Navajo resource 3

The hogan is the traditional home for the Diné (Navajo). .

The Navajos used to make their houses, called hogans, of wooden poles, tree bark and mud. The doorway of each hogan opened to the east so they could get the morning sun as well as good blessings. Today, many Navajo families still live in hogans. The older form of hogan is round and cone-shaped.

The most common form consists  of a conical frame, made by setting up a number of sticks at an angle of about forty-five degrees.  An opening is left on one side of the cone to answer as a doorway. The frame is covered with weeds, bark, or grass, and earth, except at the apex, where the smoke from the fire in the centre of the floor is allowed to escape.

In the door-way an old blanket hangs, like a curtain, in place of a door. But the opening of the door is not a simple hiatus, as many descrip-tions would lead one to suppose. A cross-piece, forming a lintel, connects the jambs at a convenient height, and the triangular space between the lintel and the smoke-hole is filled in as shown here.

Shelters were built around the house, made of branches. Here, in fair weather, the family often cook and spend most of the day. Here, too, tne women erect their looms and weave or set out their metates and grind corn, and some even choose to sleep here. Such a " corral " is shown in

Summer Houses. In summer they often occupy structures more simple than even the hut described above. repre-sents a couple of summer houses in the Zuni Mountains. A structure of this kind is built in a few hours. A couple of forked sticks are set upright in the ground ; slanting poles are laid against this in the direction of the prevailing winds, so as to form a wind-break, half wall and half roof, and this is covered with grass, weeds, and earth. The ends may be similarly inclosed, or may be merely covered in with evergreen branches. One side of the house is completely open. 

A traditional Navajo building is called a hogan and they were made out of logs in the traditional fashion until the early 20th century. Nowadays, they are mainly used for ceremonies.

There were male and femaile hogans. The male hogan had five triangular faces used for ceremonial purposes while the female hogan was much bigger and circular and used as a family home. In it, the children played, the women cooked, weaved, talked, and entertained and men told jokes and stories.

It would have contained beds, earthenware, woven material, sleeping areas, cooking utensils, a fireplace and furniture.

   What did they eat?  

The Navajo were farmers, hunters and gatherers. They hunted on horseback. But they tended sheep and planted corn. The sheep were important. Sheep provided wool and food. Corn was even more important. In olden times, the Navajo held religious ceremonies to honor "The Corn People", the supernatural beings who kept the corn safe. The Navajo also grew beans, squash, melons, pumpkins, and fruit.

   What did they wear?  

When the weather was cold, they wore clothing made from deerskin, sheepskin, and wool. These clothes were very colorful. They loved silver jewelry, decorated with turquoise, and wore a great deal of it. When the weather was hot, they wore very little clothing.