies for “getting on” in the
white world; to at least the younger Navaho child, this
means mainly a threat of being taken even further from
home and country. The teacher reads or posts a complete
set of grades for her class. To her, this is a way of reward¬
ing the students who have done well and of inciting those
who have not done so well to more strenuous efforts. Her
students, however, may feel quite differently about the
matter. Those at the top of the list may find it embarrass¬
ing to be placed publicly ahead of their contemporaries,
and the list may seem cruel ridicule to those who have
lagged behind. The whole conception that individuals can
be rated on a scale from o to 100 is foreign to The People.

315
 THE NAVAHO

Or suppose a primary teacher sets both boys and girls to

making pottery. From her point of view this is an interest¬
ing and worthwhile class activity, for white people do not
make a sharp distinction between what six-year-old boys
and girls should do. Yet this is as grievous a humiliation to
a Navaho boy as a ten-year-old white boy would feel if he
were made to appear at school in lace petticoats. A high-
school teacher tries to induce a boy and a girl to fox-trot
together; when they refuse, she says: “They acted like
dumb animals.” But they are from the same clan, and the
thought of clan relatives having the type of physical con¬
tact involved in white social dancing gives Navahos the
same uncomfortableness the teacher would feel if the man¬
ager of a crowded hotel demanded that she and her adult
brother share the same bed. There is nothing “reasonable”
—or “unreasonable”—about either attitude. They are just
different. Both represent “culturally standardized un¬
reason.”
The People have only “object taboos” as regards sex,
none of the “aim taboos” which are so marked a develop¬
ment of western culture. That is, Navahos do feel that
sexual activity is improper or dangerous under particular
circumstances or with certain persons. But they never re¬
gard sexual desires in themselves as “nasty” or evil. In
school and elsewhere, whites have tended to operate upon
the premise that “any decent Navaho” will feel guilty
about a sexual act which takes place outside of marriage.
This attitude simply bewilders Navahos and predisposes
them to withdrawal of cooperation in all spheres. To them
sex is natural, necessary and no more or no less concerned
with morals than is eating.
The Navaho and the white administrator may see the
same objective facts, and communication may be suffi¬
ciently well established so that each is sure the other sees
them. Naturally, then, there is mutual irritation when the
same conclusions are not reached. What neither realizes is

316
 THE NAVAHO VIEW OF LIFE

that all discourse proceeds from premises and that premises

(being unfortunately taken for granted by both) are likely,
in fact, to be very divergent. Especially in the case of less
sophisticated and self-conscious societies where there has
not been much opportunity to learn that other peoples’
ways of behaving and of looking at things differ from their
own, the unconscious assumptions characteristically made
by most individuals of the group will bulk large.
Let us put this in the concrete. A wealthy man dies and
leaves considerable property. He has a widow but no chil¬
dren by her. There are, however, two sons by another
woman to whom the deceased was never married in either
white or Navaho fashion. He left, of course, no written
will, and it is agreed that he gave no oral instructions on
his deathbed. These are the facts, and there is no dispute
about them between the Navaho and the white ad¬
ministrator.
Nevertheless the prediction may safely be made that
before the estate is settled the white man will be irritated
more than once and some Navahos will be confused and
indignant at what seems to them ignorance, indifference, or
downright immorality. The white man will unconsciously
make his judgments and decisions in terms of white cus¬
toms. Navahos will take Navaho customs as the standard
except in so far as some may deliberately try to get a
share, or more than their rightful share, by insisting upon
the application of the white man’s law. But the main diffi¬
culties will arise from the fact that the premises are never
brought out into the open and discussed as such.
The Indian Service administrator is likely to take white
customs and legal system for granted as “part of human
nature” and to act upon the unstated assumptions in the
following left-hand column. Navahos, unless they happen
to be familiar with and to want to take advantage of white
patterns, view the situation in the light of the very different
principles in the right-hand column.

317
 THE NAVAHO

WHITE NAVAHO

1. Marriage is an ar¬ 1. Marriage is an ar¬

rangement, economic and rangement between two
otherwise, between two in¬ families much more than it
dividuals. The two spouses is between two individuals.
and the children, if any, are
the ones primarily involved
in any question of inher¬
itance.

2. A man’s recognized 2. Sexual rights are prop¬

children, legitimate or ille¬ erty rights; therefore, if a
gitimate, have a claim upon man has children from a
his property. woman without undertaking
during his lifetime the eco¬
nomic responsibilities which
are normally a part of Nav-
aho marriage, the children
—however much he ad¬
mitted to biological father¬
hood—were not really his:
“He just stole them.”

3. Inheritance is nor¬ 3. Inheritance is nor¬

mally from the father or mally from the mother, the
from both sides of the mother’s brother, or other
family. relatives of the mother;
from the father’s side of the
family little or nothing has
traditionally been expected.

4. As long as a wife or 4. While children today,

children survive, no other in most areas, expect to in¬
relatives are concerned in herit something from their
the inheritance unless there father, they do not expect
was a will to that effect. to receive his whole estate
or to divide it with their
mother only; sons and

318
 THE NAVAHO VIEW OF LIFE

daughters have different ex¬

pectations.

5. All types of property 5. Different rules apply

are inherited in roughly the to different types of prop¬
same way. erty: range land is hardly
heritable property at all;
farm land normally stays
with the family which has
been cultivating it; live¬
stock usually goes back (for
the most part) to the fa¬
ther’s sisters and maternal
nephews; jewelry and other
personal property tend to be
divided among the children
and other relatives; cere¬
monial equipment may go
to a son who is a practi¬
tioner or to a clansman of
the deceased.

The white administrator would be likely to say that the

only heirs to any of the property were the wife, children,
and perhaps the illegitimate children. Such a decision
would be perplexing or infuriating to the Navaho. To say
in the abstract what disposal would be proper at the pres¬
ent complicated point in Navaho history is hardly possible.
But it is clear that a verdict which seemed so “right” and
“natural” to a white person as to require no explanation or
justification would probably appear equally “unjust” and
“unreasonable” to the Navaho involved.
The pressure of such double standards is highly disrup¬
tive. Just as rats that have been trained to associate a circle
with food and a rectangle with an electric shock become
neurotic when the circle is changed by almost impercep¬
tible gradations into an ellipse, so human beings faced with
a conflicting set of rewards and punishments tend to cut

319
 THE NAVAHO

loose from all moorings, to float adrift and become irre¬

sponsible. The younger generation of The People are more
and more coming to laugh at the old or pay them only lip
service. The young escape the control of their elders, not to
accept white controls but to revel in newly found patterns
of unrestraint.
The introduction of the white type of individualism
without the checks and balances that accompany it leads
to the failure of collective or cooperative action of every
sort. The substitution of paid labor for reciprocal services is
not in and of itself a bad thing. But there is not a com¬
mensurate growth of the white sort of individual respon¬
sibility. There tends to be a distortion of the whole cultural
structure which makes it difficult to preserve harmonious
personal relationships and satisfying emotional adjust¬
ments. Widespread exercise of escape mechanisms, espe¬
cially alcohol, is the principal symptom of the resultant
friction and decay. Human groups that have different cul¬
tures and social structures have moral systems that differ
in important respects. The linkage is so great that when a
social organization goes to pieces morality also disinte¬
grates.
Instead of a patterned mosaic, Navaho culture is be¬
coming an ugly patchwork of meaningless and totally un¬
related pieces. Personal and social chaos are the by¬
products. The lack of selective blending and constructive
fusion between white and Navaho cultures is not due to
low intelligence among The People. They are perfectly
capable of learning white ways. But when the traits of
another culture are learned externally and one by one
without the underlying values and premises of that culture,
the learners feel uncomfortable. They sense the absence of
the fitness of things, of a support which is none the less
real because difficult to verbalize.
For every way of life is a structure—not a haphazard
collection of all the different physically possible and func¬
tionally effective patterns of belief and action but an in-

