RUG WEAVER HOME CULTURAL BACKGROUND 1. Navajo Weavers 2. How to Weave a Rug 3. Coordinates and Symmetry SOFTWARE TEACHING MATERIALS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS CSDT HOME

Navajo Rug Weaver

Cultural Background

"For Navajo weaving is meditative work that invites Woman into the energy center of the balanced universe. A place where everyday happenings merge with the mythical. Here sunlight shimmers through virginal tight-strung warp. Here Father Sky and Mother Earth unite. Here Spiderwoman weaves her tangled web. And Changing Woman / White Shell Woman--the primordium--prevails."

--Noel Bennett, "Navajo Weaving Way: The Path from Fleece to Rug"

Navajo rugs and blankets, even though they are highly prized as artworks and museum artifacts in the United States, are more than just art and artifacts of history; they represent the entirety of Navajo life and spirituality. The Dine' do not separate the concepts of art, beauty, and religion. They are all interconnected, so to describe a Navajo rug or blanket simply in terms of what it's made of and what it looks like is to ignore just how important the rugs are to the people who made them.