Hogan by junge1

Photography • Landscape • posted on May 05, 2012

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Description

This hogan is near Cove, Navajo Reservation at an elevation of about 6,900-ft (~ 2,100m). It is located away from any other structure. The hogan is the primary traditional home of the Navajo people, but it may also be used as a summer shelter, sweat house and for religious purposes. A hogan is usually round and cone shaped, but may also be square, hexagonal or octagonal. Traditionally hogans were made of wood and packed mud and earth. Navajos made their hogans in this fashion until the 1900s when they started to make them in hexagonal or octagonal shapes. The change in shape may have been due to the arrival of the railroad. A supply of wooden cross-ties, which could be laid horizontally to form walls of a larger, taller home. The doorway of a hogan always faces East. Many cultural taboos are associated with the hogan and its use. Should a death occur in the structure, the body is either buried in the hogan with the entry sealed to warn others away, or the deceased is extracted through a hole knocked in the north side of the structure and it is abandoned and often burned. A hogan may also become taboo for further use if lightning strikes near the structure or a bear rubs against it. Wood from such structures is never reused for any other purpose by a Navajo. Cove is located on the northern slopes of the Chuska Mountains (Roof Butte 9,784-ft,~2,982m) at an elevation between 6,200 to 6,700-ft in the northeastern part of Arizona. This view is toward the north and shows Carrizo Mountains (Pastora Peak 9,442-ft,~2,878m). This picture was taken on 4 November 2003, Sig....