What a marvelous art is that of weaving, and how much the human race of today owes to the patient endeavors of the "little brown woman" of the past for the perfection to which she brought this,--one of the most primitive of the arts.
Blanketry was a necessary outcome of basketry. The use of flexible twigs for baskets readily suggested the use of pliable fibres for textiles; and there is little question that almost simultaneously with the first rude baskets the first textile fabrics made their appearance.
Whence the art had its origin we do not know. But it is a matter of record that in this country, three hundred and fifty years ago, when the Spanish first came into what is now United States territory, they found the art of weaving in a well advanced stage among the domestic and sedentary Pueblo Indians, and the wild and nomadic Navahos. Scientists who have given the question careful study, hold that the cotton of these blankets was grown by these Arizona Indians from time immemorial, and they also used the tough fibres of the yucca and agave leaves and the hairs of various wild animals, either separately or with the cotton. Their processes of weaving were exactly the same then as they are today, there being but slight difference between the methods followed before the advent of the whites and afterward. Hence, in a study of the Indian blanket, as it is made today, we are approximately nearly to the pure aboriginal method of pre-Columbian times.
Archeologists and ethnologists generally assume that the art of weaving on the loom was learned by the Navahos from their Pueblo neighbors. All the facts in the case seem to bear out this supposition. Yet, as is well known, the Navahos are a part of the great Athabascan family, which has scattered, by separate migrations, from Alaska into California, Arizona and New Mexico. Many of the Alaskans are good weavers, and according to Navaho traditions, their ancestors, when they came into the country, wore blankets that were made of cedar bark and yucca fibre. Even in the Alaska (Thlinket) blankets, made today of the wool of the white mountain goat, cedar bark is twisted in with the wool of the warp. Why, then, should not the Navaho woman have brought the art of weaving, possibly in a very primitive stage, from her original Alaskan home? That her art, however, has been improved by her contact with the Pueblo and other Indians, there can be no question, and, if she had a crude loom, it was speedily replaced by the one so long used by the Pueblo. Where the Pueblo weaver gained her loom we do not know, whether from the tribes of the South or by her own invention. But in all practical ways the primitive loom was as complete and perfect at the time of the Spanish conquest as it is today.
Any loom, to be complete, must possess certain qualifications. As Dr. Mason has well said: "In any style of mechanical weaving, however simple or complex, even in darning, the following operations are performed: First, raising and lowering alternately different sets of warp filaments to form the 'sheds'; second, throwing the shuttle, or performing some operation that amounts to the same thing; third, after inserting the weft thread, driving it home, and adjusting it by means of the batten, be it the needle, the finger, the shuttle or a separate device."
Indian looms are made of four poles cut from trees that line the nearest stream or grow in the mountain forests. Two of these poles are forked for uprights, and the cross beams are lashed to them above and below. Sometimes the lower beam is dispensed with and wooden pegs driven into the earth instead. The warp is then arranged on beams lashed to the top and bottom of the frame by means of a rawhide or horse-hair riata. Our Western word lariat is merely a corruption of lariata. Thus the warp is made tight and is ready for the nimble fingers of the weaver. Her shuttles are pieces of smooth, round sticks upon the ends of which she winds yarn. Small balls of yarn are frequently made to serve this purpose. By her side is a crude wooden comb with which she strikes a few stitches into place. When she wishes to wedge the yarn for a complete row--from side to side--she uses a flat brstick, one edge of which is sharpened almost to knife-like keenness. This is called the "batten." With the design in her brain her busy and skilful fingers produce the pattern as she desires it, there being no sketch from which she may copy. In weaving a blanket of intricate pattern and many colors the weaver finds it easier to open the few warp threads needed with her fingers and then thrust between them the small balls of yarn, rather than bother with a shuttle, no matter how simple.
Before blankets can be made the wool must be cut from the sheep, cleaned, carded, spun and dyed. It is one of the interesting sights of the southwest region to see a flock of sheep and goats running together, watched over, perhaps, by a lad of ten or a dozen years, or by a woman who is ultimately to weave the fleeces they carry into substantial blankets. After the fleece has been sheared, the Navaho woman proceeds to wash it. Then it is combed with hand cards,--small flat implements with wire teeth, purchased from the traders. (These and the shears are the only modern implements used.) The dyeing is often done before the spinning but generally after. The spindle used is merely a slender stick thrust through a circular disc of wood. In spite of the fact that the Navahos have seen the spinning wheels in use by the Mexicans and Mormons, they have never cared either to make or adopt them. Their conservatism preserves the ancient, slow and laborious method. The Navahos live on a reservation which covers several hundred square miles, extending along the northern borders of New Mexico and Arizona where few travelers go. They do not live in villages or settlements and their homes are so scattered that one may travel a whole day without finding a woman at work with her loom. Day after day, however, one may see the carding, spinning and weaving processes in the Hopi House at El Tovar, where a little colony of Navahos is maintained.
