Sky Father And Mother Nature

        There was a time when the world lived in peace. There were thousands of animals, and three lonely people. These three people belonged to their grandfather's tribe. It was called Navajo. The grandfather had one child, her name was Yuma. Yuma was raised by her grandfather for many years. On Yuma's 16th birthday, her grandfather came to her and gave her a special present. Early in the morning, Yuma opened her eyes and saw grandfather sitting in the corner of her room saying a chant that she had never heard before. Yuma climbed from her bed, walked to grandfathers' side and saw what seemed to be two feet. The grandfather continued repeating his chant and slowly, he conjured a man from mid-air in front of Yuma's eyes. This is how the chant went,"Tségihi, House made of dawn. House made of evening light. House made of male rain. House made of dark mist. Dark cloud is at the door. The zigzag lightning stands high upon it. Male deity! Your offering I make. Restore my feet for me. Restore my legs for me. Restore my body for me. Restore my mind for me. This very day take out your spell for me." Yuma watched him repeat this for several hours until the grandfather stopped chanting. Yuma gasped at the site of seeing a grown man in front of her eyes. Having never been accompanied by a man other than grandfather, Yuma didn't have a clue of what to say. So she did what she thought he would find honorable, she bowed down to him. Just after that, she heard a slight giggle coming from his direction. She raised her head and gazed into his sparkling eyes. They were married by the grandfather immediately. Weeks went by and the three were all very happy.
        Soon winter came and the grandfather became very weak. He could no longer walk, and he could barely eat. Soon, he would die. It was the coldest day of the year, December 27. That was the day the forests cried, wolfs howled, and the grandfather...died. Years went by, Yuma and her husband became very lonely without the grandfather around.
       On September 3, a girl was born. This girl was Yuma's, and this girl took away the loneliness that had appeared when the grandfather died. Her name was Kaleidoscope, she had long black braided hair and soft, tan skin. Her parents loved her, and did what she wanted and got what she wanted. Kaleidoscope had gotten everything in the world she wanted everyday for six months. On the first day of the seventh month the world around Kaleidoscope was becoming sad. Bushes had no berries, apple trees had no apples, and the animals left were tired and very hungary. Yuma and her husband watched the spirits of the trees leave the world and go to the sky.
            They knew they had to do something, so they went to their house and told Yuma, "Child, your mother and I must travel to the sky people and ask them to bring life back into the world. Try to stay safe, away from the cold winter and near the fire, we will be back soon." With that, they left the house to find the sky people, Rulers of the World. Yuma remembered a story that the grandfather once told her. He had said," My child Yuma, if ever you are in search of the sky people face the wind they have sent calling for you." So Yuma and her husband continued their journey struggling to move against the wind.
        On October 7, they reached the Sky King. Yuma and her husband knelt down and said to the King. "I have a child, caring for her in the winter is hard now. The berries have left the bushes and I have seen the tree spirits leave their home. Help us mighty Sky King."  Everything was silent for a moment until the Sky King replied by saying,"Young Yuma, the grandfather was the caretaker of nature, since he has now passed there is no one to care for the nature. Slowly, nature has been dying you must care for nature as you would care for a child. Nature is now your child Yuma. You are nature, you are Mother Nature. Yuma your husband is now Sky Father caretaker of the sky." Then Yuma said," Are you not the caretaker of the Sky?" He replied by saying," I am very old and will soon die. He will now take my place in the sky." With that, the knew Sky Father rose into the sky, and Mother Nature sank to the ground. Their child, Kaleidoscope stayed by the fire waiting for her parents to come home. Seventy years later, she died and her spirit rose into the sky and entered the warmth of earth, the sun that sees all colors and all wonders. Everyday since then the family has reunited in the setting of light and on the surface of the earth.

          I got this image from
Paulo Brandão's photos via Getty Images on flickr.com

About The Navajo

Stinkie Pinkie's photos via Getty Images

We got these images from flickr.com

        The Navajo Native Americans are very interesting people. They lived in the Southwest near the present day four corners. The Navajo tribe didn't start out living in the Southwest United States, they first lived in Canada. During the ice age they traveled from Canada to the Southwest.
       The Navajo Native Americans were nomadic people. That means that they were a kind of nation that traveled with their food. Some foods they ate were, fried bread, corn, which was their staple food, potatoes, celery, squash, onions, sheep, mutton, deer,  antelope, goats, and bison. That sounds like it would be a delicious feast.
      Something really cool about the Navajo people is that, they call themselves the Dine. Dine means "The People." Another cool fact about the Navajo is that they have no religion. Some people are christian, some are jewish, there is a never ending list of religions. The Navajo believe in Sky Father and Mother Nature.
     The climate in the Southwest, which is where they live changes greatly in the periods of summer and winter. Summers in the Southwest are very arid. The winters there are horrible, it is cold and the land is really dry. Something about the Navajo that you probably don't know is that the people in the Navajo nation inhabit 15 million acres of land alone.
       Navajo people were hunters, gatherers, and farmers. As farmers they used irrigation. Irrigation is when you dig tunnels through the ground so water can flow through and keep  your crops healthy. The Navajo people don't live like they have in the past. Today, Navajo people are just like you, they eat, sleep, and bathe.

My name is Misigi

   My father Akando is the chief of my tribe. My name is Misigi, that means eagle. My mother named me this when I was a child, she believes that in my time of darkness the flying eagle will show me the light. My friend Awenita, which means deer is a huntress in the making. Everyday her and I go to the forest to practice shooting our bow and arrows. Awenita is much better than I because her father is our tribes' best warrior. Today, when she shot a deer she fell to the ground in pain. Since then, I have been gathering herbs for a remedy that I will give her later. My father has sent a group out to see if we are being attacked. I don't think we are though. Awenita is a strong girl and I was listening to the forest when it happened and I didn't hear anything.  I am going to bring Awenita her remedy now, so goodbye.
 I am back from her home and while I was there she told me to shine the light on her, but I don't know what she was talking about. Then, she told me that when she shot the deer, she shot herself. So I have now decided that I will go into the forest and heal the deer lying sick almost dead in the forest. Come with me now, because I think I know the way.
 We are here, there is the deer. It is restless and has no energy if we don't act now it will die and so will Awenita. I have brought a remedy made of herbs, ground bark, and honey. I must be very precise when applying to the vein. One wrong move and they both will be dead.  I will now apply it. I must not jostle the body or the blood stream could be harmed. An eagle has flown by and it is getting cold, and dark. The deer is walking slowly, very slowly. It is picking up speed and now, it is gone.  I feel better because Awenita is better and because the eagle showed the light in Awenita's darkness.

I got this image from
TheAlieness GiselaGiardino²³'s photos via Getty Images on flickr.com

My totem pole and pueblo house

  

The picture above is a scale model of a Native American pueblo house built by a few other students and me. On the top, there is a man sitting with his bow and arrows ready to protect his family. In the left corner, there is a corn grinding station where wives and mothers would sit and prepare the many different colors of corn. On the inside, there are "buffalo fur" blankets and beds. There is also a fire where people are sitting around keeping warm.

This is a picture of a totem pole made by the same group of students that made the pueblo house with me. Near the bottom are drawings of fires, corn, pottery and other things that the Southwest Native Americans used. The colors represent the different climates in the Southwest. The group I worked with named our "tribe" Dry Cloud because we knew that most of the year it is dry and hot outside.This totem pole represents the Southwest Native Americans, and some items they used in their daily lives.