Navajo Proverbs
A spear is a big responsibility.
I am one with the Earth.
All around me my land is beauty.
Navajo Chants
I have been to the end of the Earth.
I have been to the end of the waters.
I have been to the end of the sky.
I have been to the end of the mountains.
I have found none that are not my friends.
The Earth is beautiful
Its feet, they are beautiful
Its legs, they are beautiful
Its body, it is beautiful
Its chest, it is beautiful
Its breath, it is beautiful
Its head-feather, it is beautiful
The Earth is beautiful.
In harmony may I walk.
With harmony ahead me, may I walk.
With harmony behind me, may I walk.
With harmony above me, may I walk.
With harmony underneath my feet, may I walk.
With harmony all around me, may I walk.
It is done in harmony.
I see the Earth.
I am looking at her and smile because she makes me joyful.
And the Earth is also looking back at me and smiling.
May I walk joyfully and lightly upon Her.
May there be joy.
May there be success.
May there be good health.
May there be well being.
The mountains—I become part of it.
The flowers, the evergreen tree—I become part of it.
The morning moisture, the clouds, the bodies of water—I become part of it
The wilderness, the water drops, the pollen—I become part of it.
Native American Wisdom
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The Navajo lived in scattered collections of homes across vast areas. They had religious lives with a wide variety of rituals, many of which are still performed by modern day Navajo. The Navajo call themselves Dine, meaning “the people.”
They are currently about 200,000 Navajo, making them second largest Native American tribe in the US. Most of them occupy the Navajo reservation, which is the nation’s largest reservation and encompasses over 16 million acres of land in parts of Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah.
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