Blanket

It is obvious that the facing hands at the center of this blanket are there for a reason. Most of the literature on Navajo blankets states that there is no symbolism in Navajo weaving, and that blankets served a utilitarian function as clothing or household textiles. Until blankets began to be woven specifically for an Anglo clientele from the East, very few displayed any recognizable imagery. Recently, the Navajo have examined nineteenth-century weavings in museum collections and have added a new perspective. Their approach does not include the specifics of dating, materials, outside influences on design, but they see these blankets as part of their collective history. In traditional Navajo thought history is animate, mystical time recycles itself into recorded history, and the remembered past is reinvested in the present. This circle of history, which is carried on as part of today's weaving, is continued in order to ensure harmony for the future.