  |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
||
 |
 |
 |
|
|
 |
||||
|
Sacred Land, Sacred View Navajo Perceptions of the Four Corners Region ROBERT S. McPHERSON Charles Redd Monographs in Western History Series No. 19 Paperback. 152 Pages. / 1-56085-008-6 / $8.95 Dramatic geographical formations tower over the Four Corners country in the southwestern United States. The mountains, cliffs, and sandstone spires, familiar landmarks for anglo travelers, orient Navajos both physically and spiritually. In Sacred Land, Sacred View, Robert McPherson describes the mythological significance of these landmarks. Navajos read their environment as a spiritual text: the gods created the physical world to help, teach, and protect people through an integrated system of beliefs represented in nature. The author observes that the Middle East is of "no greater import to Christians than the Dine's holy land is to Navajos." He continues: "Sacred mountains circumscribe the land, containing the junction of the San Juan River and Mancos Creek, where Born for Water invoked supernatural aid to overcome danger and death and where, at the Bear's Ears formation, good triumphed over evil." The more one learns about the Dine, the more one inevitably admires their way of perceiving and interpreting what lies just beyond the focus of human vision. Their renowned respect for nature, and their way of living in harmony with the environment, derive from their religious traditions.
|
Robert S. McPherson is a professor of history, College of Eastern Utah, and author of A History of San Juan County: In the Palm of Time; The Northern Navajo Frontier, 1860-1900: Expansion Through Diversity; and Sacred Land, Sacred View: Navajo Perceptions of the Four Corners Region. He serves on the board of the Utah Historical Quarterly. He lives in Blanding, Utah.