Thursday, 5 January 2012

Patterns...Native American Indian

-Navajo, Hopi, Pueblo and Zuni are all tribes from the Native Americans and they all have a style of design and pattern.

-The descriptions and definitions that are used to talk about the patterns have come from traditional stories.

-The Iroquois, living around the Great Lakes and extending east and north, used strings or belts called wampum that served a dual function: the knots and beaded designs mnemonically chronicled tribal stories and legends, and further served as a medium of exchange and a unit of measure. The keepers of the articles were seen as tribal dignitaries.

 -Pueblo peoples crafted impressive items associated with their religious ceremonies.

-Kachina dancers wore elaborately painted and decorated masks as they ritually impersonated various ancestral spirits.

 -Navajo spirituality focused on the maintenance of a harmonious relationship with the spirit world, often achieved by ceremonial acts, usually incorporating sandpainting. The colors—made from sand, charcoal, cornmeal, and pollen—depicted specific spirits. These vivid, intricate, and colorful sand creations were erased at the end of the ceremony.

-Navajo came to the southwest with their own weaving traditions; however, they learned to weave cotton on upright looms from Pueblo peoples.

-Today Navajo weaving is a fine art, and weavers opt to work with natural or commercial dyes and traditional, pictorial, or a wide range of geometric designs.

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