A Navajo hogan in Arizona

The traditional home of the Diné (Navajo) was a structure made of tree bark, poles, and earth called a hogan. Many Diné (Navajo) continue to build and live in hogans today.

Imagine that you are looking down on a hogan with its roof removed. The hogan is a circle divided into four sections by the supporting poles. The doorway (framed by double poles) faces to the east to welcome the morning sun. If you look closely at the inner design of this basket, you see a break or pathway in the pattern. That pathway corresponds to the doorway of the hogan. The coiling on the basket ends at the pathway so it can be felt in the dark, allowing the basket to be turned to the east even if the pattern cannot be seen.

Navajo tribal web site: http://www.navajo.org/