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A VISIT TO INDIAN COUNTRY:Part II

By Steve Fey

Part Two: Navajo Hubble

The Hopi Reservation is entirely surrounded by the Navajo Nation. To make things more confusing, there is one part of the Navajo Nation entirely surrounded by the Hopi Reservation. The Navajo observe daylight savings time but the Hopi don't. New Mexico observes daylight savings time but Arizona Canyon de Chelly, AZ, Hopi Reservation

doesn't. You can get sore fingers from resetting your watch if you're

traveling through and picky about such things. The Navajo aren't Pueblo dwellers like the Hopi. They are an Athabascan tribe related to the Apache. They came down the west coast and into the four corners area many centuries

ago. At one time they lived further east than at present near Taos, but since their return to their land after Kit Carson marched them to Ft. Sumner they have lived more or less where they currently are.

Historically, the Hopi and Navajo peoples got along peacefully. In the past century or so they've had numerous battles in court over who owns which pieces of land, a situation that arose only after the United States government insisted on land having to be "owned." There have been a lot of marriages between Navajo and Hopi, so any animosity is not terribly strong

these days.

The best way to learn about the Navajo prior to visiting them is to read the detective novels of Tony Hillerman. Hillerman is a New Mexico writer who has created unforgettable Navajo tribal police officers, Lt. Leaphorn and

Officer Chee. If you read his novels, you will learn that the Navajo are reserved and do not like to make eye contact, which can seem impolite. If you would like to get to know a Navajo, remember that our firm handshake and

look-em-straight-in-the-eye attitude seem equally impolite to them. In fact, Hopi and Navajo alike shake hands, I was told, as if "putting a feather" in the other person's hand. Easy does it is the rule. (The Hopi are fine with

eye contact, though.)

The Navajo can be extremely good humored and friendly once they get to know you. This can take a while. However, since the people I was with were known to our hosts I got to see just how friendly a group of Navajo can be. While they never make eye contact as much as we'd like, many of them would be good

stand-up comedians. Navajo conversation tends to be filled with some excellent jokes, and they smile a lot more than they frown, an attitude which makes it hard not to like them. There are about 200,000 Navajo living

in the Navajo Nation, making it the single largest population of aboriginal

people in America.

If you need a candy or soda fix the best place to stop on the reservation to get one is at one of the trading posts. The trading posts I have visited are all on Navajo territory. These include Two Grey Hills Trading Post, the nearby Toadlena store, and the historic Hubble's Trading Post in Ganado. Toadlena Trading Post, Hopi, AZ

A trader is a person

with a government contract to sell things to the Indians. The posts are

general stores, so you'll see sump pumps competing for display space with

frozen waffles.

Navajo rugs are famous and any trading post in the area will have a selection. At the visitor's center at the Hubble Trading Post National

Historic Site you can see Navajo women weaving. If you ask they will let you photograph them at work. You will be expected to give a tip.

Each Navajo settlement features an individual style of rug. The Ganado style of rug features strong angular patters with a prominent bright red wool. Two Grey Hills uses undyed wool from Churro sheep. You can learn a lot more

about traditional Navajo rug patters when you visit.

Two Grey Hills and Toadlena both claim to be the center of Navajo rug arts. A small sample rug about two by four inches costs about twenty dollars at Toadlena. If you can find a rug by a new weaver you might get a wall hanging

sized one for around thirty-five dollars. A large rug by an experienced weaver will cost over a thousand dollars.

Navajo traditionally live in Hogans. Though traditionally round, modern Hogans are often octagonal because you can only make a circular building so wide. A Hogan's door always faces east to greet the rising sun. While many Navajo now live in houses or trailers, a Navajo needs a traditional Hogan for social and religious purposes. Many are simple, small round buildings. One in particular near Two Grey Hills is quite modern and features an

upstairs loft.

The traditional Navajo way to say "hello" is usually written in English as "Ya-Te-Hey!" Don't believe this. It's more correctly pronounced something like "Ya-eh. Teh." Don't leave too much time pass at the full stop and you'

ll do fine. It often sounded slurred to my ears, like "yaheteh." We found that if you use the pronunciation as it's usually written to a school child you'll probably be corrected. I don't know the exact translation of the phrase, but anyone who can understand how to use "G'day" or "Top 'O th' Mornin'" should be able to make it work fine.

The Navajo make crafts that cost a lot less than a good rug. For a couple of dollars you can have a nice souvenir for a child, or you can spend more money on silver and turquoise jewelry, baskets, or other items.

About the only place I've been in the Navajo Nation that seems like a city in the sense the I'd normally use the term is Chinle, Arizona. It's not a large city, but it has all the usual amenities, as well as being the gateway to Canyon de Chelly National Monument. There are other towns, but none of them have the "feel" of being larger to me, although some of them may actually have more people living in them.

