Tribe: Diné (Navajo)
Length: 4 3/4″
Width: 1/8″ – 1″
Material: Silver

The following excerpts from Navajo Spoons: Indian Artistry and The Souvenir Trade, 1880s–1940s by Cindra Kline explain the presence of the swastika in Navajo silverwork.

“The swastika, usually called a ‘whirling log’ in the Southwest, was connected to Native American culture because of its use in ceremonial sand paintings and the ‘Night Chant’ or ‘Mountain Chant’, and it was representative of the ‘Four Directions,’ a basic theme in Navajo ceremonies. Sometimes called the ‘swastika cross,’ the symbol’s four arms also coincide with the sacred number four, representing the four seasons, the four sacred mountains in Navajo country, and the four corners of the earth.”

“The Third Reich, of course, changed all that. Swastika spoons, one of the most prominent Navajo spoon motifs in the years 1900-1910, would no longer be produced after 1940.”

The symbol was almost entirely, “…eradicated from stamped Navajo & Pueblo silver beginning in 1938”.

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