NAVAJO SAND PAINTING
The Navajo Indians live in the northeastern part of the state of Arizona in the United States. The Navajos have very strong traditions from centuries ago. One of these traditions is sand painting
There are rocks of many beautiful colors in this part of Arizona. A navajo sand painter finds rocks of several different colors. He grinds each rock into sand. Then he is ready to make a sand painting
He always makes the painting on the floor inside a small Navajo house. He takes some colored sand in his hand and puts it on the floor in a line. He changes to different colors and slowly makes a picture. Sand painting are very important to Navajos. Only a medicine man or a singer can make them. He knows how because his father and grandfather taught him.
The Navajos use sand paintings as part of their religion. They use them to help sick people. The singer always makes the picture exactly the same way. He does not make new pictures. He always makes the ones he learned from his father. Navajos believe that when the picture is finished, the person's sickness goes into the picture. Then the medicine man erases the picture from the floor. The picture and the sickness are gone
Navajos always welcome new ideas. They got sheep, horses, cows, and cloth from the spanish. They use the wool from their sheep to make beautiful rugs. In the 1880s they started using some of the pictures from sand paintings in their rugs. The pictures were similar to the traditional ones, but not exactly the same. The Indians always changed a color or a line. They would not use their religious pictures without changing them a little
In the 1930s the Navajos started making sand paintings to sell. They put the paintings on a board with glue, and sold the beautiful pictures to tourists. However, the pictures were always a little different from their religious pictures
Most Navajo Indians are poor. They raise sheep, but farming is difficult because the land is very dry. They have no factories, and it is not easy to find a job. They can earn a lot of money by selling their sand paintings. They still use sand paintings for their religion. However, the medicine man or singer never makes paintings to sell. Business and religion are always separate. Some Navajos think that they should not sell sand paintings because they are part of their religion. Other think that it is a good way to earn money, and they do not have many ways to earn money. People in other countries have similar problems. They do not like to use their religion and traditions to earn money, but sometimes it is necessary
Before 1930, no one except Navajos could see their beautiful paintings. Now everyone can see them in museums or buy them
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JEANS
Jeans are the most popular kind of clothing in the world. They are popular almost everywhere -in Japan, France, Indonesia, Canada, and Brazil. Rich people and poor people wear them. Young people and even some old people wear them too. Why are they popular? Who made the first jeans
In 1849 two men discovered gold in California. Men from the rest of the United States and other countries hurried there to look for gold too. These miners needed good strong clothes
A young man from Germany named Levi Strauss arrived in California in 1850. He went there to sell things to the miners. He saw that the miners needed strong pants, so he began to make them. He used cloth that people make tents from. He put rivets on the pockets to make them strong because the men put rocks in their pockets. These pants were very strong and lasted a long time. The pants became very popular immediately
Later Mr.Strauss started making jeans from cotton cloth from Nimes, France. " De Nimes " means " from Nimes " . People called this cloth denim. Denim was popular in the fifteenth century. Christopher Columbus used denim for the sails of his ships. Sailors in Genoa, Italy, wore denim pants. The word " jeans " comes from the word " Genoa " . Mr.Strauss made the first jeans in the United States, but the idea and the kind of cloth came from Europe. The names came from France and Italy
Jeans were always blue until recently. People used indigo to dye them. Indigo is the oldest dye in the world. Most jeans have blue threads going across and white threads going up and down. These two colors make denim look different from other kinds of cloth
Today Levi Strauss and Company makes jeans in large factories. Other companies all over the world also make jeans. Usually one worker makes just one part of the pair of pants. Someone makes the front of the leg, and someone else makes the back. Another puts in the zipper
Why are jeans popular? In the United States, they are the only kind of traditional clothes. In other countries, young people wear them because they want to look modern. Jeans are a sign of youth and independence. Everybody wears jeans because everybody wants to be modern, young, and independent
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