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Navajo Indians
One of the largest of the Native American Tribes, they lived in the Southwest of the United States and Northern Mexico.
1,124 Questions
Is there a Navajo coming of age ceremony for men?
It is not as elaborate as the very important Kinaalda for girls but both boys and girls are initiated as adults by putting on masks and dancing on the last night of the Yeibichei or Night Way Ceremony. It symbolizes that they are now adults.
What is the role of hormones in women and men?
For women: Makes the boobs bigger and hips wider, and makes it possbile to give birth. Men: Makes the penis bigger, grows hair and muscles.
What is the pronunciation for the Navajo word dinissin?
Díníssin -- to have faith in it (a religion, belief, cure). The root is zin or sin- to acr with the mind.
"T'áá Naabeehó binahagha' t'éiyá díníssin" --"I have faith in the Navajo religion."
The first two i are high tone and pronounced like in "bit" in English.
The last i is a low or regular tone.
Di -nis -sin , high high, low tone.
Here is some of the conjugation for neuter imperfective:
Díníssin, dínísin, yidísin, jidísin, díníilzin, dínóhsin
What year did the Navajo tribe receive federal recognition?
They have been recognized and then de-recognized several times; the first recognition of the Navajo as a nation came in 1846, then denied in 1849, then recognized in 1868, denied again in 1885, recognized as a political subdivision (state) of the United States again in 1923 (Dawes Act of 1887, updated in 1934) - despite the Navajo's thoughts that they are an independent nation; the United States clearly defines them are Political subdivisions (domestically dependent nations, see link).
What is the literal translation of Ahe'hee - thank you in Navajo?
The word Ahéhee translates smoothly from Navajo to English. It literally means thank you, or I feel grateful, in Navajo.
ahééh -- means gratitude or thanks, apreciation
ahééh nisin --I am grateful ( nisin means to think or to have in mind to want to). baa ahééh nisin-- I am gratful for it.
Ahéhee lą́ą' -- thanks a lot
Who are the characters in the book Code Talker by Joseph Bruchac?
Ned Begay is the main character. First Sergeant Shinn is the recruiter.
How do you say you all go to sleep in Navajo?
Navajo has a dual plural and and three or more plural and a fourth person too and it conjugates in the verb so you need to give more information to say translate this. To go to sleep is: 'iishháásh but Navajo verbs are very complicated, more like Turkish than English.
Note: Navajo tend not to use commands, it is impolite to interfere with autonomy (even with children), you might say: Da' bił nínízin? (Are you sleepy?). Or Yá'át'ééh hiiłchi'į' (good night). Or maybe: ajółhosh laanaa nisin -- (I wish one(3rd person) could go to sleep.)
Does the Navajo term bilaganna only apply to white men or does it include white women?
Bilaganna refers to the white race, men and women. It is equivelent to how the term "Anglo" is used in the American Southwest by all English speakers. If you are white but from Mexico you are Naakai
In the Navajo tradition of introducing oneself, the name and clan of the speaker are given, then the name and clan of the mother are given, then the name and clan of the father, then the name and clan of the maternal grandmother and the name and clan of the maternal grandfather. For a white man or woman introducing themselves in the Navajo way, the clan names are all "bilaganna" since whites do not have a clan-structured ancestry. The Navajo are a matriarchal society with inheritance passing through the female lineage, hence the importance of the mother's and grandmother's information being given deferential placement in the introduction.
How did the Navajo and hopi manage to adapt survive and even grow as a culture?
This is a very good and difficult question. Both the Navajo and Hopi benefited early on by being in a difficult part of the continent which had few resources that white colonists wanted and was not on a major wagon and later train route.
The Hopi had first contact with the Spanish by de Tovar in 1540 but they did not return until 1583, 1598, and 1605. They did not establish a presence however. In 1629 the Spanish started a mission. The Hopi participated in the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 and destroyed the Mission. In 1692 the Spanish tried to start it again. In 1700 all the male converts were killed and the Spanish never returned. The Hopi didn't have much contact with colonial powers until after the Mexican American War in 1846. Mormons started moving in in the 1870s. The US didn't have much economic interest in the area until the uranium boom of the 1950s. They live in an area that kept them safer from diseases. Their economy of small farming did not conflict with white interests. When they contacted new crops that would grow there such as peaches, melons, onions, chilies they added them. This economy could be continued up to the present day. This gives them a strong sense of cultural continuity.
But there were other more elusive reasons that they have thrived. Although the Hopi fought at times, they also had a large cultural interest in peace and that served them well. They have cultural practices that are secret in some aspects even to other tribal members. They have a continual set of seasonal ceremonies that takes commitment to the group. they have a very strongly developed sense of why they live where they do and how their ceremonial activity maintains and sustains the whole world. In their view they chose the harder, more righteous life. These traits in turn impressed important outsiders who respected and defended and supported them against colonial interference from the US government.
