Navajo Rugs
Sky People Sandpainting
50" x 49"
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Luana Tso - Rug Weaver: Luana Tso has had a dream for many years now, and it is woven into each one of her Navajo rugs. She has three sons, and for each she dreams of a college education. This bright hope for her children's future keeps her at her loom from eight to fourteen hours a day, weaving traditional patterns, all the while trusting that her efforts will develop a new tradition for her posterity: higher education.
While Luana was attending eighth grade at Chinle Junior High School her parents divorced. As the oldest child in the family she was suddenly removed from school to help her mother at home, raising her three sisters and three brothers. She helped with the children and the housework, and while she was at home her mother also taught her her how to weave. Her first rug was a fairly large one, Luana remembers, commenting that larger rugs are actually easier to incorporate designs into. She says it was either a Two Gray Hills or a Ganado pattern: either one an imposing undertaking for a young girl. However, the weaving process came naturally to Luana and that impressive beginning foreshadowed things to come.
Luana always thought about going back to school and getting a high school diploma, but instead she married and began her own family. Her husband and sons became the most important part of her life, and she not only enrolled each son into a preschool program, but attended preschool with them. "I just wanted to see my kids get their schooling," Luana says, "Nobody ever helped me that way, so I wanted it for my kids."
When her sons entered grade school she volunteered in their classrooms, and as they went on to high school she supported all of their activities. "That was always my dream, to finish school, to go on to school, and get as high as I can, but I never have," Luana explains, "so I want my kids to have it now."
Luana became close to other children while helping in the schools. She became known as the mother who sewed, wove rugs, and made cookies- not necessarily in that order. More than her own three sons now call her mother, a title she holds sacred.
"For a while I wanted to be a working lady," Luana confesses. "I wanted to be able to drive around and dress up pretty. I tried it one year. My housework piled up and I didn't like it. I went back to rugs. I like being my own boss. When I am weaving I can be with my kids, play with them, see them as they're growing up."
All the while she was raising her children, nourishing their minds with infinite possibilities, Luana was developing her own skills and talents. Besides weaving, Luana had a gift for sewing. Her friends and neighbors would bring her a picture of a dress from the catalog or a magazine and asked if she could duplicate it for them. "Yeah, I can do that," Luana would tell them, and she would, enjoying the entire process.
Luana has also tried her hand at sand painting, weaving baskets, silversmithing, and making moccasins. But of all her pursuits, rug weaving is the most rewarding, bringing both a sense of achievement and financial rewards, so she's focused on it as a means to an end. Expressing her gratitude for the ability to weave, Luana says it has been important for her to be able to earn money for her children.
"Half of me is handicapped because I couldnąt go to school," Luana laments. "I can read, but I can't write very well." But she also admits that her mind is "constantly going, thinking of 3 or 4 things at a time."
Although she could make more money mass producing one design, Luana loves being creative an is always trying something new. She enjoys a challenge and - as she does as a seamstress- likes requests and doing custom designs. She buys books with pictures of rugs, and studies other's work. She gains a lot of satisfaction in creating unique patterns, and it is a thrill when her sons say, "Mom, that is a really pretty one!"
Luana terms herself as a traditional Navajo, but she does not adhere to the strict practices of her culture. "The Elders say not to weave with your hair down and not to weave at night. The loom is supposed to be in a certain position in the room. They have songs and prayers for every little thing," she explains, but then adds, "I donąt like to be told what to do."
Still, Luana weaves a "Spirit Line" into her rugs that have borders. "A little of myself goes in there," she declares. "That's why we leave an opening on the side of the rugs, so our thoughts don't get closed inside the rug."
Luana's oldest son is close to earning is bachelors at Arizona State University, and she mentions with some pride that he's thinking about going on and earning his masters degree. "Thatąs where all my money goes," Luana states, but it is without regret. She is achieving her dream and every strand of wool she weaves into her rugs takes her closer to fulfillment.
