Of all the fabulous items that Alltribes provides, one of the most characteristic and well known is the squash blossom necklace. When Native American Indian jewelry is mentioned, the symbol that often comes to mind is the squash blossom necklace — the cornerstone of most Native American Indian jewelry collections. However, most people who own one or more pieces of Native American Indian jewelry have no idea of the squash blossom necklace's origin or meaning.
This particular art object is truly an Indian creation. However, the squash blossom necklace developed slowly and has roots deep in non-Indian culture and history. The principle part of the necklace is the crescent-shaped pendant, or "naja", which the Southwestern Indians first saw as iron ornaments on the horse bridles of the Spanish Conquistadors in the late 1500s and early 1600s. Usually, a squash blossom necklace will have at the lower center a curved, open pendant. This motif was borrowed from the Spanish horse headstall or bridle, which in turn was adopted from the Moors. It is referred to as the Moorish crescent moon motif. The Moors probably got the design from the Middle East, possibly from Mongolia. It was a form used in many early civilizations. The earliest known are solid gold crescent shapes found in Stone Age graves in Ireland. Whatever the origins of this design, the Navajo had the great ability to combine it with other elements into a beautiful piece of jewelry.
Captured or traded, squash blossom necklaces soon graced the necks of the local Indian populace. Their acquisition was a matter of pride and the squash blossom necklace, reproduced in the various metals, was proudly displayed during ceremonials. These pendants, originally brought from Spain, reflected the influence of earlier Moorish conquests and the occupation of Spain. As generations came and went, the pendant, originally referred to as a "najahe", became symbolic with various ceremonials. Since most ceremonials were related to the agricultural cycle, the "naja" was associated with crop fertility. Historically, all tribes that adopted the use of the squash blossom necklace for their ceremonies have tended to portray the necklace in a crop-fertility light and as the Native American Indian ceremonial activities dealt largely with the agricultural cycle, the first jewelry was worn during these occasions.
When Navajo silversmiths adopted the crescent-shaped "naja" of the Spanish into their own artwork, the Southwest Indian squash blossom jewelry necklaces were silver only.
Until about 1880 silver necklaces made by the Navajo consisted of plain beads hung with a pendant in "naja" form. Beads on early necklaces like this one have the largest beads placed on the middle of the strand. Like the pendant, graduation of the beads serves to define the center, both visually and by the weight of the larger, heavier beads. Each bead is made from two pieces of silver. Each half is domed by hammering the piece of silver in a wooden mold with a smooth round punch and then holes are punched in the center of each. The halves are soldered together. The bead is then buffed and polished; then the beads are strung. (The idea for hollow silver beads may have come from two button halves soldered together. The idea of buttons would have come from Spanish clothing decoration.) A simple strand of beads, graduated or not, suggests a rhythmic progression. Navajo song has been described as making creative use of repetition by introducing subtle patterns of alternation and progression. The evolved formal arrangement of necklace beads suggests a similar interest in repetition with variation. Similar rhythmic structures exist in music. The same interest in order, stability, and harmony found in this squash blossom necklace can also be found in Navajo music.
The now-familiar turquoise inlay patterns were a Zuni innovation in the 19th century. The squash blossom necklace serves as a reminder of the close interaction between the Pueblo and Navajo Indians since the mid 1800s. The necklace itself is Navajo, adopted by the Zuni. As the incorporation of turquoise on each of the blossoms is an advent of the Zuni, later adopted by the Navajo, it can be said that the Southwest Indian squash blossom jewelry necklaces originates not just from one of the people, but from many.
The Zuni are Pueblo people, descendants of the ancient Anasazi civilization, but the Zuni language is unrelated to any other Pueblo language--in fact, it is unrelated to any other known language, though some linguists have suggested it may be very distantly connected to the Penutian languages and Zuni is spoken by more than 6000 people in New Mexico today. It is unknown where the name "squash blossom necklace" originally came from, since neither the Navajo, Zuni nor other Pueblo Indians call the necklace this in their own language. It may have been a mistranslation between English, Spanish, and one of the Southwest Indian languages, or perhaps someone thought the shape of the beads looked like squash blossoms at some point. The Navajo word for squash blossom jewelry necklace bead is "yo ne maze disya gi", which means simply "bead that spreads out." Nothing in the word denoted squash or pomegranate blossom. Perhaps the word was coined by a white man who, asking a Navajo what the bead represented (the white man is obsessed with what something means — he is rarely satisfied that something is simply attractive), was told that it looked like a squash blossom (the Navajo understands the white man's obsession and often attempts to satisfy it as painlessly as possible). It is doubtful that the Navajo intended that the bead represent a squash blossom.
Silversmiths began to make what are commonly termed squash blossom beads and to intersperse them after every third or fourth plain bead. The squash blossom (or pomegranate shaped blossom) would have been made separately in three parts: first, the round form, then the petals and then the small shank with a hole punched in it for stringing. These would all be soldered together. Because they were mounted by means of a shank rather than strung directly on the necklace cord, both the bead and the blossom extended beyond the body of the necklace, setting up a more complex visual rhythm. Once silver beads came into fashion around 1880, what more logical place was there to display the "naja"? However, the earlier acquired "naja" were undoubtedly hung around the owner's neck by a simple thong. The first beads were large, non-ornamental and round. From these, more complicated beads — fluted and oval — developed. Often, dimes and quarters were fastened to a silver shank and strung between the beads. Occasionally, these coins were domed, filled, and made into beads.
Interestingly enough, despite it's early origins, the squash blossom necklace as we know it today probably didn't originate much before 1880 as it was not mentioned by Washington Mathews in his Navajo Silversmiths Second Annual Report, 1880-1881. Arthur Woodard, in 1938, pointed out that the Navajo and Zuni beads were originally Spanish-Mexican trouser and jacket ornaments, fashioned to resemble the pomegranate, a common Spanish decorator motif, often carved or painted on missions in Mexico and worn on clothing. Early Navajo squash blossom necklace beads show a striking similarity to the Mexican ornament and the pomegranate. Still, despite the similarities, there is quite a bit of doubt that the Navajo attempted to depict this blossom in his bead. The similarity in the shapes of the squash blossom and the squash blossom necklace is not especially striking, but it is a relatively wide-believed theory. The necklace design is not a traditional stylized depiction of squash blossoms in any Southwestern Indian culture we know of, though.
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