Navajo Culture

Navajo Culture

I was able to interview a co-worker of mine about the Navajo culture. Nic Hooton served an LDS mission on the Navajo reservation in the four corners area. Because he has witnessed first hand what cultural aspects lie both inside and outside of the reservation I concluded that he would be a perfect candidate for interviewing.

Between class lectures and the movie presented last week it seemed that a big concern for the older generations of Navajo Indians is that the heritage and timed honored traditions of the tribe are slipping away slowly like the sands of an hour glass. I asked Nic in my interview about examples he had during his time on the reservation that illustrated the combination of traditional Navajo ways with that of modern American culture. He relayed a story of a day that he and his companion had decided to go tracting in a highly remote region of the reservation. As the two men walked it seemed like hours in between hogans. They assumed they were further from modern civilization than either had previously encountered. They soon realized that was simply not the case, as the two missionaries approached an old deteriorating hogan a shiny object on the roof came into view as they got closer to it. Once Nic was close enough it was very clear that the shiny object was a dish for Dish Network's satellite television. An old Navajo man that lived alone came out to warmly welcome the two inside his humble abode. Once inside an good sized television loomed over the dusty dirt floors stacked upon several old wood beer cartons. This man lived alone in a very remote area of the reservation but somehow could not miss out on his favorite television shows.

Another experience from the interview covers a small aspect of Navajo culture on the subject of death. Nic had a very unique experience to help aid in the burial of one of the last living "original" code talkers that helped aid American forces in World War II. The man was highly respected by the others on the reservation. He passed away while Nic was in the area, he and his companion and a navajo man took the body far from any inhabitants dwellings in the reservation. It seemed weird to me that such a respected man would have two strangers and one other native bury him. I'll get back to that thought in a moment. They were required to take a horse with them to the burial plot which was dug entirely by hand and filled in by hand not much was said as the navajo and the young men worked quickly to bury the old war hero. After burying the man the horse was walked just a few yards from the burial plot and shot so that the man whom had recently passed away would be able to ride the horse into the next world.

This story helped identify a few traits of the navajo people first of all that "death is shunned" as Nic hooton explained to me which is obviously why they had to bury the body far away from town. Also explains why no one

else in the community came to bury this famous man.