<\/p>\n
Navajo Medicine Man Francis Mitchell offered an emotional prayer over the weekend as he led a blessing ceremony for a new hogan in Southwest Colorado.<\/p>\n
Moving himself and others to tears at one point during the nearly three-hour ceremony on Saturday, July 11, Mitchell was asked to bless the ritual site by the Southwest Intertribal Voice.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not religion,\u201d Mitchell said while slipping on a headband. \u201cThis is a way of life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Starting with a protection song, the blessing ceremony included rubbing white corn powder along the door frame, floor and ceiling of the hogan. Arrowheads, one white and one red, were also submerged in a bowl of water, which was later passed around for all to drink. Yellow corn powder and smoke from cedar were also utilized during the blessing ceremony.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes we get caught in the world,\u201d said Mitchell. \u201cThis will allow us to teach our offspring, and a lot of stories will be derived from here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Southwest Intertribal Voice, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing a voice for Native Americans across the Four Corners, constructed the hogan. The volunteer group also set up a tepee on the 24-acre site between Cortez and Towaoc on U.S. 160.<\/p>\n
Intertribal Voice board president Art Neskahi said the aim was to offer Native Americans living off-reservation a place to hold traditional ceremonies. He said neighbors living next door to a Native family in Cortez, for example, might not appreciate a beating drum, adding that the ceremonial site would alleviate such disturbances.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to many blessings coming from this place,\u201d said Neskahi.<\/p>\n
Neskahi commended efforts from donors, and applauded two local white men, Bill Jobin and Wray Boswell. Jobin donated the seed money to launch the effort, and Boswell worked to help construct the hogan. Jobin and Boswell were among some three dozen people to attend Saturday\u2019s blessing ceremony.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe congratulate you on this beautiful hogan,\u201d said Jobin, a member of the St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Cortez.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe worked one day a week,\u201d said Boswell, adding that he and Neskahi labored nearly every weekend over the past two years to build the hogan. \u201cIt\u2019s nice to see it all come together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Neskahi\u2019s younger brother, Arlie Neskahi, traveled from Washington state to attend the blessing ceremony on his family\u2019s land. He said that his grandfather and others were once unable to freely gather for such a ceremony, citing Native practices were outlawed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey went to jail many times,\u201d said Arlie Neskahi. \u201cBeing here today is a wonderful thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ceremonial specialist Patricia-Anne Davis also recalled those difficult times, citing the first time she ever entered a ceremonial teepee was 1974.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m so happy for you,\u201d Davis told the Neskahi brothers. \u201cI just want to thank you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Andrew Tso, of Cahone Mesa, also expressed his gratitude to Southwest Intertribal Voice for providing the ceremonial grounds. Tso, an official with the Native American Church, is hopeful that the site can be used for quarterly conference meetings.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have peyote chiefs still here,\u201d Tso said. \u201cThey\u2019ve been waiting on a place like this.\u201d<\/p>\n
But state transportation officials, citing public safety concerns, halted those healing ceremonies, Tso said.<\/p>\n
A Ute Mountain Ute tribal elder led a traditional blessing ceremony for the tepee on the site.<\/p>\n