Katherine Reece Wrote:
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>
> I hope those are high fences!

Very high. About 20 feet, if I had to guess. The bear, wolf, mountain lion, bobcat and deer cages also are built into a natural rock formation as well so it's a fairly natural environment for them (though probably smaller than the animals would like by far). The wolves have a "den" near the top of the rock formation. We used to live rather close to the zoo and every night, I could hear the wolves howling at the zoo. They had a new young bobcat at the zoo and when we went to peek at it, the little guy charged us with a little growl. He was still wild enough to charge at the sight of an "enemy".

>
> A lot more room than the living room couch too I
> bet! Thanks for the picture....... you know I've
> always wondered though ... what keeps rain from
> coming in the hole at the top?

Well, hubby doesn't know the answer to that one but my guess, from observation, is that the roof of both the "woman's" hogan and the "man's" hogan are both sloped. The whole in the center really isn't that big. For an average size hogan, it may be around a foot wide. Also, the firepit or stove is often place under that hole. It acted as both a chimney and a light source. My guess is that if any sprinkles thatmanaged to get would be evaporated by the heat of the fire inside. It sounds like it would be drafty and damp but it actually was a pretty effective home. Both hogans are really rather small. The woman's hogan is larger but there is still really only room for cots, a wood stove or firepit and maybe a table. The men's hogan is even smaller. What's kind of amazing to consider that there are Navajo that do still live in hogans. The floor of a traditional hogan is like a hardened clay mud. You'd think it'd be dusty and dirty but it's not really. The log walls had a kind of mud clay cement between them that gave the home really pretty good insulation.

Thought of another reason why they might call it a "woman's" hogan. Traditionally, when a woman marries a man, the happy couple would not strike out on their own but they would be living on the bride's family property. Their hogan would be built before the wedding and would act as the "chapel" as well. So, the couple's hogan would be the precise place where their marriage would start, where they would spend their days and where they would die. Already mentioned before in previous threads on the History board, the hogan would be put out of use and partially destroyed. The hogan was and still is very special to the Navajo.

Stephanie






In every man there is something wherein I may learn of him, and in that I am his pupil.--Ralph Waldo Emerson