The Navajo and Their Basketry

The first Spaniards who encountered the growing band of Indians concentrated near Tewa presumed they were Apache because of their nomadic characteristics. But because they restricted their operations to a much smaller area and their activities were less dynamic, the Spanish qualified their name with the Tewa word Navajo… And they became known as the Apache de Navajo. The Indians found the Spanish name unacceptable for several reasons, the most basic being the lack of a sound in their native tongue for “J” and “V” and thus followed the old age custom of calling themselves “the people,” or Dine. The word “people” in its various forms is used as a tribal name for nearly every Indian group of Athapascan stock.

During their early Association, the Spanish and the Navajo made strange bedfellows. The Spanish introduced the Navajos to sheep and goats. But they also gave them horses that the Indians used to good advantage in raiding the Spanish settlements to obtain more goats and sheep.

The Spanish took Navajo women as slaves and put them to work weaving baskets and blankets; thus, the Navajos had no shame in making Spanish women as their slaves. Each faction had something the other needed and wanted and, even though bloody raiding parties were accepted as essential in getting it, this unusual relationship endured for years.

Things changed after the United States assumed control of New Mexico in 1846. The new government and the American settlers were not willing to accept the Navajo forays as were the Spanish predecessors. When the raidng was directed at a newly built military outpost, the United States decided the time had come to put a stop to them. Two peace treaties with the Navajo failed to last long enough to be ratified by Washington, and thus Kit Carson, in 1863, was ordered to subdue the Indians by force.

But to subdue hundreds of small clusters of Indians spread over a vast expanse of territory presented an almost unsurmountable military undertaking for Carson and his handful of Calvary men. Instead, he set forth on a program of destroying their food supply... killing their sheep and livestock and burning their crops. Within a year, the Indians were forced to capitulate or cease to exist.

So the following year, 1864, found a significant part of the Navajo tribe relocated at Bosque Redondo on the Pecos River in New Mexico. Within three years, most had been returned to their original homes. In 1869, the government called all the Navajo together to participate in the distribution of some 30,000 sheep and 2,000 goats that would serve as the beginning of the rebuilding of the Navajo Nation.

Navajo Ceremonial Basket.

As Indians arrived for their gift, they were herded into large corrals, and their numbers were calculated as they entered. Nine thousand people came. Presuming only a few of the destitute Navajo were unwilling to go for the sheep and goats, the figure of 9000 can be used as an approximate figure of the population at that time. Today, 100 years later, this figure has increased more than tenfold.

NAVAJO BASKETRY

Weaving of blankets, and later rugs, is the best-known craft of the Navajo, although their basketry was also of excellent quality. However, it was restricted almost entirely to two forms used for ceremonial purposes.

Whatever the extent of basket weaving existing among the early Navajo, it was curtailed sharply after their introduction to sheep and the use of wool in the making of blankets. The Navajo quickly recognized that a single blanket represented many baskets and other items in trade with their neighbors, the Utes. Consequently, as their flocks increased, their basketry production decreased.

Time was not an important factor to the early Indian craftsman; availability of materials, however, was essential. The production of both baskets and blankets require days, weeks, and sometimes many months to complete. But while material for those blankets was grazing just outside the Navajos Hogan, materials for their basketry often required long, arduous journeys to obtain.

Thus, we find that a good part of so-called Navajo baskets were made by their neighbors, the Utes and Paiutes, and exchanged for blankets. These baskets were unacceptable, however, unless made to Navajo specifications. In addition, the Navajo continued to weave some baskets of their own, as they still do.

The earliest, authentic Navajo baskets were made from the coiling technique and shaped in the form of a shallow dish. Their designs were almost without exception in the form of quadrant’s and wide bands and had a symbolic significance that has now been submerged in a maze of differing interpretations.

From the earlier types of Navajo baskets, the “wedding basket” evolved… The most familiar basket associated with the Navajo. It is a misnomer of sorts, as it is a functional part of several other ceremonial activities as well as wedding celebrations. From the original patterns, there developed a rather standard design found in almost all wedding baskets woven since the turn of the century… an encircling horizontal stripes from which triangles protrude above and below, giving a cogwheel effect. Two or more of these horizontal bands are usually used, each in different colors regularly on the larger baskets.

In all cases, there is a pathway for opening, extending from the center of the basket to its outer rim and passing through the encircling stripes. On a perfectly executed basket, this path will extend from the end of the starting twig to a point on the rim at which the false braid is terminated.

The break or path that is sometimes referred to as a “spirit trail,” reflects an apparent cultural continuity between the historic tribes in the prehistoric Pueblo people who left similar breaks in their painted pottery designs centuries ago. Some claim this break is purposely included in the design to assist in the proper positioning of the basket during ceremonies in dimly lighted chambers; others state tradition requires that the opening must face eastward during any ceremonial activity.

Navajo weavers use single-rod and two-rod foundation elements in the construction of their baskets. The wrapping stitches were interlocking. Sumac and willow were the primary materials used.

Just as in the case of their blankets, native dyes were used to color the materials used for their earlier basketry designs. Black was produced in the usual way by seeping materials and a mixture of sumac leaves and pinion that had been boiled in water. Red dies were similarly obtained from the bark of native shrubs and Juniper ashes. Flowering tops of other native shrubs added to native alum produced a yellow color.

Any baskets accepted by the Navajo for ceremonial purposes must have the braided, figure-eight rim. Any wedding basket without the essential herringbone rim, basically, a “for sale “basket, made primarily for tourist consumption. The latter has been increasing in numbers during the past few years, and include very small “one-day weave” baskets along with an extra-large copy of the original pattern that measures as much as 3 feet in diameter.