320
 THE NAVAHO VIEW OF LIFE

terdependent system with all its patterns segregated and

arranged in a manner which is felt, not thought, to be ap¬
propriate. If we wish to understand The People in the
world today, we must remember that, like ourselves, they
meet their problems not only with the techniques and the
reason at their disposal but also in terms of their senti¬
ments, of their standards, of their own hierarchy of values,
of their implicit premises about their world.
Let us not hastily dismiss as “illogical” their views. If we
do, we are probably just reacting defensively to the fact
that their views and ours often fail to coincide. If “romantic
love” plays a very small part in their lives, if women find
plural marriage tolerable and sometimes even invite their
husbands to marry a younger sister, it is not that The Peo¬
ple are “unnatural.” As a matter of fact, so far at least as
“romantic love” is concerned they are acting the “normal”
way, in the statistical sense that this sort of love is the ac¬
cepted tradition among only a few groups of human beings.
Nor must we say: “Yes, the Navahos are different. I
grant that. But they are so different that I can’t see how
any effective communication is possible.” No, The People
are also human beings. Like us, they must eat and have
shelter and satisfy sexual urges. And they must do this
with the same biological equipment and in a physical
world where heat and cold, summer and winter, gravity
and other natural laws set limits as they do for us. In a
certain ultimate sense the “logic” of all peoples is inescap¬
ably the same. It is only the premises which are different.
When we discover the premises we realize that the phrase
“a common humanity” is full of meaning.

321
 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This book is the product of a cooperative undertaking.

Though the writers must bear full responsibility for the
form in which all information and ideas finally appear, so
many persons have made valuable and indeed indispensa¬
ble contributions to this study that it is in an important
sense a falsification for us to claim authorship.
In the first place, we are naturally dependent upon the
Navahos, too numerous to mention, who have shared their
fives and thoughts with us. For the most part they have
been patient with our demands upon their time, tolerant of
our intrusion into their personal fives, good-humored about
the questions (impertinent, stupid, or at least meaningless
to them) with which we have constantly badgered them.
We have done our best to protect them from any embar¬
rassment resulting from revelation of their identities in any
quotations. We hope we have managed to convey some
sense of the deep pleasure our relationship with them has
brought to us. Some of the happiest times we have known
have been in the Navaho country, and many Navahos we
count among our closest friends. We also trust that our
respect for the Navaho way of fife and our admiration for
many Navaho customs have been apparent in these pages.
In short, we hope that the Navahos will feel that this is
their book more than ours—as indeed it is.
Our work would have been infinitely more arduous and
less pleasant had it not been for the kindnesses shown us
throughout the years by many white traders, ranchers,
missionaries, and government employees. If we have some¬
times found it necessary to comment unfavorably upon the

322
 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

activities of these groups in relation to The People, this

does not mean that we are unaware of the difficulties of
their position or that we forget how many splendid persons
in each of these categories have given us their friendship
and the benefit of their knowledge.
Our obligations to our professional colleagues are also
extremely heavy. We are particularly grateful to David F.
Aberle, John Adair, Flora L. Bailey, Beatrice Blackwood,
Helen Bradley, Janine Chappat, Malcolm Carr Collier,
Margaret Fries, Willard W. Hill, J. C. Kelley, John Land-
graf, Josephine Murray, T. Sasaki, C. C. Seltzer, Kather¬
ine Spencer, Harry Tschopik, Jr., Leland C. Wyman, Rob¬
ert W. Young, and the anonymous authors of numerous
government reports for the aid we have obtained from
their unpublished manuscripts and field notes. We thank
Dr. Ward Shepard for allowing us to use his illuminating
manuscript, “Toward a Self-Propelled Navaho Society.”
We have profited directly and indirectly from work con¬
nected with the human problems of soil conservation initi¬
ated and directed by Dr. John Provinse and Dr. Solon Kim¬
ball, and we have been much influenced by the point of
view developed in their studies. Our obligations to all of
these persons are not made as clear in detail as would have
been proper in a more technical publication, because to
have indicated each idea, sentence, or part of a sentence
which was directly borrowed would have created a maze
of footnotes, tedious and distracting to the lay reader.
We have received much help from Indian Service per¬
sonnel, though the views expressed in this book are those
of the authors and are not necessarily endorsed by the In¬
dian Service. The Honorable John Collier, former com¬
missioner, gave us the benefit of much frank discussion and
aided us in many ways. The whole Indian Education Re¬
search Project was inspired by him; all social scientists owe
Mr. Collier an immense debt for his imaginative statesman¬
ship. Dr. Willard Beatty, Director of Education, readily
answered many requests for information and other assist-

323
 THE NAVAHO

ance, such as the making of maps. We have to thank many

members of the Navajo Agency, and especially Superin¬
tendent James M. Stewart, Director of Education George
Boyce, and former Field Representative F. W. LaRouche,
for enthusiastic cooperation and for preparing and assem¬
bling useful memoranda. Dr. Laura Thompson, coordinator
of the Indian Education Research Project, gave generously
of her energy and intelligence. The volume has been greatly
enriched by the maps provided by E. H. Coulson of the
Office of Indian Affairs in Chicago.
The book embodies in part researches carried on or di¬
rected by Dr. Kluckhohn over a number of years. These
studies have been supported by the Division of Anthro¬
pology, the Peabody Museum, and the Milton Fund of
Harvard University, the Carnegie Corporation of New York,
the Viking Fund, the Social Science Research Council, and
the American Philosophical Society. Officers of these or¬
ganizations have also provided moral as well as financial
support and valued advice. In particular, Dr. Kluckhohn is
under the deepest obligations to Professor Alfred Tozzer
(himself the first anthropologically trained student of the
Navahos), Professor Donald Scott, and Professor Earnest
Hooton of Harvard University; to Mr. Charles Dollard of
the Carnegie Corporation; to Dr. Donald Young of the So¬
cial Science Research Council; to Dr. Paul Fejos of the
Viking Fund. He also owes much to tHe late Professor Ed¬
ward Sapir of Yale University, to Father Berard Haile,
O.F.M., and to Professor Gladys A. Reichard of Barnard
College for assistance in his studies of the Navaho lan¬
guage. He is also grateful to his senior colleagues in
Navaho research, notably Father Berard, Dr. Wyman, Dr.
Hill, Dr. Reichard, and Mr. Van Valkenburgh, for the bene¬
fits of many letters and oral discussions. It has been a great
pleasure to work in a field in which such a cooperative
spirit has prevailed.
The substance of this book was delivered in Boston in

324
 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

February, 1944, as a series of Lowell Lectures by Dr.

