One night about three years ago, while living in Phoenix, Arizona, I saw a news story which followed a Navajo medicine man through the creation of a ceremonial sand-painting. Painstakenly drawn out on the dusty floor of a desert hogan, the colorful and brilliantly complex painting, depicting one of the Navajo elder gods, required many days to complete. While "dripping" lines of sand onto the hogan floor, the medicine man explained that the sand-painting was just one component of a traditional curing ceremony intended to cure a young girl (who lived in the hogan) of an illness. The news story ended with the medicine man scooping the painting off the floor in great handfuls and, while chanting a curing song, pouring it over the shoulders of the girl. In moments, the labor of days was obliterated. The news anchor pensively remarked afterwards that it was a shame the sand painting had to be destroyed, a sentiment I myself echoed even though I knew that to the medicine man, the true beauty of the painting lay in its power to heal, and not in its physical elegance.

The popular perception of Navajo poetry is similar to the perception both the newscaster and I shared toward the sand-painting: we perceive it as beautiful, yet because of our culturally distorted perspective, we possess a decidedly different opinion of why it is beautiful than those who created it, the Navajo people. This raises the inevitable question of how can we possibly understand poetry which is founded on completely different concepts, both metaphysical and practical, than our own? Perhaps the best way is to look at Navajo poetry in the context of one of the pivotal moments in Navajo history: the Long Walk and internment of the Navajo people at Ft. Sumner, New Mexico, in the mid 19th century. It is during this time period that we can most clearly discern the role of poetry in the Navajo culture, the poetic theory that drove its creation, and the role of ceremonial singers in the community.

The investigation of this topic required research in a number of different areas, including history, linguistics, and the religious philosophy of the Navajo people, particularly during the period of the Long Walk (1864-1868). Unfortunately, because the Navajo did not have a written tradition until very recently, most of the narratives detailing this period are provided not by the actual participants but by their children and grandchildren. Contemporary Navajo scholars, however, have done an admirable job collecting these ancestral stories from tribal members, and together, the stories weave themselves into a larger tapestry from which we can easily discern a good general picture of the Navajos during the Long Walk period. A great wealth of work has also been written on Navajo religious poetry, most notably the early 20th century translations of the Blessingway by Father Berard Haile and Leland Wyman. Finally, because the landscapes of Navajoland (Dinetah, in the native tongue) are so compelling, the stories of these landscapes and the native people's interaction with them are well recorded.

Understanding Navajo poetry requires us to understand a good deal of Navajo history as well, so let's start there. The Navajo people, known as Dine (people) in their own tongue, are descendants of Athapascan speaking tribes, originally from the Canadian Northwest. These tribes gradually migrated down the spine of the Rocky Mountains and settled in the four corners area of the American Southwest sometime between the 12th and 15th century (it is interesting to note here that the Navajo language bears a striking resemblance to the language of tribes deep in Northern Canada). The Dine settled amongst the ruins of the Anasazi, sharing land with many other tribes, most notably the Pueblos. Skilled artisans renowned for their cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde, the Pueblos also boasted a rich ceremonial heritage. The Navajos liberally absorbed much of this heritage, incorporating it into their own beliefs and making it uniquely their own. Their ceremonies grew to epic length and complexity, and are often referred to as "Wagnerian" by researchers seeking to provide some comparison in terms of scope to white mythology.

The core component of any Navajo ceremony is the song or chant, of which there are many (Mountaintop Way, Enemyway, Shootingway, Blessingway, etc.). Scattered throughout these songs are the individual stories that make up the larger origin myth of the Navajo. According to this myth, man was originally created underground by the gods and emerged somewhere in the vicinity of Silverton, Colorado after ascending through numerous underworld planes. Led by First Man and First Woman, these original Navajo established the geographical boundaries of Dinetah between four sacred mountains corresponding to the points of the compass: Debenstsa, Colorado in the North, Blanca Peak, Colorado in the East, Mt. Taylor, New Mexico in the South, and San Francisco Peaks, Arizona in the West.

