What is the Navajo clan system? What it means to introduce yourself in Navajo

For the Navajo people, introducing yourself is about more than just telling someone your name, it's about sharing where you come from.

Where you "come from" isn't just the location of where you live, but more what defines you. For the Navajo people that comes from their clans.

The Navajo people's way of life revolves around kinship or K'é, which arises from familial and clan relationships. 

"K'é is a unifying thought process among the Navajo people," said Evangeline Parsons Yazzie, author of "Diné Bizaad Bínáhoo’aah: Rediscovering The Navajo Language" and Professor Emerita of Navajo from Northern Arizona University.

"It began with the people. It was a gift to them by their deities," she added. 

Navajo clans

In Navajo culture, Changing Woman, a revered Navajo deity, created the Navajo people. When she was about to leave on her journey back to the West, she gifted them with four clans.

The four original clans of the Navajo people are Kinyaa'áanii (The Towering House clan), Honágháahnii (One-walks-around clan), Tódich'ii'nii (Bitter Water clan) and Hashtł'ishnii (Mud clan). 

The clan system was Changing Woman's way of telling the Navajo people that this will allow you to be who you are, said Grace Tracy, cultural liaison for Tséhootsooí Medical Center in Fort Defiance, Arizona.

"The clan is really important for us to identify ourselves," she added. 

Today, there are more than 100 clans among the Navajo people. Tracy said each clan comes from different parts of the Navajo Nation, with their own meaning and a story behind them.

How the clans are used

The Navajo people are a matrilineal and matrilocal society, with each person belonging to four different clans. The first clan is from the mother, second is the father, third is the maternal grandfather and the fourth is the paternal grandfather. 

"The way this clan system is structured results in the mother’s clan being carried forward always, whereas the father’s clan cycles out after two generations," according to NavajoWOTD.com.

The Navajo people are discouraged from dating or marrying someone with matching maternal and paternal clans.

Traditionally, Yazzie said, when a child is born and presented to its mother, the mother greets the newborn by telling them their maternal clan, followed by the paternal clan. 

"The mother concludes with, 'In this way, you are my baby,'" Yazzie said. "That's what we're supposed to do when our baby is born." 

K'é and clanship unify the Navajo people, Yazzie said, giving a sense of belonging. 

When a Navajo person introduces themselves to another Navajo person who happens to have one or more of the same clans they do, those two become related through clan.

"You develop familial relationships," Yazzie said.

Those relationships help the Navajo people, especially when they are away from the Navajo Nation.

"You want to establish your sense of belonging among those people you're introducing yourself to. Also, you are telling them that you are Navajo," she said.

Introducing yourself in Navajo

When a Navajo person introduces themselves it usually starts off with a greeting.

Yá’át’ééh (Hello). 

Then they move into their name.

Shí éí (name) yinishyé (I am called ... )

Following the name, they introduce their four clans.

Mother's clan nishłį́

Father's clan bashishchiin

Maternal grandfather's clan dashicheii

Paternal grandfather's clan dashinalí

An English translation would be "I am (mother's clan), born for (father's clan), my maternal grandfather is (maternal grandfather's clan), my paternal grandfather's clan is (paternal grandfather's clan). 

If someone also comes from another heritage not part of the Navajo clan system, it's common practice to substitute out the clan for a word indicating that heritage, according to NavajoWOTD.com.

The introduction is usually closed off with Ahéhee’, which translates to thank you or I am grateful.

Reporter Shondiin Silversmith covers Indigenous people and communities in Arizona. Reach her at ssilversmi@arizonarepublic.com and follow her Twitter @DiinSilversmith.

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