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The Navajo Hogan
The First Hogan
The first Hogan was built in the underworld by the
Holy People. According to Navajo legend, Talking God (Háásch elt í)
instructed First Man and First Woman on how to construct and build
it.
The first Hogan was the "forked stick" or "male"
Hogan (ách í ádeez áhí). It contained a vestibule in the front and
was only for sacred ceremonies inside.
The Holy Gods were aware of the needs for the
family, so the "circular," "round," or "female" Hogan (tsé
beehooganí) became the home for the Diné people and it was built
next. This Hogan was much larger and did not contain a vestibule. In
it, the children were allowed to play and cry and the women would
cook, weave, talk, and entertain. Here too, children were born and
men could tell jokes and stories.
The First People were instructed to bless their
Hogans before they lived in them and Talking God performed the first
blessing. After a Hogan is completed and before it is occupied, it
is blessed by cornmeal or corn pollen to the cardinal points. The
blessing makes the Hogan strong and protects the family spiritually,
physically, and mentally. A blessing is done by touching the four
main posts and then strewing the cornmeal or corn pollen around the
inside of the Hogan in a clockwise direction.
The Hogan Today
Many tourists who visit the Navajo country are
unaware that the Navajo dwelling, or Hogan, plays a significant role
in the religious as well as the secular life of the people.
The Navajos have two words which they apply to
dwellings, kin, which means a "house" as usually understood by
non-Navajos, and Hooghan, which refers to the traditional type of
Navajo home. Though Navajos apply the word in to the prehistoric
structures of the ancient Pueblo Indians, use of the square or
rectangular type house among the Navajos is comparatively of recent
date.
The earliest and traditional type of the Navajo
Hogan, or Hooghan, which is still in use today throughout the
reservation, is the forked-pole structure. Many remains of these
have been located and recorded throughout the Navajo country and
especially in northeastern New Mexico, which was once a part of the
in ' h or "Old Navajo Country." Built according to prescribed
traditions and religious observances, the basic framework of the
traditional - and, as the Navajos consider it, the male Hogan is
usually three forked poles, the bases of which are set in the ground
at the north, south, and west cardinal directions of a circle with
the forked ends interlocked at the top to brace them in place. Two
poles were laid up against the interlocked forks from the east, or
the "first light of dawn," form the entryway. After poles to fill
the openings between the main forks and the entry are set in place,
the structure is covered with earth except for the entry and smoke
hole, a vestibule, or extension of the entry, sometimes is added to
the structure. Formerly a blanket was used to cover the entry, but
more recently doors made of plank serve this purpose except when a
ceremony is being held.
A second type of Hogan most prevalent among the
Navajos is the cribbed-log - or female - type. Like the forked-pole
Hogan, these structures are today seen in all parts of the
reservation. The basic structure is built by placing succeeding
layers of logs or pole horizontally upon the other to form a
circular building--leaving an opening for the entry, of course. At a
suitable height, smaller logs are used and the circumference is
diminished gradually until a domed effect is achieved. The entire
structure, except for the smoke hole and entry, is then covered with
earth to seal all cracks and openings.
Aside from the forked-pole and cribbed-log
structures, other Hogan types in use among the Navajo, which can be
observed in various areas of the reservation, include the
stone-walled with cribbed-log roof type and the vertical pole type
in which a framework of four upright forks with horizontal stringers
in between them support a wall of poles laid vertically against the
frame. The roof is also a domed construction, and the structure is
also earth covered. The dugout type is another which, as the name
implies, is excavated, usually into the side of a hill, the exposed
portion being built either of stone or wood according to the
preferences of the builder.
Hearths in Navajo Hogans are characteristically
located a little front of center and ashes are disposed of on a pile
northeast of and some distance from the Hogan entry.
Though tradition prescribes that the building of a
Hogan be in accordance with strict religious observances, today many
of these are ignored. Nevertheless, structures erected today are
basically the same as those built in former times and known only
through archaeological research.
Before a new Hogan is occupied it is usually
blessed either by strewing pollen along the cardinal points or by
having a formal ceremony performed. All Navajo ceremonies and sings
for curing the sick are conducted in Hogans, and any rite or
ceremony performed in the Hogan automatically sanctifies it. Even if
the family occupies a frame house, there is usually a Hogan--either
their own, or that of a relative--reserved for such purpose.
So great is the Navajo's feeling towards the Hogan
that many taboos are associated with it. Should a death occur in the
structure, the body is either buried in the Hogan, the entry sealed
to warn other Navajos away, or the deceased is extracted through a
hole knocked in the north side of the structure and it is abandoned
and often burned. Other things which render a Hogan taboo for
further Navajo use are lightning striking in close proximity to the
structure, or should a bear rub against it. Wood from such
structures is never used for any purpose by a Navajo.
Before the acquisition of adequate tools such as
metal axes for felling larger timbers easily, Navajo hogans were
smaller than they are now. Similarly, furnishings in former days
were scant compared to those today. In large hogans at present one
may see beds, tables, always a stove, possibly a few chairs, and
occasionally even windows. Formerly, and in some instances today,
the occupants slept on sheepskins on the earthen floor, lying with
their heads to the wall and their feet to the fire, and custom still
dictates that upon entering the Hogan, women go to the right, or the
north side where the kitchen supplies and utensils are maintained,
and the men go to the left or south side. The rear of the Hogan is
the place of honor and is usually reserved for the patriarch or
matriarch of the family. In a sense, this method is actually a
partitioning of the Hogan into separate rooms.
Today, as formerly, one may observe a Navajo home
site consisting of several Hogans with such
numerous--associated structures as corrals, lamb pens, armadas or
sun shelters, outdoor ovens, and a sweathouse some distance away. It
was not uncommon for a man to have several wives, often marrying a
widow and later taking one or more of his stepdaughters or his
wife's sisters also as wives. Each wife, or course, maintained her
own separate Hogan.
The Navajos have always been fond of sweat bathing
and the sweathouse in actuality is nothing more than a miniature
forked-pole Hogan also earth covered, and without a smoke hole. The
entry is covered with a blanket and heat is derived from stones
heated in an outside fire and pushed inside into a small pit just to
the north of the entry. The Navajo sudatory provides bath facilities
in an area where water is extremely scarce.
Types of Hogans
- Forked Pole Hogan
- Four Legged Round Hogan
- Sweat Lodge
- Many-Legged Hogan
- Circular Stone Hogan
- Log Cabin Hogan
- Modern House
- Summer Shelter
Types of Hogans, 1-4
Types of Hogans, 5-8
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