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Partial Transcript of Diné (Navajo) Weaving In our history as told by our elders, we are known as the “Nihookáá' Dine’é”, or ‘the People of the Earth’s Surface’. For us, weaving is an act of creation, with each woven textile being a unique version of a universal theme. That universal theme is Hozho - dynamic beauty and harmony. The Diyin Dine’é, usually translated as Holy People, transformed the Fourth World on the Earth’s Surface into a state of Beauty and Harmony through the power of their thought and songs. The People of the Earth’s Surface, called Navajos by the Spanish, were created by Changing Woman. Among the Diyin Dine’e, Changing Woman is special. It was She who saved the world from evil and degeneration, and it was She who restored beauty, harmony and regeneration to the world. When the Holy People turned over the Fourth World to the People of the Earth’s Surface, the Holy People became the inner forms, the in-lying souls, of various parts of the Fourth World. After leaving for her home in the West, Changing Woman eventually became the inner form of the Earth. Before taking their places as inner forms of the world, the Holy People taught the People of the Earth’s Surface what they would need to know in order to continue to live in a state of Hozho, and taught them how to restore Beauty and Harmony when it became disrupted. Spider Woman taught the People of the Earth’s Surface how to weave on a loom constructed by Spider Man. The loom was a microcosm of the cosmos. The crosspoles were made of sky and earth cords, the warp sticks of sun rays, the healds of rock crystal and sheet lightning. The batten was a sun halo. White shell made the comb. The four spindles were made of four kinds of lightning from the sky, and four kinds of sacred jewels from the earth. These were white shell and abalone from the sea and, and turquoise and obsidian from the land. Each of these jewels represent the four cardinal directions and the four sacred mountains in each of these directions. By weaving on a loom that is a microcosm of the cosmos, Navajo weavers unite the Sky Father with the Earth Mother. They also unite many of the male and female essences aspects of the world. The Sun Father and the Earth Mother form a complementary union that is beautiful and dynamic. This fertile union is continuously regenerating. The act of weaving on Spider Woman’s loom re-creates the universal web of life, interweaving all the complementary dimensions and elements of the Sky Father and the Earth Mother. Therefore, weaving begins with the fertile union of earth and sky. Rain and sunshine from the sky fertilize the earth and bring forth the vegetation on the earth’s surface. The vegetation provides food for the sheep and from its nourishmnet, the sheep produce the wool used in weaving. Dine weavers integrate the colors they see around them into their woven textiles. The earth’s vegetation, combined with light and energy from the sun, also provides the diversity of color used in dyeing the wool. Through a process of shearing, carding, dyeing, spinning and weaving, Navajo weavers transform the wool from the backs of their sheep into abstract expressions of interwoven beauty and harmony. This transformation recreates the world into a state of original Hozho, interweaving a diversity of color, line, shape and motif into a harmonious and beautiful whole. |