The Song of the Loom

"Singing to the Spider woman for inspiration,

Singing to pass the tedious hours,

Singing for the joy of creation; and

Singing of the beauty above and around her"

The Navajo believe the gift of weaving was taught to them by Spider Woman ,one of the Navajo Holy People.    She originally showed Changing Woman , another holy person ,with the condition that she  teach the Navajo.  Spider Man showed them how to make the loom and tools out of sacred Navajo stones, and shells as well as with the earth, sun , rain and sky themselves.  This important connection between earth and the elements is characteristic of the Navajo respect for the natural world.  It also demonstrates the significance of weaving within the Navajo religion.

Watching a Navajo weaver at work one cannot help but admire the dexterity of hand, sureness of eye, design and balance.  Singing often accompanies the weaving as the textile slowly emerges from the loom.

?You can tell if someone knows the Weaver?s song just by looking at their weaving, TianaBighorse, TubaCity.

Weaving is a relatively new craft for the Navajo people.  It is not known exactly when the Navajo people came to the southwest but most scholars estimate it is not more than 500 years ago.  They migrated south from an area around Alaska and were at that time a nomadic  hunting, farming and  gathering group who frequently raided the Pueblo people who were already established in the southwest living in cliff dwellings. Although the Navajo probably possessed a well developed knowledge of basketry, it is commonly  agreed  upon that they did not posess any significant textile skills.

Around the Pueblo revolt of 1680-92 there is evidence that the Navajo began to adopt the weaving skills of the Pueblos who already made clothing and rugs.  With the introduction f the Spanish Churro sheep as a source of wool for fiber and meat for food the Navajo quickly developed a herdsman and textile economy.

What is remarkable is how, in such a short time of development the Navajo not only perfected their style of weaving but also the use of dye plants and complicated geometric patterns which were transformed into blankets, saddle pads, clothing and rugs which were in great demand by traders and became an important part of the Navajo economy.  Today the women are still following the practice of weaving to supplement their family?s income and their rugs are highly sought after.

I have always wanted to study Navajo weaving and last summer I was able to participate in a weaving workshop through the TaosArtSchool held at the ranch of the Bizaholoni family in PinonArizona, situated in the Navajo reservation near Canyon de Chelly.

The women participating the program slept in a hogan, an octagonal domed shaped house,which  is used by the Navajos for a summer dwelling or ceremonial purposes.  We learned the art of Navajo weaving from Valencia  Bizahaloni whose family tradition of weaving goes back many generations.

The loom is first warped with strong wool warp because the warp threads are held at constant tension to insure evenness in the weaving.  The wool weft  is thicker and looser and becomes densely packed as the weaving progresses.   A Navajo woman is expected to make her own loom and weaving tools. She reveres them as spiritual implements.

?They say the tools and the stories are just like your head, or your ideas or your energy.  That?s why weavers are hesitant to loan them to people, because they get the power from you?,

Navajo weaver, TubaCity.

There are many traditions and customs associated with the weaving process and we learned from the female shaman who came to observe our class, to respect our materials, weave in an open beautiful place, and to think beautiful thoughts because they will become part of the weaving.

During a two day Blessing Way Ceremony performed by the Shaman ,our looms and tools were blessed .

"With beauty before me, it is woven,

With beauty behind me, it is woven,

With beauty behind me, it is woven

With beauty above me, it is woven

With beauty below me, it is woven

And in beauty, it is finished."

Although the technique of weaving was recently introduced to the Navajo, the process  of weaving  has been with humankind since the Neolithic.  It enabled people to discard heavy, smelly vermin infested pelt clothing for woven fabric.  Weaving developed  8,000 years ago along with agriculture that enabled villages to settle and grow fiber and raise animals for wool.  Although the earliest textiles don?t survive the ravages of time due to their perishibility, impressions of woven cloth on two clay balls from Jarmo, Iraq show weaving was highly developed early on.

The method is basic.  Numerous strong threads are measured to equal length and kept taut, held in a parallel manor by a frame or similar device.  These threads are known as the warp.  Next threads are crossed over and under horizontally  for one row and on the next row the weft threads cross under-over.    These threads are packed tightly as they are laid down creating woven fabric. This is known as plain weave.

One of the earliest looms developed, is the horizontal ground loom of Middle Kingdom Egypt and is still in use by the Bedouin women in the near east.  This loom consists of a wood frame holding the warp threads pegged on the ground.  A kneeling weaver passes a shuttle holding the weft threads inserted  through the warp over and under each thread across the loom to another weaver kneeling on the other side who in turn passes the shuttle back after completing the woven row by alternating under-over and laying the weft across the warp.

Another early loom type which spread across Europe and can be found in use by women in rural Scandinavia is the warp-weighted loom.  On this, the warp threads are suspended from a beam of wood and each warp thread is weighted by a stone or clay weight.  A single weaver then produces the cloth by weaving the weft across the warp and packing the woven threads upward.

In Europe, well into this century the women often sang or chanted ritual songs to set the rhythm of the endless repetetitive motions of handwork.  The slow droning chant also has the interesting cognitive effect of blunting the workers? awareness of aching muscles and of the length of time spent at the task.

Homer, for example depicts the lady Calypso working alone on her desert island,

"And she, singing indoors with a beautiful voice,

Wove at her loom, walking up and down with the golden bobbin."

Being, alone, Calypso had to provide her own entertainment too.

In Elizabeth W. Barber?s book,?Women?s work, the first 20,000 years?, she writes ,?In a charming scene on a Hallstatt urn, we see one woman spinning, another weaving at a great warp weighted loom, two others with their hands above their heads apparently dancing and a fifth holding a stringed instrument similar to a lyre?.

In South America and Mexico a backstrap loom is often seen in use with the weaver passing a belt behind her back which hold the warp threads on one end and ties it to a pole or tree on the other end.  The weaver sits or kneels and uses her body to provide the necessary warp tension.  She then passes the shuttle back and forth in front of her and winds the finished material around a wood stick until the length of fabric is fully woven.

Most of us are more familiar with the table or floor loom which is in use by contemporary handweavers .  This is a frame which  holds the warp tightly by winding it around a back beam and around a front beam after it is woven.