Navajo Marriage Customs

UY J. F. ANDERSON, A. B., DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY, MILLARD

COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL

Courtship in Navajo land is done on the Miles Standish plan. The young man is usually ready to marry long before he is twenty years old. He keeps entirely away from the hogan of his pros- pective bride, for it is considered bad decorum for a young man to visit his bride at her home before they are married. He has become acquainted with her by meeting her at the sheep herd, at a ceremonial or festival gathering, or alone on the mountain trail, or in the deep arroya, where he may have sung to her his love songs. But he comes on his final courtship by proxy, usually en- listing the services of an uncle to bear messages of love to his The period of court- Priscilla. ship is and when the brief young brave has summoned sufficient courage to "pro- pose," he goes with one or more of his relatives to the girl's parents bearing appro- priate presents for them. Still the young man is silent cus- ;

tom demands that his relatives plead his cause. This they do Photo by Harper, Utah Arch. Exped. by extolling his virtues, re- FLASHLIGHT OF THE UTAH EXPE- counting his deeds of bravery DITION and skill in the chase. With the auxiliary members and Indians The presents are offered at a night campfire in an Arizona forest. to the girl's parents, only. If they are rejected it means that the young man's suit is denied; if accepted, the marriage contract is complete and the time for the ceremony is set at from five to ten days later. The presents given usually consist of from five to fifteen Navajo mustangs. A buxom Navajo maiden of a reputable family may demand fifteen or more horses. The parents, however, do not regard such an exchange as a sale of their daughter in mar- riage. To them it is merely a sanction of the gift by tradition. Navajo children are much loved and well treated by their parents, who are loth to force them against their will and never chastise them by corporal punishment.

302 IMPROVEMENT ERA The marriage ceremony is always performed at the home of the bride's mother, but it must be in the absence of the mother, taboo" effective after the for the troublesome "mother-in-law is

engagement. Relatives and friends assemble at the hogan for the event. . .

The ceremony is elaborate, beginning with pollen-painting of the bride and the groom. To them pollen is the emblem of life and fruitfulness. Then follows the ceremony of hand-washing. This is followed by the eating, in a peculiar way, by means of the fingers, a dish of corn gruel by the bride and the groom. The dish of corn gruel is the Navajo "wedding cake." After perform- ing numerous religious rites the assemblage is led by the shaman, or priest, in addressing an appeal to the sun, the moon, the "he- and-she-rains," and all the other divinities for their favor in behalf of the bride and groom in their married career. Any deviation from the precise sequence of events in the ceremony, or the omission of a single word from the chants and prayers, they be- lieve incurs the lasting dis- pleasure of their gods. After the ceremony the guests give advice to the newly married couple and are profuse in their predictions of NAVAJO TRADERS AT AN ARIZONA TRADING POST a long and happy wedded life The Navajos are experts at with "plenty of corn and meat driving bargains. to eat." Navajo law requires that when a man marries he must get his wife from some other clan than the one to which he belongs. After marriage he is regarded as a member of his wife's clan and is supposed to leave his own clan to make his home with the clan

to which his wife belongs. Descent is always reckoned through the female line. Among the Navajos it is the man who changes his family name after marriage and sacrifices his family identity. The Navajo woman is always well treated and occupies a position of dignity in the family — in fact, she is the head of the family. The line of family descent is maintained through her and the children belong to her clan and must take her family name. She perhaps does most of the work, but the Navajo husband is not so lazy as the men of most Indian tribes. He cares for the horses and burros, helps hoe the corn, and will often help his squaw tend the papoose. Polygamy is very common among the Navajos. Often a young Indian will marry the mother of several daughters, if she

NAVAJO MARRIAGE CUSTOMS 303

happens to be a widow. Then he will proceed to marry all the daughters of the family. In this way he avoids the "mother-in-law taboo" which forbids him to look his mother-in-law in the face. — The mother of the daughters is his wife not his mother-in-law and in marrying the daughters he becomes his own father-in-law. The number of wives a Navajo may take is limited only by his ability to supply enough presents in exchange for them and by his ability to provide for them. The regular marriage ceremony is performed only when he marries the first time. All additional wives are taken merely by common consent and without ceremony. Polyandry is not so common as polygamy, but there are au- thentic cases of Navajo women having several husbands. Women have the same privilege as men in marrying the brothers of their dead w ^ or divorced husbands. There are cases where a Navajo woman has married a whole family of brothers. l -*<>"? Divorce is common and is readily brought about without ceremony. The 1 3Jft_Mttfr»flttF husband and wife may separate at any time with, or without, mutual consent. 1 m T«T m |_-#- m. m. jm. jm. If a Navajo, upon approaching his ,

hogan, finds that his wife has piled his saddle, bridle, hunting parapher- nalia, and personal effects outside the hogan, before the entrance, it is a no- tification that she has decreed herself divorced from him and his honor will " • *^. "i '

