Navajo Culture

This area of the website offers information about Navajo culture, stories and artists.

- Four Sacred Mountains

The Holy People placed the Navajo People on the land in between the four sacred mountains. Read more

- Navajo Clans

Kinship, or K’éí, among the Navajo People, is an important part of the culture that has its foundation in the stories of the creation of the Navajo People. Changing Woman, Asdzáá nádleehe, who created the first four men and women, sent them from Huerfano Mesa to make their home in the lands between the Four Sacred Mountains and gave each a staff made from a different material. Read more

- Navajo Language

Sacred Wind Communications will provide online Navajo language instruction created by Rosetta Stone’s Endangered Language Program together with Navajo Language Renaissance, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the revitalization of the Navajo language. According to language experts, if fewer than 20% of a culture’s youngest children do not speak their native language, that language is considered endangered and could disappear over time. Today, only about 5% of Navajo children under 6 years of age are fluent in Diné bizaad. Read more

- Navajo Newspapers

Links to local newspapers: The Navajo Times, The Grants Cibola Beacon, The Farmington Daily Times, and The Gallup Independent. You can click on the links and read local and Navajo related news that might be of interest to you. Read more

- Navajo Rugs

According to a traditional Navajo story, the holy being Spider Woman instructed the Navajo women how to build the first loom and taught the Navajo how to weave. Navajo textiles were originally created for their functionality – in use as cloaks, saddle blankets, dresses, sashes, etc. In the late 1800’s trading post owners encouraged the Navajo weavers (mostly women) to make quantities of blankets, more than those that were made for family use. Read more