Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1901-09-21


ish the Navajos during the early par
of this century and who was the frs
white man who entered the Navaj'
strongholds in the Canon de Chelle
simetime in 1903 or 1904, found in th'
Navajo habitations, which he ther
captured, woolen blankets made by
the Navajos that showed much USE
and great age. He also found there
little blacksmith shops in which they
worked silver into buttons, bracelets
and bride ornaments and other metals
into such utensils as were easily made
The blacksmith shops of course were
purchased or captured from the Span
iards and the black and silver smith
ing had been learned by the Navajos,
who had been taken captives by the
Spanish and Mexican settlers in New
Mexico. The different tribes and ma
tions of the Pueblos were also weavers
to some extent, but they never ap-
preached the Navajo squaws in the
skill of making their blankets, except
that the squaws Of the Zunis and Mo-
quis made some blankets that were SUI
perior to the Navajos. These, howev-
er, are scarce.
Mr.. Seligman has in his collection
about half a dozen small blankets,
which he has been assured were made
by the Moqui squaws at least Is years
ago. The Spaniards that reached New
Mexico through Arizona and via the
Moqui ad Zuni villages and those that
assembled the Rio Grande, found cot
ton garments in use at some of the In
dian towns. The cotton had been WOW
en- by the native weavers. 1t was
therefore not very difficult to go into
the weaving of wool, especially after
the advent of the Spaniards from
whom the natives were bound to learn
more or less, as many of them were
taken captives and kept as servants
in the Spanish settlements. Many of
course remained and assimilated with
their captors, but others must have
escaped and taken knowledge and skill
acquired from their captors home to
their different tribes.
NEARLY "A LOSI ARI.
The Navajos claim that they learned
weaving from the Moquis and the
Moquis in turn got their knowledge
from the Zunis. The length of time to
weave good sized blanket, composed
principally of Vayetta, was from six
to twelve months. This including the
preparation and the dyeing of the
wool. From four to six months were
consumed in spinning the wool and the
vayetta and to dye the wool. Experts
place the cost Of weaving a good sized
Vayetta blanket at from $100 to $500.
The weaving of the Vayetta blankets
is nearly lost art. There is no long
er any Vayetta in existence and but
few of the old squaws are left who
would know how to use 1t if they had
it. The old squaws who possibly could
weave are too old to work. Only
limited number of Vayetta blankets
was ever made, as Vayetta was very
costly and hard to procure. Vayetta
was red cloth, first imported from
Barcelona, in Spain, and in later days
from Manchester, England. Good
vayetta blankets will hold water and
therefore We're used considerably Tor
bedding and bed covers.
The Moquis obtained their first wool
from the Spaniards long before the
Navajos did. The Navajos had pc
culiar breed Of sheep many being four
horned.
VAYETTA BLANKETS.
Vayetta blankets were woven in the
same manner as those from the nat
ural wool. The Vayetta cloth was first
unravelled and then spun like natural
wool on stick like an arrow, having
a wheel about six inches in diameter
near the end, and spun like top with
the hands. In weaving they used no
shuttles, the yarn was rolled into balls.
White, black and gray were first
used in the weaving Of blankets. These
three colors being the natural colors
prevalent among the sheep. Red, yell
low, indigo and green followed. Blue
from indigo, and black from the juaco
plant are vegetables colors. Red and
yellow are mineral colors and were OBJ
tained red from red ochre and yellow
from yellow ochre. The green was
part vegetable and part mineral. The
old colors never fade. The Navajos
knew how to dye from time immemor-
ial. The North American Indians
always have had dyes used in painting
their faces and bodies. The Indians
used urine to set the colors. OF late
years the Indians have used Diamond
dyes for dyeing their yarn or else have
used the Germantown yarn already
dyed. There are no Indian vegetable
or mineral co1ors used In the modern
blankets. There are no two Of the old
blankets woven with the same design.
The designs Of the first blankets were
simply horizontal lines, next came an
giles and squares then the copy Of the
diamond patterns. The designs have
different meanings, but not In all cas-
es. They had the horizon pattern, the
cloud pattern, the lightning, rain and
cross patterns. The cross pattern is
supposed to have been introduced by
another theory Is that
1t represents the four cardinal points
of the compass. there are also what
are known as the chief and Moqui pat
terms and though there are never two
Just alike, vet they are easily distin-
guishab1e.
Continued 6n Fourth PGse.)
Y E