Diné Land Consciousness

Inextricably Entwined

The relationship we have with the land is so powerful, because we Diné believe we get spiritual power from the land, we also communicate with the land, the land communicates with us, the Four Sacred Mountains that surround the reservation they communicate with us and we communicate with them. We use the phrase “bil al k’ineegish, nihi k’ineegish,” to signify the communication that we have–we are inextricably intertwined, you cannot separate us, the human from Mother Earth. We are related to the land, the Earth is our mother, the sky is our father, the sun is also our father the moon is our mother, we are related. 

Some of the ceremonial prayers we have acknowledge the relationship. Our relationship between us and the earth is renewed every so often especially during the lunar cycle. We have the spring and fall Equinox, and the summer and winter Solstice. Our medicine people believe the earth renews itself. When the Earth renews itself, it stretches out so to speak, it takes on a new energy. That’s when our people have different ceremonies. By having those ceremonies we also feel that renewal. That’s the relationship we have with the earth. Many of our prayers are recited. We say the Earth’s feet is my feet, the Earth’s leg is my leg, the Earth’s body is my body, the Earth’s mental existence is also my mental existence, the Earth’s spiritual existence is also my spiritual existence. That’s how we identify with the Earth. 

Land, way back before the coming of the Western European, nobody owned any piece of land. It was wherever you traveled it was your land, shi keyah, you could be on the Western side of the reservation in the Tuba City area and that would be shi kéyah, ha kéyah, then you could be in the Eastern part of the reservation, traveling, and that’s also shi kéyah, ha kéyah, nihi Kéyah. That’s your land. Every place that you travel that you make your footprint with your moccasin, that is your land. But with the Western European coming over and the BIA being put in charge of developing the relationship between the Navajo people and the federal government, and then also the whole idea of land designation and land ownership, the BIA coming up with the 5 Agencies throughout the reservation, and then eventually the whole idea of “homesite lease,” the way that we perceive and use land has kind of shrunk to where we only have access to an acre. It’s not progress, it’s a step back to where we are confined. 

Dr. David J. Tsosie
Sanders, AZ