The Navajo Dream Catcher
"Story of the Dream Spirit"
Bad dreams are caught in the webbing, Good dreams come through hole in center. At first ray of sun, bad dreams are turned to dust. Only good dreams Will prevail from then on.
Sometime before 1400, Navajo ancestors settled in what is now northern Arizona and New Mexico, as well as a small part of southern Utah and Colorado. The heart of their territory was on the lower part of the Colorado Plateau. This is considered the Southwest Culture Area in Native American studies.
The Navajo call themselves the Dineh or Diné, translated "the people." The Pueblo Indians applied the name "Navajo" to an area of land in the Southwest. The Spanish called the Navajo, Apaches de Navajo in order to distinguish them from the Apache.
The Dineh lived as nomadic bands of hunter-gatherers, launching raids on the farming Pueblo Indians, taking food, property, women and slaves. Gradually, through the influence of the Pueblos, they adopted farming, WEAVING and SANDPAINTING.
Art and religion were intertwined. Art was used for ceremonial purposes as a way to relate to the spiritual world. It was a way to be closer to one's ancestors and to influence the spirits to sway the weather or to cure the ill. The Dineh had highly-developed art and rituals for these purposes.
One art form was oral chants by which the Dineh passed down ancestral history. Long myths in poem and story form were passed from one generation to another without using writing. Another art form was sandpainting. The sandpaintings were intricate, colorful dry paintings that served as altars for healing ceremonies. At the end of the ritual, these exquisite paintings were destroyed, and participants took some of the sand with them for its magical properties.
Arts and Crafts
A distinction was made between arts and crafts, however. When an object had a practical purpose, it was considered a craft. But many crafts were so finely developed, they are considered true art. Dineh women learned to spin sheepswool, dye the threads, then weave them on a loom. The finished pieces had bright geometric designs or pictures of animals on them. These are now treasured worldwide as wall hangings.
In the mid-1800s, the Dineh learned the fine craft of jewelry making from
 |
Go To Page: 1 2
| Here's the follow-up discussion on this article: | View all related messages |
For a complete listing of article comments, questions, and other discussions related to Edwina Lewis's Native-American Crafts topic, please visit the Discussions page.