We have a lot to learn...

"...As one's knowledge of Navajo life increases,

one learns that the Navajos have created

out of their human material a house of wonder.

Their intangible culture matches

the splendor of their land.

In terms of life—not of goods—

it is we who are poor, not the Navajos."

John Collier, Commissioner, Bureau of Indian Affairs, 1933-1936.

 

"This land that may seem arid and forlorn to the newcomer is full of stories which hold the spirits of the people, those who live here today and those who lived centuries and other worlds ago".

 

There is so much to learn about the Navajo People and, in preparation for Mission, it is now time to learn.  The Navajo history is rooted in travelling. Navajo tradition tells of the movement from three previous worlds before the present fourth world was established and populated by the Earth Surface People. It was only because of the knowledge and wisdom gained by going through earlier worlds that the present world could be established. In more recent history, the Navajo people were forced on the Long Walk in 1864 when more than 8000 Navajo walked to Fort Sumner in southern New Mexico, three hundred miles south of their familiar four sacred mountains. For the Navajo people, the march to Bosque Redondo remains one of the darkest periods of their history; over 2500 died during this period of four years of government captivity.

The Navajo "Night Chant"

 

Happily may I walk.

Happily with abundant dark clouds may I walk.

Happily with abundant showers may I walk.

Happily with abundant plants may I walk.

Happily on a trail of pollen may I walk.

Happily may I walk.

Being as it used to be long ago, may I walk.

So, I just downloaded a few books to my Kindle so as to learn and to have for the long travel by bus to Navajo Nation. 

• Blue Horses Rush In by Luci Tapahonso (recently named First Poet Laureate for the Navajo Nation)
• All is Beautiful All Around Me by Gerald Hausman
• Laughing Boy: A Navajo Love Story by Oliver La Farge
• Navaho Legends by Washington Matthews
• Ceremonial of Hasjelti Daijis and Mythical Sand Painting of the Navajo Indians by James Stevenson
• Native American Tribes: The History and Culture of the Navajo

 

In "A Prayer", Luci Tapahonso she writes of driving between
Santa Fe and Albuquerque:

I can easily sing
for that time is mine
and these ragged red cliffs
flowing hills and wind echoes
are only extensions
of a never-ending prayer.

 

Happy Travels - Louise Meyer