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From: UNCLEJAKE74@aol.com
Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2000 10:52:18 EST
Subject: VFH addendum
To: unclejake74@hotmail.com
 

The View From The Hogan #10B.   Little Eagles Month. February, 2000

Notes from Big Mountain.

Ya'a'tee

    I've had difficulty getting the time to send out the latest VFH, so I add
this addendum.

    The following is a statement made by Roberta Blackgoat just a few days
ago. She would appreciate it if her words were distributed.

    RELIGION

This land is a sacred land.  The Creator gave it to us to protect it with
song and prayers  Not only for the Dine People but for all the Universe.
The Holy People were praying to the Creator in a sacred hogan and when the
praying was done, the Creator blew the four poles that held the hogan
together into mountains, creating a space for the Dine.  These poles became
four sacred mountains in four different cardinal points:  Mount Blanca,
Mountain Taylor, the San Francisco Peaks, and Mount Hesperus.  It is said
that when this new hogan was completed it was covered with dirt which the
Creator manifested as a rainbow.  The Dine People have the spiritual mission
to protect this land in order to keep the whole universe in balance. Near the
center of the sacred hogan, that is our homeland, is Big Mountain which is
considered our altar, where people from the world can come to be healed.
The first Navajo words we were taught as children were prayers and that was
made it possible for their success in protecting our land, and has allowed us
to remain here.  Even the Navajo Code Talkers in  World War II protected this
land using the Navajo language, using our prayer.
Religion is our road, the corn pollen path.  It is a road that we have made
since childhood.  When we rise every morning we say our prayers and we pray
throughout the day.  Everything one does is a prayer.We arise with it and
with it learn to walk.   This is our teaching that is now being taken away
from us.

CULTURE

Culture is our entire livelihood.  All parts of our culture have their
prayers and songs.  We do not grab these ideas from nothing.  Even weaving,
farming all have prayers. The corn pollen was specifically given to us so
long ago.  The different types of corn, white, blue, yellow and black all
come from prayers.  We pray for them and we pray with them.  For the
traditional Dineh, weaving is an act of soul.  When the Earth was created
Spider Man taught us how to fashion the loom incorporating the Earth, the sky
and the rain.  Spider Woman taugh us how to weave using symbols, colors.* of
the natural environment.  Since the beginning of time, we have fashioned our
clothes with songs, prayers and praise, with heart, spirit and with soul.

LAND

We live on land.  The man's law is not our law.   Nature,  food and the way
we live is our law.  The plans to disrupt and dig out places that were sacred
sites are against the Creator's law.  Our great ancestors are buried all
over, they have become sand, they have become the mountains and their
spiritual presence is still here to guide us.  When Navajos were exiled to
Bosque Redondo, New Mexico in 1864 it was an attempt to steal what we had, to
steal from our souls the depth of who we are.  Now  it's occurring again. .
The Holy People gave us this land without any permits.  Now there are
restrictions on chopping wood, planting and sheep herding.   The Long Walk is
still going on.
We resist in order to keep this sacred land in place.  We are doing this for
our children.  If we are being relocated we will not only lose our land, we
lose our culture, our religion and we will not have anything to leave to our
grandchildren to keep our tradition alive. Let our culture live, let our
people herd sheep to understand the significance of the teachings that the
land gives to us.
Now the government is breaking the whole belief, destroying our Mother Earth.
 Everything that  man made, including the paper used to make money comes from
her, now they've turned it around and using it to work against her.  We need
a free country so she can be healed.  The minerals that is being taken out of
Mother Earth is her body.   The coal is her  liver, uranium is her lungs and
heart by which she breathes.
The Creator has told us we MUST look after the land in betweenthe four sacred
mountains, so if they want us Dine people to move off our sacred land they
should SUE THE CREATOR.

    There are some very important things coming up in the next few months and
I would ask your support for them. On February 22nd there are hearing of the
Manybeads lawsuit being held in San Francisco. It is important that many
people from the land attend, so gas money and rides are desperately needed to
get the people from here to San Francisco and back. Anyone wishing to help
should contact Louise Benally on sparkles-plenty@juno.com. In San Francisco
there will be demos/benefits held, and the people from the land will need
help with accomodations. Anyone wishing to help in this way should contact
the International Indian Treaty Council on (415) 641 4482, or fax (415) 641
1298.

    From March 20th to April 15th there is an Indegenous Peoples Rights
conference being held in Geneva, Switzerland. Funds are again desperately
needed to allow Louise Benally and Arlene Hamilton to attend. I am told that
if some money can be gotten within the next week then tickets can be gotten
for $500 each. Please contact Louise Benally on sparkles-plenty@juno.com if
you want to help. It is important that the people of the land have their
voices heard at both these events.

    And now, something completely different. A ViewFromTheHogan Advertising
Special..............
    Just before her accident, Roberta had finished yet another rug, so I
offered to try and auction it on the Net for her. I am convinced that the
prices she asks for her rugs are way below what they are actually worth, so
this is a chance to find out what the "market" will bear.The rug is a
striking design in red, black, gray, white, and tan, and measures
approximately 2 feet square. Bear in mind that because of her brokem wrist,
it will be a while till another Roberta Blackgoat rug is available, and also
bear in mind that over 75 years of weaving expereince has gone into this rug.
A photo of the rug is shown at the end of this message. Any serious offers
should be made to this email address, and highest bid gets it.

    Visitors are now starting to leave the land and head back out into
Babble-On. My advice to all of you who were here, and to those who have not
come yet, is to come back to the land when things are quiter.... your
presence will be useful, and you can take the sheep out for a few days and
get to know and feel the land as it normally is.

    There is a little snow falling right now, but so far we are still way
below the levels of precipitation needed. Lambing is peaking. yesterday 3
sets of twins were born to the flock. Soon we will need help with preparing
the cornfields and gardens, and then shearing time is upon us. Good reliable
help is always needed.

    Once again, many thanks to all of you, especially all the readers of VFH
that I have recently met here.

        For all my relations

        BoPeep. (reachable via Unclejake74@hotmail.com)

P.S. I have heard that some people have emailed me and I haven't received the
messages, also, through my own stupidity I sometimes "lose" email addresses
before I get chance to reply, so if you have written me more than 2 weeks ago
and not yet received a reply, please resend.
 

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