Navajo Rugs

Navajo Rugs - A Navajo legend credits a deity named Spider Woman with teaching them weaving. The first loom was said to be of sky and earth cords with tools of sunlight, lightning, white shell, and crystal. In reality, Pueblo Indians taught the Navajos how to weave.

The Pueblo people of Northern New Mexico were cultivating cotton around 1300 AD, which they used for weaving. They practiced finger weaving, and had also learned the use of the backstrap loom from Mexican Indian tribes.

Weaving was a man's activity in most pueblos. They wove in the kiva, or ceremonial room, a cramped space that inspired the invention of the upright loom. The arrival of the Spaniards and their Churro sheep in the 16th century led to a change from cotton to wool as weaving material for the Pueblo Indians as well as the Navajos, who learned the technique from their neighbors in the late 1600s. The Spanish also introduced indigo (blue) dye and simple stripe patterning.

A Navajo Rug
A fine-quality Navajo rug includes both a tight weave and an intricate design. Hazel Nez, a weaver from the Big Mountain area, is well known for her beautifully crafted rugs. Hazel lives alone in a big mesa-top camp, which consists of a hogan, a corral, a weaving shed, and two houses.

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