The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-06-13

The Navajo blanket has many admirers
and lovers in America and elsewhere, for
Its beauty alone, but the story of its de-
Felopment is just as interesting and gives
an added value to the piece of work. The
blankets like the baskets Of the California
Indians, usually tell some story In the fig
ures. When left alone the Navajo squaws
never mix the symbols, but purchasers
often prevail upon them to make the pat
tern more Intricate, not realizing, possibly,
that they are enjoying the intrinsic value
of the blanket. It Is in this way that as
sertions have been made, stating that's the
well-known rattlesnake pattern is found In
the Navajo blanket; but the pattern in
question really is the lightning figure in
terlaced. The Navajo squaw Is a child If
nature and the symbols she weayes into
her blankets represent the storms, the
lightning, the wind, the rivers, the mount
aims and the canons. But the pattern has
greater significance than the mere COM
binatton OF symbols, it means the life of
the weaver. her innermost emotions, her
lI1div1dual suffering and her dearest joys.
1t Is almost pitiful, this mute expression
OF the heart OF the poor hill woman.
When weaving the squaw sits on the
ground before the frame, on. which is
placed the wrap. The different colors are
wound on little balls, for the squaw uses
no shuttle, and as she finishes using one
color the ball is dropped at the side. No
patterns guide the squaw, she has the
symbol In her mind SO plainly fixed in
her memory when she begins that she
needs no assistance.
There has been much discussion as to
where the Navajos learned the art of
weaving. It is stated on good authority,
however, that 1t was learned from the
Pueblos and not from Spanish mission
cries
The Navajos use now the same general
fern OF loom as was used by the Pueblo
Indian when Coronado first found them
in New Mexico in 1541. It is believed
that the Pueblos were then using the
same general form as was used by their
remote ancestors, the Cliff Dwellers, thou
sands Of years before Coronados time.
Crude loom frames and well-woven fab
RIGS of cotton and yucca fiber are among
the relics found in the oldest cliff and
mesa, ruins.
The Spaniards first conquered the Pueb-
los, who afterward regained possession Of
their land and drove their masters out
The land was not to remain their own
long, the Spaniards again visited it, con-
.quering the inhabitants. Some of the
Pueblos fled to the Navajos rather than
submit a second time to cruel subor-
dination, taking with them the art Of
weaving. The first wool-bearing sheep
were brought over by Cortez. AS the
| traders pushed northward the natives OBJ
tanned numbers of the merino sheep and
soon found that it was easier to spin
wool than cotton, as they had done be-
fore. Briefly then, the art was of aborig
inal origin, was given to the Pueblos by
their distant relatives the cliff jewellers,
who took it to the Navajos, who at that
time dressed in the skins of animals
The Navajo weaving may be divided
into three kinds. First, the antique,
which includes everything made prior to
| 1885, White. black and gray were the
original colors. The earliest known are
without color, the next in order have the
black and white in stripes and the third
introduces a mixture Of the two produc-
| ing the sheep gray Early in the nine
teenth century came the Bayeta, period,
which marks the beginning of the period
of high color. The Bayeta was an all
wool cloth dyed with cochineal, which was
| first brought to the Indians about 1900.
This cloth could easily be raveled and
| used in blankets. The original Bayeta
seems to have Disappeared; If any re-
mains. it is only in tattered fragments.
The modern "squaw cloth is in no sense
of the word Bayeta. This squaw cloth is
found in many colors, but red was the
| distinctive color Of the original cloth, it
never appeared In green, blue or yellow,
colors that became very popular with the
Navajos at a later period.
This Introduction stimulated the search
for other colors. The natives made yell
low by sleeping the flower heads of the
Bigelovia Graveolens, which grows pro-
fusely in the Navajo country, and by COM
bfning this In dierent proportions with the
indigo which the Spaniards had introduced,
they obtained shades OF green. Since the
black wool obtained from the sheep was
not adequate, the natives made a perma-
nent black by burning the native yellow
ochre with the gum Of the pinon pine and
the juice OF the sumac leaves. The colors
OF the ANTIQUE period were white. black.
blue, yellow, green and gray;s.no others
appeared. In the antique blankets the
wool is all native. the use OF Bayeta SPAR