Colorado trip pix (Day 9)

Monument Valley--July 5, 2007

Indian lore:

Navajo name for Monument Valley = Tse'Bii'Ndzisgaii.

The park has male and female hogans, which I'd never heard of. A website explains the difference:Many of the ceremonies take place in the male hogan. The male hogan is more aggressive; the place where one meets their enemy. This is where we confront illness and sickness. We don't want to contaminate our homes with these things. Later the male hogan can be purified. Inside the male hogan the ceremonial fire is very dangerous.

The female hogan's fire is in contrast warm and inviting. It warms the family and cooks our food. The female hogan is where the family lives. It is where the family finds love and compassion. It is where the family sleeps and eats. It is a healthy, safe place for the family.

Movies filmed at Monument Valley include:

Stagecoach, 1939
My Darling Clementine, 1946
Fort Apache, 1948
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, 1949
Rio Grande, 1950
The Searchers, 1956
How the West Was Won, 1962
Cheyenne Autumn, 1964
2001: A Space Odyssey, 1968
Easy Rider, 1969
The Trial of Billy Jack, 1974
The Eiger Sanction, 1975
Legend of the Lone Ranger, 1981
National Lampoon’s Vacation, 1983
Starman, 1984
Back to the Future III, 1990
Forrest Gump, 1994
Wild Wild West, 1999
Mission: Impossible II, 2000
Windtalkers, 2002

For more of Monument Valley's movie history, see this article.

Navajos in the parking lot asked us if we wanted to take a jeep or horse tour.

The Trading Post has a large section of John Wayne memorabilia, including lunch boxes.

Several Navajos spoke Navajo at Goulding's Lodge.

The "Welcome to Hopilands" sign in Tuba City now has McDonald's golden arches atop it. I don't believe the arches were there when I passed the sign 15 years ago.

The Tuba City Trading Post is shaped like an eight-sided hogan.

In a nearby Internet cafe, several Navajos were working on laptops.