The specificity of these four sacred peaks (and the fact that you can find them on any AAA road map) may seem surprising, since the actual locations of "sacred places" in western traditions are so often shrouded in mystery (case in point, Avalon, Eden, etc...). Throughout Navajo mythology, however, one will regularly find place names that are still recognizable even today, and in this regard, nearly every region in Dinetah has a story to tell. "Even the most miraculous events are placed on some hilltop or in some canyon which the Navajos can point out" says Ruth Underhill when describing the sacred places that pepper Dinetah. "They know the flat topped mesa on which Changing Woman was found wrapped in many colored light. They know every location where the evil monsters, which came to infect the land were killed off by nature's war-god sons" (Underhill, 20). This identification with specific locales is an important component of Navajo ceremonialism and song, and will be discussed in greater detail later.

In any case, let's turn our attention back to the 19th century, which was a century of conflict for the Navajos. Beginning in the early 19th century, we see the Navajos at war with the Spanish, who are reputed to have massacred more than 100 Navajos in the infamous "massacre cave" in Canyon del Muerto. Later, ongoing wars with the surrounding native tribes (most notably the Pueblos, Utes, Apaches, and Commanches) intensified as these tribes began to serve as auxiliaries for the Spanish and Americans and receive aid in the form of guns. Finally, the Navajos came under the wrath of the American army itself, which, led by the famous frontiersman Kit Carson, was tasked with "rounding up" the Navajos and resettling them 300 miles away at Ft. Sumner, New Mexico. This internment was to last for four years, from 1864 to 1868.

What prompted the American Government to relocate the Navajos? Opinions on this seem to be divided, even amongst the Navajos. One camp holds that the army simply wanted to remove the Navajos from their lands so that white settlers could begin to develop the land along the trail leading to California. Others believe that the relocation was forced by a small group of "Enemy Navajos", infamous raiders who had plagued both neighboring tribes and white settlers for many years. The official army line seems to have been that relocating the Dine would allow the government to more closely administrate them, educate them, and thereby break them of their belligerent ways. General Carleton, the idealistic commander of the Fort, spoke of Ft. Sumner in the following terms: "[we bring the Navajo] here to be kind to them; here to teach their children how to read and write; here to teach them the arts of peace...Soon they will acquire new habits, new ideas, new modes of life...Little by little they will become a happy, contented people" (qtd. in Underhill, 127).

So what effect did the internment have on the Dine poetry (and its associated ceremonial traditions)? To answer this question, let's begin by examining how Navajo songs are intended to "change reality", a poetic theory decidedly different than what most white readers are accustomed to. Looking at white poets, we see a great variety of theories: Poe, for instance, regarded poetry's primary virtue as its musicality, while Longfellow, the moral guidance it provided. Indeed, in the poem "In Memory of W.B. Yeats" W.H. Auden writes "Poetry makes nothing happen", insinutating that poetry doesn't really accomplish anything tangible at all (743). While there is a great variety of poetic theories in white tradition, however, they all share one basic concept: that poetry exists outside the physical world, and that if it changes anything at all, it is the nature of man (through enlightenment or revelation) and not the physical composition of the natural world. The Navajo poetic theory is completely antithetical to this view - poetry is EVERYTHING - it creates the world and shapes our future. By reciting poetry, the Dine hoped to influence their surroundings. A number of examples explaining this concept might be useful here: in the middle 1800's, a hated Ute chieftain by the name of Greyhair was reputedly slain by an "Enemyway" chant sung by a Navajo (Roessel, 115). Likewise, Beautyways were sung over horse saddles belonging to Navajo warriors to bless them, and over sick people to make them well again. Even at Fort Sumner ceremonies were held to ascertain the future, ceremonies going by such names as "Crystal Rock Way" and "Put a bead in Coyote's Mouth".

Changing reality through thought and speech is a central concept to Navajo religion and poetry. As proof of this one needs only look at the Navajo origin myth which describes how the world was "thought and spoken into existence". First Boy and First Girl, characters in the genesis myth described in the Blessingway, are each metaphors for thought and speech (Witherspoon 17). When they arrived on the world, they found it featureless, and together they gave it substance and form by building a hogan whose four supporting poles were anchored at each one of the sacred mountains respectively (Underhill, 19). This tale is told in the first hogan song of the Blessingway:

Its main beam, Earth is to be made the main beam,
One is thinking about it,
Its main beam Wood Woman is to be made the main beam,
One is thinking about it,
Now Sa'ah Naaghaii, Bik'eh Hozho are to be made the main beam, One is thinking about it,
One is thinking about it, one is thinking about it,
One is thinking about it, one is thinking about it.

