Venaya Yazzie to speak at Bears Ears Education Center, UT

Participation in Bears Ears Partnership in Bluff, UT in November.

Link to Register:

Southwest Jewelry Adornment Talk/Workshop in Aztec, NM

Grateful so share my southwest tribal people's narrative to the topic of adornment cultural practices with the community. Blessings All Around. VJY

Sisterhood in Navajoland - Dinétáh

Among the Diné, the Navajo (as many people know us), sisterhood is a sacred state of being. Sisterhood is female and always about k'é, family and female relationship(s). In the Diné philosophy the female being is always associated with "life." In the Diné sisterhood, the girl, the woman is considered a matriarch among her family unit and tribal clan relationships, she is the keeper of the ways of women and of the language of females.

Tribal Diné sisterhood is tied to nurturing the family, when a daughter is born she is called "amá yazhí," or "little mother" which means she too becomes the keeper of the children, her siblings and Diné clan cousins. A Diné girl is born into a wealth of culture and language of women, she is already "rich" in her culture. In the Diné sisterhood we have distinct expressions for our younger and older sisters in our family. The middle girl has to address her sisters of different ages ranges uniquely. She calls her younder sister, "déézhí" or my sister "shidéézhí." In the same respect she addresses her older sister as "adí" or "shadí" - "my older sister."

In the Diné epistemology we are contstantly immersed in family and our acknowledgment of our familial relationships of both male and female, but it is vital that we respect our sacred matriarchhy in the beautyful southwest. Blessings above, behind, below, above- VJYAZZIE 2024 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED