The Navajo code talkers took part in every assault the U.S. Marines conducted in the Pacific on Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Peleiu, and Iwo Jima from 1942 to 1945. They served in all six Marine divisions, Marine parachute units and Marine Raider battalions, transmitting important messages by radio and telephone in their native language—a code that the Japanese never broke during the war.…
Some of you may not know about the Navajo Code Talkers, so I’m going to tell you a little bit about them. The Code Talkers are arguably the most important part of the U.S.’s army during World War II. For starters, the Code Talkers weren’t white men. They were actually indians who lived normal lives. The Code Talkers weren’t all…
Navajo Indians were enlisted to convey top secret communications for the U.S. Marines after the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. Known as Navajo Code Talkers, these young men created an oral cryptogram the enemy was unable to decipher, fulfilling a vital role during World War II and saving an innumerable amount lives. For the American Armed Forces, communications, which had always been a multifarious issue, had now become a bewildering burden. Japanese cryptographers were proving themselves amazingly capable of breaking top secret military codes almost as quickly as newer, more intricate procedures could be made. Many of the Japanese code breakers had been schooled in the United States where they had learned to speak English and had become familiar with the American way of life. Knowing the language and slang terms meant that the Japanese knew every possible code the Americans could come up with, and therefore the Americans sought a…
The Navajo’s land was very precious. They lived in a huge expanse of land. They lived in large chunks of Utah and Arizona. They also inhabited small parts of Colorado and New Mexico. They had a similar climate all year around. The climate was arid to semi-arid. They had very hot summers and very cold winters. The annual precipitation for most of their land was less than 10 inches of rain. The average temperature range was 40 degrees Fahrenheit to 55 degrees Fahrenheit. They also had natural resources. They had coal, uranium, oil, natural gas, minerals, petroleum, agriculture, and herbs.…
The world on the Navajo Reservation is more corrupt than then past life of early generations. I would like to encourage our language to the youth, in order to save our traditions along with culture. In Navajo, the concept of peace is culture dependent, also situation . Independently to encourage the definition of peace within the Navajo Language that has three elements: Ach'i'hozho (all is well toward oneself), K'e (the establishment of family and clan relationships), Hodeezyeel (serenity or calm). Ach'i'hozho, K'e, Hodeezyeel are what a person is to strive for on a daily basis, where the process involves a balancing of kindness as well as empathy on one hand, including teachings on the other. Ach'i'hozho means a gift from elders; relates…
The Navajo people, otherwise known as the Diné, have many specific customs and rituals oriented around the natural evolution of death. The Navajo explained this natural occurrence by creating stories that described the death of the living. When one of the Navajo people die, the living adhere to very strict guidelines pertaining to the treatment of the body. Some of these rules stem from the Navajo’s fear that the dead will come back to haunt them. The Navajo follow these customs not only because they are afraid of the consequences if they do not, but because it shows their respect to the deceased.…
The way the Owens valley Paiute Indian’s farmed and gathered food was often very advanced. They were often called cliff dwellers and where taught to harvest corn which was a major crop and was preserved a lot in the Owens valley Paiute Indian’s culture. They also where hunter gatherers and they picked berries, nuts and cactuses and many other things. They also sometimes preserved dried up fruits and stuff to make necklaces while the men hunted and many men and boys died.…
The Navajo of the Southwestern U.S. are the largest Indian Reservation and most recognized tribe in all of the United States of America. It was based on the Navajo Language, one of the hardest languages to learn. Children who lived on the Reservation were not allowed to speak their own language at school but even that didn't stop them; they always used it at home or any other place but if children were caught speaking any other language besides English, they had their mouths washed out with soap. Disobeying this rule came in handy though when the Marine Corps came looking for recruits to volunteer as "code talkers". They created Navajo words for English Military Terms. The Code consisted of 411 terms. Helping…