Holding the spindle in the right hand, the point of the short end below the balancing disc resting on the ground and the long end on her knee, the spinner attaches the end of her staple close to the disc and then gives the spindle a rapid twirl. As it revolves she holds the yarn out so that it twists. As it tightens sufficiently she allows it to wrap on the spindle and repeats the operation until the spindle is full. The spinning is done loosely or tightly, according to the fineness of the weave required in the blanket.
The quality and value of a Navaho blanket is governed largely by the fineness of the weave. The yarn in some of the cheaper qualities now made is often coarse and loosely spun, and the warp, or chain, which has much to do with the life of a blanket, may be improperly spun and of uneven strength. A blanket of a given size may be made in two weeks, or in four, or in two months, according to the quality of the work and the skill of the weaver. Next in importance to the fineness of the weave is the proper blending of colors. Though a woman may have the highest skill in her primitive art, she must take time to study out the color scheme for her blanket. These are the principal factors, but there are others which enter into the making of a blanket, and the finer the product of the loom the more difficult the work becomes.
There are still a limited number of very fine blankets made. The number is governed largely by the demand.
In the original or natural colors there are white, brown, gray and black; the latter rather a grayish black, or better salt, as Mathews describes it, "rusty." Many of the best blankets now produced are of these natural colors, with sometimes a touch of red.
There are certain Navaho blankets much sought after by the collector, especially those rare old specimens made of purely native dye, the colors of which have softened into harmonious tones. These have not been made for many years past and most of the specimens in perfect state of preservation that are in existence were obtained from Mexican families where they had been handed down from generation to generation as heirlooms. Often in these old specimens the red figures were made of bayeta. As Mason says: "The word 'bayeta' is nothing but the simple Spanish for the English 'baize' and is spelled 'bayeta' and not 'ballets' or 'valets.'" Formerly bayeta was a regular article of commerce. It was generally sold by the rod and not by the pound. Now, however, the duty is so high that its importation is practically prohibited.
This bayeta or baize was unravelled and the Indian woman often retwisted the warp to make it firmer. She then rewove it into her incomparable blankets.
From the earliest days the Navahos have been expert dyers, their colors being black, brick-red, russet, blue, yellow, and a greenish yellow akin to an old gold shade.
There is abundant evidence that they formerly had a blue dye, but indigo, originally introduced probably by the Mexicans, has superceded this. If in former days they had a native blue or yellow they must of necessity have had a green. They now make green of their native yellow and indigo, the latter being the only imported dye stuff in use among them.
To make the black dye three ingredients were used: yellow ochre, pinion gum and the leaves and twigs of the aromatic sumac (thus aromatics). The ochre is pulverized and roasted until it becomes a light brown, when it is removed from the fire and mixed with an equal quantity of pinion gum. This mixture is then placed on the fire and as the roasting continues it first becomes mushy, then darker as it dries until nothing but a fine black powder remains. This powder is called "keyh-batch." In the meantime the sumac leaves and twigs are being boiled. Five or six hours are required to fully extract the juices. When both are cooled they are mixed and immediately a rich, bluish-black fluid called "ele-gee-batch" is formed.
For yellow dye the tops of a flowering weed (Bigelovia graveolens) are boiled for hours until the liquid assumes a deep yellow color. As soon as the extraction of color juices is complete the dyer takes some native alum (almogen) and heats it over the fire. When it becomes pasty she generally adds it to the boiling concoction, which slowly becomes of the required yellow color,--"kayel-soly-batch."
The brick red dye, "says-tozzie-batch," is extracted from the bark and the roots of the sumac, and ground alder bark, with the ashes of the juniper as a mordant. She now immerses the wool and allows it to remain in the dye for half an hour or an hour.
