Dzilth-Na-O-Dith-Hle

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Dzilth-Na-O-Dith-Hle (the locals call it “DZ” for short) means “Revolving Mountain” in Navajo and is one of the most sacred places on the Navajo Nation. After leaving Santa Fe, we turned toward Four Corners and a few miles before Farmington (“a few miles” out here is very different than back East, let me tell you) we passed by the “DZ” school. This brought back a flood of memories from 25 years ago when our church in Tullahoma teamed with the Shelbyville church and spent a week at the reservation.

It’s time for a story, flashback to 1995 or so…

Because the Navajo tend to spread out, the school has dormitories and the kids come and stay in the Fall. Since we were there in August, our mission team of teenagers (and Rachel, who was only two at the time), stayed in the dorms. We helped with work projects, the school lunch program, and anything that could be useful for the Navajo. We made a lot of friends and learned some about the culture. There are so many stories here. One is about trying to contain our charter bus driver, who tended to drink too much and who was none too happy about living in the dorms for a week. Another was about our “wilderness walk” that I ended up capturing in our air-brush class from master artist Peter Ray James.

In the Navajo culture, the son-in-law typically moves his family in with the daughter’s parents. Johnny, the father-in-law (and also our leader) talked about how Peter wanted to put a buffalo head in the living room because of the strong symbology it carries. Johnny, wanting to accomodate the new son-in-law, agreed. Johnny laughed and said he didn’t realize Peter was bringing a full-size bison mount, it took up the whole living room! Peter and I clicked right-off, he loaned me a mountain bike and we took to the trails, talking about his people and our spirituality.

Ah, the Navajo people! Wary at first, but with the best sense of humor you can imagine. As with most mission trips, one recieves far more than one gives. We have all been blessed by the experience.

The Navajo have a difficult time. I’ve read that in order to have a short road put it, SEVEN agencies could be involved (see for yourself: https://navajotimes.com/news/chapters/050913hue.php). I can’t even imagine the perseverence required to push something through. Work is hard to find, and even if you find a job, you’re going to need a truck to travel the 30 miles or so to get to it.

Anyway, one memory stands out in particular. At the end of the week, I asked Johnny if I could take the teens to the top of the mesa for the evening to watch the Perseid meteor shower and to watch the stars. He thought for a moment, after all this is a sacred place for the Navajo. Of course this didn’t stop the federal government from leasing the top of it for all sorts of antennas and telecommunications equipment.

Johnny said, “Sure, that will be all right, just keep in mind the creatures of the night.” In August, probably just things like snakes, scorpions, and tarantulas. So we loaded up the rental van and I bounced us to the top, managing to sideswipe a bollard on the way and denting the van.

Once we got to the top, the only really clear spaces on the ground without brush were the dirt roads around the telecommunications equipment. I was a little disappointed, Being nestled amongst all the towers, I was afraid all the safety/security lighting would blind us to the night sky. But we didn’t have much choice so we settled in.

We all just spread our sleeping bags out on the dirt road and waited for the stars. Patricia and I zipped our bags together and plopped Rachel in between. Trey and the other teens were scattered around us. As it became dark, my friend Bob talked about how great it would be to see the meteor shower, he was really excited! But after a long day, he was snoring quietly in short order, I just had to smile.

The mesa is about 7,000 feet, and I can’t remember a better night sky. The stars were bright to the horizon, the Milky Way was so bright you could easily see to move around! And then the shower started, it was just spectacular. Curiously, there were no lights! No flashing red beacons on the antennas, no building lights above the doors, nothing. I could look at distant mesas and see the red beacons, but ours were not on. While I could hear the cooling equipment running, there was not a single light to spoil the view.

Dear Reader, I did not sleep that night. I watched the Perseids all night and then watched the sun come up the next morning. What an experience…and I may have had it to myself hahaha.

After we returned back to the school, Johnny asked us how it went. I told him about the lights and if maybe he knew anything about it (wondering maybe if he had them turned off?). He said, “What do you mean? No, they should have been on, that’s very strange.” He then added, “Maybe the spirits were watching out for you last night.”

Maybe they were, maybe they were…

As of this writing, I attempted to see how Peter Ray James was doing, I had heard he had some life struggles. I found a link to an interview from 2017 discussing him getting back into his groove, you may find it here: https://toh-atin.com/blog/peter-ray-james-returns-to-painting/

I felt fortunate to have met him and am glad he’s still creating.

Onward towards Canyonlands! (We didn’t make it!)