Ancient navajo indian games

The people believed in many deities, and prayed in song and dance for guidance. Explore the darkening land, battle techniques, clans and marriage, law and order, and more. Travel the Trail of Tears. Some tribes wandered the plains in search of foods. Others settled down and grew crops. They spoke different languages. Why was the buffalo so important?

What different did horses make? What was coup counting? Who was Clever Coyote? Southwest Indians - Pueblo is not the name of a tribe. It is a Spanish word for village. The Pueblo People are the decedents of the Anasazi People. The Navajo and the Apache arrived in the southwest in the s. They both raided the peaceful Pueblo tribes for food and other goods. Who were the Devil Dancers?

Why are blue stones important? What is a wickiup? In addition to dolls and toys, some Navajo children's entertainments helped them develop skills they would need to be contributing members of the tribe in adulthood. Running foot races trained them for the extended physical exertions required of hunters and warriors.

They also developed eye-hand coordination and accuracy with archery games. In addition, they hunted and fished with their fathers and raced horses. Tamara Christine has written more than articles for a variety of clients since She holds a Bachelor of Arts in applied linguistics and an elementary teaching license. Additionally, she completed a course in digital journalism in She has more than 10 years experience teaching and gardening.

Regardless of how old we are, we never stop learning. The bird people did not allow the other peoples from the first world to settle in their world. Because of famine, the war with the birds started and the insect peoples were massacred. The remaining insects flew away once more in search of a new world to live in.

Again, they found a portal in the sky, and they reached the third world where everything was yellow and where the locust people lived. Here, the people lived in peace and harmony, by accepting each other and getting along. However, eventually a conflict made the locusts send away the newcomers. Accompanied by four locusts , they left, again through a portal, to the fourth world. This new world, the fourth world, was white and black and it was very bright.

Here lived the stag, the wild turkey and the Kisani, strange humans who knew how to build houses and cultivate land. This world was very big, and it contained numerous mysteries. So, up to this point, one can observe the fact that Navajo mythology refers to a multitude of worlds and transitional moments. These include the moment in which a world can become uninhabitable, the necessity of leaving a world for the survival of civilization, portals , wars between inhabitants of various worlds, alternative dimensions, and other things which, in the present day, represent study topics for science.

Navajo Yebichai dancers by Edward S. Curtis, , signifying the arrival of the Navajo fourth world and human beings. In Navajo mythology, gods have a human body. These sacred beings revealed themselves to the insect people, but in an incomprehensible sign language.

Therefore, the language of the gods was based on signs that were different from the sign language of the insect people. Finally, seeing that they were not understood, the gods addressed the insect people through spoken language.

They announced to the insect peoples that they were soon going to create humans who would look exactly like the gods themselves. According to the promise, the gods were to return in 12 days. The insect peoples prepared themselves and the gods returned. On a stag skin the gods placed two corn cobs with their tops facing east.

After the action of the winds, from the yellow corn cob the first woman appeared and from the white corn cob the first man appeared. As for the wind, it brought life by entering through the head and by leaving through the feet, which represents the same life force which humans possess. When the life force no longer enters and no longer comes out through the mouth, the human dies. After the creation of humans by the gods, in time more people were born, and the Navajo civilization developed.

Therefore, according to the Navajo mythology, man was created by a much more advanced civilization, namely that of the gods. As time passed the Navajo then started to raise sheep and goats with further supplemented their diet. What weapons did the Navajo use? The weapons used were bows and arrows, stone ball clubs and knives. The rifle was added to their weapons with the advent of the white invaders.

What clothes did the Navajo men wear? The clothes worn by the Navajo tribe made good use of the natural resources that were available to them. The women spun and wove wool into cloth for ponchos, blankets and cloaks.

Yucca fiber, from the Soaptree yucca, was also used to make sandals, belts and cloth and was also used to produce baskets and mats. Men's clothing included breechcloths which were made from a long rectangular piece of animal skin or cloth which was worn between the legs and tucked over a belt. Tunics with a concho belt fastened around the waist were also worn that were topped by cloaks or ponchos during the cold weather.

They wore moccasins made of soft leather - a soft, light beige, slip-on shoe, consisting of a sole and sides made of one piece of leather. The traditional headdress worn by the Navajo men were simple cloth or leather headbands.

What clothes did the Navajo women wear? The type of clothes worn by the women. The women of the tribe wore clothes consisting of skirts and blouses. The skirts were traditionally made of woven yucca fiber. Like the men they wore blankets as cloaks for protection in cold weather. Hair was kept long and worn in a traditional hair knot called a Tsiiyeel which was wrapped in white yarn.