Kluckhohn. He expresses his gratitude to the Trustee of
the Lowell Institute for this opportunity and the stimulus
it afforded.
Dr. Leighton is particularly obligated to Dr. Adolph
Meyer, Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins
University, for inspiring an interest in studying individuals
in their society. This interest was encouraged and facili¬
tated by the Social Science Research Council and by Dr.
John C. Whitehorn, Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hop¬
kins University.
We must thank Dr. George Boyce, Miss Helen Bradley,
Professor Phillips Bradley, Dr. Janine Chappat, Commis¬
sioner John Collier, Mrs. Malcolm Carr Collier, Dr. Eliza¬
beth Colson, Dr. Willard W. Hill, Dr. Solon Kimball, Mr.
and Mrs. John Kirk, Dr. Florence Kluckhohn, Dr. Alexan¬
der Leighton, Professor Arthur Nock, Dr. and Mrs. Adolph
Meyer, Professor Donald Scott, Dr. Ward Shepard, Miss
Katherine Spencer, Superintendent James M. Stewart, Dr.
Laura Thompson, Dr. Esther Goldfrank Wittfogel, and Dr.
Leland C. Wyman for reading all or part of the typescript
and offering many useful suggestions and criticisms. Mrs.
Kirk reviewed the book in an especially intensive way and
supplied certain new materials. We are also most grateful
to Professor Scott for the interest he took in the publication
of the book. Mrs. Roma McNickle, editor of the Indian
Education Research Project, did much more for the manu¬
script than we can express in a sentence. We also thank
her (and Katherine Spencer) for helping us with the
proofs.
Finally, we express our appreciation to John Adair,
Flora L. Bailey, Walter Dyk, Father Berard Haile, Wil¬
lard W. Hill, Harry Hoijer, William Morgan, Gladys A.
Reichard, Richard Van Valkenburgh, Benjamin L. Whorf,
Leland C. Wyman, Robert W. Young, and to the American
Museum of Natural History, Harcourt Brace and Com-

325
 THE NAVAHO

pany, the Northern Arizona Society of Science and Art, the

University of Oklahoma Press, and the Yale University
Press for permission to quote from published materials.
The index was prepared by Katherine Spencer.

CLYDE KLUCKHOHN

DOROTHEA LEIGHTON

326
 NOTES AND REFERENCES

introduction: “the people” and this study

l. Tewa languages are spoken by various town-living

Indians in the general neighborhood of Santa Fe, New
Mexico. It should be remembered that many different lan¬
guages and a number of distinct language stocks or families
are found among the American Indians. There is, for ex¬
ample, less resemblance between the tongues of the Tewa
Pueblo Indians of New Mexico and the Hopi Pueblo In¬
dians of Arizona than between English and Russian; and
Tewa and Hopi have not been found to have even a re¬
mote connection with the Navaho language.

1. THE PAST OF THE PEOPLE

l. “Villages” on mesas undoubtedly made sense at this

period in terms of protection. That Navahos ceased to live
in small, compact communities is probably due in large
part to two factors: the end of warfare and the increase
of sheep. However, a third factor may be of equal signifi¬
cance. Accelerated erosion may, by gullying the valleys,
have made floodwater irrigation impossible on a scale
large enough to support even a small community.

2. LAND AND LIVELIHOOD

l. Data for the prewar years are from the 1940 Statisti¬
cal Summary, Human Dependency Survey, listed in the
bibliography. Data for the period between 1940 and 1958

327
 THE NAVAHO

are from The Navajo Yearbook, edited by Robert W.

Young, Navajo Agency, Window Rock, Arizona, 1958.
2. Arthur Woodward, A Brief History of Navajo Silver-
smithing, Museum of Northern Arizona, Bulletin No. 14
(Flagstaff, Arizona: Northern Arizona Society of Science
and Art, 1938), p. 47.
3. This and the many similar quotations from field notes
which follow represent records made at the time of ut¬
terance or shortly thereafter of what Navahos said to one
of the writers. So far as possible, the transcription is literal
and there has been no editing. The English of interpreters
and of English-speaking Navahos has been preserved.
Statements made in Navaho have been freely translated
into idiomatic English. Bracketed materials are questions
or remarks interpolated by the interviewer.
4. In each statement the first figure is the average for
the years 1930, 1931, and 1932. The final figure is the
average for 1942 and 1943. The goals for stock reduction
have now been attained (1945) in fifteen of the eighteen
Navaho districts.
5. See Newsweek (May 29, 1944) for story and pic¬
tures.

3. LIVING TOGETHER

1. Flora L. Bailey, “Navaho Motor Habits,” American

Anthropologist, XLIV (1942), p. 210.
2. Willard W. Hill, Navaho Humor, General Series in
Anthropology, No. 9 (Menasha, Wis.: George Banta Pub¬
lishing Co., 1943), p. 7.

4. THE PEOPLE AND THE WORLD AROUND THEM

1. In recent times such a land dispute with the Hopi

has been taken to the white man’s court. In past years

328
 NOTES AND REFERENCES

this would be settled by an arbitrary decision of the In¬

dian Service, and prior to that by open hostilities.
2. Many of the difficulties encountered by the Navajo
Agency are strikingly similar to those met by County Ex¬
tension Agents in dealing with rural whites during the
early years of this century.
3. A word of caution should be entered that Navaho
morbidity data are even rougher than those for white per¬
sons the country over. Even death rates are estimates at
best.
4. The Navaho Door (listed in the Bibliography) rep¬
resents a project in research and communication toward
this end.
5. This quotation is verbatim. Since the employee was
a high-school graduate, the document is also an effective
comment on the linguistic situation.

5. THE SUPERNATURAL: POWER AND DANGER

1. Gladys A. Reichard, Prayer: the Compulsive Word

(New York: J. J. Augustin, 1944), p. 21.
2. Reichard, Prayer: the Compulsive Word, p. 33.
3. Leland C. Wyman, Review of “The Story of the
Navajo Hail Chant” by Gladys A. Reichard, The Review
of Religion (May, 1945), pp. 380-384.
4. Washington Matthews, “The Mountain Chant: A
Navajo Ceremony,” Fifth Annual Report of the Bureau of
Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution,
1883-84 (Washington: U. S. Government Printing Of¬
fice, 1887), p. 393.
1

6. THE SUPERNATURAL: THINGS TO DO AND NOT TO DO

1. Richard F. Van Valkenburgh, “Sacred Places and

Shrines of the Navajos,” Plateau, XIII (1940), p. 8.

329
 THE NAVAHO

2. “Rain prairie dogs” are a kind of small bird; “whites

of waters” are the froth of flood waters. For the source of
this translation, see Willard W. Hill, The Agricultural and
Hunting Methods of the Navaho Indians, Yale University
Publications in Anthropology, No. 18 (New Haven: Yale
University Press, 1938), pp. 75-77. The translation of lines
24 and 25 has been slightly altered by Kluckhohn.
3. Hill, The Agricultural and Hunting Methods of the
Navaho Indians, p. 65.
4. Berard Haile, “Some Cultural Aspects of the Navajo
Hogan” (Mimeographed, 1937), pp- 5-6.
5. Helen H. Roberts, Musical Areas in Aboriginal North
America, Yale University Publications in Anthropology,
No. 12 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1936), p. 33.
6. Willard W. Hill, Navaho Warfare, Yale University
Publications in Anthropology, No. 5 (New Haven: Yale
University Press, 1936), p. 7.
7. Reichard, Prayer: the Compulsive Word, pp. 17-18.
8. For further details, see Gallup (New Mexico) Ga¬
zette (May 25, 1944).

8. THE TONGUE OF THE PEOPLE

1. The writers are very grateful for the criticisms, ma¬

terials, and suggestions provided by Robert Young, spe¬
cialist in the Navaho language, of the Education Division,
U. S. Office of Indian Affairs. Their greatest obligation is
to the late Edward Sapir, who instructed Kluckhohn in
Navaho, and whose published and unpublished materials
have been drawn upon. Kluckhohn is also indebted to Dr.
Gladys Reichard for the benefit of many discussions and
access to her unpublished materials.
2. Robert W. Young and William Morgan, The Navaho
Language (United States Indian Service, Education Divi¬
sion, 1943), p. 40.

