The Beauty Of A Navajo Culture

Throughout this unique class, we have explored many amazing facets of the Dine’ people. From stories, to pieces of art, to the language itself, the beauty of Navajo culture is easily seen by all who have the fortune to come into contact with them. Unlike Navajo culture, however, the Western world uses a very loose definition for “beauty” that typically revolves around physical traits: a beautiful girl usually looks a certain way, a beautiful voice usually sounds a certain way, and a beautiful painting usually looks a certain way. The Western world merely looks at physical beauty and from this vision has developed a formula for what is and what isn’t considered beautiful. To the Navajo People, beauty is a much deeper, more meaningful concept.

Rug weaving requires an extreme amount of patience, preparation, and visualization before the rug can be started. In “Seasons of a Navajo,” the process of rug weaving is shown. Once a sheep has grown long wool, the women shear the sheep, dye the wool, and spin the wool into yarn. Even after all of these steps, a Navajo weaver must carefully plan and consider the extremely intricate pattern of the rug before they even touch the loom. In this way, a weaver must generate beauty internally before they can project it into the universe. A weaver must have a perfect image of their creation inside their head before they begin. While weaving, one must remain in a positive mindset, or else stop weaving. In this way, a Navajo person must fully internalize the idea of beauty before touching their craft. The special planning and great attention to detail that goes into each Navajo rug is a way of living in

During this ceremony, hozho is depicted in many ways. One especially important way is the woman chosen to lead the Kinaalda ceremony. This woman is considered the ideal Navajo woman: physically strong, active, talented in her craft, and a leader of her family. She generates inner strength and beauty, and those who know her see this. She is actively creating beauty instead of relying on her physical looks to be respected and admired. It is for this reason that she is chosen to lead girls into womanhood. The woman is a constant fixture of hozho in Navajo culture. She is a testament to the fact that the Navajo people value a different kind of “beauty” than that of popular Western