Women in the Iroquois community had a number of social roles, these roles include, being political participates. The clan mothers are the conscience of the clan chiefs, in other words the women directed the chiefs in making important decisions for the clan. Another role that women have in the confederacy is to be a clan mother. A clan mother is a female Iroquois that takes care of the longhouse and owns it too, her jobs are to choose Iroquois men to be chiefs and represent their clan, and if the mother decides that the man is not doing his job, she has the authority to remove him from his place. Some other responsibilities of the clan mother is to clean and care for the longhouse, prepare food for the family, and take care of the children. They also make household items. If a member of the family does not do what was told by the mother or go against her word, the clan mother can refuse to provide food for them. One off the important jobs of a woman in the Iroquois community is to teach their daughters how to cook, clean and do whatever a female in the society was supposed to know and do. For example, a clan mother has to teach her daughter…
This can be seen by looking at the diagram at the Arizona State Museum showing the Apaches’ annual subsistence cycle that included farming, hunting, raiding, and gathering. The cycles were very important for the Apache to sustain themselves. The Apache believed that this knowledge came from the Mountain Spirit People know as the Gaan. The Gaan were the ones that had knowledge of the plants and animals of the mountain and they shared this knowledge to the Apache. The Apache have a great understanding of the cycles that take place in their homeland and it creates a strong relationship between them and nature.…
Kinaaldas honor Navajo ancestors and traditions. Since Kinaaldas are ancient traditions it is a point of honor to celebrate and participate in a Kinaalda. The continuance of traditions is vital in Navajo culture especially as more Navajo people live contemporary lives. It is important for Navajo people to continue their traditions in order to preserve them for future generations as well as obey the Holy People. Ellie Crystal writes about the importance of ceremonies in her article Navajo Religion and Ceremonies, “The Navajo culture is kept alive through ceremony. There are many ceremonies for different things. The ceremonies were given by the Holy ones. Through these ceremonies, the important lessons are taught to help preserve us as a people, the ceremony teaches about history and responsibilities as a human being inside the universe and the Navajo's place in it. They teach about this world, and how one can also help with this world. It also teaches patience.”(par.…
The Navajo coming of age ceremony is the celebration in the southwest region, of a girl undergoing puberty where she is no longer a girl but a woman. The ceremony includes a song sung by the medicine man to mark the change in the girl’s status from girl to woman. After the singing is done, she runs east and she is escorted by a few men whose purpose is to keep the evil spirit away. The Southwest is not the only tribe that holds ceremonies but the region of California also holds ceremonies as such Flower Girl which has a similar meaning behind the ceremony, but not necessarily the same ritual. The other ceremony is the Navajo wedding ceremony which is quite an unique ceremony because it is a custom in the Navajo culture where the groom gets married into the brides household which is different in the case of the of the American tradition. It is said that the woman’s family gets a son instead of losing a daughter which is the opposite in many different traditions. The groom gives up his family in order to adopt his bride’s family and relative. Whenever the groom travels, he seeks shelter in the household of his bride’s relatives rather than his own (Southwest Navajo Indians). Thus, ceremonies did give importance to women in tribal…
First and foremost, the Iroquois use allusions to Native American tradition gender roles in order to teach the younger generation how to be proper Iroquois husband and wives. For instance, the Iroquois warns that if young girls have curiosity or nag their husbands, they will get summarily pushed out of their protective society just so quickly as the “husband fed up with all [the demands] [his wife] has made on him, pushed her.” These allusions create substantial fear in the younger generation, enough to educate and change behavior.…
After the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor during World War II Japan had the upper hand on the US. Japan was easily able to decode and intercept military messages, until February 1942; Philip Johnston, a civilian engineer and World War I veteran came up with the idea to use the Navajo language as their code. These “wind talkers” played a vital role in winning the Pacific war (Conner 2002). This concept was used before in the first world war. The Native American tribe, Choctwa, served as code talkers. Johnston believed that the Navajo language fulfilled the military requirement for an undecipherable code. Through Johnston’s idea, the training and implementation by the Navajos, the Japanese were never able to crack the code.…
As you can see Native American traditions, symbols, and objects have changed over time. Traditions and ceremonies are strongly connected to the earth and celebration of life and death. Next time you are at riverside and see the totem pole or when you see new moccasins at the mall, remember the historic ties to Native American life.…