Elder Din'e' couple 'adorned'

Elder Dine'couple dancing at the annual Navajo Nation Fair
Song and Dance in Window Rock, AZ
Photo by Venaya Yazzie 2015
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

This photograph depicts and elder Dine' (Navajo) couple participating in a social dance called Navajo Song and Dance. The event is a women's choice dance and has been adapted to be public from the Navajo ceremonial dances.

Dine' (Navajo) women dancers

Dine' (Navajo) women dancers and singers at the annual Navajo Nation Fair
in Window Rock, AZ
Photo by Venaya Yazzie 2015
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

I was fortunate to again visit the annual Navajo Nation Fair
in Window Rock, AZ this past weekend. I spend most of my day at the Navajo Song and Dance arena enjoying the 'beauty' of my Dine' people. I adore this cultural social dance because it truly brings many generations together. It is a time when you will seen elders hand in hand with children dancing around the arena all dressed in beautyful Dine' cultural regalia.

Its about 'respect' and 'respecting' Indigenous cultural Adornment

Elder Pueblo matriarch 'adorned' in southwest
jewelry and tribal regalia.
Photo credit: Internet

Non-Indigenous women wearing traditional/cultural
jewelry.
Photo credit: Internet

When I look at these two images I see both similarities and differences in them. They are both wearing southwestern Indigenous cultural jewelry, they are both women but, what stands out for me is the way in which each woman is wearing, or 'respecting' the cultural items they are 'adorned' in.

Its about 'respect' and 'respecting' Indigenous cultural adornment, yet I do not see this happening in the black and white photograph. Just by looking at the photograph I assume she is the typical American pop culture model and is posing in a way that seems unrealistic. She has bare arms and is wearing too much jewelry on her person. Many things stand out besides what I just mentioned, and what I see is a woman disrespecting southwestern Indigenous cultural jewelry items.

So many times American pop culture or the so called fashion cultural takes what the want from Indigenous culture and uses items to their own benefit, and most often times does this with no regard for respect or honoring purposes. I see how the fashion industry has come to misappropriate cultural items such as tribal jewelry in the wrong ways, and so the outcome is very negative. Such actions can create disharmony and perpetuate stereotypes of the Indigenous people as a whole, in many ways it can tend to generalize a whole population of very unique and diverse tribal people.

The first photo image of the elder Pueblo woman shows her also wearing a 'plethora' of cultural jewelry items. When I view the photo I think that such items might be her 'heirloom' jewelry pieces, and perhaps she is showcasing her life history and oral history story of each item. I see she is wearing her tribal clothing regalia which is Pueblo-style women's clothing. She is seated in a normal, realistic sitting position. When I look at that photograph I see how she 'honor's her cultural jewelry.

For, when some Indigenous jewelry makers create such items they do so with songs, blessings and prayers. Indigenous jewelry is not made only to be asthetically pleasing, but instead made to bring about blessings for the Indigenous person. Some jewelry makers use only choice turquoise and other natural minerals for the purpose of perpetuation of 'harmony' or the blessings.

Indigenous cultural jewelry should be admired, but it should not be made to become a "fad" in the chaos of the American or even European fashion agendas.

Blessings

ImagoMundi Publication

Me posing with the new book published with ImagoMundi, Italy.

Navajo artist Lyle Yazzie.@ Indigenous Fine Arts Market, Santa Fe, NM

Photo moment with my friend and Navajo artist Lyle Yazzie.

Indigenous Navajo Women's 'Adornment' at Indigenous Fine Arts Market, Santa Fe, NM

The new Miss Gallup Ceremonial Queen 2015-16
Miss Kahlaya Rose McKinney

This past week and into the weekend I was an artist participant in the 2nd annual Indigenous Fine Arts Market in Santa Fe, NM.  My dear friend who is the new Miss Gallup Ceremonial Queen 2015-16 Miss Kahlaya Rose McKinney visited my booth. She is a remarkable person and will do great things in her youth. She blessed the People she visits. 

I am proud of her as she always displays her Indigenous Navajo Women's 'Adornment' wherever she goes.

Traditional Regalia Fashion Show in Santa Fe, NM

Pueblo girl in tribal 'adornment.'
Photo by Venaya Yazzie
ALL RIGHTS RERSERVED 2015

Male tribal Pueblo 'adornment.'
Photo by Venaya Yazzie
ALL RIGHTS RERSERVED 2015

Apache man 'adorned' in tribal regalia.
Photo by Venaya Yazzie
ALL RIGHTS RERSERVED 2015

Sacred river to the Desert People

Animas River, sacred river to the Indigenous of the Four Corners.
Photo by Venaya Yazzie 2015
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

We don't know what the future holds. As Indigenous peoples of the desert and mountain areas of the Four Corners community: the Navajo, Ute, Apache and Pueblo all have a strong connection, the water. The Animas River has always played a major role in the cultural lives of the above mentioned tribal people. 'Water is Life,' as the Navajo express. If we have no water, we cannot nourish our physical bodies and too, if there is no water we cannot nourish our spiritual being.

As a Navajo person dwelling in the community of the San Juan Valley I grew up with water as a constant in my life. The two rivers that flow through Farmington, New Mexico are the 'life blood' of the those that live there. It is true that all people need water, so please do not take offense when I say that water is about tribal ways. Water to the Indigenous desert person is about ritual and ceremony. Water is the life of the People and the waters of the Animas have deeply rooted cultural significance in our world.

The devastating effects of tainted toxic river water hurt many people in the communities of Durango, Aztec, Farmington, Upper Fruitland, Kirtland, Shiprock and beyond across the Utah areas of the San Juan River. And people whose business is about utilizing the Animas RIver took a deep loss in revenue as the contaminated waters were closed for about a week. The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) was the government entity who 'accidently' released age-old gold mine tailings via toxic heavy metal-laden water into the Animas River. And now, our river is toxic.

But, for the Navajo the waters from the San Juan River, a tributary of the Animas River is their life. The Navajo have been very blessed to be farmers and raise livestock in the San Juan Valley, many continue running generation-old family farms. And, many of these Navajo families perpetuate a rich spiritual tradition of ceremony. So, the toll the contamination of the river reached deeper that tangibly not having access clean water for the crops or the livestock, this dilemma have deeply affected the spiritual ways of being for many Navajo individuals.

You see, water truly is life. When you talk about Navajo beliefs and epistemology water is the beginning, it is everything. Without water the ritual, the ceremony is incomplete, therefore 'unbalanced' and 'hozho' cannot be perpetuated and the People (Navajo) are incomplete.

I have heard many in the community say, "The Navajo need to stop crying about the water..." and I want to scold them for saying such a thing. Though we Navajo have assimlated to American culture in our dress, work, language, we still hold on the most sacred beliefs of our culture. Acknowledgement of water is one of these steadfast beliefs, we often express "To' ei 'iina'" which loosely translates to "Water is Life." And, because of this mantra we as Dine' (Navajo) have balance in our lives.

Blessings, Venaya.