Navajo is the largest tribe of North American Indians. 

Over 1,000 years ago they began to travel south and reached the southwestern United States.  They met farmers who are known as Pueblo Indians, and the Navajo began to settle near them and learn from

them. 

The Navajo Indians lived in homes called hogans.  They are made from wooden poles, tree bark, and

mud.  The doorway opened to the east so they could welcome the sun.

A sand-painting for a ceremony is made on the ground in the ceremonial hogan (Navajo home) and destroyed at the end of the ritual. In order to preserve this long-standing tradition, in the late 1940's Navajos began to create permanent sand-paintings, changing the design slightly to protect the religious significance when these paintings were shown publicly. Pictorial sand-paintings which reflect the Navajo environment and lifestyle are also made.

 

The Navajo word for sand-paintings means "place where the gods come and go."