Lesson Plan: Navajo Mythology

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Historical Background

Dear Mythology Students of Ms. Louder than Most,

Please create Cornell Notes over the following information. You will also read The Emergence story from the Navajo (Yes! You must take Cornell Notes for that, too). You will need to create your own higher order thinking questions. If you struggle with the questions sections, here is a resources to help you:

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Historical Background

• Between A.D. 1000 and 1500, the people who would become known as Navajo left the northern woodlands and moved to New Mexico and northeastern Arizona.
• They brought the bow and arrow with them because they were hunters.

Photograph of a Navajo teenage boy with bow and arrow, Chinle (or Chin Lee Agency?), Arizona, ca.1901.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Navajo_teenage_boy_with_bow_and_arrow,_Chinle_(or_Chin_Lee_Agency%3F),_Arizona,_ca.1901_(CHS-2543).jpg

• 

  The Navajos integrated with the Pueblo people when they Pueblos fled from the Spanish invaders in the late   1500s.

• The Pueblo introduced farming, weaving, and religious ceremonies.  
  
  
• Because of the cultural combination of these two tribes, the Navajo became known for their poetic, elaborate myths, their sand paintings, and their blankets.

https://zanetawrona.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/sand-painter.jpg

• The Spanish colonists brought sheep, goats, and horses to New Mexico.  The Navajo became a nation on shepherds/herders.
  
  

  
  
• The Spanish also brought silver. The Navajo has used silver and American coins to make beautiful jewelry.
• The Navajo nation has about 110,000 – 150,000 in population. Most live on or around the Navajo reservation, which is about the size of West Virginia.
• The Navajos are matrilineal and often live with extended family.
• Women have great importance in their society in politics, economics, and religion.

Appeal and Value

• Parallel Myths/Comparative Mythology – Every nation and culture has a creation myth.
• Because they travels from world to world and continued to evolved into a more modern civilization through sharing and acquiring skills and traditions.
• Navajo Creation Myth Summary: The first Navajo people were created by two ears of corn.

  

  "The Navajo Painting." Online Image. The Navajo origin Legend. 18 Nov. 2013. http://www.revelation2seven.org/UsedImages/NavajoPainting

• Read The Emergence - Navajo Creation Myth and take Cornell Notes.
• Parallel Myth –   Watch the video and take note about The Navajo Creation/Flood Myth
• Sacred Number: The number 4 is seen repeated in Navajo mythology: four seasons, four directions, and four winds.
• There are also 4 sacred mountains (one in each direction), four sacred colors (black, white, yellow, and blue), four sacred plants (corn, squash, beans, and tobacco), and a progression through 4 worlds.
• Lastly, there were four human beings that were created in the image of the gods (First man, First Woman, First Boy, and First Girl)
• The relationship with the Navajo beliefs and mythology between insects, animals, and human beings are very important.
• Native American mythology in general holds a high respect for living things because they believe that all creatures from insects to humans came from the same Supreme Being.