As I mentioned in the announcement on Saturday, let’s mix up the schedule so we can join the current discussions about the calculated erasure of First Nations religions and cultures in Canada today. Specifically, let’s go south of the border to take a closer look at the relationships between the Navajo gods and humans in the American Southwest. The Navajo were also subject to enforced boarding schools that sought to expunge their history and religion (p. 156). Keep in mind, there is no one First Nation religion. There are different languages, religious beliefs, and worldviews across the Americas. But acknowledging and re-membering a living community is already an act of resistance in the context of a wider culture that prefers to forget. And the quest for beauty in dark times is still a universal theme that’s always worth exploring, especially now. “Navajo” is a name the Spanish gave to the indigenous people of the American Southwest who call themselves the Diné, or “the People.” Recently the Navajo agreed to continue using the name Navajo outside the community, so that’s what I’ll use it here. But as we know, and should be sensitive to, names and words can be historically loaded. This week, let’s focus on the Navajo concept of hózhó, loosely translated as “beauty.” It’s a more encompassing word, however, than a thing that is pleasant to look at. “A Navajo uses this concept to express his happiness, his health, the beauty of his land, and harmony of his relations to others” (p. 152). Throughout Navajo philosophies and stories, we see these connections between our relationships with other humans and our relationships with the earth and the gods. Origin stories tell of the Navajo’s birth as “an Emergence from the earth, much like a corn plant pushes forth from the earth as it grows, with deep roots stretching back and connecting it to the memory and power of its origins” (pp. 151-152). Have a look at the 3 different Navajo myths on our course site. Note the format is slightly different from previous weeks. You’ll need to click on the links below the “Night Sky,” “Changing Woman,” and the “Twins’ Journey” to access the brief stories. Many Navajo stories focus on the sacred land that is home to the Navajo. Other stories tell of how the first Holy People emerged from inside the earth, how the first humans were created with corn, and how the wind gave us life. We read about Coyote (pp. 152-154), Changing Woman (pp. 154-155), and the Twins (p. 155). Many religious scholars have taken note of the strong connections that different indigenous communities like the Navajo feel for the natural world around and inside us. (In fact, even the word “indigenous” comes from the Latin root meaning “sprung from the land.”) Read through our stories in our textbook and course site. What roles do specific elements of Nature play in the Navajo stories? What lessons are drawn from the land and the stories of the land? What happens when First Nation children are pulled from their families, their land, and also their stories? Finally, watch the video of Lyla June Johnston who is part Navajo. In the video she describes what it means to be educated from a Navajo point of view. Johnston asks, “Does the current definition of an educated person still serve the earth, serve humanity, and most importantly, serve the soul” (2.00)? One of goals of Navajo education, Johnston argues, is to learn joy, which “is the natural result that occurs when we are able to see with an unclouded mind and clear eyes the beauty of creation” (5.42). When children get a meaningful education, they “are able to heal themselves from trauma so that they might find joy and beauty once again” (6.13). What kinds of stories are should children learn, according to Johnston? What does she mean when she argues for “values first and skills later” (10.13)? What values, specifically? What skills? Let’s reimagine our own childhood education by working through Johnston’s question: “How might we lead our children in a new direction that helps and heals all things” (10.38)?