Navajo Yei Rugs
Yei and yeibichai Navajo rugs grace many a fine collection of weavings. The
difference between a yei and yeibichai weaving depends on the depiction
of the holy Navajo beings. Yei weavings tend to have static, front
facing figures, depicted either singly or more frequently with multiple
figures in a horizontal row often surrounded on three sides by a single
rainbow yei. (Continued below.)
Navajo 2 Yei Pictorial Rug - Shirley Comb (#01)
Navajo Rugs
Yeibichai 39" x 44" $1,750.00
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Navajo One Yei Missed the Feast Rug - Lucy Hot (#003)
Navajo Rug
"One Yei Missed the Feast" 29" x 33" Handspun & Store Bought Wool $375.00
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Navajo Four Directional Yeis Rug - Jean Yazzie (#3)
Navajo Rug $2,250.00
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Navajo Corn Yei Rug - Rogena Yazzie (#8)
Navajo Rug
Corn Yei 20" x 26 3/5" $300.00
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Navajo Yei/Chinle Rug - Naomie Bitney (#10)
Navajo Rugs $990.00
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Navajo Yeibichai Rug - Genevieve Lee (#1)
Navajo Rugs $1,490.00
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Yeibichai weavings depict the actual ceremonial dance performed in the winter months. An elaborate nine day ceremony, it features male and female yei’i, Talking God, the water sprinkler, fringe mouth yei’i, medicine men and patients. All or some of the above mentioned deities and people will appear in a yeibichai weaving, typically in a more animated form to portray the dancing of the yei during the ceremony.
A yei’i is a Navajo holy person. As early as the mid-1800’s, Navajo
weavers were placing pictorial elements into their weavings. Yei’i
figures first appeared in Navajo weavings before the turn of the
twentieth century. Considered highly controversial because of their
sacred imagery, Navajo weavers nonetheless persisted in incorporating
these religious figures into their rugs.
Four areas of influence
contributed to the development of Navajo yei and yeibichai weavings.
In the early 1900’s, Yanapah, a Navajo weaver married to trader Richard
Simpson and living near Farmington, New Mexico, started weaving large
single and double figure vertical yei rugs.
Another area of
influence in northwest New Mexico came from the Newcomb Trading Post’s
partnership with a prominent medicine man named Hastiin Klah who was
responsible for the creation of rugs depicting Navajo sandpainting
designs. Highly controversial because of their sacred depictions,
Klah’s weavings nonetheless had a tremendous influence on weavers of
that area and eventually weavers in northwest New Mexico started
weaving sacred figures and other design elements into their own Navajo
rug creations.
In
the early 1920’s, traders in the Lukachukai, Arizona and Shiprock, New
Mexico area were encouraging weavers to create multiple figure yei
weavings. These early Navajo yei weavings typically had a white or
other light-colored background and used a plethora of aniline-dyed
yarns for the creation of the yei figures.
Artists who create Navajo Yei Rugs:
Roselinda Benally |
Naomie Bitney |
Shirley Comb |
Lucy Hot |
Luana Tso |
Mae C. Yazzie |
Rogena Yazzie |
Other Rug Artists |
Twin Rocks Trading Post · P.O. Box 330 · 913 E. Navajo Twins Dr · Bluff,
UT 84512
Phone:
435-672-2341 · Toll-free
1-800-526-3448
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