THE MOTHER OF THANKSGIVING!

The Mother of Thanksgiving was a woman of her time and ahead of her time as well.

Her name was Sarah Josepha Hale. She was born in 1788 and, in spite of the era, she was ahead of her time by becoming a self-taught professional woman, a writer, poet and editor, advocating education and professional work for women. It was she who wrote the nursery rhyme, 'Mary had a Little Lamb.’

But Mrs. Hale was also a woman of her own time. When her husband died at age 34, just two months before the birth of their fifth child, she donned mourning black and never again took it off.

She didn't believe women should have the vote but should remain the secret and silent influencer of the male vote.

Fortunately, her influence on culture was far from secret or silent. In fact, Hale became a vocal supporter of a national Thanksgiving. For 17 years she wrote letters to five presidents about the idea. She wrote books and articles recounting New England Thanksgivings.

In 1863, she finally caught the ear of President Abraham Lincoln, convincing him that a National Day of Thanks might bring the war-torn country together.

Besides writing books and editing an influential women's magazine, Hale also promoted Thanksgiving through cookbooks.

SARAH JOSEPHA HALE'S THANKSGIVING APPLE PUDDING PIE

Please continue reading here for the recipe.

NAVAJO WEAVING HISTORY

EARLY NAVAJO HISTORY-1100-1700

Navajo history and specifically, Navajo weaving history, is centuries old. The Navajo people began arriving in what is now the United States in approximately 1100 AD. They were originally nomadic hunters and gatherers drifting in small bands. Somewhere between 1100 and 1500, they finally settled in an area now known as the Four Corners, where the Southwestern states of Mexico, Colorado, Utah, and Arizona meet.

The Navajos are related to Asian people by physique and language, and they share a kinship with the Athapascan tribes of Western Canada and interior Alaska. The Alaskan Athapascans had practiced the art of weaving, and it is thought by some historians the Navajos may have had some knowledge of the skill from these ancestors.

Arrival of the Spaniards-1500s

By the time the Spaniards arrived in the 1500s, many of the Indians of the Southwest were already weaving some cotton clothing as well as nets, mats, sandals, etc. History has shown they knew all about cotton and how to grow, card, spin, and weave it.

The Spaniards introduced wool to the Indians. They brought churro type sheep as well as horses to the Pueblos and their neighbors, the Navajos.

The more sedentary type of Indians such as the Pueblos became skilled in pottery and basket making, because the materials were readily available on the land, and their supplies and finished work didn’t need to be moved from one place to another.

Because the Navajos were semi-nomadic, they instead concentrated on the skills of sheep herding and making their own wool, which they learned from the Spanish settlers.

The Pueblo Revolt of 1680

Since the Navajos were semi-nomadic, they didn’t accumulate household and other goods and they were able to move freely about the area. Thus, they were able to avoid much of the subjugation of the Spaniards and Franciscans who came to ‘Christianize’ and ‘civilize’ the Indians of the Southwest. 

The sedentary Pueblos, though, were an easy mark. The year 1680 saw the entire Pueblo population of New Mexico and Arizona rise up and rebel against the Spaniards, pushing them out of their territory.

Afterwards, the Pueblos, fearing retaliation from Spain, sought refuge with the Navajos, even though the Navajos and the Pueblos had raided and attacked each other for centuries. The Navajos were well-known for stealing sheep from other Indians (especially the Pueblo) and fiercely guarding their flocks.

It is a strange twist of fate that if the Navajos had not stolen sheep and horses from other Indian tribes, those Indians would not have had the availability of sheep later on since their livestock had been almost completely destroyed by the invading Spaniards.

Although they were not allies, the Pueblos and the Navajos were able to maintain a period of peaceful coexistence, even intermarrying. It was during this period, in the late 1600s that history supposes the Navajos learned the skill of weaving from the Pueblos. As mentioned above, they may have already had a measure of skill in that art. 

The Pueblo men had been the cotton cultivators and so they became the weavers. The Navajo culture, on the other hand, saw hunting as belonging to the men and the care of the sheep and the weaving was given to the women. Gradually, the women even came to own the sheep.