(Mitchell, 171-172)

This song wonderfully illustrates the Navajo belief that reality is what we make it through the symbiosis of thought and speech. In the repetition of "one is thinking about it" we see how the foundation of the world was created, its structural beams being erected by thought. In a similar vein it is interesting to note that in the Navajo mythology, the original planes of the underworld from which Man emerged are known as "first language", "second language", etc (Witherspoon, 34), indicative that it was the projection of language onto these featureless planes that gave them substance and thereby life.

Where does man obtain this power to change reality? Navajo mythology describes how holy beings (Diyin Dine) still live inside the earth. Recitation of ceremonial poetry draws on the power of these beings and creates specific effects dictated by the poetry. For instance, in the Blessingway, the effect is to bless something - an article (such as a saddle) or a person. Generally speaking, the effect of the poetry is to "allow Earth people to control the holy beings and thereby gain their powers of immunity to danger, destruction, death etc" (Witherspoon, 35). In describing this idea, Witherspoon makes an insightful comparison to Einstein's theory of relativity and its associated equation (E=MC2); the Navajos base their physics on the equation C=MI2 (Control=Mass x Intelligence2). According to this equation, control over the world, ie, our ability to affect matter, is equal to the land resources at our disposal (ie, the gods latent in the earth) multiplied by the square of our intelligence regarding ritual procedure (Witherspoon, 77).

A subtle yet important variation of this idea is that Navajo poetry is intended to bring the item or person sung over into a closer "harmony" with the gods and/or the natural world (the two are often inextricably interwoven). The idea here is that when a Navajo is sick or unhappy, he views himself as having fallen out of harmony with certain elements of the universe (Hillerman refers to this as "Ghost Sickness" in his essay "Dineteh, If I Forget You" (11)). Ceremonial songs "realign" the person with the central life-force of the universe, thereby restoring the person to health and/or harmony. This can be seen in the repetition of certain phrases and words in Navajo poetry, particularly "Sa'ah Naaghaii Bik'eh Hozho":

Sa'ah Naaghaii Bik'eh Hozho I shall be,
Before me it will be hozho as I live on,
Behind me it will be hozho as I live on,
Below me it will be hozho as I live on,
Above me it will be hozho as I live on,

Hozho has been restored.
Hozho has been restored.
Hozho has been restored.
Hozho has been restored.

(Witherspoon, 26-27)

"Sa'ah Naaghaii" and "Bik'eh Hozho" are interpreted by Witherspoon as "the central animators of the Navajo universe", with "hozho" being generally interpreted as universal "harmony" or "beauty". The gods are closer to this source of power than man, and thus are called upon as a type of catalyst to obtain the "spiritual energy" from the central animators. By creating a link between the gods and man, Navajo songs are intended to "place the patient in a recreated world, closely identifying him with the good and power of various deities who are charged with positive spiritual energy" (Witherspoon, 25).

So how does this all relate to the Navajo internment at Ft. Sumner? Primarily in that the holy beings so important to changing reality and attaining "hozho" are reputed to dwell in specific geographic locations within Dinetah - unlike the Christian God who resides on another plane entirely, the Navajo deities exist in actual geographic locations. Some mention has already been made of the geographic specificity of Navajo Poetry; in the Blessingway, we can see numerous references to such sacred places that are still identifiable today:

Blanca Peak, Now Gobernador Knob, gazing upon one another, appear.
Now Gobernador Knob, Blanca peak, regularly speaking to one another by means of rock
crystal rainbow, appear,
Long life appears, happiness appears, that one appears holaghi.
Mount Taylor, now Yucca Mountain, gazing upon one another, appear.
Now Yucca Mountain, Mount Taylor, regularly speaking to one another by means of rock
crystal rainbow, appear,
Long life appears, happiness appears, that one appears holaghi.
San Francisco Peak, Huerfano Mountain, gazing upon one another, appear.
Now Huerfano Mountain, now San Francisco Peak, regularly speaking to one another by
means of rock crystal rainbow, appear,
Long life appears, happiness appears, that one appears holaghi.

