The Legend Behind The Navajo Rug

Submitted by: Gregory Crossett

The Navajos, deeply spiritual Native Americans, who drifted into the southwest Four Corners region as hunting and gathering bands from the Northwest beginning some 10 or more centuries ago, believe that Spider Woman, one of their most important deities, taught their women to weave. They also believed that Spider Man, her husband, constructed her loom from two horizontal beams lashed to two vertical beams, creating the traditional rectangular-shaped frame.

According to Navajo (Dine’) legend, it was the deity known as Spider Woman who taught a young Dine’ shepherdess who was shivering from the cold the art of weaving upon a loom. After teaching her to sheer sheep, card, and spin wool Spider Woman told her: “My husband, Spider Man, constructed the weaving loom making the cross poles of sky and earth cords to support the structure; the warp sticks of sun rays, lengthwise to cross the wool; the heralds of rock crystal and sheet lightning to maintain original condition of fibers. For the batten, he chose a sun halo to seal joints, and for the comb he chose a white shell to clean strands in a combing manner.” Spider Woman then warns the newly named Weaving Woman to “walk the Middle Way,” keeping her life in balance and not to do too much of one thing. Since Weaving Woman, the Dine’ have always been accomplished weavers through the generations, hoping to pay proper homage to the Spider Woman and her husband.

“In acknowledgement of their debt to Spider Woman,” said Raymond Friday Locke in his The Book of the Navajo, ” Navajo weavers always left a hole in the center of each blanket, like that of a spider’s web, until the traders in the early part of this century refused to buy such blankets. Most Navajo weavers still acknowledge the debt by leaving a ‘spirit outlet’ in the design.” This prevents “blanket sickness.” As Locke said, “Since the weaver carries the pattern of the blanket in her head from beginning to ending, perhaps blanket sickness is more real than imagined.”

Originally, the Navajo women probably produced their weavings from cotton or perhaps even from the wild mountain goats’ fine underhair. They switched to the Churro sheep’s wool after that four-horned, variously hued animal arrived with Spanish colonists at the very end of the 16th century. They valued the churro’s wool, said Navajo Glenna Manymules Bitsoi in the Internet site Sheep is Life, because it “is low in lanolin it does not require valuable water for washing nor time-consuming carding. It can be shorn, hand cleaned, then spun into tightly twisted yarn that readily absorbs indigo and native vegetal dyes, from which the Navajo artists create weavings famous for their exceptional luster, fine texture, and durability.”

In communities across the reservation and even among families outside the reservation, Navajo weavers have created a broad diversity of weaving, patterns and colors in their rugs.

Across the centuries, these Native Americans have left us with an unparalleled legacy in the fabric arts.

About the Author: I was born in Portland, Maine in 1952 and moved to Tucson, Arizona in 1956. Graduated from Rincon High School in 1970 and from the University of Arizona in 1976 (B.A. Political Science, Spanish minor). Member United States Navy Seabee Reserve from 1972 through 1978. Worked as a Correctional Program Counselor and Counselor Supervisor for the Arizona Dept. of Corrections from 1978 through 1984. Began working as a journeyman carpenter for Kellogg Rust, Inc. in 1985 through 1987. Continued working as carpenter foreman for Sundt Corp. through 1988 and as a General Foreman and Superintendent for Sun Eagle Corp. through 1993. Began work as a bilingual Superintendent for Kitchell Contractors in their Mexico Division from 1993 through 2006. Continued working as a bilingual superintendent for Haskell Contractors from June, 2007 through June, 2010. Currently I am in the process of developing an e-commerce business that specializes in authentic Native American Indian arts and crafts. You can find the website at

southwesternhomeaccessories.com

Source:

isnare.com

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