330
 NOTES AND REFERENCES

3. Since Navaho was not a written language, various

white linguists have developed sets of standard conventions
for symbolizing Navaho sounds. The system used in the
bilingual readers mentioned in Chapter 4 and now stand¬
ard in all government publications is followed here. The
concordance with English sounds is explained in Young
and Morgan (see above) and in the various bilingual
primers and readers.
4. Since this chapter was written, Harry Hoijer has pub¬
lished a scientific account of some features of these verbal
classes in his article, “Classificatory Verb Stems in the
Apachean Languages,” in the International Journal of
American Linguistics, XI (1945), 13-23. He considers the
most frequently occurring classificatory forms to be: round
object, long object, living being, set of objects, rigid con¬
tainer with contents, fabric-like object, bulky object, set of
parallel objects, a mass, wool-like mass, rope-like object,
mud-like mass. In the above-mentioned article he makes
the following generalization: “The Athabascan languages
frequently employ verb stems that refer not to a char¬
acteristic type of event, such as stand or give or fall, but
to the class of object or objects conceived as participating
in such an event, whether as actor or goal. Thus in all
Apachean languages there is no simple verb to give, but
a number of parallel verb themes consisting of a certain
sequence of prefixes plus a classificatory verb stem. The
sequence of prefixes is the same for each theme, but the
stem varies with the class of object referred to.”
5. The first two sentences of this paragraph and one or
two phases in this and the following paragraph are taken
almost verbatim from Benjamin L. Whorf s article, “Science
and Linguistics,” in Technology Review, XLII (1940),
229-231, 247-248. This article also suggested the type of
drawing used here.
6. Edward Sapir, “Conceptual Categories in Primitive
Languages,” Science, LXXIV (1931), 578.

331
 THE NAVAHO

7. Young and Morgan, The Navaho Language, pp.

113-114.

9. THE NAVAHO VIEW OF LIFE

1. John Adair, The Navajo and Pueblo Silversmiths

(Norman, Okla.: University of Oklahoma Press, 1944),
p. 98. By permission of the publisher.
2. Washington Matthews. The Night Chant, a Navaho
Ceremony, Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural
History, VI (1902), 110—111.
3. Willard W. Hill, “Stability in Culture and Pattern,”
American Anthropologist, XLI (1939), 260.

332
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
l: THE PAST OF THE PEOPLE

For publications prior to 1940 which deal with Navaho

archaeology and history, see Clyde Kluckhohn and Kath¬
erine Spencer, A Bibliography of the Navaho Indians
(New York: J. J. Augustin, 1940). Articles on the history
are scattered, but those listed on pp. 5-22 give an idea of
the character and variety of sources. The following articles
on Navaho history and archaeology give new materials and
also summarize most of the earlier work:

Hall, Edward T., Jr., “Recent Clues to Athapascan Prehis¬

tory in the Southwest,” American Anthropologist,
XLVI (1944), 98-106.
Hoopes, Alban W., “The Indian Rights Association and the
Navajo, 1890-1895,” New Mexico Historical Review,
XXI (1946), 22-47.
Huscher, Harold A., and Betty H. Huscher, “Athapaskan
Migration via the Intermontane Region,” American
Antiquity, VIII (1942), 80-88.
—“The Hogan Builders of Colorado,” Southwestern Lore,
IX (1943), 1-92.
Keur, Dorothy L., Big Bead Mesa, Memoirs of the Society
for American Archaeology, No. 1 (Menasha, Wis.:
1941).
—“A Chapter in Navaho-Pueblo Relations,” American
Antiquity, X (1944), 75-86.
Lindgren, Raymond E., “A Diary of Kit Carson’s Navaho
Campaign, 1863-4,” New Mexico Historical Review,
XXI (1946), 226-247.
Reeve, Frank D., “A Navaho Struggle for Land,” New
Mexico Historical Review, XXI (1946), 1-22.

333
 THE NAVAHO

2: LAND AND LIVELIHOOD

Publications prior to 1940 which deal with Navaho lands,

economy, and technology are listed in Kluckhohn and
Spencer, A Bibliography of the Navaho Indians, pp. 38-
43. Recent publications and others referred to in this chap¬
ter include the following:

Adair, John, The Navajo and Pueblo Silversmiths (Nor¬

man, Okla.: University of Oklahoma Press, 1944).
Creamer, Daniel, and Charles F. Schwartz, “State Income
Payments in 1942,” Survey of Current Business, XX
(1943), 10-22.
“General Statement of Conditions in the Navajo Area”
(Mimeographed, Window Rock, Ariz.: Navajo
Agency, 1941).
Goldfrank, Esther S., “Irrigation Agriculture and Navaho
Community Leadership,” American Anthropologist,
XLVII (1945), 262-278.
“Individual Income—Resident Population, 1942” (Proc¬
essed, Chicago: U. S. Office of Indian Affairs, 1943).
Kluckhohn, Clyde, “The Navahos in the Machine Age,”
Technology Review, XLIV (1942), 178-180, 194-
197-
National Resources Committee, Consumer Incomes in the
United States: Their Distribution in 1935—36 (Wash¬
ington: U. S. Government Printing Office, 1938).
“1940 Statistical Summary, Human Dependency Survey,
Navajo Reservation and Grazing District 7” (Mimeo¬
graphed, Window Rock, Ariz.: Navajo Agency,
I94i)-
Tschopik, Harry, Jr., Navaho Pottery Making, Papers of
the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and
Ethnology, Harvard University, XVII (Cambridge,
Mass.: The Museum, 1941).
Woodward, Arthur, A Brief History of Navajo Silversmith-
ing, Museum of Northern Arizona, Bulletin No. 14

334
\
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

(Flagstaff, Ariz.: Northern Arizona Society of Science

and Art, 1938).

3: LIVING TOGETHER

Publications prior to 1940 which deal with Navaho phy¬

sique and human biology are listed on pp. 31-33 of
Kluckhohn and Spencer, A Bibliography of the Navaho In¬
dians. Materials on social organization and kinship are listed
on pp. 43-45. Recent publications on subjects discussed in
Chapter 3 and other publications quoted include the fol¬
lowing:

Bailey, Flora L., “Navaho Motor Habits,” American

Anthropologist, XLIV (1942), 210-234.
Hill, Willard W., Navaho Humor, General Series in An¬
thropology, No. 9 (Menasha, Wis.: George Banta
Publishing Co., 1943).
—“Some Aspects of Navajo Political Structure,” Plateau,
XIII (1940), 23-28.
Kimball, Solon T., and John H. Provinse, “Navajo Social
Organization in Land Use Planning,” Applied Anthro¬
pology, I (1942), 18-25.
Spencer, Katherine, Reflection of Social Life in the Navaho
Origin Myth, University of New Mexico Publications
in Anthropology, No. 3 (Albuquerque, N. Mex.:
University of New Mexico Press, 1946).
Steggerda, Morris, “Physical Measurements of Negro, Nav¬
aho, and White Girls of College Age,” American
Journal of Physical Anthropology, XXVI (1940),
417-43!.

