Navajo Nation

The Navajo tribe has a population of 200,000, and it is the biggest aborigine in the United States. When you talk about aborigine in United States, the misery images such as unemployment, alcoholic, the deserted settlement, the slaughter by the whites and the historical plunder may come up the the mind. In the western film, the aborigines are usually treated as bad fellow. However, there were some movies that showed from the aborigines' point of view or reconsidered their culture. The good examples of that were "Soldier Blue" from long time ago, and "Dances with wolves" from the recent movie. But it is often said that the exclusive attitude to the strangers has not changed. Is it possible to join them? I entered Navajo settlement with uncertainty.

I entered Navajo Reservation and stayed in Navajo Community College. I took some classes at this college. The class of Navajo philosophy, the class of Navajo language, the class that teaches the way to make the traditional Navajo footwear, Moccasin and so on. Both teachers and students try to keep the traditional culture of Navajo and confirm the idea of their knowledge. Canyon de Chelly is the place where the Navajo tribe escaped to from the Spanish, but I visited one of the families from this tribe living in this canyon and stayed with them for 3 days.

All the children of this family live in the town. The old husband and wife go back and forth between here and their son's. However, when the busy farming season comes, family gathers. Three generations of parents and children cultivate corn. When they sow, they hope for the rain by drawing the traditional sand picture. This year the first seed that they sowed did not grow because of the less rain. It is said that when they draw the sand picture, God starts living in there and making their wishes come true. They draw the Ant Man and pray. They break it after the pray. The sand is thrown at the base of the tree that is located in the east because east is known as the holy direction. In this way, God who stays in the sand picture goes back and wishes come true.

On the other hand, the traditional culture is fading out. There is also the movement that revives the traditional culture one more time. There is the "pray of the soldier" called Powwow held once a week. This is an good example of the movement that reminds us of the traditional culture by dancing and at the same time, this can bring back the tie between people who tend to come apart.

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