This update took a while for Kermit to post because he had so much to share! After replacing his tires, Kermit was finally ready for his tour of Canyon De Chelly. Though Kermit booked a public tour, the park wasn't busy, so he was the only tour guest!
Kermit and the tour guide, Leander, clicked right away. He was frank and invited Kermit to ask any questions they had, and not to worry about offending him! Kermit had a LOT of questions, especially considering how long he had talked to other Navajo from the reservation--everything he learned created new questions!
Leander told Kermit about life on the reservation and in the canyon, and some of the social dynamics. For example, one of the families in the canyon dislikes Leander's family for something that happened years and years ago. He also told Kermit that folks on the reservation love TV and movies, and will use movie references quite often in conversation! He recommended 'Reservation Dogs', or the documentary 'The Wonderful World of Whites', if anyone is looking for suggestions.
He also talked a bit about two spirits, and how Navajo were once very accepting of LGBTQ individuals, but how western influences have slowly changed their culture. This has impacted their gender dynamics--men would traditionally marry into the woman's family, as opposed to the woman into the man's family, though this has changed as well.
Leander does a lot to try to improve his community. He's working with a program now that is sort of like big brother, providing positive role models for reservation youths. Leander had to do a lot of the set up himself--in some ways he was handed the materials and told "good luck".
Leander asked about Kermit, and Kermit told him about some of the bad things that had happened on his trip. Leander told Kermit that if he was Navajo, he would say someone was 'witching' him! At the same time, he also said that Kermit's experiences, even if they were hard, let him get a much deeper understanding of the communities he was passing through than he would have otherwise. If he hadn't blown two tires, he never would have met the wonderful family who helped him!
Leander drove Kermit through the canyon and showed him cliff paintings and ruins. Though Leander doesn't have a degree, he's the most knowledgeable person Kermit has met on his travels so far. Leander grew up in the Canyon with his father, who taught him a lot! He knows all of the plants, the cliff paintings, and ruins.
The Ancestral Puebloans used to live in the canyon, but when they left due to drought others like the Hopi (and later, the Navajo) took up their place. Often their dwellings are separate from where they would store their food, either to keep out pests or invaders. Because of the presence of guest houses and exotic goods found in the ruins, it seems that the residents welcomed visitor from far afield.
Though the canyon may not look it, it's full of life! There even used to be large fruit orchards. In the 1860's, when the Navajo resisted removal, the US army burned the orchards and killed the livestock. The Navajo were forced to take "the long walk," 300 miles to Fort Sumner New Mexico, where many died. After four years, the relocation experiment failed and the Navajo were allowed to return. When they got there, they found new growth creeping through the ashes of their orchard.
Leander told Kermit a story of a man who hid when the soldiers came. He returned to the canyon to find everyone gone. He waited and no one returned, so he wandered in search of his people. Eventually he found two other Navajo women, also hiding. They waited until their people returned.
He also showed Kermit how to eat cactus fruit. He separated the fruit from the plant with a stick, because the outside of the fruits are covered in spines. Then he rubbed the spines off with another plant, and cut the fruit open. It was delicious. The texture was similar to watermelon. The fruit enveloped seeds which had to be spit out.
On the cactus fruit was a white substance, beetle dung, called cochineal. When rubbed together, it turns from white to red! Navajo would use this as a dye, or as face paint.
Finally, the tour ended at a small house in the canyon. Leander's aunt lives in the canyon year-round making traditional Navajo blankets. She occasionally takes apprentices, though she never charges them for her time. She has a fruit orchard, and in her backyard, up one of the canyon cliffs, are more ruins. Right there! In her backyard!
Before they parted, Leander suggested that Kermit go and see Spider Rock, which he did. According to Navajo legend, a woman lived at the top of the rock. She descended to teach the native people how to weave baskets, and she also taught the changing woman something important (Kermit can't remember what, and he's very upset about it!). Navajo mothers would use Spider Woman to keep their children in line--if you aren't good, the spider woman will take you to the top of her rock and eat you! That's why the top is white--from children's bones! Kermit thinks that if more people knew about Spider Woman, she would be a lesbian icon.
