An Essay On Navajo Culture

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NAVAJO CULTURE 3 adopted Pueblo farming techniques, growing primarily corn, beans, and squash. Evidence suggests that until this time, the Navajo did not have an organized belief system, but learned ceremonial behavior from Pueblo priests. They gained rituals, prayers, and songs that went along with farming. As their wealth grew, they created ceremonies of their own to mark many events over the course of each year. The Navajo celebrate various life stages, such as a child’s first laugh and a girl’s coming of age. Ceremonies are also held to bless a new house, or as a direct response to illness. Trade between the Pueblo…show more content…
When American soldiers arrived in the Southwest during the Mexican War in 1846, and until 1863, many treaties were signed and broken. In 1864, approximately 9000 Navajo men, women, and children were forced on what is now known as The Long Walk. Subjugated and made to walk three hundred miles to Fort Sumter in New Mexico after their homes, fields, and crops were destroyed, the Navajo were made to attend school, work land, and convert to Christianity. They suffered for four years, and in 1868 the American authorities…show more content…
They made earrings, bracelets, necklaces, and hair adornments which they used in trade, or sold to tourists and the trading posts. With the arrival of the railroad also came wage work, and the Navajo economy began to change once again. Natural resources such as oil, natural gas, uranium, and coal were discovered on the reservation, and soon a business council was appointed to negotiated leases NAVAJO CULTURE 6 for these resources. The council became known as the Navajo Nation council, and it still runs the Navajo government

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