A sacred land
At the foot of the Valley Navajo Tribal Park Monument, a voice whispers these words to us:
“In beauty I walk,
the beauty before me, I walk
the beauty behind me, I walk
the beauty above me, I walk
the beauty below me, I walk
may renewal walk in beauty
beauty is in me
I am beauty…” Hozho poetry read by Lorenza Garcia
This voice is that of Lorenza Garcia, ambassador of the Diné-Navajo people, with whom we have an appointment. The Diné-Navajo people chose her twenty-five years ago, and as a musician and visual artist, she had the grace to be initiated by women in particular.
What is important for the Navajo is the territory, it is their Mother Earth. They live between four sacred mountains. If they leave, they lose harmony, their relationship to the land, to life.
As Lorenza Garcia points out: “The Navajos place hozho at the heart of their philosophy. Hozho is beauty, joy, health, harmony, consciousness, love, compassion, humor and prosperity. It corresponds to the initial state of the world, when the first men and first women from the bowels of the earth set the affairs of the world in motion. It is in the hogan that the hozho helps to re-establish the bond of harmony to live in the order of the universe and find the balance between the visible and invisible world”.
The song that heals the earth
In Native American culture, singing honors life and helps maintain or restore harmony.
Lorenza Garcia and Navajo singers for her film “The Song that Heals the Earth”.
Tonight, a group of women meet at Shiprock “the wings of the eagle”, a sacred place around a fire. They come from all over the reserve. They are mothers, rock singers, students, painters, activists, farmers, teachers, they are between 14 and 77 years old, but all of them will sing together all night long to restore harmony.
For many Amerindian communities, the songs are there to celebrate the worlds and places that have allowed them to develop. They allow us to relive the great stages of creation. They resonate at the heart of a system that does not include the notion of separation, since the being as such is part of a whole. The song also celebrates elements such as water, air, fire and earth. On them depends the harmony on our planet. Therefore, they appeal to the voices/voices that are heard, to the collective capable of hearing all voices even if they are different. The songs are also the result of laughter, of celebrations and allow us to celebrate what is going well.
But Lorenza Garcia also sees it as a factor of women’s emancipation. Today, Native women are three times more likely to be victims of violence than other American women. They face repression and intimidation that prevents them from expressing themselves artistically and spiritually. In order to think about another world, these Native American women come together.
Among sisters in spirit and accompanied by their drums that beat to the rhythm of the heart of the earth, they sing to preserve their identity and heal from their wounds.
As singer Roxane Harvey points out: “Singing is the key, it’s like a bond, like a connection to keep us together, to keep us engaged and protected. Some don’t want to share. But I like to be open-minded because we are all one people, no matter what clan, I stay open. I share these songs that come from my heart and they are for the little ones. And for the next generation. May they continue to sing and influence the little ones. There are times when we feel lost but through music we open our eyes, our minds and our hearts. There is healing in music. This is hozho and it is in all of us. Why not use love? Is that so hard for you?”
We have to relearn our role as guardians of the Earth, rethink the relationship between power and domination. To guarantee serenity for future generations.
And Lorenza Garcia adds: “These songs speak to us of a rich traditional culture, respectful of Mother Earth, threatened today by the evils of the modern world. By perpetuating the memory of the past, they can help us build our future. To restore hozho in itself is to rediscover harmonious and sacred links in Mother Earth and Father-Sky. Our modern world must find a new balance. The meeting between them is urgent and vital to us and invites us to a new alliance”.
And Lorenza Garcia concluded: “All over the world, demonstrations on the ecological emergency show how much so-called modern societies have long closed their eyes to the devastating behaviors of over-consumption, over-use of natural resources and fate.
These peoples have always been aware of the importance of taking care of Mother Earth as they call it. For it is Mother Earth that nourishes and protects us.
For them, the Earth is a living being. Ours depends on its balance and health. As guardians of the earth, they feel responsible and custodians of a knowledge of the laws of harmony.
Credit: Lorenza Garcia
