In the midst of traffic
jarring noise and confusion
on a terminally crowded street
•••
My mind took a secret detour
to imagine a sacred place
•••
Standing in a field of flowing grasses
as far as the eye can see
my feet, sank into the mud beneath
•••
The sunset’s stinging glare
revealed a fortuitous scene
•••
Just beyond a rushing stream
near the clearing of trees
nature is honored in smoke-filled reverie
•••
Chanting to their Hastseoltois
women worship their goddess of hunt
•••
Noble fire surrounds the dancers
moving in rhythmic abandon
while warriors began their sacred feast
•••
I kneeled in the swaying reeds
my face, the wind sweetly caressed
•••
The shadows were growing long
the fire would soon be gone
paint-covered faces visualized the evening hunt
•••
Assembling a line in formation
They’ve carefully mapped the miles
•••
With a shrill and mighty call
warrior’s descend upon Autumn’s prey
God was good to them, or so they soon would say
•••
A prolonged honk shook me awake
But my heart will always stay.
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Author Notes
Thanks so much to badlands by MKFlood
The Goddess Hastseoltois is the Goddess of the Hunt for the Navajo Tribe.
The word Navajo comes from the phrase Tewa Navahu, meaning highly cultivated lands. The Navajo Indians largely reside in New Mexico and Arizona. The Navajo Indians originally began their tribes in the 1500s. They traded maize (or corn crops) and woven cotton items such as blankets for things like bison meat and various materials that they used to make tools and weapons.
The Navajo Indians are considered to be the largest tribe of all Native American Indians. Their homes were very simple, just a small shelter of wooden sticks, mud, and tree bark. These homes were known as hogans, and their doors faced the east to be sure the sun would shine in. When the Spanish came into their territory in the 1600s, the Navajo who use their sheep for things like clothing and food. They would set up trading posts within the Spanish towns with their handmade items in order to barter for thingsthey needed.
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