NAVAJO HOOGHAN
Traditional Navajo hogans are common on the Navajo reservation today, where they are often built next to modern Navajo homes and used for rituals and ceremonies.
Order and balance within nature are of preeminent concern for Navajo people and enable one to live in hozho*, a state of harmony, peace, and prosperity.
Navajo beliefs about the cosmos are oriented to the cardinal directions and marked in Navajo society by four sacred mountains. Each direction holds different kinds of knowledge, and tasks of daily life are related to the directions because of the forms of knowledge held there.
Hogans are expressions of Navajo cosmology and symbols of the Navajo universe. They are made of four strong posts that represent the sacred peaks and a beam overhead representing the heavens.
Navajos believe that all aspects of the universe are both feminine and masculine, and this is true of the traditional house as well. If you are male, your left side is male and your right side is female; if you are female, your left side is female and your right side is male. In the hogan, as you are facing east, the left or north side is male, and the right or south side is female. The way one lives and behaves inside a hogan is a disciplined expression and practice of Navajo belief and religion.
Traditional Navajo hogans are common on the Navajo reservation today, where they are often built next to modern Navajo homes and used for rituals and ceremonies.
Order and balance within nature are of preeminent concern for Navajo people and enable one to live in hozho, a state of harmony, peace, and prosperity.
Navajo beliefs about the cosmos are oriented to the cardinal directions and marked in Navajo society by four sacred mountains. Each direction holds different kinds of knowledge, and tasks of daily life are related to the directions because of the forms of knowledge held there.
Hogans are expressions of Navajo cosmology and symbols of the Navajo universe. They are made of four strong posts that represent the sacred peaks and a beam overhead representing the heavens.
Navajos believe that all aspects of the universe are both feminine and masculine, and this is true of the traditional house as well. If you are male, your left side is male and your right side is female; if you are female, your left side is female and your right side is male. In the hogan, as you are facing east, the left or north side is male, and the right or south side is female. The way one lives and behaves inside a hogan is a disciplined expression and practice of Navajo belief and religion.
Order and balance within nature are of preeminent concern for Navajo people and enable one to live in hozho, a state of harmony, peace, and prosperity.
Navajo beliefs about the cosmos are oriented to the cardinal directions and marked in Navajo society by four sacred mountains. Each direction holds different kinds of knowledge, and tasks of daily life are related to the directions because of the forms of knowledge held there.
Hogans are expressions of Navajo cosmology and symbols of the Navajo universe. They are made of four strong posts that represent the sacred peaks and a beam overhead representing the heavens.
Navajos believe that all aspects of the universe are both feminine and masculine, and this is true of the traditional house as well. If you are male, your left side is male and your right side is female; if you are female, your left side is female and your right side is male. In the hogan, as you are facing east, the left or north side is male, and the right or south side is female. The way one lives and behaves inside a hogan is a disciplined expression and practice of Navajo belief and religion.
