Mount Taylor
Tsodzil is made of the sacred
and precious jewel, turquoise

Navajo Nation Vice President Ben Shelly speaks to the auddience at Sky City Casino about the addition of Mount Taylor to the State Register of Cultural Properties list. [photo by Helen Davis / Independent]

By Helen Davis
Cibola County Bureau

PUEBLO OF ACOMA — On June 19, a few days after the Cultural Properties Review Committee again voted to list much of Mount Taylor in the State Register of Cultural Properties for one year, leaders from the five nominating tribes held a conference at the Sky City Hotel to commend the committee’s decision and to speak to the media about why the decision is important.

Each speaker, from Hopi, Zuni, Laguna, Acoma, and the Navajo Nation, spoke of the value of the mountain not only to their cultures but to all people in the Mount Taylor’s shadow. In upcoming days the Independent will run excerpts from each speaker.

Navajo Nation Vice President Ben Shelly addressed the media with a look into the way the Navajo people regard the mountain and touched on the significance to all people, stressing the interconnectedness of nature and people.
Shelly began his address with a summary of the Navajo perspective.

“I would like to provide you with a glimpse into the Navajo world-view. This world-view is based on an understanding of the entire universe communicated in the Navajo language, containing important Navajo cultural values.” The speaker added that the values have been passed down through the generations.

The oral history of the Navajo says the ancestors came from the four underworlds into the fifth, glittering world, where the sacred homeland is bounded by four sacred mountains, Shelly said. He added that each mountain is bestowed with essential philosophical and traditional values. Mount Taylor, Tsodzil, is the mountain defining the southern border of the homeland.

“The mountain, its water sources and surrounding landscape are underlying parts of the larger Navajo world, inseparable living beings. Tsodzil is made of the sacred and precious jewel, dootl’izhii — turquoise — and is known as Dootl’izii Dziil — Turquoise/Blue Strength,” Shelly explained and added, “Dootl’izii represents the natural process of life; the capacity of our bodies to stay healthy from birth to old age. This is why the Navajo people value and wear turquoise.”

Shelly explained that soil, minerals, herbs and other substances that make up Dahndiilye’e’h/Dzil Leezh or mountain soil bundles used in Hozho’ ji’ or the Blessing Way Ceremony come from the four mountains. “Hozho’ ji’ is the foundation of all Navajo ceremonies and the Navajo way of life. Hozho’ ji’ restores an individual’s mental and physical well-being by restoring self-respect, harmony, balance and strength in the mind and body. While this ceremony is performed for a specific Navajo, the blessings restore the well-being of all people and the universe.”

Shelly finished his address saying, “This brief summary I have shared with you provides only a tiny glimpse of the essential and profound role of Tsodzil in the world-view of the Navajo people.” He shared one last Navajo with the press and the Pueblo people assembled — “Ahe’ hee’ “ or “thank you.”