Happy Bday.Shima'.



Photo by Venaya Yazzie 2013
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED


The month of American society's September is the uneventful ninth month of the year, but for the Dine' it is a month of many cultural events including the most important activity of harvest. And too, it is a most important time for my family as we have more than seven birthdays in it.

For the Dine' this month concerns everything about crop harvest. It is what we call,
Bini'ant'aatsoh, or Large Harvest as it is related to the arrival of the Harvest Moon.

Everyday I feel so very blessed to have my maternal 'shi'/Masani' in my life. Everyday I am fortunate to see Dine' ADORNMENT perpetuated in the 21st century. She wears turquoise faithfully, it is her ritual, it is her lifeway and I try everyday to reflect such a matriarch.

To my family I express: Baa Hozhogo Nii Deseschii. Happy Birthday! esp. Masani./Shima'.

Dine' Concho Belt.history.




Navajo Leather Turquoise Concho Belt by J. Williams

 
This Navajo made belt is grand in its complex-simplicity. The basic design concerns a circular motif in the concho-style. The Dine' (Navajo) people have become world reknown as the master of silversmithing design, method and technique and this belt showcases such brilliance.

The Dine' have been creating concho belts since the earliest days of the initial introduction to metal work, and in its early creation the concho belt was purely Dine'. The major inspiration for them in the design of the belt was from their first views of the Spanish silver via the armor used on their person and their horses.

Unlike the Dine', the Spaniard conquistadors would ADORN their horses with silver-work on their bridles and body pieces.

As the Dine' became more skilled at the technique of making jewelry pieces the concho belt was born out of the arid desert lands. First, the belts were simple in silver, then would come the stamp designs and curves. Among the many oral histories of the Dine', it is said that the first group to actually add tuquoise to the belt was the neighboring Zuni people.

Whoever made it first, the conch belt ADORNED with turquoise continues to shine in the southwest and perpetuaally make a grand statement.

Blessings.








Silver Adornment. Pins.



SWAIA Fashion Show participant.
Photo by Venaya Yazzie
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2013



1940s ERA. Navajo Outfit.



SWAIA Fashion Show participant in Santa Fe, NM
Photo by Venaya Yazzie
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2013

 I captured this images during the SWAIA Indigenous Fashion Show in August 2013. This Navajo child was participating in the Children's Traditional Clothing Fashion Show.

Here we see the full outfit which includes a five-tiered gathering skirt and collared blouse made in some type of velvet material. The designer, which they announced was the child's grandmother, used rick rack trim to re-create that uniquely NAVAJO design made popular in the 1940s era of the southwest. Her outfit is finished with a woven wool sash belt, silver concho belt and traditional Navajo hair ADORNMENT.

Dress Adornment.Dine'-Navajo.





Photo by Venaya Yazzie
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2013

 Every year I attend the Santa Fe Indian Market I feel blessed. Among the myriad of events and art activities I always make sure to be at Market early on Sunday to find a front row seat for the Indigenous Fashion Show, which features various of fashioned designed and created by tribal people.

This year's fashion show was exceptional in that it seemed SWAIA really focused on fusing traditional tribal wears with edgy Indigenous fashion. The fashion show content therefore included many layers of traditional and neo Native expression. Even more the show included fashion for the Indigenous male.

I am posting this photograph I took of a young Dine' female child ADORNED in a modern Navajo women's dress, but with more traditionally oriented design. In the picture we see the back of her dress; blouse and  skirt.  We see the use of rick rack trim on the sleeve and back of her blouse, a throwback to the early Navajo womens' dress attire of the 1940s - 1950s era in the southwest.

The use of rick rack trim for ADORNMENT practices was popular amond the Dine' women as  way of supplimenting the prohibition of use of American coins for ADORNMENT. During this time Navajo women were using dimes and quarters on their velveteen blouses as a way of decoration. Later as more and more Navajo silversmiths arose the use of silver-made ornaments were commissioned and used on the blouses.

This picture showcases the use of modern fabrics, but still claims the traditions of Dine' women's ADORNMENT.