Today, we toured Canyon de Chelly, AZ by Jeep. It turned out to be a private tour with only ourselves, and our Navajo Guide, Calvin. This was an absolutely riveting 3 ½ hours, with breathtaking scenery, an up-close view of ancient ruins, petroglyphs, petrographs, intriguing personal stories of growing up in the canyon, and Navajo culture.
First some facts: the Navajo Nation is 300,000 strong, and resides on a reservation the size of the state of Virginia. The Nation is governed by an elected president, and there are representatives from specific regions within the reservation. The reservation itself occupies portions of three states: New Mexico, Utah, and Arizona. Canyon de Chelly is governed under the laws of the U.S., and the National Park Service, not the Navajo Nation. Surprisingly, Calvin stated that this is the way the Indians like it, as they prefer U.S. Laws to those governing the reservation. Calvin does not care for the policies of the current Navajo Nation president, who promised much and delivered little. He said the previous president delivered on his promises and made life better for the Navajo.
Calvin was raised by his maternal grandmother, which is the way it is done in this matrilineal, and matriarchal society. He was chosen from among his siblings to attend an Indian boarding school where he was immersed in the English language for one year. His grandmother, who did not speak English, thought that this would be in his best interest. Beginning at age 7, Calvin was a sheepherder who lived and worked year-round in the canyon. He spoke of a hard, but idyllic life in which he assumed a high degree of responsibility at an early age.
Our guide has had time to thoroughly explore the canyon, and has come across many artifacts, including intact pottery from the Puebloan period, a Spanish soldier's bones, along with his bronze chest plate, and an American cavalryman's sword. Calvin buried the Puebloan jar where he found it, but did photograph it for archeologists. He never has revealed its location.
Calvin spoke of how he found and adopted an orphaned red-tailed hawk chick when he was a child, and how the bird literally attached itself to him. His grandmother admonished him to get rid of it, but the bird literally followed him everywhere he went. One day he watched as his hawk caught a raven on the wing by literally flying upside down, grabbing his prey from beneath. Calvin claims he still occasionally sees his bird, many years later.
One of the most dramatic stories Calvin told had to do with the forced march of the Navajo who survived Kit Carson's forcible removal and annihilation of the Navajo from Canyon de Chelly. During their forced march from the canyon to Fort Sumner, which was in fact an internment camp, those who became fatigued, complained or stumbled were shot on the spot. Many tribal elders were shot who could not continue their arduous march. Women were shot during childbirth. Bodies were often seen floating down rivers. One woman and her small child felt that they were in imminent danger. She slipped into the river with her child, feigning death, but in fact, allowed her self to drift slowly with the current. Keeping her child's head above water, both of them survived and returned to their homeland.
Calvin pointed out many features of the canyon that we never would have noticed. Human, animal, and symbolic figures were inscribed on the canyon walls in so many places. There were many Puebloan ruins, some of which we had spotted from the canyon rim the day before.
On our tour, Calvin's jeep plowed through the water in the riverbed much of the way. If he stopped too long, the jeep was in danger of sinking into the quicksand. He spoke of how there are 43 vehicles buried in the bottom of the canyon.
There are many people who continue to live a traditional life style in the canyon bottom, farming, and herding sheep. They have no running water or electricity, and often live in traditional hogans, which are well insulated from the elements. The culture is passed down orally, primarily through the maternal grandmothers. Calvin described an incredibly intense sense of community, and of the continuity of life and traditions from generation to generation. This is even reflected in traditional pottery designs, which emphasize steps and stages of life.
There so much here in this canyon other than ancient Puebloan ruins. There is a traditional, simple way of life practiced here that stands in dramatic contrast to the fast paced, high-stress, get ahead at all costs lifestyle that characterizes much of America today.
A jeep tour with a Navajo guide is the only way to begin to understand what this canyon represents, with its 5,000 year history of human habitation, and age-old traditions.
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