Weaving has been carried to a high degree of perfection by the Navaho. The art as it exists among them today is not an invention of their own, as nothing similar is found among any other tribe of the Athapascan stock. It is pretty safe to say that the Navaho learned the art of weaving from the Pueblos. Their own legends, however, account for it in their own way. The hanelnaeheke hani', or moving upward chant legend, records that the art of weaving was taught by the Spider Man and Spider Woman in the following manner. "The Spider Man drew some cotton (ndaka') from his side and instructed the Navaho to make a loom. The cotton-warp was made of spider-web (nashjei bitlol). The upper cross-pole was called yabitlol (sky or upper cord), the lower cross-pole ni'bitlol (earth or lower cord). The warp-sticks were made of shabitlol (sun rays), the upper strings, fastening the warp to the pole, of atsinltlish (lightning), the lower strings of shabitlajilchi (sun halo), the heald was a tsaghadindini isenil (rock crystal heald), the cord-heald stick was made of atsolaghal (sheet lightning), and was secured to the warp strands by means of nltsatlol billdestlo' (rain ray cords)." "The batten-stick was also made of shabitlajilchi (sun halo), while the beidzoi (comb) was of yolgai (white shell). Four spindles or distaffs were added to this, the disks of which were of cannel-coal, turquoise, abalone and white bead, respectively, and the spindle-sticks of atsinltlish (zigzag lightning), hajilgish (flash lightning), atsolaghal (sheet lightning), and nltsatlol (rain ray), respectively." "The dark, blue, yellow and white winds quickened the spindles (beedizi) according to their color, and enabled them to travel around the world."
Presumably, this legend accounts for the now vanishing tradition that weaving should be done with proper moderation. Overdone weaving (akeitlo) is ameliorated by a sacrifice offered to the spindle (beedizi). Its prayerstick (bik'et'an) consists of yucca, precious stones, bird and turkey feathers, tassels of grass (tlo'zol) and pollen, and forms part of the blessing rite (hozhoji). The hach'eyatqei, or ch'aeyatqei (prayer to the gods), is recited with the sacrifice. The custom withholding maidens from weaving before marriage, which was formerly observed, is also explained by the fear of overdoing weaving. Little or no attention, however, is paid to this tradition today. Pgs. 221, 223
For references to steps in weaving, coloring and dyeing of wool, setting up of loom, weaving, Implements, use of loom, designs and knitting refer to below Pgs. 223-256
Take, for instance, the famous art of Navajo weaving. If you ask a member of the tribe today when weaving was learned, she - for Navajo weavers are women - will tell you that they were taught by Spider Woman, "in the beginning." Yet the Navajo weaving technique, point for point, exactly duplicates that of the Pueblos, who have been weaving since A.D. 600. It is a complicated art, and Navajo girls today need years to learn it from a female relative, practicing every day. It is difficult to believe that the Navajos had worked out the loom, the spindle, and all the other equipment before this era of "learning by marriage." A blanket got in trade, a loom glimpsed on a visit to some pueblo would never have given them enough information. Then there is the problem of sex etiquette, for most Pueblo weavers today are men. Indian proprieties would surely forbid a Navajo woman to receive daily instruction from a strange man. But if she married him! It is possible to imagine the skilled weaver working in a Navajo home, trying to teach his sons who were still wedded to the life of hunting and fighting and, finally, imparting the art to his daughters. That this did not happen too early in Navajo history can be gathered from the fact that all known specimens of Navajo weaving are in wool. Therefore they were made after the Spaniards had come and after the Navajos had sheep. And sheep did not come to the Navajos in any quantity until after the Pueblo revolt. Pgs. 46-47
Even such everyday tasks as weaving must be done only in moderation. Many women will not weave more than about two hours at a stretch; in the old days unmarried girls were not allowed to weave for fear they would overdo, and there is a folk rite for curing the results of excess in this activity. Closely related is the fear of completely finishing anything: as a "spirit outlet," the weaver leaves a small slit between the threads. Pgs. 225-226
The Navajos believe in the Greek maxim "Nothing to excess " believing that overdoing a thing brings bad luck as an offense to the spirits. For the same reason nothing must be too perfect. A rug or basket design with a solid border must have a break in it or flaw to let the spirit of the maker, who has spent so much time and energy, escape. It is natural that things which bring one a livelihood should also have some restrictions. Many commercially minded weavers and other craftsmen have begun to ignore the taboos of their trades as being too restrictive. The large number of taboos relating to pottery making have been given credit for the decline of that craft, and none are listed here.
