Navajo Culture Research Paper

The Navajo religion is being Navajo. Religion is something that you live every day (Young, 2001, p. 233).

Navajo culture distinctively took hold in the four corners area of the Colorado Plateau around 100 A.D., although they are believed to have been around for centuries before then. Disliking the term “Navajo Indians”, they refer to themselves as the “Diné” which means “The People” or “Children of the Holy People”.

The traditional Navajo Indians have a very primitive lifestyle. This means that they don’t necessarily have the best living conditions and

The Diné means “The People” and it is what the people that we know presently as the Navajo went by. The Red Nation article “Considering a Navajo Name Change: Self-Identification, Land, and Liberation” by Majerle Lister states that “‘Navajo’ is not a Diné word or concept, despite its use as our [the Diné] official name for more than a hundred and fifty years.” This is a clear example of how settler colonialism has impacted the Navajo Nation. Settler colonialism has had an impact in the Peoplehood matrix of the Navajo from language and sacred history to place/territory and ceremonial cycles, yet it has not stop efforts from the Navajo Community to mend the damage that settler colonialism has had on their culture over the years.

Although, the ritual has been passed on from generation to generation, how the Navajo rituals are ways of communication has been questioned by so many. Many believe that it way for the patient to come into “…harmony…

The Navajo are the largest federally recognized Native American Indian tribe in the United States. The Diné Bikéyah or “Navajoland" encompasses 27,000 square miles residing within Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico and contains a population of over 220,000 natives. The

“Navajo trading has been a crucial component of that tribe's localized economy for generations and has been the subject of much scholarship over the years (Kiser, 2012).” Trading is what has really distinguished the Navajo from other cultures. They traded with the Spanish at first and then on to other tribes. They were first introduced to a horse from being able to establish trade with the Spanish in the 1620’s. Many other native cultures went

Numbering roughly 250,000, the Navajo reservation covers approximately 25,000 square miles. Window Rock located in the North Eastern part of Arizona is the capital of the Navajo Nation. As one of the poorest regions in the country, isolation, culture, traditions, as well as economic status affect the Navajo communities’ wellbeing and healthcare. While the elderly Navajo population grows about three percent a year, life expectancy is “73.7 years compared to 76 years for the general population” (Mercer, 1996, p 184). Elderly Navajo members are revered due to their wisdom and life experience. Other things that negatively affect the healthcare of the Navajo are little running water or electricity, no phones, rough rugged terrain and most must drive more than one hour to a facility that provides health care. The Navajo home or hogan entrance must face east to welcome the sun for daily blessings. Made of tree bark, mud and wooden poles, the hogan is windowless. The majority of the Navajo population has no indoor plumbing. Merely 38% of Navajo people actually have electricity, heat and plumbing (McCauley, 2004, p. 47).

Every culture has their own way of life, their own religious beliefs, their own marriage beliefs, their own values and feelings on life and the options it has to offer. Each culture has their own way to run things within their own government, and own way to keep their economy up to their standards. Also each culture and society have their own primary mode of subsistence that makes them unique. Among the Navajo culture their primary mode of subsistence are pastoralists.   Pastoralists have an impact on different aspects with in the culture.   The aspects that I will be discussing will be the Navajo’s beliefs and values, economic organization, gender relations and sickness and healing.

The houses Navajo Indians used to live in were called Hogan’s. A Hogan was made of logs, brush, and earth. The Navajo summer houses were also utilized and made of brush with a windbreak. The Navajo Indians are separated within two clans to live together. The two clans were immediate family and extended family.

American culture is made up of many different people, and many of those people come from Indian tribes. The United States Governments Federal Register lists 566 tribes recognized as of August 2012. One of those tribes is the Navajo which can be found primarily in the states of Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. Navajo culture is one that many people associate with by what is portrayed in movies. People view the culture as land raiding individuals that pillaged and wreaked havoc with anyone and anything they came in contact with.

The most phenomenal thing about each individual culture though they may be similar in some ways they vary in the most impeccable manner that makes that group of people unique such as the Navajo Tribe. “The Navajo are natives of the Four Corners region (Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado). The Navajo people are still living in their traditional territory today. The Navajos live on a reservation, which is land that belongs to them and is under their control. The Navajo Nation has its own government, laws, police, and services, just like a small country. However, the Navajos are also US citizens and must obey American law.) Redish, L., & Lewis, O. (2011). Every belief or tradition are what make the very aspect

The Navajo, also known as the Diné, are one of the largest Native American Tribes in the world. Their culture is made up of very distinct and unique characteristics that have been passed down from generation to generation. They have been taught to adapt to their surroundings and to the land. Each moral, standard, belief and value are what make the Navajo so unique to the Native Americans. In the following, their primary mode of subsistence, kinship system, beliefs, values, and economic organizations will be briefly examined to gain a better knowledge of the Navajo culture.

There are many marriage rules and traditions that happen all around the globe. As an aboriginal couple they have different regulations as a male and as a women. As a male, he was permitted to have more than one spouse at the same time. But as a women, she can only remarry if she is a widow. Another thing that is interesting about the marriages in Aboriginal people is the “Blackfella Way”. Meaning the couple has not received an official church blessing or any other type of legal confirmation of their relationship. So in current times, if you do not have any confirmation about your marriage, your marriage would not exist. The other interesting thing about Aboriginals way in current time is the name of their extended family. Instead of calling their cousins, cousins, no matter if it is a boy or girl, they called them “Cousin Brother” or “Cousin Sister”. Even though this is something that makes total sense, I still find it really interesting to know that is what they call each other.

The world view of the Navajo who had lived for many centuries on the high Colorado Plateau was one of living in balance with all of nature, as the stewards of their vast homeland which covered parts of four modern states. They had no concept of religion as being something separate from living day to day and prayed to many spirits. It was also a matriarchal society and had no single powerful leader as their pastoral lifestyle living in scattered independent family groups require no such entity. This brought them repeatedly into conflict with Spanish, Mexicans and increasingly by the mid-nineteenth century, Americans as these practices were contrary to their male dominated religiously monolithic societal values. The long standing history