Clothing of Navajo Matriarchs - New Mexico

Photograph of my maternal grandmother and her older sister
circa, 1945 New Mexico.
Photo courtesy of Jane Werito Yazzie
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2015

The history of most global tribal clothing usually concerns cultural traditions and cultural norms, for the Dine' (Navajo) people of the American southwest, women's garments concern a plethora of political and historical histories. The twentieth and twenty first century adaptations of Navajo women's clothing materialized via forced relocation, forced assimilation and continued colonization- cultural desert clothing therefore is a way of perpetuating survival.

The image I share with you belongs to my maternal grandmother's family photograph collection and depicts my family matriarchs, my grandmother(s) of the Manyhogans clan legacy from Dzilthnaoditle, or near Huerfano, New Mexico, USA.  I share this for the reason of discussion of the origins of this clothing style by Navajo women in the early 20th century era to the present.

As you can see the two women are 'adorned' in the standard "Navajo style" shirt and skirt made of Velveteen cloth. Their collared blouses and tiered-skirts are handmade articles by them and their mother (my great-grandmother). The Navajo-made silver and turquoise jewelry items are made by local silversmiths. This photograph was taken during the mid-1940s in New Mexico on the eastern region of the Navajo Nation reservation near Huerfano, NM.

This style of Navajo women's clothing was adapted by Navajo women in the Post-Long Walk era, (which began in 1864) through 1868 to the present, after the Navajo people were released from the American prison camps at Bosque Redondo, NM. (If you are not familiar with this history, please research the topic of the 'Navajo Long Walk.' A time in American history when Navajo were imprisoned at Fort Sumner, NM from 1864-1868 by the U.S. government.)

Before the Long Walk era, the Navajo primarily wore clothing which consisted of animal hides and furs, and then later wool-woven materials. At this time in history the Navajo women began weaving their own clothing via their dress called biil, or rug dresses which consisted of two rugs stitched together at the shoulders and sides to make a women's dress. But, after the Long Walk era the Navajo women- being exposed to Spaniard and Euro-American women's clothing styles, adapted their clothing style and began designing and creating the above posted garments. Also, during this time in the American southwest, the Manifest Destiny era was in full mode and more Pioneer settlers were roaming onto Navajoland. So Navajos were seeing real Euro-American Pioneer folks in person. My family still carries the oral history of seeing the first, "white people" in their whole life, this would be my great-great-great-great grandmother.

This history of desert southwest garments is important because the Indigenous people of the 21st century, as the Navajo and Pueblo, continue to create tribal clothing with real meaning and in recognition of the good and terrible events that have happened. It must be stated that most of everything modern yet tribally-minded Indigenous people design and create has real substance, real meaning which is closely connected to spiritual and historical well-being. Many of us still carry the act of prayer close to our lives, we do this so we can understand and deal with issues of historical memory and continued acts of genocide and historical trauma...

I share this with you because tribal clothing of the Indigenous people of the Americas always has a story, a legacy of ancestral knowledge and meaning - so when non-Indigenous, non-Navajo people take the styles of tribal clothing whether it be a velvet skirt or Pueblo manta, they do so with no thought of that item's history or intangible wealth, basically its own 'true' story.

The 21st century  has brought about a resurgence of Indigenous tribal identity for many younger generations Native people living on and off the reservations. We, as a whole, seem to recognize the need to hear and maintain our tribal origin stories, we understand that every big and small cultural item has a story, has a power - and that is how and why we strive and still survive.

Blessings in All Things.