(Wyman, 308)

This geographic specificity clearly illustrates how dependent the Dine poetry is on specific "sacred places" and, more succinctly, to the gods who therein dwell. It is logical then to assume that removal of the Dine from these focal points of power would doubtlessly render their poetry less potent in achieving the desired effects. We can see support for this idea in the fact that during Kit Carson's round up preceding the Long Walk, many Navajos surrendered without a fight because they knew that relatives who evaded capture would "pray from the mountaintops for their safe return" (Harris and Kelley, 111). This is supported in a quote by Sylvia Manygoats, a Dine, regarding how during the internment at Ft. Sumner, Dine who had evaded capture offered prayers up from Navajo Mountain, a sacred site:

Those that were captured, the women, their children, for them those who were still here, the men, performed prayers. It's true that the Navajo stories and prayers are sacred. Now this mountain here [Navajo Mountain], this way, on this side, a long time ago, Monster Slayer and Born for Water [twin war deities] were put there. The people who were left behind began to offer prayers with sacred stones over toward this way [New Mexico] and at the location of the Twins [shrine on Navajo Mountain]. Prayers were made there, prayers called repeating prayers. People who had relatives captured performed these ceremonies. As captives they were confined and the objective was never to let them return to their homelands. But the men from here were doing ceremonies (qtd. in Harris and Kelley, 30-31).

The idea that Dinetah is an inseparable component of Navajo ceremonialism is likewise supported by contemporary developments on the Navajo reservation. Many tribal members speak grimly of the removal of natural resources such as coal and wood from their land. In this regard, the current dilemma is that the land is being taken away from the Navajos rather than the Navajos being taken away from the land. Nonetheless, the dilemma is essentially the same: the separation of the Dine from Dinetah. Consider the following quote by Navajo Mamie Salt supporting this premise:

[The Black Mesa Mountains are another sacred area]. It is said to be the body of the Female Pollen Range lying there. Now the coal companies who hire Navajos have come in and are strip-mining the mesa, desecrating it. The coal is said to be the blood of the Female Pollen Figure lying there. This coal is considered sacred. Young Navajos help in digging up the coal today. They burn it for heat and use it for cooking, breathing in the fumes from it. This causes many kinds of sickness. The desecration of Black Mesa will burn out our souls one day (qtd in Harris and Kelley, 29).

This grisly image of young Navajos growing ill from breathing the fumes of their god's burning blood is a powerful one in describing exactly what the land (in this case, the Black Mesa Mountains) mean to the health and spiritual well being of the Navajos. As the land vanishes, so too does the sprit of the Dine. Doubtlessly, the complete separation from their land during the Long Walk and the subsequent internment were viewed by the Dine with a similar level of despair.

An additional consequence of the relocation was that it inspired a greater respect among the Dine for their ceremonial poetry. "(Religion and ceremonies) were considered especially sacred and were respected very much" says Hosteen Tso Begay in his narrative about the Long Walk (qtd. in Roessel, 264). There were probably a number of reasons for this renewed respect, the primary one being that it is natural when a culture is threatened for it to fall back upon its traditional values and customs as a means of support (we can still see this today in the vigorous efforts of many Native American tribes to keep their traditions alive in the face of modern consumer culture). Contributing to this was the hope that the recitation of ceremonial poetry was likely to assist in returning the Navajos to their homeland. As explained earlier, it was the intent of the Navajo poetry to affect reality. Herbert Zaihne, a Dine, relates how his father told him that "while the Dine were confined in Hweeldi (Ft. Sumner) they held their sacred ceremonials and their prayers, asking the Diyin Dine'e (Gods) to take them back to their homeland" (qtd. in Roessel, 234). Obviously, the Navajos believed that these holy beings would eventually hear their prayers and facilitate their return to Dinetah.

Likewise, adverse health and environmental conditions at Ft. Sumner would have prompted the Navajo to use their poetry in an effort to improve their conditions. Many of the Navajo, unaccustomed to the rations of flour, bacon and coffee (provided by the army), grew ill from eating these foods (numerous stories of the Long Walk relate how the Dine ate raw coffee beans and "boiled" their bacon thinking this was the proper way to prepare these foods). Additionally, the area of land occupied by the Navajos was well beyond its carrying capacity and before long was so barren that people reportedly had to walk 25 miles or more for firewood (Roessel, 216). There were long periods of drought and insect infestation during the internment as well, resulting in low crop yields and food shortages. The problem became so acute that General Carleton, once the idealist who had envisioned Ft. Sumner as a utopian haven for the Navajos, finally had to order his troops to go on half rations to help feed the Dine. All of these conditions likely reinforced the Navajo determination that solace could be found in reuniting themselves with their ancestral homelands and the gods who still dwelt there.

