Find us on Facebook

 

 

Canyon Road Arts:

The Complete Visitors Guide to Arts, Dining and Santa Fe Lifestyle

Volume 4, 2008-2009

Pages 102-107

 

The Gift of Spider Woman
Symbols and Motifs in Navajo Weavings

by Jerry Freund

Ray Roberts    Mesa Evening

Ray Roberts, Mesa Evening, Oil on Canvas 40 x 30, Figure Wearing Navajo Chiefs Blanket with Spider Woman Crosses

For the traditional Navajo family, the Holy People who created the Navajo were very powerful deities. They traveled on the “sun's rays” and descended into the world on “lightning bolts.” It was Changing Woman who taught the Navajo how to live in “harmony,” but it was Spider Woman who gave them secrets to find their way in this world. To the traditional Navajo weaver, Spider Woman provided the framework to live and weave beautiful things - the essence of being Navajo.

Women are the weavers in traditional Navajo society. Although this cultural value is fading somewhat today with a few young men taking up the challenge, women still dominate the area of weaving. The designs in Navajo weavings have always been a personal expression of the weaver. However, we can make some educated guesses based upon historical research and interviews with Navajo elders.

Spider Woman Hole

Spider Woman Hole

Prior to 1900, old Navajo wearing blankets often carried symbols or motifs that were attached to the teachings of Spider Woman. Perhaps the symbol or motif that dominated those early blankets was the cross. Many a Navajo grandmother will tell you that crosses represent Spider Woman. The symbol of Spider Woman was given to the earliest weavers to remember her teachings and wisdom. For some weavers, placing the symbol of Spider Woman (crosses) within a graphic form of a diamond, triangle or square was risky business. Spider Woman was not of this world and her spirit should not be entrapped within the form. Therefore in some Navajo weavings, the cross will have an actual hole or sometimes a graphic hole in the cross.

Navajo Ganado Textile with Spider Woman Crosses   c. 1890    69.5 x 45

Navajo Ganado Textile with Spider Woman Crosses c. 1890 69.5 x 45

Navajo Classic Serape

Navajo Classic Serape c. 1860 All Natural Dyes 73 x 52
Ex Samuel Beach Axtell collection, Governor of the Territory of New Mexico 1875-1878 and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Territory of New Mexico 1882-1885.

Perhaps two of the earliest design elements to be utilized by Navajo weavers are the diamond and the triangle. These elements were incorporated into old wearing blankets and continue in the modern day Navajo rugs. Again, we cannot be too sure of some of the meanings, but many Navajo grandmothers will tell you that the diamond is a symbol of the Dinétah or Navajo homeland with its four sacred corners that are marked by the four sacred mountains. Triangles are basic building blocks of Navajo design. Placed on top of each other, triangles can become a series of prayer feathers or songs or become the backbone of a mountain Yei figure.

Navajo Child’s Blanket with Spider Woman Crosses   c. 1890    51 x 31

Navajo Child’s Blanket with Spider Woman Crosses c. 1890 51 x 31

Navajo Crystal with Spider Woman Crosses   c.1910    60 x 39

Navajo Crystal with Spider Woman Crosses c.1910 60 x 39

After the year 1900, the “spirit line” became a popular element for many traditional Navajo weavers. This occurred because traders requested weavers to place borders around their weavings. By this time, most weavers were selling their weavings through the trading post system. The traditional weaver became very concerned about trapping their creative spirit within the weaving and not being able to weave in the future. The “spirit line” is a small strand of yarn of contrasting color that flows from the inner design element of the weaving to the outer edge. The custom continues today in many contemporary Navajo rugs.

Navajo Two Grey Hills Storm Pattern Textile by Daisy Tauglechee

Navajo Two Grey Hills Storm Pattern Textile by Daisy Tauglechee
c. late 1940 78 x 48 First Prize at the 1957 International Indian Ceremonial in Gallup, New Mexico

Navajo Two Grey Hills Storm Pattern Textile by Daisy Tauglechee

Detail of spirit line of Navajo Two Grey Hills Storm Pattern Textile by Daisy Tauglechee

Navajo Crystal Textile

Navajo Crystal Textile c. 1900 88x 49

A design element that appeared in Navajo weaving from the late 19th century and continued until the late 1930s is the Navajo “whirling logs.” This design is recognized by Anglos as a swastika and caused great controversy in the late 1930s. The Navajo people chose not to include it in future weavings after this period. This symbol comes from the Navajo origin myth and was incorporated into weavings as a good luck symbol for gifts or for sale at trading posts.

