Construction

At the center of the Navajo world is their shelter, the hogan. The ancient hogan, known as the "forked stick hogan" was a conical hut constructed of three forked poles covered with logs, brush and mud. Called the "male" hogan by the Navajos, examples of this dwelling can still occasionally be found in the western part of the reservation. More common today is the "female" hogan, a circular or six-sided dwelling constructed of logs or stone, with a doorway facing east and a smoke hole in the center of the roof. The dome-shaped roof is formed of cribbed logs covered with dirt. The fire is placed on the hardpacked dirt floor beneath the smoke hole and a flap or hinged door covers the doorway. Traditionally the hogan lacked windows and was ventilated by the smoke hole in the roof and the east-facing doorway.

Not quite a Home as we know it.

The Navajo hogan is more than just a place to eat and sleep and the concept of it as a "home" bears little resemblance to a white person's attitude toward his dwelling place. The hogan is a gift of the gods and as such it occupies a place in the sacred world. The first hogans were built by the Holy People of turqoise, white shell, jet, and abalone shell. The round hogan is symbolic of the sun and it's door faces east so that the first thing that a Navajo family sees in the morning is the rising sun... Father Sun, one of the most revered of the Navajo deities. The construction of a new hogan is almost always a community affair. Once completed, the new hogan is consecrated with a Blessing Way rite whereby the Holy People are asked to "let this place be happy."

Within

The positions of persons and objects within the hogan are prescribed in the lengends: the south side of the hogan "belongs" to the women, the north to the men. The male head of the family, and any distinguished visitors, sits on the west side facing the doorway. The placement of all persons and seating arrangements during ceremonials or other important events are prescribed in considerable detail.

Many Hogans

Whites from a society where each family dwells in one house automatically presume the same is true of the Navajos and are amazed that an entire Navajo family can exist in a single hogan that might measure twenty-five square feet. Actually most Navajo families don't live in a single hogan. Within the main hogan goods have a fixed disposal, which utilizes all availabe space to the maximum extent. Seldon-used goods, such as spices, herbs, off-season clothing and guns are stored away in the rafter or suspended against a wall by thongs or nails. Bedding, reserve clothing, jewelry and other personal items are stored away in trunks which are staked against the walls where the roof is lowest. Pots, pans and other utensils are stacked near the central fire or put into boxes attached to the walls as are food-stuffs such as flour, sugar and coffee.

Supplementary hogans are used for storage, and as a place where the women may weave undisturbed or sew when the weather prohibits such activity from being done outside. Older children and visitors are usually housed in secondary hogans near the main shelter. When weather permits the area around the hogan, usually swept clean and shaded by a brush roof, is used as a summer living room. Then most cooking and other chores are done outside including weaving. In the summer most if not all the family eats and sleeps outdoors.

If a hogan is struck by lightning it is considered chindi -bewitched-and is deserted. It is also deserted if a death occurs within and the body is removed through a hole broken in the north wall-the direction of evil.

Hogans today (or at least prior to or around 1992 when this book was published)

Nowadays not only do most hogans have windows but they may also contain stoves, chimneys, beds and even a refrigerator and television set. Additionally, white prototype houses of wood or stone and even mobile homes are common on the reservation now, but families that live in such dwellings also often construct a hogan nearby. Many of The People have retained their native religion and Navajo ceremonies can be conducted only in a hogan. Families that own white-type dwellings use them for beds, tables, stoves and other accounterments of white society but still utilize the hogan which is warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer than their white counterparts. The hogan is also easier to keep clean in the desert climate.