Several types of hogans can be seen on the reservation today. Some recent ones attempt to copy houses in off-reservation towns, but most follow traditional styles. The earliest type of hogan known is the so-called “forked-stick” hogan. This is a tipi-shaped structure made of three poles with forked ends that interlock at the top. Spaces between this framework are filled with smaller poles; the whole is plastered with mud. Another style of hogan is made of cribbed logs and usually has six or eight sides, a design made necessary by the shortness of the logs available. Circular hogans of stone, adapted from Pueblo Indian masonry construction, are sometimes built. The roofs on both types of hogans are constructed of cribbed logs and appear domed rather than flat. A feature common to every hogan is its door facing east, toward the sunrise.
A Navajo forked-pole hogan, traditionally the earliest form used by the tribe. Shaped like a tipi, it is built of heavy logs covered with soil. National Archives
Furnishings of hogans were simple and limited, but today tables, chairs, cabinets, and beds are commonly used. Food was once cooked in a firepit in the center of the floor, below a hole in the roof which allowed the smoke to escape, but today it is prepared on stoves which increasingly are butane gas or electric models. In good weather, cooking is done outside. Iron and aluminum pots and pans have replaced homemade pottery and baskets as kitchen utensils.
Water is scarce over much of the reservation and must be hauled in wagons or pickup trucks from as far away as 10 miles. Water is used sparingly.
The Navajos are fond of goat meat and mutton, which have almost entirely replaced the wild game of the old diet. Canned goods from the traders’ shelves have supplanted the wild plants that used to be gathered and, in some homes, have eliminated garden plots of corn and squash. At Fort Sumner the Navajos learned to roast and brew coffee and to use wheat flour. Now coffee and wheat bread are important items in their diet.
In aboriginal times Navajo clothing was meager. Women wore an apron and men a breechclout of buckskin. Footwear probably consisted of yucca fiber sandals, although moccasins of animal skins were also common. During winter, blankets of animal skins or yucca were added for warmth.
After the Spaniards arrived in the Rio Grande Valley, the Navajos copied Spanish costumes. This style, which prevailed until after the return from Bosque Redondo in 1868, consisted of tightly buttoned knee-length breeches of buckskin, worn with knitted blue stockings copied from those of Pueblo men. A V-neck shirt was made from a small blanket or piece of flannel and was worn outside the trousers. The shirt was held by a leather belt heavily ornamented with silver. Moccasins and leggings of dyed buckskin completed the men’s dress. When Navajo women began loom weaving, they copied the Pueblo woman’s woven cotton dress in wool and wore it with a woven belt. Dyed buckskin moccasins with wrap-around leggings were their footwear.
Navajo clothing of the 19th century, a pair of moccasins and a shirt.