CHIEFS BLANKETS

This style rug was traded to the high-status members of the Pueblo and Plains people, giving the "blanket" its name: Chief. The earliest established weaving style, the Chief is distinguished by its square shape and simple design in blue, red, black and white. The basic pattern has evolved over time. The first Chiefs were woven in plainstripes of blue, white, black, and brown. During a second phase, weavers addedshort red bars to the design. Third phase Chiefs, with stepped triangles and rose-colored wool sometimes replacing the red, are the most popular today. In the fourth phase, the stripes were subsumed into squares against a solid background. Fourth phase Chiefs are rarely woven today.

With its long history and wide distribution, many people considerGanado a "classic" Navajo rug style. Because it always has a red background,the rug is sometimes called a "Ganado Red." Typically Ganados have a darkborder, and the black, white, and grey design is based on one or two central diamonds embellished with geometric flourishes. Serrates, crosses, zigzags, andsimple geometric shapes decorate the corner spaces outside the central design.
Trader John Lorenzo Hubbell firstpopularized Ganado style rugs. They are named for the a Navajo Chief theSpanish called Ganado Mucho (Many Cattle) and the town of Ganado, where in1878 Hubbell founded a trading post which operates today as Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site.

Klagetoh rugs, whose name means "Hidden Springs", are named for a smallsettlement south of Ganado. Although the distinctions between Ganado, Klatoh, Two Grey Hills, and Burntwater styles are made strictly on the basis of color, the first two styles tend to have simpler designs. A typical Klagetoh is dominated by itsgrey background. The weaver uses black, white, and red in a design usuallycentered on an elongated diamond. Except for the red, the wools used are naturally occuring tones, although black wool may be enhanced with commercial dye.

True Two Grey Hills rugs are woven ofnatural, undyed, handspun wool in white, black or brown. Weavers produce subtle shades of these basic hues by carding together wool from different sheep. Because of the considerable time and effort required to prepare handspun wool, rugs using these yarns may cost twice as much as those made from commercial yarns. Like other styles with borders, many Two Grey Hills rugs have a “spirit line” or “spirit trail,” a single line of light-colored weft near the top of the design, running through the border to the edge of the rug. The line is meant to prevent the weaver’s creative energies from being trapped within the rug border.

This newer style, an elaboration of raditional Two Grey Hills designs, is usually woven in the vegetal colors favored by weavers of the Wide Ruins / Burntwater area south of Ganado. Warm colors such as brown, sienna, mustard, and rust are accented with a sparing use of pale, milky colors including rose, green, blue, white and lilac. Incorporating geometric spirals, head-to-head triangles, stepped diagonals and multiple borders into the design, some weavers may usetwenty or more colors in large Burntwaters.

With stripes of plain color alternating with bands of squash blossoms, stacked chevrons or diamonds, the Chinle is the simplest of three styles of banded rugs, which usually have no borders. Though named for the town of Chinle, the style is now woven everywhere in the Navajo nation. Chinle rugs tend to use pastel or restrained colors—lots of natural greys, whites, golds and greens. However, they may also be bright and bold, in black, white and red, for example. The relatively straightforward design makes this one of the most commonly woven rugs.

Wide Ruins is the most elaborate banded rug style. Weavers add very narrow bands with delicate motifs and thin, straight lines of contrasting colors. Shapes within the broader bands are often outlined with a different color. The colors tend to be deep, somber vegetals—browns, olives, maroons, and mustards accented sparingly with an elemental color such as white, red or black. These rugs are woven mostly in the Wide Ruins, Pine Springs, and Standing Rock areas.

Teec Nos Pos is a bold, exciting design. Many experts believe it developed from pictures of Persian rugs; others see no connection. The name, which means "Cottonwoods in a Circle," comes from a settlement in the northeast corner of Navajo country. Always surrounded by a wide border and filled with an exuberant variety of motifs, Teec Nos Pos (Tes-Nos-Pos) rugs are usually large, and therefore often very expensive. An elaborate center is enhanced with stylized feathers and arrows. Claw-like, angular hooks extend from the points of diamonds and triangles; zigzags are everywhere. The wide borders of a Teec Nos Pos often contain a lightning path.

The Storm rug style is distinguished by its design. In the middle of the rug is a rectangle, representing the center of the universe. Four corner rectangles represent the homes of the four winds, or by some interpretations, the four sacred mountains of the Navajo world. Zigzag "lightning" connects these with the center. The space between the main design and border usually contains stylized elements, such as clouds and water beetles.
Although the Storm is the only rug style that purports to be an abstract portrayal of a natural event, it is widely believed that a trader in Tuba City developed and promoted the style among local weavers.

Yeibichai (yay-ba-chay) rugs depict ceremonies in which human dancers impersonate yeis. There are usually six dancers, often in profile, with one leg bent as if dancing. Sometimes the six dancers, who are men, alternate with six women. Other figures may include a lead dancer, a following clown known as a "water sprinkler," the medicine man, and the patient for whom the ceremony was performed. All of these are rendered as realistically proportioned human beings. Weavers use life-like colors in Yeibichai rugs, and although the ceremonies depicted are take place at night, the rugs seldom show as a night scene.