In Canyon de Chelly are a number of well-preserved ruins, as well as sites that are very sacred to the Navajo. One example of such a site is Spider Rock, where Navajo belief holds that Spider Woman sits and weaves. Spider Rock, Hopi Indians, AZ

I can't begin to even scratch the surface of

Navajo belief in this short space, but there are resources to enhance your understanding on the Navajo web site at http://www.navajocentral.org/. Only one site in the canyon, the White House Ruin, is accessible without a Navajo guide. Guided tours by jeep or truck are available near the mouth of the canyon in several hotels. The most famous hotel in Chinle is the Thunderbird

Inn, which features a large gift shop in addition to tour reservations. There is also a Holiday Inn and a Best Western not far away. It's quite a

way between lodging in this part of the world, so it's nice to have a choice of three places close together.

Neither the Navajo nor the Hopi gamble. When I last checked, there were explanations of why this is so on each of their web sites if you're

interested in learning why they've passed up what seems like such a cash cow.

There are gift shops in most towns and villages on Navajo (a common way to refer to the Navajo Nation.) The best bargains, though, are found along the side of the road. Navajo is about the size of West Virginia, so there is a

lot of territory you can explore if you have a mind to. Along the larger roads you will almost always find vendors, either individually selling from the back of a pickup truck or in roadside "strip malls" of stalls where you can find a wide variety of jewelry and crafts at some unbelievably low prices. There are fewer roadside blanket sales, possibly because of the reputation that Navajo blankets enjoy and the subsequent premium from selling them in stores. I can't really say that I have a favorite roadside vendor. Among souvenir stores I think I'm torn between the gift shop at the Thunderbird Inn and the Hubble Trading Post. Everything was high quality in

both.

A central Navajo belief is that this is the beautiful world, the perfect world. When you spend time in this area you begin to understand why this is

so. Navajo Nation and the Hopi Reservation are located in a desert that can seem harsh and bleak, but it is also some of the most stunningly beautiful country imaginable. If you're planning a trip to the Grand Canyon, Phoenix,

Southern Utah or points west, consider taking some time on your way to visit with the Hopi and Navajo people who live in this beautiful land. If you take a little time to study their culture and take care to respect them as real people with real lives, you will get to meet some of the most kind and generous human beings you can imagine.