4: THE PEOPLE AND THE WORLD AROUND THEM

Publications prior to 1940 which deal with Navaho rela¬

tions with whites are listed in Kluckhohn and Spencer, A
Bibliography of the Navaho Indians. Materials on health
are listed on pp. 31-33. Recent publications on these sub¬
jects include the following:

335
✓
 THE NAVAHO

Kluckhohn, Clyde, “Group Tensions: Analysis of a Case

History,” Approaches to National Unity (New York:
Harper and Brothers, 1945), pp. 222-241.
Leighton, Alexander H., and Dorothea C. Leighton, The
Navaho Door (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univer¬
sity Press, 1944).
Shepard, Ward, “Toward a Self-Propelled Navaho Society”
(Ms.).

5—7: THE SUPERNATURAL

More recent publications and others quoted in Chapters

5-7 are listed by subject below:

CEREMONIALISM AND MYTHOLOGY

Aberle, David F., “Mythology of the Navaho Game Stick-

Dice,” Journal of American Folk-Lore, LV (1942),
144-155.
Haile, Berard, “Navaho Upward-Reaching Way and
Emergence Place.” American Anthropologist, XLIV
(1942), 407-421.
—Origin Legend of the Navaho Flintway, University of
Chicago Publications in Anthropology, Linguistic
Series (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press,
1943)- See particularly p. 8.
Some Cultural Aspects of the Navajo Hogan” (Mimeo¬
graphed, 1937).
Hill, Willard W., The Agricultural and Hunting Methods
of the Navaho Indians, Yale University Publications
in Anthropology, No. 18 (New Haven: Yale Univer¬
sity Press, 1938).
—Navaho Warfare, Yale University Publications in Anthro¬
pology, No. 5 (New Haven: Yale University Press,
1936 ).
Hill, Willard W., and Dorothy W. Hill, “The Legend of
the Navajo Eagle-Catching Way,” New Mexico An¬
thropologist, VI-VII (1943), 31-36.

336
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Matthews, Washington, “The Mountain Chant: A Navajo

Ceremony,” Fifth Annual Report of the Bureau of
Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Insti¬
tution, 1883—84 (Washington: U. S. Government
Printing Office, 1887), pp. 379-467.
—“Navaho Night Chant,” Journal of American Folk-Lore,
XIV (1901), 12-19.
Morgan, William, “The Organization of a Story and a
Tale,” Journal of American Folk-Lore, LVIII (1945),
169-195*
Oakes, Maud, recorder. Where The Two Came to Their
Father (New York: Pantheon Books, Inc., 1943).
Reichard, Gladys A., Navajo Medicine Man; Sandpaintings
and Legends of Miguelito (New York: J. J. Augustin,
1939).
—The Story of the Navajo Hail Chant (New York: Pub¬
lished by the author, 1944).
—“Distinctive Features of Navaho Religion,” Southwestern
Journal of Anthropology, I (1945), 199-220.
Van Valkenburgh, Richard F., “Sacred Places and Shrines
of the Navajos. Part II: Navajo Rock and Twig Piles,”
Plateau, XIII (1940), 6-10.
Wheelwright, Mary C., recorder, Navajo Creation Myth
(Santa Fe, N. Mex.: Museum of Navajo Ceremonial
Art, 1942).
Wyman, Leland C., and Flora L. Bailey, Navaho Upward-
Reaching Way: Objective Behavior, Rationale, and
Sanction, University of New Mexico Bulletin, No. 389
(Albuquerque, N. Mex.: University of New Mexico
Press, 1943).
—“Two Examples of Navaho Physiotherapy,” American
Anthropologist, XLVI (1944), 329-337*
Wyman, Leland C., and Stuart K. Harris, Navajo Indian
Medical Ethnobotany, University of New Mexico Bul¬
letin, No. 366 (Albuquerque, N. Mex.: University of
New Mexico Press, 1941).

337
 THE NAVAHO

FOLK TALES

Hill, Willard W., and Dorothy W. Hill, “Navaho Coyote

Tales and Their Position in the Southern Athabaskan
Group,” Journal of American Folk-Lore, LI (1945),
317-344-
Sapir, Edward, and Harry Hoijer, Navaho Texts (Iowa
City, Iowa: Linguistic Society of America, 1942).
MUSIC

Roberts, Helen H., Musical Areas in Aboriginal North

America, Yale University Publications in Anthro¬
pology, No. 12 (New Haven: Yale University Press,
1936).
GHOSTS

Wyman, Leland C., Willard W. Hill, and Iva Osanai,

Navajo Eschatology, University of New Mexico Bul¬
letin, No. 377 (Albuquerque, N. Mex.: University of
New Mexico Press, 1942).
WITCHCRAFT

Kluckhohn, Clyde, Navaho Witchcraft, Papers of the

Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Eth¬
nology, Harvard University, XXII (Cambridge, Mass.:
The Museum, 1944). Anecdotal material published in
Chapters 5 and 7 above does not duplicate any pub¬
lished in this monograph. A few details which were
omitted from it are included in Chapters 5 and 7.
SOCIAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF RELIGION

Kluckhohn, Clyde, “Myths and Rituals: A General The¬

ory,” Harvard Theological Review, XXXV (1942),
45-79-
Leighton, Alexander H., and Dorothea C. Leighton, “Ele¬
ments of Psychotherapy in Navaho Religion,” Psy¬
chiatry, TV (1941), 515-524.
—The Navaho Door (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univer¬
sity Press, 1944).
—“Some Types of Uneasiness and Fear in a Navaho In¬
dian Community,” American Anthropologist, XLIV
(1942), 194-210.

338
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Reichard, Gladys A., Prayer: the Compulsive Word (New

York: J. J. Augustin, 1944).
Wyman, Leland C., Review of “The Story of the Navajo
Hail Chant” by Gladys A. Reichard, The Review of
Religion (May, 1945), pp. 380-384.

8: THE TONGUE OF THE PEOPLE

Publications prior to 1940 on the subject of Navaho lin¬

guistics are listed on pp. 33-36 of Kluckhohn and Spencer,
A Bibliography of the Navaho Indians. More recent pub¬
lications and others referred to in this chapter include the
following:

Haile, Berard, Learning Navaho, Vols. I and II (Saint

Michaels, Ariz.: St. Michaels Press, 1941 and 1942).
Hoijer, Harry, “Classificatory Verb Stems in the Apachean
Languages,” International Journal of American Lin¬
guistics, XI (1945), 13-23-
—Navaho Phonology, University of New Mexico Publica¬
tions in Anthropology, No. 1 (Albuquerque, N. Mex.:
University of New Mexico Press, 1945).
Reichard, Gladys A., “Linguistic Diversity among the Nav¬
aho Indians,” International Journal of American Lin¬
guistics, XI (1945), 156-168.
Reichard, Gladys A., and Adolph Dodge Bitanny, Agen-
tive and Causative Elements iti Navajo (New York:
J. J. Augustin, 1940).
Sapir, Edward, “Conceptual Categories in Primitive Lan¬
guages,” Science, LXXIV (1931), 578.
Whorf, Benjamin L., “Science and Linguistics,” Technology
Review, XLII (1940), 229-231, 247-248.
Young, Robert W., and William Morgan, The Navaho
Language (United States Indian Service, Education
Division, 1943).

