> [!NOTE]+ Meta > Author:: Barbara Teller Ornelas and Lynda Teller Pete > Reference:: Ornelas, B.T. & Pete, L.T. (2019). _Spider Woman's Children: The next generation of Navajo weavers_. Garland Magazine. https://garlandmag.com/article/spider-woman/ > Date:: 2019 > Tags:: #warp #USA #weaving > WeftLinks:: [[Spiritual value of craft]] > Claim:: > - [[Claim - Craft sustains a connection to ancestors and traditional lands]] > - [[Claim - Craft beautifies our everyday life]] > [!SUMMARY] Summary > In Navajo tradition, the universe was woven into by Spider Woman, who then taught the them weaving so they could bring Hozho (beauty) into their lives. ### Highlights In Navajo tradition, the span of time from the first creation to the present day is composed of five worlds. We live in the current fifth world, “Glittering World.” In the emergence from the second world to the third, our Holy People, Diyin Dine’éԀ, instructed Spider Woman to weave her pattern of the universe. Then she was to teach the Diné, the Navajo, to weave Hozho (beauty) to bring harmony and beauty into their lives. She had no knowledge of how to do it. But Spider Woman was observant; she watched everything in her environment, and her curiosity focused on a spider weaving a web. This became her plan for how she would weave the universe. When she felt comfortable with her experimental weaving, she returned home and presented it to her husband, Spider Man. With just this basic concept of weaving, the Holy People instructed Spider Woman so that her skills would be further enhanced by prayer, songs, and ceremonial duties. ### Irene Hardy Clark Irene said, “I do my blessing before each rug. I thank Mother Earth for the plants that give color to my wool, for the sky above me, the air I breathe, for mother earth for grounding me. All this gives me a good feeling to weave.” Irene explains, “Everything is in the weaving, it’s in your hands, it’s in your weaving tools, and it’s in your mind. Design and dyeing are related to how you think of yourself, and it will show in how you weave your rug. Good thoughts, prayers, songs are what you need.” ### Roxanne Rose Lee Roxanne says, “My grandmothers have told me about our Navajo history and our relatives’ weaving history, but it wasn’t until I was in the classroom and watching other kids my age learning for the first time that I realized how important it was for me to know my history.