2. Main Menu
•Language
• History •Food
• Where They Lived •Traditional Dress
• Where They Live Now •Children
• What They Lived In •Navajo Matching
• Jewelry Making Puzzle
• Traditional Dance •Navajo Matching
• Music Puzzle Answer Sheet
• Instruments •T/F Quiz
• Religion •Author Slide
•Concept Map
•Resources
3. History
• The Navajo land was larger than ten of the fifty states in America
• During WWII the Navajo language was used to created codes to fight
against the Japanese
• The Navajo Flag was designed by Jay R. Degroat. He was a Navajo from
Mariano Lake, New Mexico. His flag was chosen from 140 entries, and
was officially adopted by the Navajo Nation Council on May 21, 1968
• Navajo, or Dine as they call themselves, is the largest tribe of North
American Indians.
4. Where they lived
• Before the Navajo people lived in the United
States, they lived in Northwestern Canada
and Alaska. Over 1,000 years ago they
began to travel south and reached the
southwestern United States. They lived in
states such as Arizona, New Mexico,
Colorado and Utah covering over 27,000
square miles.
5. Where They Live Now
The Navajo reservation is currently the largest in the
United States. There are more than 140,000 people living on
it. The reservation is about 16 million acres. Most of the land
is in Arizona. The Navajo still weave from wool and use
natural vegetable dyes for color. Today, people try their best
to live like the old days along with the modern lifestyle, but
some now use modern technology.
Click the Rug to Read
about Navajo Weaving
6. What They Lived In
• The Navajo Indians lived in homes called
hogans. They are made from wooden poles, tree
bark, and mud. The doorway opened to the east so
they could welcome the sun.
Types of Hogans
•Circular Stone Hogan
•Log Cabin Hogan
•Modern House
•Summer Shelter
7. Jewelry Making
Navajo Native Americans years ago
and still today work silver and
semiprecious stones into beautiful
inlay and overlay pieces of Jewelry.
They use stones suck as Coral,
Malecite, Opal, Turquoise. Still
today jewelry remains a strong
tradition, and their jewelry is prized
both tribally and all over America.
8. Traditional Dance
Click to Watch Traditional Navajo Dance
Women perform the Basket Dance and
the Men perform what is called the
Fancy Dance. Dance is once of the
most loved and prominent of the
Navajo traditions and is still used
today during Navajo ceremonies and
celebrations.
9. Instruments
Navajos used Drums and
rattles for their instruments.
They would play drums to
create music for the
ceremonial and spiritual
dances. The drums are made
of a wooden frame or a
hollowed-out log, finely
tanned buckskin or elk skin
stretched across the opening
by sinew thongs. Photo By Anna Carne
Hit the Drum to Watch a Navaho
Drum Circle
10. Religion
The Navajo believe in an Almighty that is the spiritual force
that is the source of all life. There are religious leaders as well
as temples and shrines. Unlike the Christian God the Navajo
force takes no form. Another difference between the Navajo
religion and the Christian religion is that the Navajo believe
that when you die your spirit goes to another universe or
world where you continue to live like you do on this Earth.
Christians believe in going to heaven to be with God.
11. Language
There is a lot of humor in the Navajo language when it comes
to day to day conversation. Humor makes difficult and frustrating
things into bearable and even pleasant situations. The strong
emphasis and value Navajos place on humor is evidenced in the
First Laugh rite. The first time a Navajo child laughs out loud is a
time for honor and celebration. The Navajo language has played a
highly significant role in helping the entire nation. During World
War II, the Navajo language was used as a code to confuse the
Japanese. Navajos were taken and trained in the U.S. Marine
Corps to become "code talkers" on the front-line. Today, these
men are known today as the Navajo Code Talkers. Their code has
proven to be the only code that could not be broken during World
War II. Although not all tribal members speak the language
fluently, most Navajos have a strong respect for it.
This was the Symbol of the Code Talkers
12. Food
Click below to learn how to make Navajo Fry Bread
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LopJbzueRQ.
The very first Southwest Native Americans
hunted mammoths until they became extinct. Then
people began to hunt buffalo, or in other words
When U.S. soldiers came to
bison. They would also collect wild plants for food,
take the Navajo land, they put
and learned to grow maize, or corn. Corn became
the Navajos into crowded
domesticated in Mexico and became the Navajo’s
camps. The government would
most common grain.
supply lard, flour, salt, sugar,
baking powder or yeast, and
powdered milk. These
ingredients were often
rancid. Fry bread came from
these few foods provided during
the 4 years of captivity. Since
that time, it has become
common food at most all
PowWows of numerous tribes.