The importance of geographical locations and their significance to ceremony can also be seen in the use of the "medicine bundle" (jish) prepared by medicine men. The ingredients of these medicine bundles are drawn from points around Dinetah, and usually include such components as soil from the four sacred mountains and various crushed plants and pollens. The medicine bundles, used in conjunction with the prescribed song, are "symbolic for bringing all the resources of Navajoland to the patient" (Harris and Kelley, 25). Frank Mitchell, a Navajo medicine man, describes how it took many years not only to accumulate the ingredients in his bundle, but also to prepare the container itself:

It took about three years to visit all those mountains. It took so long because a trip like that requires so much preparation. Another thing that had to be prepared was a buckskin especially made to wrap the mountain earth in. This could not be just any deer that you would go out and shoot with a gun or bow and arrow that would wound it and make it bleed. This deer had to be roped: no kind of weapon could touch it...That is why it took all that time to visit those mountains: the preparations like hunting a deer for that purpose. It is pretty hard to rope a deer, and then you cannot shoot it; what you do is put a handful of pollen in its mouth, hold the nose and mouth tight to suffocate it. Then you butcher it, and the skin is used for wrapping up the mountain earth. It takes a long time to get all that fixed up. That is a highly valued thing whenever a deer is killed like that (Mitchell, 203).

Mitchell's statement shows us that even secondary components of Navajo ritual are tied to Dinetah. The significance is that while interned at Ft. Sumner, the Navajos would not have had the opportunity to make such bundles; separated from their land, they simply would not have possessed the raw materials to do so. As such, an important component of their ceremony and one that is just as integral to their poetry as vocal intonation and dynamics is to ours, would not have been available to them.

We have already seen how intimately related the Navajo poetry was to Dinetah, and how the Long Walk separated the Navajo from this "base of power". If this was so, than what effect did the separation have on the singers of this poetry? Here let us consider an interesting theory explained by James Randi on the role of shamans in native cultures:

There are emotional and sociological problems common to all cultures, and it appears that some individuals subject to these differences find the position of shaman to be a release from the restrictions imposed upon other tribe members. The shaman is sometimes a socially inept or poorly integrated citizen, often homosexual, crippled, or epileptic, and the exalted station of shaman allows him to fit into the social picture and survive. This would seem to be an excellent method of providing for and accommodating those with disabilities and / or unique lifestyles (Randi, 213-214).

This statement, although generalized in nature, nonetheless finds support for the role of Navajo ceremonial singers in the following quote by Navajo singer Frank Mitchell:

In the days when I was a small boy, there was no such thing as welfare or relief workers. No one was ever told that an old person was unable to support himself and should be given help. One of the things we were told during my childhood was to prepare ourselves to make a living. In your young days, you are not handicapped and you are able to endure a lot of hard work and hardship. But when you get old or disabled in some way, that is the end of your work. All those things like farm work and raising sheep end. The only occupation you can make use of until the end of your days is that of a ceremonial singer (Mitchell, 45).

Mitchell's statement tells us that there is a sociological as well as a religious value to the role of ceremonial singer in the Navajo community. That is, the role of singer allows disabled and elderly tribal members to contribute spiritually to the community if they are not able to contribute physically. At Ft. Sumner, this specialized role would undoubtedly have begun to diminish in importance as the years rolled on and as the memory of Dinetah and its position in ceremonial tradition dimmed. Furthermore, as this role diminished in importance, so too would the respect it had previously garnered for the elder members of the tribe and those other "poorly integrated citizens" who had found their nitch as ceremonial singers. In this regard, the internment, had it continued indefinitely, could have eliminated not only the effectiveness of the poetry but the role of the poet as well. This is a frightening thought, as so much of the Navajo belief system is bound in this poetry and carried on word of mouth by these singers.