339
 THE NAVAHO

9: THE NAVAHO VIEW OF LIFE

Adair, John, The Navajo and Pueblo Silversmiths (Nor¬

man, Okla.: University of Oklahoma Press, 1944).
Dyk, Walter, recorder, Son of Old Man Hat; A Navaho
Autobiography (New York: Harcourt, Brace and
Company, 1938).
Hill, Willard W., “Stability in Culture and Pattern,” Amer¬
ican Anthropologist, XLI (1939), 258-260.
Kluckhohn, Clyde, “Covert Culture and Administrative
Problems,” American Anthropologist, XLV (1943),
213-227.
—“A Navaho Personal Document,” Southwestern Journal
of Anthropology, I (1945), 260-283.
Matthews, Washington, The Night Chant, A Navaho Cere¬
mony, Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural
History, VI (1902).
Reichard, Gladys A., “Human Nature as Conceived by the
Navajo Indians,” Review of Religion, VII (1943),
353-36o.
—Prayer: the Compulsive Word (New York: J. J. Augus¬
tin, 1944).

340
 INDEX

Acculteration: economy and technology, 37-

40, 65-72, 82-83, 88, 91, 92; property and
inheritance, 103-4, 105~9; naming, 114-
17; participation in white economy, 80,
166-68; psychological effect of, 120, 166-
77; recreation, 96-97; religion and ceremo¬
nial, 222-23, 235-36; rate of, 66-67, 235,
247, 302; resulting social disorganization,
113, 295-98, 319-21; see also Christianity,
Education, Government, Schools, Spanish,
Whites, and Leighton and Kluckhohn
(1947)
Acoma, 125
Adair, John, 59, 68, 95, 300, 332
Aesthetics, 65, 68, 214-15
Affinal relationships, 102-4, 201, 245; see a^so
Kinship
Aged, 97, 115, 120, 151, 154, 158, 245
Aggression, 104-5, 168-77, 197-98, 199,
237-38, 241-42, 243, 245-46, 252
Agriculture: economy and technology, 48,
54-57, 68-69, 102; folk rituals, 69, 204-6;
future prospects, 80; government aid, 76,
140-41; history, 34-38; ownership of farm¬
land, 105-8; regional variations, 72-73,
101; see also Government, Soil
Aliens: other Indians, 125-28; relations with,
3.25-77; see a^so Pueblos, Whites, and indi¬
vidual tribal names

341
 THE NAVAHO

Animal husbandry, see Livestock

Anxiety, 232-34, 237, 239, 242-45
Apache, 33, 34, 40, 125; attitude toward,
128; Chiricahua, 125; comparisons with,
23, 248; Jicarilla, 72, 125; Mescalero, 125;
San Carlos, 125; trade, 126; White Moun¬
tain, 125
Arts and crafts, 59, 64-68, 80, 131; see also
Basketry, Pottery, Silversmithing, Weaving
Authority, 121-22, 302; in meetings, 117-21,
160-61

Bailey, Flora L., 86, 328

Basketry, 59, 66, 72, 94, 95, 125-26, 201, 306
Beautiful Mountain (area), 158
Birth and reproductive life, 52, 153, 202, 207,
212; see also Leighton and Kluckhohn
(1947)
Blessing Way, 102, 119, 203, 212-13, 225
Bolton, Laura, 217

Canyon de Chelly (Chinle; also Canyon del

Muerto), 72, 73
Canyoncito (area), 36, 117
Categories of thought, 121-22, 128-30, 294-
321 passim; disease, 192-93, 309; lan¬
guage, 179, 253-58, 271-84, 292-93, 314-
21; religion, 178-80, 221; see also Lan¬
guage, Values
Ceremonials, 35, 88, 119, 126, 178, 181, 209,
211-23, 224-52 passim, 310-11; classifica¬
tion of, 220; cost of, 61, 210, 217, 226-28,
243; curing ceremonials, 188-89, 193, 217-
21, 230-32; equipment, 65-66, 108-9,

342
 INDEX

Ceremonials, (cont’d)
125-26, 203, 218; minor priestly rites, 222;
participation in, 219-20, 224-25, 229;
prayer ceremonials for witchcraft, 222,
243-44; psychological functions for indi¬
vidual, 229-34; social and economic func¬
tions, 96-97, 224-30, 234-40; war ceremo¬
nial, 223 (see Squaw Dance); see also Divi¬
nation, Mountain Top Way, Night Way,
Rites of passage. Ritual, Singers, Squaw
Dance
Chaco Canyon, 111
“Chapters,” 117, 118-19, 158
“Checkerboard,” 43, 52, 73
Children, 69, 94; 136-38, 148-49, 207-9,
301, 310, 313; myth as symbol of socializa¬
tion, 197-99; see also Family, and Leighton
and Kluckhohn (1947)
Chinle, see Canyon de Chelly
Christianity, 100, 171, 182, 223; early con¬
tacts, 35-36; present-day missionaries,
132-39
Clan, 38, 78, 111-13, 116, 119, 201, 316; in-
* heritance, 107, 108; linked clans, 110,
113-14, 123; localization, 111; in myth, 84,
181, 196; social functions, 112, 123
Cleanliness, 93-94, 302
Climate, 46-48; regional variations, 72-73
Clothing, see Dress
Collier, John, 323
Comaiiche, 36
“Community,” see “Local group”
Co-operation, 94, 95, 103, 109-11, 117, 121-
22, 151, 228, 237, 240, 310
Co-operatives, 76-77, 79, 131-32, 237
Courts, see Tribal courts
Crary, Charles, 79

343
 THE NAVAJHO

Crime, 112-13, 162-63, 297-98; see also

Sanctions
Culture, 27-28, 44, 294-96, 298, 320-21
Culture change, 72, 173, 259, 320-21; atti¬
tudes towards innovations, 66-68, 218, 311
Curing chants, see Ceremonials

Daily routine, 90-97

Death: beliefs, 138, 183, 184-85, 202, 314;
customs, 89, 108, 184-85, 202, 207; see
also Leighton and Kluckhohn (1947)
Dennehotso (area), 39, 66, 95, 110, 111
Distribution, see Trade, Traders
Divination, 209-12, 217, 244, 313; fees, 226
Division of labor, 68, 69, 71, 94-95, 102-3;
see also Family, Sex status, Women
Dreams, 185, 199, 204
Dress, 35, 66, 67, 86-87
Drinking, 96, 119, 121, 129, 162, 169, 199,
228, 299, 307, 320
Drypaintings, 213-15; use in curing cere¬
monies, 218, 219
Dwellings, 87-91

Economy, 38-39, 44, 53-64, 78, 80-83, 166,

178, 226-27; see a^so Agriculture, Hunting
and gathering, Income, Livestock
Education, 141-52; adult, 142, 145, 146, 148,
152; for economic changes, 82-83; see also
Government, Schools, and Leighton and
Kluckhohn (1947)
Enemy Way, see Squaw dance
Environment, 45-51; attitude toward, 308-9;
regional variations, 72-73
Ethics, 295-99, 312, 314

344
 INDEX

Etiquette, 91-92, 101, 104, 119-20; see also

Leighton and Kluckhohn (1947)

Family, 53, 63-64, 78, 88-89, 90-91, 105-6,

122, 163, 212-13, 226, 227; biological fam¬
ily, 66, 100-2; extended family, 95, 102-4,
301; tensions within, 103-4, 197-99, 245;
see also Kinship relations
Folk beliefs, 91, 156, 200-3, 203-6, 311-13;
avoidance of excesses, 306; livestock, 70;
naming, 114-15; see also Ghosts, Taboos
Folk rituals, 96, 200-6, 211—12, 306, 310-11;
agriculture, 69; hogan, 89-90; hunting, 69;
livestock, 70
Food, 92-93
Fort Defiance, 40, 41, 76
Fort Sumner, 40, 41, 65, 73, 87, 92, 249
Fort Wingate, 41, 74, 81