13. Traditional Dress
Many Navajos continue to wear
traditional clothing everyday.
Traditional dress consists of velvet,
turquoise, and silver. Some Navajos
only wear it during ceremonial or social
gatherings. The Navajo woman's
traditional style of dress consists of foot
or knee-high moccasins, a pleated
velvet or cotton skirt, a matching long-
sleeve blouse, sash belt, jewelry and a
shawl. Men also wear jewelry,
moccasins and a velvet shirt.. It is
believed that before an individual can
receive help from the Great Spirit, one
must first wear appropriate clothing in
order to be recognized.
14. Children
Children would spent most of their first years strapped to
mother. When old enough the relatives would watch the child
andteach the children the tribal ways. Girls would practice
making food, pottery, basket weaving, and sewing. Boys
would learn to hunt and make tools and weapons. After a
child would reach puberty, the girls would go off with the
women, and the boys would have to pass a test of courage.
15. Navajo Matching Puzzle
• 1. Boundaries A. an earth covered house of the Navajo
Indian
• 2. Ceremony B. a special celebration or ritual for a
notable occasion
• 3. Harvest
C. the outer limits of an area; its borders
• 4. Dine on all sides
• 5.legends D. gather in, as crops, when fully ripened
• 6. Hogan E. popular stories handed down through
generations whether true or fanciful
F. Navajo Indian word meaning people
16. Navajo Matching Puzzle Answer Sheet
• 1. Boundaries, C. the outer limits of an area; its borders on all
sides
• 2. Ceremony, B. a special celebration or ritual for a notable
occasion
• 3. Harvest, D. gather in, as crops, when fully ripened
• 4. Dine, F. Navajo Indian word meaning people
• 5.Legends, E. popular stories handed down through
generations, whether true or fanciful
• 6. Hogan, A. an earth covered house of the Navajo Indian
17. Navajo T/F Quiz
1. Navajo children are raised only by their
parents T/F
2. Navajo tribes lived in Arizona and Utah T/F
3. The Navajo people began to make Fry Bread
because of the lack of food good given to
them by the U.S soldiers T/F
4. The Navajo religion is just like the Christian
religion T/F
18. Author’s Slide
Hello my name is Anna Marie Carne and I
am the author of this PowerPoint. I
decided to choose Navajo’s as my topic
because I am going to be a history teacher
and I thought that it was an appropriate
history subject. Another reason for
choosing Navajos is because I recently
returned from a trip to Arizona where I
took the photograph seen on the Navajo
Jewelry slide and filmed the young Navajo
boy dancing on the traditional dance
slide. I was inspired to do this PowerPoint
because I was so amazed at what I saw
and learned from the Navajo people I met
in Arizona.
Email Me!
19. Concept Map
Jewelry W/ Traditional
Navajo Native
Food Picture I took in Dance W/ video
Americans
Arizona I took in Arizona
History for 1st Language/ Code Food/ Fry Bread
Traditional Dress
slide Talkers I tried in Arizona
Author Find more slide
Resources as last
slide/Title slide topics when
slide
as first slide researching
20. Resources
• Bernstein, Bruce . "A Brief Social History of Navajo Weaving." The Collector's Guide. 1995. Museum of New
Mexico. 4 Aug. 2009http://www.collectorsguide.com/fa/fa064.shtml
• Detterick-Pineda, Cynthia. "Navajo Fry Bread and Indian Tacos." What's cooking America. 3 Aug. 2009
http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/NavajoFryBread.htm
• Eck, Pam , Diane Dwenger, Rachel McDonough, and Bridgette Zellers. ""Dialogue of Respect"." The Study
of Native Americans. 1998. 4 Aug. 2009http://inkido.indiana.edu/w310work/romac/native.htm.
• "Explore the Navajo Nation." Native Americans. 4 Aug.
2009http://www.americanwest.com/pages/navajo2.htm
• "How to make Fry Bread.” YouTube. 25 Nov. 2007. YouTube. 3 Aug. 2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LopJbzueRQ.
• <Native American Jewelry. 1998. Native Languages of the Americas. 3 Aug. 2009 http://www.native-
languages.org/jewelry.htm.
• "Welcome to the Navajo Nation Government." 2005. Navajo Nation. 3 Aug. 2009
http://www.navajo.org/history.htm.