Blessingway . . . Colorado

While Navajo reservation land is currently in New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah, and the Ute have tribal land in southwest Colorado, and the Paiute assert rights to land in the area, the Blessingway graces all land. The Way of Harmony seeks to bless those on a journey. And mountains are a particular holy place for the Dineh. These are in southwest Colorado.

“Now I was surrounded by Sun’s surroundings,

when with the aid of a beautiful one I walked about,

Now I am long life, now happiness . . .

Behind me blessing is extended to mountains

Before me blessing is extended to the mountains

Below me blessing is extended to the earth

Above me blessing is extended to the sky

At dawn I walk.

Behind me it is blessed where I walk, before me it is blessed where I walk,

I walk, at dawn I walk.”

Text Blessing Way: With Three Versions of the Myth Recorded and Translated From the Navajo, Fr. Berard Haile, O.F.M., 1970