Navajo Crystal Storm Pattern with Whirling Logs   c. 1920     86 x 56

Navajo Crystal Storm Pattern with Whirling Logs c. 1920 86 x 56

Navajo Crystal Four Directions Textile with Whirling Logs c. 1900  89 x 61

Navajo Crystal Four Directions Textile with Whirling Logs c. 1900 89 x 61

Lightning was the most powerful symbol in the world of the Navajo. Not only was lightning powerful in the real world, it also carried great strength in Navajo weavings. In Navajo mythology, lightning was used to make weaving tools but it could also help to define the power of an individual blanket or rug. Small “zigzags” in the four corners of a weaving could lend energy to the overall design. There exists no more powerful symbol in the Eyedazzler or Germantown period of Navajo weaving than the lightning bolts that streak across the face of the weaving and grab the eyes of the beholder.

Navajo Chiefs 3rd Phase Variant with Lightning Motifs    c. 1925-30    60 x 51

Navajo Chiefs 3rd Phase Variant with Lightning Motifs c. 1925-30 60 x 51

Navajo Teec Nos Pos with Lightning Motifs

Navajo Teec Nos Pos with Lightning Motifs c. 1920 69 x 36

Petroglyphs, pictographs and pottery shards inspired traditional Navajo weavers. The many canyons where Navajos lived contain ancient Anasazi ruins and historic Navajo pictographs. Beautiful pottery shards could always be found at the feet of most Navajo weavers. Such motifs would appear in the borders or central design element of Navajo weavings.

Navajo Single Saddle with Valero Stars

Navajo Single Saddle with Valero Stars c. 1900-10 28.75 x 31

Colors were also important to Navajo weavers. The variety of colors was limited in the early days to browns, blacks, whites, grays and a little indigo blue. Occasionally, red was used but was obtained with great difficulty. These colors gave enormous energy to the early Navajo Chiefs Blankets. Later years saw the introduction of synthetic and vegetable dyes, and Germantown yarns that gave the Navjao weaver a whole new palette of creative colors.

Navajo Germantown Eyedazzler

Navajo Germantown Eyedazzler c. 1890 71 x 57

One cannot separate Navajo weavings from the culture in which they were created. As outside influences began to penetrate the world of the traditional Navajo weaver, patterns, symbols and colors have constantly evolved and changed. Over the three-hundred-year history of weaving, Spider Woman remains a constant reminder of traditional Navjao wisdom and her many gifts to the Navajo people.

W. Jason Situ    Canyon de Chelly, AZ

W. Jason Situ, Canyon de Chelly, AZ, Oil on Canvas Board 12 x 9
View of Spider Woman’s Home, Spider Rock

Medicine Man Gallery offers one of the best places to see the great weavings of traditional weavers. The gallery has available the finest Navajo weavings from 1860 to 1960. We encourage you to visit the gallery and experience the gift of Spider Woman.

Navajo Teec Nos Pos Rug

Navajo Teec Nos Pos Rug c. 1920 81 x 46

 

References:
-On the Trail of Spider Woman: Petroglyphs, Pictographs and Myths of the Southwest, Carol
Patterson-Rudolph, 1997, Ancient City Press, Santa Fe, New Mexico.
-Cultural Code Words of the Navajo People, Lafayette de Mente Boyé, 2005, Phoenix Books/Publishers.
-Sacred Land, Sacred View: Navajo Perceptions of the Four Corners, Robert McPherson, 1992, Charles Redd Center, Brigham Young University.
-Weaving is Life: Navajo Weavings from the Edwin L. and Ruth E. Kennedy Southwest
Native American Collection, edited by Jennifer McLerran, 2006, Kennedy Museum of Art, Ohio University, Athens, OH.

 

Return to Santa Fe Art Articles

 
 

Permission to reproduce photos and paintings in this website secured by Mark Sublette. All rights reserved. No portion of this website may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from Mark Sublette, Medicine Man Gallery, Inc.™