{"product_id":"design-of-the-classic-first-or-second-phase-mens-navajo-chief-blanket-pattern","title":"Design of the Classic First \/ Second Phase Men's Navajo Chief Blanket Pattern","description":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA Theory on the Origins of the Design of the Classic First or Second\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePhase Men’s Navajo Chief’s Pattern Blanket.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003eby Jeffery Voracek, 2023, All Rights Reserved\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg\u003eTo understand the following you should have a rudimentary understanding of the Navajo Creation Story:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-left: -.25pt;\"\u003eAfter 35 years of visiting the Navajo reservation, I have come to believe that the \u003cu style=\"text-underline: black;\"\u003eMen’s Navajo Chief’s Blanke\u003c\/u\u003et had originally been the symbolism of the \u003cspan style=\"color: #303030;\"\u003eDiné \u003c\/span\u003ecreation story from the oral and written history of the \u003cspan style=\"color: #303030;\"\u003eDiné. They say that the creation story is in the Chief’s blanket.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-left: -.25pt;\"\u003eThis is what I have come to believe based on evidence: \u003cu style=\"text-underline: black;\"\u003eThe foundation of the\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e  \u003c\/span\u003eCreation Story is the Warrior Twins\/Hero Twins. \u003c\/u\u003eThe \u003cspan style=\"color: #303030;\"\u003eDiné \u003c\/span\u003ecannot occupy the earth without the removal of the things that kill people. There are dread monsters and many bad things that need to be cleaned up first. The Hero\/Warrior Twins will be the salvation of the earth for the \u003cspan style=\"color: #303030;\"\u003eDiné \u003c\/span\u003eif they are successful. \u003cu style=\"text-underline: black;\"\u003eThe Men’s Navajo Chief’s pattern blanket has the symbolism of the creation story in it. \u003c\/u\u003eNavajo Chief’s pattern blankets are worn longer than wide. In the 19th and 20th century where there are many pictures of them, they are worn horizontally.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-left: -.25pt;\"\u003eWhen searching the Smithsonian archive of photos I found one photo with a 19th century ink caption on an early Chief’s pattern blanket photograph showing that this was the way it was to be worn. According to my research, this all makes sense. It is widely recognized today that a Chief’s pattern blanket is still being held horizontally. This is one thing that has come through time successfully and not been lost. When I see unstaged photographs of the Plains Indians with handmade blankets, those blankets are almost always Navajo Chief’s pattern blankets. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-left: -.25pt;\"\u003e\u003cu style=\"text-underline: black;\"\u003eI don’t consider it by chance that the Plains Indians would have wanted a Navajo Chief’s pattern blanket with this symbolism woven into it. \u003c\/u\u003eThey were also trying to rid their world of bad things. The Navajos had no Chiefs. A Chief’s pattern blanket that was Navajo meant that you had to be a Chief to afford one. When reading many versions of the Creation Story, I found that in order for this symbolism to exist within the blanket, it would need to be held \u003cu style=\"text-underline: black;\"\u003ehorizontally like the sky, as if the blanket were\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e  \u003c\/span\u003ethe horizon that you were looking at \u003c\/u\u003e(like a painting). If the Hero Twins are to be involved, there must be two Horizons as there are two Hero Twins.\u003c\/p\u003e\nIn the earliest ceremonial picture that I’ve seen, there was half of a Chief’s pattern blanket displayed as if it was a memory cloth for the ceremony. It was displayed horizontally and placed front center in a group of \u003cspan style=\"color: #303030;\"\u003eDiné \u003c\/span\u003eas if they were reading something from it. Of course there is no writing, just symbolism.\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003eIn the Creation Story, this is the fifth world. In the \u003cu style=\"text-underline: black;\"\u003efour former worlds, the horizon was darkness that alternated with three shades of light.\u003c\/u\u003eThis looks and sounds like the description of\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e  \u003c\/span\u003ehalf of a Chief’s Pattern Blanket.\u003cspan style=\"mso-no-proof: yes;\"\u003e\u003c!--[endif]--\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eThere are many hints to the symbolism in every version of the CreationStory.