The Navajo also benefited in the earlier first contact era with being in the same a remote and undesirable area. They also benefited by their traditional land-use patterns. They had no villages or single area to be controlled in. Their territory was the whole area between the four sacred mountains. They did not have traditional hereditary leadership or unified tribal structure and that could be defeated and controlled. They also have a very strong traditional of personal individual autonomy. Neither the Spanish nor the Mexicans ever controlled the area. The Navajo mobile fighting tactics were very effective. They really didn't come into serious conflict until 1863 when certain leaders in the US army decided that they should be attacked as their raids on peoples around Santa Fe was felt to benefit the Confederates. Instead of having a single strong and secret traditional the Navajo have had a very adaptable one. They have over and over met other cultures and taken up parts that they liked and made them completely theirs. So the learned corn and squash agriculture and weaving and some cosmological ideas from the Pueblo peoples. They got sheep and goats and horses, peaches, melons, chilies and jewelry from the Spanish. Flour, guns, certain clothing, and now pickup trucks have followed that. At the same time things that they borrowed have been completely "Navajo-ized'. They have borrowed almost no new words but instead make up new ones. Many of the new ideas gained mythic Navajo stories to completely assimilate them. The Navajo are matrilineal and exogamous to such a degree that it is incest to marry into the clan of any of your four grandparents. This means many clans have roots in neighboring tribes which allowed them perhaps to embrace new ideas and expand.
In 1864 came disaster but that in the end was solved too. Kit Carson, largely against his will, was ordered to defeat the Navajo. His scorched earth tactics forced them to internment camps for 4 years. However, there is something very appealing to many key people in the larger Anglo culture about traditional Navajo beliefs and culture. The overwhelming emphasis on Hozho, beauty and balance and health, the tendency to believe moderation in expression was the proper adult mode of communication won over many. The scandals about the corruption at the internment camps were exposed. The Navajo were also forged into perhaps a more united people during this time as a response to the horrible losses. When offered to move to Oklahoma they united and said they would rather die. This shamed those that had imprisoned them. In 1868 they were allowed to return home. They gave up raiding as part of their life ways but they still had sheep and goats and raising corn as traditional occupations. Perhaps the strong matrilineal traditions helped too. The healing chantways and the ideas behind them undoubtedly helped a great deal as well. The emphasis on not holding on to anger, on balance and growth surly was very important. So in the end by 1868, they were back in their traditional lands and able to practice most of their traditional lifestyles and beliefs. They rebuilt their herds and crop lands. They continued to have powerful members of the colonial white establishment who lobbied on their behalf as well. Their lands were expanded over and over until today they are 27,000 sq miles and the population is 300,000. They retained their language loner and better than most people were able to in part because they lived in such a remote place even with the terrible attitudes on of the boarding schools. They still practice their traditional religion and philosophy. The took advantage of changes in law whenever they could, setting up the first tribal college, a representative government with real power, taking over the police and many other activities. They were lucky to have some oil and mineral revenue. They have built large scale tribal agriculture projects.
Every animate and inanimate thing has it's place, relevance and effect in this world. Moreover they influence one another. In this respect man can not form his destiny, but his destiny is decided by everything that man is surrounded with. Health and disease are upkeep or disruption of this harmonious together-being. Navajo Poetry essentially respects this harmony, and is about it.
Here is a modern Navajo poem by Luci Tapahonso, a Navajo woman.
A Discreet Conversation by
Luci Tapahonso
(He was drunk and rolled his car twicebut didn't get hurt.) Somehow, he drove his car off the road
and wrecked his car, his sister said. General murmurs of sympathy. No one knows how it happened,
his mother added. Silence.
Then the old grandpa said in a loud voice: K'ad ajoodl láa, ajoolghaiísh
akojii t'h!
(He was drinking too much, of course,
that doesn't happen to one
who has eaten too much!) Laughter. You better go with him
next time he gets paid!
They said to his wife.
What tribe is located in the southwest of the US There is a reservation in New Mexico?
There are lots of reservations in New Mexico. Mescalero & Jicarilla Apache, Navajo, Hopi, a variety of pueblo Indians
Where did the Navajo clan honaghaanii originate?
The Navajo clan Honaghaanii, also known as the "One Who Walks Around," originated from the area around the San Juan River in present-day northeastern Arizona and northwestern New Mexico. This clan is believed to have connections to the ancestral Puebloans and their migration patterns. The Honaghaanii clan plays a significant role in Navajo culture, particularly in terms of kinship and social structure.
How do you say 10-20 in Navajo?
In Navajo, the numbers 10 to 20 are expressed as follows: 10 is "naaki," 11 is "naaki yázhí," 12 is "naaki bilagáana," 13 is "naaki naaki," 14 is "naaki dį́į́ʼ," 15 is "naaki tsʼah," 16 is "naaki naadą́ą́ʼ," 17 is "naaki naashtʼéí," 18 is "naaki naadį́į́ʼ," and 19 is "naaki naadį́į́ʼ." Finally, 20 is "nízhóní."