Because of our cultural distance from the Navajos, it is sometimes difficult to understand their ceremonial poetry in its proper context. By looking at the Long Walk and the Navajo internment at Ft. Sumner, however, we are afforded a special insight that allows us to see how the poetry is inextricably tied to Dinetah, the Gods who live there, and the complex religion practiced by the Dine. By looking at the poetry in the context of the Long Walk we can also discern sociological issues, particularly those concerning the unique role of the singer in Navajo society. Finally, it should be recognized that despite such close association with the traditional homeland, the poetry, like the sculpted landscapes of Dinetah, continues to evolve over the passages of years. The singers, less concerned with the immortality of their own words than with the effects they achieve, regularly make subtle changes to their songs, adding their own individual flourishes, and in this regard, no two songs are ever alike. Thus, the poetry recited in the camps of Ft. Sumner is decidedly different than that which is recited today, yet the spirit remains eternal. In recognition of this fact, it is appropriate to conclude with an addition to the Blessingway made by the late Frank Mitchell, an addition that not only expresses the dynamic nature of this poetry but also its timeless relationship with the land, Dinetah, from which it sprung:

Blessed, my country will always be there, this I say
Blessed my mountain ranges,
With pollen they will be blessed, this I say,
Blessed the running waters,
With pollen they will be blessed, this I say
According to these things, I shall live, this I say,
According to these things, we shall live, this I say!

(Mitchell, 338)

Auden, W.H. "In Memory of W.B. Yeats." The Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry (Second Edition). Ed. Richard Ellman and Robert O'Clair. New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1988. 743

Harris, Francis Klara B. Kelley. Navajo Sacred Places. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1994.

Hillerman, Tony. "Dinetah, If I Forget You." Arizona Highways 79 (1996):10-12.

Mitchell, Frank. Navajo Blessingway Singer. Tucson, Arizona: University of Arizona Press, 1978.

Randi, James. An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and the Supernatural. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1995.

Roessel, Ruth. Navajo Stories of the Long Walk Period. Tsaile, Arizona: Navajo Community College Press, 1973.

Underhill, Ruth M. The Navajos. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1956.

Witherspoon, Gary. Language and Art in the Navajo Universe. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press, 1977.

Wyman, Leland C. Blessingway. Tucson, Arizona: University of Arizona Press, 1970.

Because the landscapes of Dinetah are so compelling and important to Navajo poetry, I have included a few snapshots from my own personal collection that show some of the places mentioned in my paper and in my research.

Image	Explanation
San Francisco Peaks	This sacred mountain geolocates the western edge of Dinetah. It is the highest mountain in Arizona; the town of Flagstaff now rests at its base. These picture were taken from Sunset crater, a nearby dormant volcano. In the Blessingway, the San Francisco Peaks are associated with many different items such as moccasins of different fabrics and abalone shells: "To the Summit of San Francisco Peak I have ascended / To an abalone shell footprint figure I have ascended / In abalone shell moccasins I have ascended..." (Wyman, 148)
Canyon De Chelley National Monument	Deep in the heart of Dinetah, this canyon is the site of many Navajo stories, both mythological and factual. It was in a side canyon of De Chelley (Del Muerto) that the Spanish massacred a group of Navajo in the early 19th century. Later in that same century, Kit Carson is reported to have flushed the Navajos out of the canyon by burning the crops which the Navajos grew along the fertile canyon floor. The town of Chinle sits at the mouth of the canyon; today it is the somewhat commercialized gateway city to the monument, yet in the 19th century it was probably the largest Navajo community in existence. Canyon De Chelley more than any other region seems to be the heart of Dinetah. This picture was taken from the White House Ruins trail head.
White House Ruins, Canyon De Chelley	"Both the ruin and the surrounding canyon dominate the origin stories of several Navajo ceremonial repertoires, including the nine night Nightway, the all night long masked dance performance on the last night, which is popularly known as the Ye'ii Bicheii Dance." (Harris and Kelley, 126)
Spider Rock, Canyon De Chelley	This picture, taken from a scenic overlook, shows Spider Rock, in which Spider Woman, who taught the Navajo how to weave, reputedly still lives. Whether the Navajo actually believe this or not is open to debate - some say the story is invention, as "The Navajo people are somewhat reknowned for telling tall tales to tourists willing to listen."
Navajo Mountain, Arizona	Navajo Mountain (Naatsis'aan) was a point of resistance during the years of the Long Walk, and throughout the internment Navajos remained there. It is one of the more frequently spoken of sacred places in Dinetah, and is located at the foot of an extremely harsh section of the reservation where ancient lava flows twist the earth into blasted, rocky moonscapes. "It's a really desolate area," says Howard Gorman when speaking of how the Dine evaded Kit Carson at Navajo Mountain, "to this day people get lost, even Boy Scouts" (Roessel, 28).

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