\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e  \u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003eAn example is the 1934 book, “Spider Woman: A Story of Navajo Weavers and Chanters’’ by Gladys A. Reichard. A portion of this book reads as follows….”After the Hero Twins are born, \u003cu style=\"text-underline: black;\"\u003ethe infants were hidden under six blankets, darkness was below, above it was blue sky, then came blue horizon light ....” \u003c\/u\u003eEarly \u003cspan style=\"color: #303030;\"\u003eDiné (Navjo) \u003c\/span\u003eblankets would have been made from cotton or possibly mountain sheep’s wool, which is white. So, this portion of the sentence from the book could describe the Navajo Chief’s pattern blanket held horizontally, as there are two blue stripes above and below (blue sky and blue horizon light). There is also darkness below. This again very much seems like half of a Chief’s pattern blanket. \u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003eIn most versions of the Creation Story, the horizon is thick. Blankets are often described as clouds. All First or Second Phase blankets would work for the above, but a Second Phase would be best for remembering the sequences to follow in The Hero Twins Creation Story\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e  \u003c\/span\u003e(98% of First and Second Phase Classic Men’s Chief's Blankets fit the criteria symbolized in the above statements).The Hero Twins had to become adults to rid the earth of Dread Monsters so that the \u003cspan style=\"color: #303030;\"\u003eDiné \u003c\/span\u003ecould live on the planet.\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003eIn order for the Hero Twins to mature and reign over the Dread Monsters, they needed to go through a series of tests: if they survived these tests, their Father, the Sun would give them the tools that they would need to defeat many bad things, including the Dread Monsters.\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003eThe pregnancy and birth of the Hero Twins have a numerical sequence adding to \u003cb style=\"mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;\"\u003e\u003cu style=\"text-underline: black;\"\u003etwenty four\u003c\/u\u003e.\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e  \u003c\/span\u003e(**\u003c\/b\u003eAfter the Hero Twins complete this sequence, they are \u003cb style=\"mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;\"\u003e\u003cu style=\"text-underline: black;\"\u003etwelve \u003c\/u\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eyears old and full grown.); after \u003cb style=\"mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;\"\u003e\u003cu style=\"text-underline: black;\"\u003efour \u003c\/u\u003e\u003c\/b\u003emornings of Changing Woman laying next to the waterfall, she gets pregnant. In \u003cb style=\"mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;\"\u003e\u003cu style=\"text-underline: black;\"\u003efour \u003c\/u\u003e\u003c\/b\u003edays, the twins moved within her, and in \u003cb style=\"mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;\"\u003e\u003cu style=\"text-underline: black;\"\u003efour \u003c\/u\u003e\u003c\/b\u003emore days she was in labor. Enemy Slayer and Born of the Water are born (hero\/warrior twins): in \u003cu style=\"text-underline: black;\"\u003efour \u003c\/u\u003edays the children walked; in \u003cb style=\"mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;\"\u003e\u003cu style=\"text-underline: black;\"\u003efour \u003c\/u\u003e\u003c\/b\u003emore days they were full grown and talking.\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003eTalking God and Water Sprinkler (Dine Gods) came to instruct them and promised to come back in \u003cb style=\"mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;\"\u003e\u003cu style=\"text-underline: black;\"\u003efour \u003c\/u\u003e\u003c\/b\u003edays. This sequence adds to a total of \u003cb style=\"mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;\"\u003e\u003cu style=\"text-underline: black;\"\u003etwenty four\u003c\/u\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e. **After this, the Hero Twins have to survive a sequence of events that culminates with their Father, the Sun. The sequence of challenges that they must go through comes to \u003cb style=\"mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;\"\u003e\u003cu style=\"text-underline: black;\"\u003etwenty four. \u003c\/u\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eAlso, at the end of these successful challenges, their Father, the Sun provides them with the weapons to kill the Dread Monsters and cleanse the planet of many bad things. The number is \u003cb style=\"mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;\"\u003e\u003cu style=\"text-underline: black;\"\u003etwelve or twenty four\u003c\/u\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e.\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003eIf you used a classic Second Phase as a memory cloth, you could go through and show the sky before the fifth world (in the four former worlds). You could go through the Hero Twins life from pregnancy to birth to full grown. Additionally you could go through the complete sequence that culminates with the Hero Twins avenging the monsters and bad things of the planet, so that the \u003cspan style=\"color: #303030;\"\u003eDiné \u003c\/span\u003ecould live on the earth. This symbolism that was built into the Chief’s Blanket was the same symbolism that protected The Hero\/Warrior Twins so that they could prepare the planet for the \u003cspan style=\"color: #303030;\"\u003eDiné.  \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #303030;\"\u003eIn conclusion, the Diné have written that the Chief’s blanket contains “The Creation Story”. Oral history also supports this.\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/blockquote\u003e","brand":"Nizhoni Ranch Gallery","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48229390876894,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1207\/9128\/files\/1stphasewebsiteready_7b342cc6-a746-49b5-8927-0de5ef844fc5.jpg?v=1614328486","url":"https:\/\/www.navajorug.com\/de\/products\/design-of-the-classic-first-or-second-phase-mens-navajo-chief-blanket-pattern","provider":"Nizhoni Ranch Gallery","version":"1.0","type":"link"}