Apache-Navajo Mythology

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The mythology Apache-Navajo includes the following Native American peoples: Apache, Lipans, Mescaleros, Jicarillas Llaneros, Jicarillas Oleros, Chiricahuas, Navajo, Navahos.

Apache (of apachu, "enemy" in the Zuñi language) is a generic name given to various Native American tribes of North America living in the southwestern United States and the northern Mexican states of Chihuahua and Sonora, forming the territory of the Apacheria and sharing the same Southern Athapaskan language (close to the languages athapascans spoken by Native Americans in Alaska and western Canada). The Navajos speak a very similar language and share the same culture, so they are often considered Apaches.

Coming from southern Canada at an undetermined date (between 1200 and 1500 AD), the Apaches first lived on the plains of Kansas, Nebraska and eastern Colorado where they were encountered by Spanish explorers in the 16th century.^e century. Subsequently, they were pushed back towards the southwest by the Comanches and the Kiowas. Only the Plains Apaches remained in Oklahoma as allies and vassals of the latter.

Thus the Lipans of Texas, the Mescaleros and Jicarillas Llaneros hunted bison and were heavily influenced by Plains culture. The Jicarillas Oleros had adopted a way of life close to that of the Pueblos, practicing agriculture, making pottery and lived in villages made up of rectangular adobe houses. The Chiricahuas and Western Apaches were nomads living by hunting and gathering, sometimes subsistence farming.

The Navajo Where Navahos constitute a Native American people of North America of the Athapaskan language family and Southwestern cultural area. The Navajo live in the United States, on reservations in northeastern Arizona and contiguous parts of New Mexico and Utah. They are closely related to the Apaches.