Gender Roles

• Weaving was women's work. Navajo men made looms for their wives, mothers and daughters. Navajo women kept alive the tradition of weaving garments, blankets and rugs.
  
  

The Spider Woman

• The Navajo believed a deity named Spider Woman taught their ancestors to weave. Her husband Spider Man made the first loom from the natural elements then taught mortal men how to make their own looms.
  
  

The Pueblo

• Anthropologists theorize that the Pueblo people taught the Navajo how to weave when the Navajo migrated to the American Southwest from Canada. The Pueblo had been weaving since about 800 AD.
  
  

Churro Wool

• Churro sheep changed everything. When Spanish explorers and settlers came to the American Southwest, they brought with them churro sheep, not native to the Americas. Churro wool has long, wiry fibers that spun well on the loom. The Navajo embraced the churro sheep and kept herds of them as a result of the sheep being introduced in to the American Southwest.
  
  

Cotton

• The use of cotton in weaving continued on with the Pueblo people, but declined in the Navajo as weaving with the heavy churro wool became a trademark of the Navajo weaving style.
  
  

Trading

• Trading had a lot to do with what was woven. The Navajo initially wove blankets and garments for themselves. Later they began weaving rugs to sell to European settlers.
  
  

Primary Forms

• There were three primary garment forms woven by the Navajo: the serape, a saddle blanket and the chief's blanket. Serape was a shoulder blanket and garment woven longer than wide.
  
  

Saddle Blankets

• Saddle blankets were placed under a saddle for cushioning and were sometimes made in double size and folded in half for extra padding.
  
  

The Chief

• A chief's blanket was wider than long, worn around the shoulders like a shawl, and held in place by the hands or a pin.
  
  

Periods

• Final fact: There are periods of Navajo weaving. The "traditional period" of Navajo weaving includes everything up to the mid-19th Century when American Indians were relocated off tribal lands. The "transitional period" stretches from relocation to the first years of the 20th Century when the Navajo began weaving rugs to sell to European settlers. The "rug period" encompasses the first third of the 20th Century. The "revival period" refers to the time after the Great Depression when the economically priced rugs gained popularity in home decoration. The "modern period" begins after World War II.