Writing and Art by Navajo Children
In 1989 Stone Soup devoted an entire issue to writing and art by Navajo children. Now we are pleased to share this very special Navajo writing and art with our Web visitors. We hope you’ll enjoy it!
In many ways, Navajo children are like all children—they love their grandparents and their pets, they have squabbles with their friends, they watch TV. But in some ways Navajo children are different. The Navajos have preserved many of the traditions of their ancestors. For example, when someone gets sick or has a problem, friends and family may gather in a hogan for a ceremony with a medicine man. Many Navajos herd sheep, just as their ancestors did, and they practice traditional crafts, such as rug weaving. Most Navajos speak both English and Navajo.
With two hundred thousand people in three different states (New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah), the Navajos make up the largest single group of Native Americans living in the United States today. Yet most people know very little about them and their culture. We hope that you will learn something about the Navajo people and what is important to them when you explore this section of our Web site, and that your life will be a little richer for it.
Stories
When My Brother Got in a Fight
Special thanks to Mary Janeen and Martha Janette Dorsett (twin sisters), who taught at Chuska Boarding School, Bureau of Indian Affairs, in Tohatchi, New Mexico. Special thanks also to teacher/photographer Bruce Hucko of the Artists in Education Program, sponsored by the Utah Art Council.