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not allow him to violate her decree. A NAVAJO BLANKET His only recourse is to return to his The worr.an who wove tin's own clan. Later they may adjust their blanket of extraordinary design had been to the railroad, a hun- differences and remarry if they elect dred miles away from her hogan, and had seen a train which is a to do so. The man may take the in- part of the design. It is an ex- itiative in the divorce by simply taking tra large blanket such as would consume almost a year of an ex- his personal effects and going to his pert weaver's time in the mak- own or some other clan. This done, ing. the divorce is complete without the necessity of the divorce court holding a "matinee." A couple may separate and reunite at will, •as often as they please, without the interference of any Navajo law. Every Navajo woman is a thorough suffragette. Her voice in government and public affairs is equal to that of the man. It is she who determines where the hogan shall be built, where the sheep and goats shall be herded, when and where the corn shall be planted and what the household expenditures shall be. When the husband wishes money, wool, skins or blankets with which to buy ammunition, tobacco or trinkets, he must go to his squaw and

304 IMPROVEMENT ERA represent to her his needs. He is sometimes compelled to beg like a child for a little spending material. The women are usually able to enforce their decrees effec- tively. The story is told of a stratagem to which they once re- sorted in enforcing their will. The squaws of a small Navajo group wished to move their hogans from the path of floods, in an arroya, to the brow of a nearby mesa. The men demurred but the women were insistent and determined to move alone to the mesa, leaving the men behind. The stratagem was effective and

Photo by Brooks, Utah Arch. Expad. THE UTAH EXPEDITION Rushing over the quick-sands of the Chin Lee river, Arizona, after havine that stream. ° forded

the submission of the men was complete, for the women had occu- pied the mesa alone but a short time when the men left the arroya and followed their wives to their new home. Ownership of property is well defined in the Navajo family. The wife owns the hogan, the children, the sheep and goats, and the household goods. The man owns only the burros and horses. There are no property squabbles or alimony suits at the time of divorce. When her divorced husband has gone, the Navajo woman remains in possession of the hogan, the children, and her share of the property until an "affinity" comes along to woo her. The former husband goes to his own clan and lives with his rela- tives, or goes to some other clan in quest of another wife. Although

NAVAJO MARRIAGE CUSTOMS 305

the Navajo is virtuous in sentiment and strongly disapproves any form of social vice, divorce is often caused by infidelity as well as by interference of mischief-making relatives and others. Virginity and celibacy are not common. The Navajo glories in a large family, and infanticide, abortion and race suicide are almost unknown. A birth is a great event in a Navajo family and is attended with great ceremony in which the medicine man leads. They are great lovers of children and no task that min- isters to the needs of a child is considered drudgery or trivial. The birth of twins is considered a sign of special recognition by the gods. A voiceless birth is held to be a bad omen and the

Photo by Brooks, Utah Arch. Expcd.

A NAVAJO HOGAN Some of the homes of these people are only rude sheds covered with bark and earth. They are often unsanitary and afford but little comfort in winter. The en- trance always faces the east.

child is immediately killed by hanging it to a tree as a sacrifice to the displeased gods. A child prematurely born is disposed of in the same way to appease the anger of the gods evidenced by the premature birth. The death of a child or an adult is always fol- lowed by four days of mourning, and in either case the hogan in which the death occurred is considered chindee (haunted) and is forever abandoned. A new home must be built at a safe distance from the old. The Navajos have a splendid code of ethics, which has for its basis, however, the return of equivalents. They are true to

306 IMPROVEMENT ERA

friends but treacherous and cruel to enemies. Crimes are pun- sort of Mosaic notion of justice. ished according to a The home of the Navajo is in the scenic land of the Cliff Dwellers— a broad table-land of wide spaces, lofty mesas, deep canyons, sheer cliffs and tortuous arroyas. They have left the cliff dwellings of the country practically undisturbed, regarding them with a superstitious awe. One of their legends recites that 1

the cliff dwellings are the deserted homes of a great people who are now living in the "under world" as deities to the Navajos and whose descendants. the Navajos, in part, are. Such an environ- ment has, no doubt, been conducive to the sturdiness of character so general among the Navajos.

M. I. A. CLASS IN LEADERSHIP, SNOWFLAKE, ARIZ. A unique effort has been put forth at great expense by the General Boards Y. M. and Y. L. M. I. A. to aid in the training of young men and women for leadership in the young people's organizations of the Church. During the past four months, three-day sessions have been held in twenty of the Church Schools, conducted in the south by Dr. John I" Taylor and Miss Clarissa A. Beesley, and in the North by Oscar A. Kirkham and Mrs. Emily C. Adams. It is estimated that over 3,000 young men and women have taken this course in practical M. I. A. leadership in lesson, contest, and scout work, and in joint social activ- ities. The general feeling is that these courses have done more to arouse interest and enthusiasm in the officers than anything else here- tofore attempted; and that by these means thousands have awakened to the marvelous possibilities of our organization, which is bigger, more valuable and attractive than they had ever dreamed.