Gambling, 222, 299, 306

Ganado, 73, 171
Gathering, see Hunting and gathering
Ghosts, 184-87; cause of disease, 192, 209;
ceremonies for “ghost sickness,” 220, 222;
in myth, 183, 197; source of dreams, 204
Government: administrative problems, 28-
29, 80-83, 113, 129-30, 163-66, 316-20,
328-29; economic and public services, 62,
77-78, 139-41; government programs,
26-27, 75-76, 139-41, 149-52, 163-64,
173-77, 211, 245, 308-9; history of rela¬
tions with, 39-44; relief, 61-62, 327; role
of in Navaho economy, 73-78; see also
Livestock (livestock reduction program),
Medical services, Navajo Service, Schools

345
 THE NAVAHO

Haile, Berard, 212-13, 330

Hall, Edward, 34
Havasupai, 125, 128
Headman, 117-19, 212; see also Authority,
Leadership
Health: curing effect of ceremonials, 230-32;
theory of disease, 192-93, 209-10, 219-20,
299, 309; see also Ceremonials, Cleanliness,
Medical services
Hill, Willard W., 97, 205, 206, 220, 300, 310-
11, 328, 330, 332
History, 33-44, 73, 79, 84-85, 113, 122-23,
124, 127, 138, 141, 157-58, 232, 233, 249,
327
Hoijer, Harry, 331
Hopi, 37, 72, 125, 128, 327
Human wolves, see Navaho wolves
Humor, 97-100, 193, 194, 260
Hunting and gathering, 35, 58, 62, 71; hunting
as recreation, 96; hunting rituals, 210, 222,
310

Incest, 197, 298; connection with witchcraft,

112, 184, 241, 249-52
Income: average, 62-64; sources of, 53-60
Indian Reorganization Act, 159-60, 161
Individualism, 217, 229-30, 309-10, 320
Inheritance, 103, 105-9, 3i7_19; see
Property
Initiation, ceremonial, 137, 207-9
Interpreters, 145-46, 275, 287-93
Irrigation, 48, 57, 68-6g, 76, 81, 327; see also
Agriculture

Jemez, 37, 125

346
 INDEX

Joking relationships, 98-100, 104-5, 169

Keur, Dorothy L., 34

Kinship relations, 104-5, 298-99, 305-6; in
clan, 111-13, 119, 123; grandparent-grand¬
child, 99-100; mother’s brother, 105, 198,
245; in “outfit,” 109-11; siblings, 98-99,
104-5, 197-98, 227, 245; between Singer
and patient, 198; see also Family, Joking
relationships
Kinship terms, 99, 104-5, m, H4» 198-99
Klagetoh (area), 110, 111
Kluckhohn, Clyde, see Leighton and Kluck-
hohn

Laguna, 125
Land-use, see Agriculture, Government, Live¬
stock, Soil
Language, 253-93; difficulties of translation
and communication with whites, 163, 173,
284-93, 313; grammar, 261-71, 285; lan¬
guage teaching project, 145-46; learning
English, 132, 141, 145-46; phonetics, 90,
257-60; psychology and categories of
thought, 179-80, 253-56, 271-84, 292-93;
puns and humor, 97-98, 260; relations, 33,
125, 327; verbs, 263-71, 331; vocabulary,
259-61; see also Categories of thought, Psy¬
chology, Whites, and Leighton and Kluck¬
hohn (1947)
Law and order, see Sanctions
Leadership, 117-22; attitude toward, 245,
248-49, 302; and government administra¬
tion, 158-63; history, 36, 40, 122, 157-58; see
also Headman, Social stratification

347
 THE NAVAHO

Leighton, Dorothea C., and Clyde Kluckhohn,

Children of the People (Cambridge: Har¬
vard University Press, 1947), 123, 177,
207, 285
Livestock, 102, 104, 149, 172; folk beliefs,
69-70; history, 37-38, 39; income from,
54—57; livestock reduction and improve¬
ment program, 26, 73-76, 81-83, 140, 165,
167, 245, 328; ownership of, 105-8; re¬
gional variations, 72-73, 101; suitability of
land for, 49-50, 72-73; technology of, 69-
70; see also Government
“Local group,” 117-22
Local variations, see Variations
Lumber and minerals, see Natural resources

Marriage: arrangement for, 97, 105, 120,

228-29; ceremony, 126, 207, 212 (see also
Leighton and Kluckhohn, 1947); clan rules,
112, 113; Navaho conception of, 318; plural
marriages, 100-1, 158, 321; resistance to
missionary teachings, 134
Matriliny, 102, 112; inheritance, 105-8, 318;
myth, 197; see also Residence
Matthews, Washington, 195-96, 305, 329,
332
Medical services, 139, 152-56, 329; mission¬
ary, 132-33, 138
Meetings, see Authority, Sanctions
Mexicans, 92, 123, 128; see also Spanish
Missionaries, see Christianity
Modesty, 91
Morality, 296-99, 314; see also Ethics
Morgan, William, 254-55, 291, 293, 330, 332
Mormons, 129, 132
Motor habits, 86

348
 INDEX

Mountain Top Way, 121, 219, 220, 227

Music: ceremonial, 211, 212-13, 215-17,
229-30; in everyday life, 96, 203-6
Mythology, 34-35, 89, 102, 127, 133, 193,
213-15; folk tales, function for group, 235-
40; function for individual, 96, 229-35;
myths and tales in daily life, 196-99; origin
myth, 180-83, 194, 196; rite myths, 194-96

Names, 114-16; naming, 207-8

Natural resources, 47, 57-58, 158
Nature, attitude toward, 308-9
Navaho, origin of name, 23-24
Navaho Mountain (area), 47, 68, 125
Navaho wolves, 187, 190-92, 250; see also
Witchcraft
Navajo Agency, 82, 118, 119, 123, 139-57,
156-62, 163-65, 288
Navajo Service, 27, 46, 47, 53, 57, 61-62,
74-78, 81-83, 139-57, 163-66, 288,
316-17, 329; see also Government, Schools,
Self-government
Night Way (Yerbichai, Night Chant), 121,
207, 209, 219, 304-5, 310-11
Nomadism, 38-39, 89

“Outfit,” 106, 109-11, 143

Ownership, see Property

Pawn, 80
Pawnee, 37
Personality, 30, 166-68; see also Psychology,
and Leighton and Kluckhohn (1947)
Peyote, 169, 234-35

349
 THE NAVAHO

Physique, 84-86
Pinyons: income from, 38, 58; possible devel¬
opment of, 82
Piute, 72, 125, 128
Plains, 33-36, 216
Poetry, ritual, 195-96, 304-5; see also Music,
Prayers
Population, 23, 41-42, 51-53, 166, 327-28
Pottery, 37, 64-66, 94-95. 201
Prayer, 203, 204, 211; compulsive aspects of,
221, 304—5; prayer ceremonial for witch¬
craft, 222, 243-44
Premises, see Values
Prestige, 26, 39, 230, 231, 300; see also Social
stratification
Property and ownership, 66, 75-76, 90-91,
0.05-9, 2i°; communal ownership, 105-6;
family ownership, 54, 106-7; land owner¬
ship, 105-9; personal ownership, 101, 102,
105-9, 203; see also Income, Inheritance
Psychology, 26, 27, 28, 75-76, 83, 155, 166-
77 passim, 197, 220-21, 229-35, 254, 304-
14; see also Categories of thought, and
Leighton and Kluckhohn (1947)
Pueblos, 24, 33-37, 64, 72, 85, 86, 97, 125,
126; attitudes toward, 125; borrowing of
mythology of, 126, 197; comparisons with,
65, 67, 72, 85, 120, 171, 193, 217, 238-40
Puertocito (area), 36, 117