Don 't hit anyone with weaving tools - crack the tools.
They will be paralyzed in the future.
Don't spank your children with weaving tools.
They'll get sick.
Don't have a weaving comb with six points.
Your baby might have six fingers.
Don't go between the poles of the loom when a woman is weaving.
You won't grow - cause evil - won't get much for the rug.
Don't have the loom of the weaving stand too long.
It will tire and hurt you.
Don't eat or drink while you prepare the loom for the rug.
You'll get poor - won't get much for the rug.
Don't eat while you are weaving.
It will go slow - won't be any good.
Don't weave a Yei figure with one eye smaller or one leg shorter.
It will affect you that way in later life - affect your baby.
Don't leave a Yei figure in a rug unfinished.
The Yeis will get angry - bring bad luck.
This is interesting as a compromise taboo. Yeis are Holy People and as such are supposed to be represented only in the sandpaintings which are used and destroyed before sundown but never done in any permanent form. The famous hermaphroditic medicine man Hosteen Clah was one of the first to weave rug versions of the sandpaintings. In the Shiprock area Yei rugs and other pictorial tapestries became increasingly popular after WWII.
Don't be stubborn while weaving a rug.
It won't be worth much.
Don't throw weaving tools.
You 'II never finish the weaving.
Don't burn weaving tools.
The "Yeis" will get angry - bad luck.
Don't weave if you don't know a weaving song.
It won't be any good.
Don't leave tools in the loom when they are not in use.
You won't finish right away.
Don't weave when it is raining.
It will cause the loom to fall.
Don't stand by the loom when it is raining.
Lightning will strike you.
Don't pass things through the loom.
Anything you pass through will be lost -food, yarn, beads.
Don't bump into or move around a loom you are preparing for a rug.
It will be crooked - you won't be able to get it straight.
Don't leave carded wool too long.
When you start weaving it won't like it and you'll have trouble.
Don't make fun of your weaving.
It will get worse - you'll be poor.
Don't leave a loom outside.
It will collect bad things.
Don't cut off a loom once it is made.
You will have a short life.
Don't steal a rug - wool - weaving tools.
You'll never be lucky - always have bad luck.
Don't weave immoral things in a rug.
You'll be sterile.
Don't weave any taboo animal into a rug.
You will have all the bad luck associated with that animal.
Don 't hang rugs out in the sun.
The sun will take it as an insult.
Don't weave at all (boys).
It will affect the reproductive organs.
Don't weave on the north side of the hogan.
The rug won't be worth anything.
Don't drag your rugs on the ground.
Causes poverty.
Don't leave an unfinished rug outside at night.
It might be witched - you won't be able to finish it or sell it.
Don't put a rug over your horse's face.
It will go blind.
Pgs. 179-183
The principal occupation of the present-day Navajo is raising sheep, goats, and a few cattle. And yet four hundred years ago he had seen no sheep or horses. Under the treaty of 1886, each Navajo was given two sheep - about twelve thousand sheep altogether, since not more than sic thousand Navajos survived Bosque Redondo. Now a million sheep graze on the Navajo land. Since the introduction of sheep to this country by Coronado's men, Navajo women have been weaving rugs on crude hand looms - an art which was not entirely new to them, since they already wove with yucca and other vegetable fibers. Pg. 167
There is a saying that a rug is not good unless a weaver puts her "soul" in it. Like Changing Woman, the Holy Person whom the Navajo woman personifies, the weaver is an eternal creator who weaves both an individual product of her own mind and a more universal product from the mind of the tribe. Pgs. 10-11
