Navajo tea gatherer

Navajo tea gatherer
Photo by Venaya Yazzie 2016
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Its June according to the Euro-American calendar.

But, more importantly this season of the Diné year is expressed as T’áâchil, which refers to the beginnings of new plant grown, and or the growth of early plants both in the farmers garden and in the wild.

It is during this season that the Diné begin the gathering of wild plants growing in the diverse regions o the high desert and plain desert areas on and around the sovereign Navajoland. It is during this time that the women and Diné  herbalists gather the wild plants growing among them is déé. The most common growing plant is the 'Navajo tea' plant, one that is purely non-GMO and organic. This is a high desert medicinal plant which the Navajos use for many purposes to ingesting and in the dyeing of wool to use in their woven rugs.

Here I feature of pics of my másáaní as she has complete preparing of the wild 'Navajo tea' plant in tea bundles. This tea will be used throughout the year, but it usually consumed in the fall and winter months.

Blessings.

Everything I do and say is for my Indigenous people

Time travel
Photo credit: Venaya Yazzie 2016
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Generations of desert ancestors trekked the dry lands to find protection and solace from the chaos of america's agenda. My Indigenous ancestors lived and struggled daily to survive for me, for us, the coming generations. This is the truth I understand now as an adult.

As a child growing up in american society I was not taught this history in school, I heard these truths from my family. Our oral history accounts of the Navajo Long Walk to For Sumner, New Mexico are embedded in the line of my feet. My Navajo ancestors, my Pueblo ancestors are the example of the government tried but failed to terminate my tribal people.

We are a resilient people. We are created in Creator God's image. We are not descendants of monkeys, we were made and formed in the image of one Creator God. This is the truth of our lives. As ancestors of our grandparents we survive, we thrive because we have our land, we have our language, we have our tribal ways, we have our family and extended family. We are rich from these intangible things, we are therefore strong.

I share this with you because I see how mainstream society is continuing to diminish the true history of my Indigenous people. The plight of my tribal people has been and continues to be over shadowed by events that are conjured up by groups that continue to terrorize and colonize by force, the lives of my Indigenous people.

Our Indigenous experience in the present and past  has nothing to do with what modern american culture has spitted out... we are not them, they are not us. That's how it is.

Everything I do and say is for my Indigenous people, for they are my heart and the reason for my resiliency. So I continue to pray and believe in act of prayer, for this a constant in my life, it is the legacy of my ancestors that blesses me.

Hozho naasha.

Still here - Indigenous

Still here.
Photo credit: Venaya Yazzie 2016
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

" We are the survivors

  We are the evidence

 of their crimes,

They don't want us as

   as reminder of what they did."

-John Trudell

Navajo POV

Dziłnaodiłthe - Doorway Mountain

Photo credit: Venaya Yazzie 2016

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Did you know that the Diné, present-day 'Navajo' people live in New Mexico (and yes its in the US)?

Well, as a native- New Mexican and Diné/ Hopi woman I am rooted in this great state. My mother's family lineage is from the place named Huerfano Mesa and my maternal grandfather was raised in the Kimbetó (Chaco Canyon area). Truly I am a New Mexican through and through and very proud of my heritage.

Now, have you ever seen this mesa? If you live in the northwestern New Mexico community and surround area I'm sure you have. This iconic natural structure is a very important element of Diné culture, it is a part of our very identity. Yet, I have found that many younger generations of Diné have no clue of this mesa's existence. You may say"Well why should they? There are alot of mesas in the desert southwest." This is the 'holy grail' of Diné cosmology, its our Diné identity as a group, as Indigenous humans on the earth. To know this mesa, to know its reason for being, to know its history and to have reverence for its existence is the essence of being a Diné person.

This image is burned into the marrow of my bones. I love this mesa, it is my childhood, it talks of story of my maternal great grandparents Jim and Louise Werito, and therefore it is where my heart will always be.

This place is expressed, Dziłnaodiłthe by the Diné. It is the 'Doorway Mountain' where we as Diné entered this world. This sacred place is our identity as 'Five-Fingered" Diné people. This area is part of the Diné cultural landscape to many Navajo who live in this and surrounding communities. Just as the Monument Valley structures are prominent in the minds of the the Diné who live there, this mesa is encoded in our Eastern Diné DNA.

It is my hope that we as Diné return to our ancestral origin stories, they are our true identity and we should hope to know all these sacred sites because that will ensure we keep faith in who we are in this chaotic world

Ask your parents, grandparents, uncles and or aunts about this place. No matter how old you are as Diné, know our stories of origin it will only make you and our identity as a desert dweller Diné strong and resilient.

Bless the People.

Newest EarART Designs by Venaya Yazzie - Yazzgrl Art - New Mexico USA

EarART Designs by New Mexico USA artist Venaya Yazzie
Photo credit Venaya Yazzie 2016
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Yazzgrl Art studio has been burning the midnight oil. As summer is at the front gate so are many summer art festivals and art shows.

Picture here are my newest EarART Designs earrings. I adore the historical photographs of my Indigenous ancestors, and I love the aesthetic designs of Navajo silverwork and turquoise and as a result I was inspired to make these rectangle wood earrings. These feature the desert southwest woman dressed in her Hopi-style regalia and women's hairstyle. She is featured in front of a close-up cyclical design of Navajo cluster work.

I really am very happy how these new earrings turned out. Now on to more new creations!

You can visit my Square store website at:

Yazzgrl Art

Blessings.

Where she feels at home, shimasani.

My masani, my maternal grandmother's lineage is based at Huerfano, NM. This area of the Navajoland is located in present day northern New Mexico. Yes, Navajos live in New Mexico. We sometimes have to explain this to people who are not from the southwest, as most carry the assumption that all Navajo are from and live in Arizona.

My Navajo family line is rooted in this area which the tribe as deemed, 'eastern Navajo.'  My extended family is from this community which includes: Huerfano, Otis, Blanco and Kimbeto. 

I share this history and photo because I am proud of where I come from, and too is my masani. I take her back 'home' as often as I can so she can spend time in the environment of her childhood and adulthood here. I love this photo as it depicts the area well, as you can see the Huerfano Mesa is in the background. This 'home' is in our family's collective memory, each cedar tree, juniper and sage is a part of our cultural landscape, this is where our hearts dwell, no matter where we all are in the world.

Hooghan, this Navajo term is everything to us as Dine'.

Homeland, Eastern Navajo, USA

Homeland, Eastern Navajo, USA
Photo by Venaya Yazzie 2016
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

My childhood was amazing.

When I think back on the times at my maternal great-grandparents home in Eastern Navajo, I understand how I was blessed. I visit the homeland now as an adult and revisit the landscape and am grateful for the childhood memories spent their with my cousins.

She emulates 'beauty'

The hands of my maternal grandmother are my steadfast strength. I see her hands and I know that life will be 'beautyful.'

In every little thing she does she is 'beauty' to me. I treasure this time I have with her, by her side she is the teller of the stories of the universe and the songs of the strong cedar trees. This woman I am blessed to have in my life is my muse of sorts. Whether I am amidst painting, beading or sewing a new garment, just knowing she is in radius soothes my spirit.

I look at her and help her 'adorn' herself in the morning and am moved to create 'beautyful' things.

I captured this photo of her as she sat and read the morning newspaper. Just in that moment she emulated 'beautyway.'

Blessings,

Venaya