Ramah (area), 79, 117, 118, 224, 225, 227,

327-28
Recreation, 96-97; see also Gambling
Regional differences, see Variations
Reichard, Gladys A., 34, 182, 193, 221, 329,
330

350
 INDEX

Relatives, see Kinship

Relief, see Government
Religion, 36, 137-39, 178-99, 200-23, 224-
52, 304; comparison with Christianity, 133;
increase resulting from white pressure, 169,
224; religious sanctions, 121-22; resistant
to change, 66, 164; social functions, 234-
40; see also Ceremonials, Ghosts, Rituals,
Singers, Supematurals
Reservation, 45-48, 50-53; see also Govern¬
ment, Whites
Residence, 38-39, 87-90; matrilocal, 100-4
Rites of passage, 207-9; birth, 207; ceremo¬
nial initiation, 137, 207-9; death, 207; mar¬
riage, 126, 207-12; puberty, 207, 212,
228; see also Leighton and Kluckhohn
(1947)
Ritual, 178, 194-95, 211-12, 304-5; see also
Ceremonials, Folk rituals, Poetry, Prayer
Roberts, Helen H., 216, 330

Sacred places, 204; see also Mythology

Salish, 34
Salt, 38, 90, 92, 105, 222
Sanctions: clan, 113; family, 121-22; federal
law and courts, 113, 156-57, 162, 328-29;
gossip, 122; headman, 119-20; meetings,
119-20, 302; supernatural, 122, 235-40;
witchcraft as social control, 247-52; see
also Navajo Agency, Tribal courts
Sandpaintings, see Drypaintings
Sapir, Edward, 282-84, 330, 331
Schools, 108, 115, 127, 139-52, 167, 168-69,
315; history, 42, 141-43; language teach¬
ing project, 146; mission schools, 132-39;
“progressive” school program, 144, 148-52;

351
 THE NAVAHO

Schools (cont’d)
research project on, 329; teachers, 144-45,
150, 316; see also Education, and Leighton
and Kluckhohn (1947)
Security, 232-35; see also Anxiety
Self-government, 163-66; see also “Chapters,”
Government, Leadership, Navajo Agency,
Tribal courts
Sex status: in family, 101-2; portrayed in
myth, 180-83, 198-99, 311-12; sex-typed
activities, 71, 94-95, 206; see also Division
of labor, Family, Women
Sexual relations, 91, 198, 201, 210, 219, 249
Sexuality, 169, 249-52, 306, 307, 308, 316
Shepard, Ward, 323
Shiprock, 73, 125, 190
Silversmithing, 59, 64-65, 67-68, 71, 80, 94,
95
Singers, 96, 198, 225, 229-30, 247-48, 300,
306
Skin dressing, 94, 95, 201, 203
Smith Lake (area), 5g, 72
Social control, see Sanctions
Social organizations, 40, 95, 120, 141-42, 246
Social stratification, 39, 83, 101, 103, 110,
118, 120-21, 158, 226, 227, 230, 245, 246-
47, 300-2
Society for Applied Anthropology, joint study
of administrative problems with Indian
Service, 329
Soil, 49-51; erosion and conservation, 50-51,
73-77, 327-28; regional variations, 73; see
also Government
Songs, see Music, Poetry, Prayer
Spanish (and Spanish Americans), history,
23-24, 35~39> 86; recent, 128-29; see ako
Whites

352
 INDEX

Squaw dance (Enemy Way), 96, 115, 121,

188, 215, 217, 220, 222, 225, 228-29, 242,
298, 305; as example of social function of
ceremony, 228-29
Stock improvement, see Livestock
Subsistence, see Economy
Suicide, 188, 314
Supernatural, 180-83; impersonation of,
208-9
Sweatbath, 99, 206, 218, 220, 231
Sweathouse, 88, 204, 206

Taboos, 192, 200-2, 209, 220, 234; see also

Ceremonials, Folk beliefs, Religion
Taos, 126
Technology, 64-73, 87-88; see also Agricul¬
ture, Arts and Crafts, Hunting, Livestock,
Transportation
Tensions, see Aggression, Family
Testing program, effect of language on, 286
Tewa-speaking Pueblos, 24, 327
Themes of Navaho culture, 296, 303-21
Topography, 47-48; regional variations, 72-
73
Trade, 35, 37, 38, 39, 78-80, 96-97, 120,
125-26, 222
Traders, 78-80, 103, 129, 130-32, 171, 172;
government regulation of, 77-79; history,
42, 79-80; trading post, 79-80
Transportation, 71
Travel, folk beliefs and practices, 204
Tribal Council, see Navajo Agency
Tribal courts, 119-20, 162-63
Tribal enterprises, 58-59, 76-77, 82
Tribal organizations, 36, 122-23, 125, 160-
62; see also Navajo Agency, Tribal courts

353
 THE NAVAHO

Tuba City, 73, 85

Ute, 36, 72, 85, 125, 128, 235

Values of Navaho culture, 292-93, 294-321

Van Valkenburgh, Richard F., 204, 329
Variations, regional, 37, 122-23; agriculture,
54-57; band, 117; birth rate, 51-52; con¬
tacts with aliens, 124-25; economy and
technology, 72-73; environment, 47-50; in¬
heritance, 106-7; leadership, 118-19;
mythology, 195, 196; naming, 116; po¬
lygyny and residence, 101, 103; resistance
to government program, 167
Vegetation, 49-50; see also Soil
View of life, see Values

Wage work, see Whites

Walapai, 85, 125, 128
Warfare: as former outlet for aggression, 245;
history, 35-41, 327; myth and ritual, 182,
210, 222-23
Wealth, see Social stratification
Weaving, 67-68, 80, 94, 95, 102, 301; folk
belief and practices, 201, 306; history, 34-
37, 64, 65; income from, 59; myth, 183
Whites: attitudes towards, 128-30, 170-77,
222; difficulties of communication with,
146, 163, 173, 285-93, 315-16; effect of
white pressure, 123, 165-66, 224, 252,
307; history, 39-44; relations with, 24-30,
84-86, 97, 109, 116, 124-25, 129-30,
143-44, 152, 154-56, 166-77, 315-21;
wage work for, 58-61, 76-78, 132, 145,

354
 INDEX

Whites (cont’d)
166-70; see also Acculturation, Christian¬
ity, Government, Spanish, Traders
Whorf, Benjamin L., 331
Wild plants and animals, see Hunting and
gathering
Witchcraft, 112, 118, 129, 180, 183, 184,
187, 202, 209, 227, 313, 314; anecdotes,
i89-92, 250-52; function in social control,
122, 240, 247-52, 301; protection against,
202-3, 222, 305; psychological function for
individual, 169, 197, 234, 240-46, 304;
recent increase in, 244-45, 252
Women, 66, 86-87, 90, 91, 133, 160; see also
Division of labor, Sex status
Woodward, Arthur, 64-65, 328
Wyman, Leland C., 195, 329

Yeibichai, see Night Way

Young, Robert, 254-55, 265-66, 291, 292-93,
330, 331, 332

Zuni, 90, 125, 128

355