Day 11

Sunday June 14, 1998

Tohatchi's Fr. John was out of town for the weekend. Mass was beautiful in St. Mary's church as always. Our Fr. John was called upon to do a Corpus Christi procession along with a local Navajo woman who performed the blessing with Cedar in the Four directions. At the end of Mass, an Indian man named Benson, performed a "blessing way" ceremony with eagle feathers on each of us from Madison. It was a very beautiful and touching ceremony. The Indian women also prayed for the healing of Christiane's dog bites. We felt very loved and appreciated. After mass we walked to the parish hall for coffee, cookies, and fellowship with the parishioners. We had many interesting discussions with the young and old people of St. Mary's. For a deeper understanding about Navajo religion and the "blessing way ceremony" that we experienced follow the link below:
http://www.indians.org/welker/dineway.htm

The rest of the day was spent either hiking, resting, and working on this web site. In the evening some of the group went to Gallup to view the Indian dancing which is presented each night at 7:00 by various Indian tribes. Tonight's dances were presented by the Navajo dancers who also did one dance of the Hopi tribe. See the Indian dancers below.

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