Native American Culture Experience

After we could all relax a bit, we made ourselves ready for a Native American Experience and Dinner. On our way there, we stopped at the Glen Canyon Dam which is 178m high and pretty impressive.
For dinner, we all got a Navajo Taco which is based on fried bread, beans, salad, chili and some yoghurt sauce. The Navajo people (who call themselves Diné because the name Navajo was given them by the Mexicans and means The ones with the knives) invented the Navajo Taco when they had to leave their land behind and has to live in exile. There they got food, they didn't know how to use. So the Navajo Taco represents rebellion and not giving up. Still doesn't taste that good but okay.
We've learned a lot about the Diné people that night. They showed us how they weave their famous carpets (since the 14th century, from sheep wool after they got them in the 18th century, with a spindle and natural colours), how they sing and dance. They told us about their view on things. That there is always a masculine (right) and feminine (left) side that have to be balanced and work together. I've learned that I'm blessed as I'm left handed, because theoretically I could weave important symbols like a wedding band in the right direction. Clock-wise is the direction that is natural and correct and everything has to follow it.
But the part that resonated most with me, was the meaning of the Hoop Dance. The hoops represent problems or failures in life, e.g. a lost job or friend. During the Hoop Dance, the Dancer picks up the hoops one by one, and creating animals or symbols with it. So they basically pick up their problems, create something new and beautiful from them and therefore take agency of them again. And the more hoops (aka problems) they pick up, the stronger and faster they get during dancing. I just love that symbolism. It really got me thinking.
After the show was done, we went to the Grand Canyon Brewery (the restaurant twin we went to at Williams already) and had a drink (for me a Virgin Mojito). The day started bad but ended strong.Read more