Navajo Knowledge as the state of Hozhó and the Foundations of Morality

Abstract

When I was a young child, my maternal grandmother used to tell me stories about the importance of having, Hozhó in your life. At first, I thought that it was a word that only had one meaning (which is something I learned from the westernized world), yet I found out that this term has many translated meanings with stories attached to the meanings. I am a child of the center of this natural world and all elements around me and within me are interconnected to me. I had to live the life of Hozhó from the Navajo perspective to understand the true essence of this term, Hozhó. Growing up, I lived in a hogan (which is a traditional dwelling of the Navajo people) with no modern conveniences, herded and sometimes butchered sheep, attended ceremonial events like a Kinaaldá (Puberty ceremony for a young girl), Nidaa’ (Squaw Dance to the westernized world but known as the Navajo Enemy Way ceremony by the Navajo people), and Ye’ii bicheii (A Night Chant which is a healing ceremony). I helped to plant, corn, watermelon, and squash in the spring, cooked and said a prayer over the traditional meals, and helped with the carding of the wool for weaving. The concept of living the Hozhó life to me was embedded in all the daily life skills, chores and ceremonial events that I had to do as a young Navajo girl growing up in the Navajo way of life.

Lorenzo Max, Traditional Scholar of Applied Indigenous Studies and Medicine Man, explained in his own words that Hozhó means “happiness and joy” and that is exactly what daily life skills and events were all about, happiness and joy. Navajo Language instructors might need to go back to the true essence of this Navajo term, Hozhó, to share the awareness and appreciation of this term, and to instill it back into the lives of our Diné youth. Many of the Diné youth on the Navajo reservation yearn for knowledge of the Navajo language and culture. Deborah House, author of the Language Shift Among the Navajos, mentions,

It is said that it is important that you understand this natural order so that you can use it as a guide to the decisions and choices you will face in your life. When you are born, you are at the beginning of the Corn Pollen Path of Life. You want to get to 102 – which is the culmination of a long, happy, and fruitful life – in good condition and remain in balance with everything. There are certain things you want to have and achieve in that life. Family, home, livelihood, kinship,

community, the Navajo Nation, the world outside – wherever you go, you are to live by this teaching and find good things out there and bring them home. (House, 2002, p. 96)