Introduction
The Hogan (Hooghan) is a sacred home for the Diné people. Few families reside within a hooghan today. They are used for healing ceremonies, weddings, and family gatherings for holidays, birthdays, and storytelling. The word hooghan, means “place home.” Legends say the hooghan was built when First Man and First Woman asked the Bird People, the Water People, and the Insect People to show them how their homes were constructed. These beings said, building a hooghan begins with a prayer using corn pollen, to ask permission to the gods to build a home. This initiates the origin of the hooghans.
There are two types of hooghans, the male (bika hooghan) and female (biaad hooghan). The male hooghan is an earlier structure. It is based on the forked cedar pole structure, and is used for ceremonial purposes. During the construction, songs of the first hooghan are sung. The first hooghan was built by First Man. The construction begins as the sun travels though the sky, east, to south, to west, and to the north. The holy people instructed the Diné to build all hooghans facing east, because this is where creation begins. This also allows the first sun rays to enter into the doorway of the hooghan. The sun is known as Jóhonaa’éí, his first light rays touches your face and he blesses you because you watched him rise to greet him.
The female hooghan is commonly dome shaped, with logs horizontally placed upon one another using smaller and smaller logs of suitable length until the circumference gradually forms a circular dome. Below the dome, vertical logs of the suitable height are used to form the foundation of the hooghan’s octagonal perimeter. This hooghan is more prevalent among the Diné today. The octagonal dome represents the interlocking fingers of the mother’s clasping hands over her child in the womb. The opening at the top represents the navel (ts’ee’).
This place, hooghan,is a dwelling of respect and learning of life. It is considered a living being (iina) and when treated with respect, the home place will protect its inhabitants. This is the relationship with the Diné and the hooghan: the mutual sharing and protection. Today, when a hooghan is constructed, prayers are offered to the Holy People asking permission to build a home. The dome of the hooghan represents Heaven/Sky (Ya’aash) and the floor Mother Earth (Nahasdzaan).
There are many concepts and skills in learning and building a hooghan. These paragraphs are just a few concepts written about the hooghan. The in-depth and detailed teachings will be taught to the students during Social Studies and Diné Culture & Language sessions, which is the background information students will need when reading and solving these math word problems. The mathematics and some algebraic aspects of the hooghan suggest numerous geometric examples of word problems for to students to solve while learning about the two hooghans. Geometry is the main mathematical subject relevant to hooghan’s, but these problems also involve arithmetic and algebra.
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