Lessons from the Reservation...........

We have had several experiences the couple of weeks to learn more of the Navajo traditions and ways..............each time we have been tutored well...........They do not like to be called Lamanites.......(in the Book of Mormon they feel this has a negative connotation and always the Lamanites do not believe in Christ)...........they prefer to be called "The Children of Lehi"......and one man told us that they took that new name like the Anti-Nephi- Lehis who changed their names when they came to believe. They have some ceremonies that are strickly old Navajo Tradition.............but many of the older medicine men are dying off and so things have changed somewhat. We learned about their 500 mile march off the reservation and then back.....about their sacred mountains, where we should go visit.

There are the Navajo Traditions - which are the beliefs of the past.
The Native American Church (which is not the Traditional) where they use the Piote. This started when a young pregnant woman was out wandering and needed water and nourishment for she and her unborn baby, so she prayed and found the piote after the prayer - ate it and was nourished, but also had a vision as she was eating it.............so when she returned and told her tribe about that - they decided to make a religion out of it - that is where it had its beginning. In those ceremonies the person comes into the hogan (all hogans face east). These ceremonies begin about 10:30 - 11:00 pm and go all night. The wood they use in the ceremonial fire in the center must be straight poles. (We see these straight poles being sold all over out of pickups when we ride to Gallup). They use one drum in the ceremony. As the person confesses his need for the prayers, they pass the piote around several times through the ceremony all the time praying for the person who has committed the sin............we are learning and loving the knowledge we are gaining for insights into the people here...........