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	Real Travel Adventures International Magazine Send this Page to a Friend Flag of Arizona A VISIT TO INDIAN COUNTRY:Part II By Steve Fey Part Two: Navajo The Hopi Reservation is entirely surrounded by the Navajo Nation. To make things more confusing, there is one part of the Navajo Nation entirely surrounded by the Hopi Reservation. The Navajo observe daylight savings time but the Hopi don't. New Mexico observes daylight savings time but Arizona doesn't. You can get sore fingers from resetting your watch if you're traveling through and picky about such things. The Navajo aren't Pueblo dwellers like the Hopi. They are an Athabascan tribe related to the Apache. They came down the west coast and into the four corners area many centuries ago. At one time they lived further east than at present near Taos, but since their return to their land after Kit Carson marched them to Ft. Sumner they have lived more or less where they currently are. Historically, the Hopi and Navajo peoples got along peacefully. In the past century or so they've had numerous battles in court over who owns which pieces of land, a situation that arose only after the United States government insisted on land having to be "owned." There have been a lot of marriages between Navajo and Hopi, so any animosity is not terribly strong these days. The best way to learn about the Navajo prior to visiting them is to read the detective novels of Tony Hillerman. Hillerman is a New Mexico writer who has created unforgettable Navajo tribal police officers, Lt. Leaphorn and Officer Chee. If you read his novels, you will learn that the Navajo are reserved and do not like to make eye contact, which can seem impolite. If you would like to get to know a Navajo, remember that our firm handshake and look-em-straight-in-the-eye attitude seem equally impolite to them. In fact, Hopi and Navajo alike shake hands, I was told, as if "putting a feather" in the other person's hand. Easy does it is the rule. (The Hopi are fine with eye contact, though.) The Navajo can be extremely good humored and friendly once they get to know you. This can take a while. However, since the people I was with were known to our hosts I got to see just how friendly a group of Navajo can be. While they never make eye contact as much as we'd like, many of them would be good stand-up comedians. Navajo conversation tends to be filled with some excellent jokes, and they smile a lot more than they frown, an attitude which makes it hard not to like them. There are about 200,000 Navajo living in the Navajo Nation, making it the single largest population of aboriginal people in America. If you need a candy or soda fix the best place to stop on the reservation to get one is at one of the trading posts. The trading posts I have visited are all on Navajo territory. These include Two Grey Hills Trading Post, the nearby Toadlena store, and the historic Hubble's Trading Post in Ganado. A trader is a person with a government contract to sell things to the Indians. The posts are general stores, so you'll see sump pumps competing for display space with frozen waffles. Navajo rugs are famous and any trading post in the area will have a selection. At the visitor's center at the Hubble Trading Post National Historic Site you can see Navajo women weaving. If you ask they will let you photograph them at work. You will be expected to give a tip. Each Navajo settlement features an individual style of rug. The Ganado style of rug features strong angular patters with a prominent bright red wool. Two Grey Hills uses undyed wool from Churro sheep. You can learn a lot more about traditional Navajo rug patters when you visit. Two Grey Hills and Toadlena both claim to be the center of Navajo rug arts. A small sample rug about two by four inches costs about twenty dollars at Toadlena. If you can find a rug by a new weaver you might get a wall hanging sized one for around thirty-five dollars. A large rug by an experienced weaver will cost over a thousand dollars. Navajo traditionally live in Hogans. Though traditionally round, modern Hogans are often octagonal because you can only make a circular building so wide. A Hogan's door always faces east to greet the rising sun. While many Navajo now live in houses or trailers, a Navajo needs a traditional Hogan for social and religious purposes. Many are simple, small round buildings. One in particular near Two Grey Hills is quite modern and features an upstairs loft. The traditional Navajo way to say "hello" is usually written in English as "Ya-Te-Hey!" Don't believe this. It's more correctly pronounced something like "Ya-eh. Teh." Don't leave too much time pass at the full stop and you' ll do fine. It often sounded slurred to my ears, like "yaheteh." We found that if you use the pronunciation as it's usually written to a school child you'll probably be corrected. I don't know the exact translation of the phrase, but anyone who can understand how to use "G'day" or "Top 'O th' Mornin'" should be able to make it work fine. The Navajo make crafts that cost a lot less than a good rug. For a couple of dollars you can have a nice souvenir for a child, or you can spend more money on silver and turquoise jewelry, baskets, or other items. About the only place I've been in the Navajo Nation that seems like a city in the sense the I'd normally use the term is Chinle, Arizona. It's not a large city, but it has all the usual amenities, as well as being the gateway to Canyon de Chelly National Monument. There are other towns, but none of them have the "feel" of being larger to me, although some of them may actually have more people living in them. In Canyon de Chelly are a number of well-preserved ruins, as well as sites that are very sacred to the Navajo. One example of such a site is Spider Rock, where Navajo belief holds that Spider Woman sits and weaves. I can't begin to even scratch the surface of Navajo belief in this short space, but there are resources to enhance your understanding on the Navajo web site at http://www.navajocentral.org/. Only one site in the canyon, the White House Ruin, is accessible without a Navajo guide. Guided tours by jeep or truck are available near the mouth of the canyon in several hotels. The most famous hotel in Chinle is the Thunderbird Inn, which features a large gift shop in addition to tour reservations. There is also a Holiday Inn and a Best Western not far away. It's quite a way between lodging in this part of the world, so it's nice to have a choice of three places close together. Neither the Navajo nor the Hopi gamble. When I last checked, there were explanations of why this is so on each of their web sites if you're interested in learning why they've passed up what seems like such a cash cow. There are gift shops in most towns and villages on Navajo (a common way to refer to the Navajo Nation.) The best bargains, though, are found along the side of the road. Navajo is about the size of West Virginia, so there is a lot of territory you can explore if you have a mind to. Along the larger roads you will almost always find vendors, either individually selling from the back of a pickup truck or in roadside "strip malls" of stalls where you can find a wide variety of jewelry and crafts at some unbelievably low prices. There are fewer roadside blanket sales, possibly because of the reputation that Navajo blankets enjoy and the subsequent premium from selling them in stores. I can't really say that I have a favorite roadside vendor. Among souvenir stores I think I'm torn between the gift shop at the Thunderbird Inn and the Hubble Trading Post. Everything was high quality in both. A central Navajo belief is that this is the beautiful world, the perfect world. When you spend time in this area you begin to understand why this is so. Navajo Nation and the Hopi Reservation are located in a desert that can seem harsh and bleak, but it is also some of the most stunningly beautiful country imaginable. If you're planning a trip to the Grand Canyon, Phoenix, Southern Utah or points west, consider taking some time on your way to visit with the Hopi and Navajo people who live in this beautiful land. If you take a little time to study their culture and take care to respect them as real people with real lives, you will get to meet some of the most kind and generous human beings you can imagine. ______________________ Real Travel Adventures Web Magazine Thanks for visiting us! Add to Bookmarks ___________________________ Home Previous Page Next Page __________________________ © 2004 Bonita Productions Inc. If any links don't work PLEASE NOTIFY US.