Whether or not the Navajos learned the skill of weaving from the Pueblos or their ancestors, it can be said without doubt, by the mid-1700s, their weaving had far surpassed that of the Pueblo and the Spanish as well.

The Navajo legend of weaving relates the story of a spiritual being called 'Spider Woman' who instructed the women of the Navajo how to weave on a loom 'Spider Man' told them how to make.

EARLY CLASSIC PERIOD 0f NAVAJO WEAVING HISTORY

1700-1850

The mid 1700s saw the Navajos using the wool from their sheep in their weaving of clothing, blankets, ponchos, etc. The patterns were simple and consisted primarily of narrow stripes and bands.

The colors were usually natural wool tones of white, gray, brown, tan, and black. Vegetal dying was also used for hues of rust, yellow, and green. Indigo blue had already been introduced by the Spanish and was used throughout this period.

Blankets woven by the Navajo were traded on a small scale to the Spanish, Pueblos, and other Indians.

Slave Blankets

Toward the end of this period, in the mid-1800s, a large number of Navajo women were captured and sent to private homes and fabric factories in Mexico. They were enslaved and made to weave whatever they were told. A type of ‘slave blanket’ emerged from this captivity that was more Mexican in style than Navajo.

CLASSIC PERIOD of NAVAJO WEAVING HISTORY 1850-1863

The Chiefs Blankets

The result of early Navajo weaving was the highly prized and widely sought after Navajo Chiefs blanket, which they wore for their own use and traded to other Indians such as the Sioux, the Cheyenne and the Ute.

These Navajo blankets were already being supplied to the Spanish and to other Indians, but by 1850, they were also being supplied to the American traders and settlers. These blankets were beautiful and lighter than buffalo skins and were used as coats by day and blankets by night.

The Navajo chiefs blankets were very expensive for their time and were called ‘chiefs blankets’ by the Indians and the traders because of their expense, so only chiefs (Navajos did not have chiefs) and other wealthy people could afford to own them. It was also said the stripe pattern, when worn by the chiefs, made them look taller.

Although the patterns were relatively simple, the spinning and weaving became more technically superior and, as a result, easier to trade.

Please go to Navajo Chiefs Blankets for more information.

CAPTIVITY PERIOD of NAVAJO WEAVING HISTORY

1863-1868



Please continue reading here for more information on Navajo weaving history from 1100 to the present.

NAVAJO RUG ID

Navajo rug ID begins with the ability to recognize some basic regional characteristics. It is important to remember, however, that every rug, like it's weaver, is an individual.

The process of weaving, to the Navajo, is a spiritual one. Each weaver puts her (or occasionally, his) soul and creative energy into the weaving of a rug.

Though it may have a characteristic regional design, it will be the interpretation of the weaver that will make that rug its own enduring piece of art.

While basic knowledge of regional characteristics is useful in the study of Navajo rug ID, in the Navajo nation today a rug with a regional name such as Two Grey Hills may have actually been woven by a weaver from a completely different region.

To aid in Navajo rug ID, there are certain ones that can be identified by their distinctive colors, others by the bands of color and the designs within those bands, and certain others by their distinctive designs.

NAVAJO RUG ID #1

RUGS WITH DISTINCTIVE COLORS

These are the Ganado, Klagetoh, Two Grey Hills, and Burntwater rugs described below.

The Ganado and Klagetoh tend to have simpler designs than the similar Two Grey Hills, and Burntwater rugs.

Ganado (Ga-na-doh Navajo Rugs

Ganado Navajo rugs always have a red background. The distinctive red color is often called a ‘Ganado Red.’ The design, based on a central diamond or two, will be in black, white, and grey in the center of the field.

Simple geometric embellishments can be found on the edges and serrated or stair-stepped diamonds, crosses, zigzags, and simple geometric shapes can be found in the corners outside the central design. There is usually a dark outside border. These rugs can be quite large.

The origin for the Ganado rug is the town of Ganado, Arizona which is in the geographic center of the Navajo Reservation where the famous Hubbell Trading Post stands today.

Klagetoh (Ka-leg-a-toe) Navajo Rugs

Klagetoh rugs are similar to Ganado rugs. The background, however, is grey. The center design is usually an elongated diamond with black, white, and red colors.

