Navajo Nation: Difference between revisions

The Navajo have a complex polythesis belief system which dictates how to treat oneself, others, and one's environment. This belief system has helped them deal with numerous groups of people entering into Navajo country. As the Spanish penetrated present-day New Mexico and Arizona, they introduced Spanish Christianity to the Navajos. The Navajos called Catholic priests and missionaries Bi’ee’dahninnezi (Catholic: the one with long clothes). There are some documentations from Spanish sources which include Navajo names, but usually the names are too generic to pinpoint ancestors. Mexican documentation also has this shortcoming. <br><br>By the late 1800's, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) began moving into and settling southern Utah, Arizona and western New Mexico. The Navajos called these people, Gaamalii (Mormons: the fat ones that are coming). Mission records, missionaries and settlers wrote a number of journals and diaries that can include Navajo family names.Baptismal records and Church membership records are harder to come by and are usually limited to Church members only. But, baptismal and Church membership records in earlier times are very limited as to the fact that when Navajos were incorporated into the Church, the Church did not have plans of establishing or maintaining religious contact with the Navajos unless there was a dire need.<br><br>As the United States gained control over present-day New Mexico and Arizona, they began assigning religious groups to the different tribes. Mainly the Bi’ee’adaałts’isi (Presbyterian or Protestants) were assigned to the Navajo reservation.<br> <br>  

*Gaamalii (Mormons)