Whence come the designs incorporated by these simple weavers into their blankets, sashes and dresses? In this as in basketry and pottery, the answer is found in nature. Many of their textile designs suggest a derivation from basketry ornamentation, which originally came from nature. The angular, curveless figures of interlying plaits predominate and the principal subjects are the same--conventional devices representing clouds, stars, lightning, the rainbow, and emblems of the deities. These simple forms are produced in endless combination and often in brilliant, kaleidoscopic grouping, sometimes representing breffects of scarlet, black, green, yellow, and blue upon scarlet, and the wide ranges of color skilfully blended upon a ground of white. The centre of the fabric is frequently occupied with tessellated or lozenge patterns of multicolored sides; or divided into panels of contrasting colors, in which different designs appear. Some display symmetric zigzags, converging and spreading throughout their length. In others bands of high color are defined by zones of neutral tints, or parted by thin, bright lines into a checkered mosaic. In many only the most subdued shades appear. Fine effects are obtained by using a short gray wool in its natural state, to form the body of the fabric in solid color, upon which figures in black, white and red are introduced. Sometimes blankets are woven in narrow stripes of black and deep blue with borders relieved in tinted meanders along the sides and ends, or a central figure in the dark body with the design repeated in a diagonal panel at each corner.
The greatest charm of these primitive fabrics is the unrestrained freedom of the weaver in her treatment of primitive conventions. To the checkered emblem of the rainbow she adds sweeping rays of color, typifying sunbeams. Below the many angled cloud group she inserts random pencil lines of rain; or she often softens the rigid lines signifying lightning, with graceful interlacing and shaded tints. Not confining herself alone to these traditional devices, she often creates realistic figures of common objects such as her grass brush, wooden weaving fork, a stalk of corn, a bow, an arrow or a plume of feathers from a dancer's mask. Although the same characteristic styles of weaving and decoration are general, none of the larger designs are ever reproduced with exactness. Every fabric carries some distinct variation or suggestion of the occasion of its making.
Among the Navahos the women invariably do the weaving though in the past a few men were experts in the art. Among the Pueblo Indians the men perform this work. The products of the Pueblo looms are readily distinguishable from those of the Navahos, the latter having far out-distanced the Pueblos in the excellence of their work. Only among the Hopi, are blankets made that in any way resemble the work of the Navahos. Generally a Hopi man weaver can be found at work in the Hopi House, as well as Navaho women weavers.
The Hopi to this day preserve the custom of wearing a bridal costume completely woven out of cotton. After the wedding breakfast the groom's father "takes some native cotton and, running through the village, distributes it among the relations and friends of the family. They pick the seeds from the cotton and return it. A few days later a crier announces from the roof of a house that on a certain day the cotton for the bridal costume will be spun in the kivas." Here the friends assemble and "the rasping of the carding combs and the buzzing of the primitive spindles" are heard accompanied by singing, joking and laughing of the crowd. This cotton is then woven either by the bridegroom or his father or other male relation, into square blankets, one measuring about 60 by 72 inches, the other about 50 by 60 inches, also a sash with long knotted fringes at each end. When woven they are given a coating of wet kaolin, which adds to their whiteness.
This preparation of garments often takes several weeks, during which time the young married couple reside at the home of the groom's parents. Now the bride, with considerable simple ceremony, walks with one of the robes on, and the other in a reed wrapper, to her mother's house where, unless her husband has prepared a separate home for them, they continue to reside. In the Field Columbian Museum, Chicago, is a fine model showing the young bride wearing her new garment, going to her mother's home.
In their ceremonial dances, the Hopi women wear cotton blankets, highly embroidered at the sides and edges with red, green, and black wool. Fine specimens may be found in the Hopi House. Similar to these in style, though long and narrow in shape, are the ceremonial kilts or sashes of the men. In pictures showing the march of the Antelope Priests during the Hopi Snake Dance these beautiful sashes are well depicted.
In addition to the products of the vertical loom, the Navaho and Pueblo women weave a variety of smaller articles all of which are remarkable for their strength, durability and striking designs.
In weaving sashes, belts, hair bands, garters, etc., the weaver uses a "heddle frame" similar to those found in Europe and New England. None of these have been found in places that assure us of their use before the Spanish occupation, so we conclude that they were introduced by the conquistadores or the early colonists about 350 years ago.
The Thlinkets of Alaska, also, are good weavers. In the Fred Harvey collection in the Hopi House, El Tovar, and Albuquerque, the United States National Museum and the Museum of Princeton University, fine collections of their work are to be seen. These collections generally consist of cape and body blankets made of the wool of the white mountain-goat. The colors are white, black, blue and yellow. The black is a rich sepia, obtained from the devil-fish; the blue and yellow colors coming from two barks grown in the Alexandrian archipelago. The white is the native color and the fringe of both cape and blanket is undyed. To strengthen and give solidity to the garment, the fibrous bark of the yellow root is twisted into the warp.
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