Natural wool colors are used, except the red and the black may have some commercial dye. With this rug, the grey can be brownish or even tan, depending upon the fleece of the sheep used.

The name of this rug is from a small area south of Ganado meaning ‘Hidden Springs.’

Two Grey Hills

These rugs are woven of natural, undyed, hand spun wool with designs of white, black, and brown. These weavers card together wool from different sheep to produce subtle shades of the white, black, and brown. It is possible to find several different shades of gray, brown, and tan in the same rug.

The wool for the Two Grey Hills rugs is often fine and may require more weaving time, making them more costly. They usually have a plain, dark border.

When the Navajo weaver works on a rug, she puts her soul, her energy, her spirit into it. Sometimes you will find a small thin line called a spirit line which extends from the center across the border to the outside edge. (The spirit line may sometimes be placed near a corner and made of the same color as the background of the field). When the weaving is completed, the belief is the energy and spirit woven into the rug must be released so the weaver will have the energy and spirit to continue weaving other rugs.

The design of the Two Grey Hills does not represent hills. It was named for a village in New Mexico.

Burntwater Navajo Rugs

The Burntwater Navajo rugs display a combination of earth tones and pastels. Colors such as brown, sienna, mustard, and rust are accented with pale colors such as rose, green, blue, white, and lilac.

The designs can use geometric spirals, head-to-head triangles, stepped diagonals, and multiple borders.

The Burntwater style is newer and is basically an expansion of the traditional Two Grey Hills designs by weavers in the Wide Ruins/Burntwater area south of Ganado.

NAVAJO RUG ID #2

BANDED RUGS

The second type of rug for Navajo rug ID are the 3 styles of banded rugs--Chinle, Wide Ruins, and Crystal.

These rugs usually do not have borders.

Chinlee (Chin-lee) Navajo Rugs

The Chinle style is the simplest of the 3 Navajo banded rug styles. There are strips of plain color alternating with bands containing repeated geometric designs. These can include squash blossoms, stacked chevrons, and diamonds, and may even have railroad tracks.

Chinle is in the geographic center of the Reservation and was thus a crossroad for travel and commerce. The Chinle style came before the other 2 banded styles. This was a revival of the borderless and banded designs of the Early Classic Period of Navajo weaving.

Aniline dyes of red and black are used for highlights. These rugs have muted pastels with natural greys, whites, golds, and greens. Occasionally they may also have bright and bold black, white, and red.

The Chinle style originated in the town of Chinle but is now woven everywhere in the Navajo nation. Because of its simplicity, it takes less time to weave and is therefore one of the most commonly woven rugs.

Wide Ruins Navajo Rugs

The Wide Ruins style is the most elaborate and usually the most finely woven of the banded rug styles. It evolved from the Chinle.

These rugs will have broad strips of plain color, some with geometric designs and with very narrow bands with delicate motifs, combined with thin, straight lines of contrasting colors. The shapes found within the broader bands are often outlined with a different color.

The main colors are browns, olives, maroons, and mustards accented with a color such as white, red, or black.

This rug originates from the Wide Ruins, Pine Springs, Burntwater, and Standing Rock region of the Navajo Nation.

Crystal Navajo Rugs

Early Crystals used aniline dyes and were richly designed. They were bordered rugs with a central design woven of natural colors, maybe with a touch of red.

After the mid-1940s, the borderless, vegetal-dyed designs came into being.

The difference between the Crystal and the Wide Ruins and Chinle banded design rugs is that the bands in the Crystal are bordered horizontally by wavy lines which are produced by alternating 2 or 3 different colors of weft stands (side to side foundation cords). Also, the vegetal dyes allow for more extensive use of the natural wool colors.

There will usually be 3 bands of wavy lines or a solid color between one or two more complex bands, which are patterned with motifs such as squash blossoms, arrows, stars, crosses, triangles, etc. 

Muted earthen colors such as rust, grey, and rich brown, as well as pastel greens, pinks, or yellow are common.

These rugs originated from the Crystal area north of Window Rock, AZ.

NAVAJO RUG ID #3

RUGS WITH DISTINCTIVE DESIGNS

Please continue reading here to learn about other different types of Navajo Rugs complete with photos.

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