Listening Woman (1978)

The horse was introduced to the Americas in the 1500s by the Spaniards. While the Spaniards prized the horse for the role it played in travel, exploration, and war, they at times left herds of horses in various locales, hoping that the animal would find ways to establish itself on the continents the Spanish were busily conquering. The horse proved very adaptable and found habitats to thrive in, especially in the Great Basin and Plains of North America. Native Americans, particularly along Spain's northern colonial frontier, emulated the Spaniards' use of the horse for transportation, hunting, labor, and sport, and soon out-mastered the Spanish horsemen in riding, training, and cultivating the beasts the Spanish so prized. The horse took on great significance to many indigenous communities, and in some cases was incorporated into origin stories as a gift from the gods. The horse also occupies a central role in many mythologized frontier narratives about the Western and Southwestern regions of the United States.

A small songbird common to fields, deserts, and tundra with a high, tinkling song that can tumble down from heights and flights hundreds of feet in the air. Their diet consists of seeds and insects and, although common throughout North America, their numbers have declined in the last fifty years. Their name comes from the black head striped that occasionally raises into tufted "horns" atop their heads.

The Hopi are a Native American tribal people, who comprise a sovereign nation located in northeastern Arizona. They are also known as one of the Pueblo peoples, as named by the Spanish colonizers in the 1500s because of their clusters of modular dwellings, which reminded the Spanish adventurers of their own small towns, or pueblos, back on the Iberian peninsula. Hopi is a shortened version of Hopituh, meaning "Peaceful ones," and in earlier periods were also called the Moqui, most likely named as such by another tribe. As a Puebloan group, the Hopi are considered traditional agriculturalists and farm a mixture of maize, squash, beans, chili peppers, and onions. Hopi life is situated around ceremonials, of which each village has its own variations, that consist of the veneration of some 300 kachinas.

Many Hopi people live on the Hopi reservation, which is encompassed by the Navajo Reservation. The Hopi reservation consists of twelve villages located on three mesas: First Mesa, Second Mesa, and Third Mesa, all of which are located upon the even larger Black Mesa. The Hopi consider this land sacred and part of their tribal history and origin.

In many tradtional cultures, the Holy People are immortal beings who can take the form of ancestor spirits, universal guides, landscape elements, animals, plants, and celestial bodies. When things become imbalanced and sickness or discord manifests, the Holy People can be summoned through ceremonies with rituals and prayers. If the ceremony is performed in the correct way and the Holy People are pleased, then they, through the concept of reciprocity, feel obliged to right the wrong that is disrupting the harmony the Navajo seek in their daily lives, restoring order, health, and hózhó.

On the Hopi Reservation in north-central Arizona, which is completely surrounded by the Navajo Reservation, there are twelve Hopi villages. These villages are not in the exact same places as they were in the 1500s, but the people there still live in tune with the traditional ways. The Hopi are a Pueblo people, named as such by the Spanish colonizers because of their traditional building style, which reminded the Spaniards of their own small towns, or pueblos, on the Iberian Peninsula. The cluster of Hopi villages are located on three peninsular mesas, First Mesa, Second Mesa, and Third Mesa, that form the southern edge of Black Mesa. Although the customs, language, and rituals of the tribe across the villages and mesa are intertwined and similar, the villages do have their own unique variations and specific customs. First Mesa includes the villages of Walpi, Sichomovi, and Tewa (Hano). Walpi is the oldest village and has had inhabitants since 900 AD. Second Mesa is the home of the villages of Shungopavi, Mishongovi, and Sipaulovi. Third Mesa includes Kykotsmovi (New Oraibi), Old Oraibi, Hotevilla, and Bacavi.

The police division of the state of Arizona that is responsible for enforcing laws and regulations concerning driving, transportation, and road safety.

The Hero Twins, Born of Water and Monster Slayer, are the twin sons of Changing Woman and were born to rid the earth of the monsters who were killing the Diné, or the Navajo people. Monster Slayer is the elder twin, known as Nayénzgan in Diné, and Born of Water is the younger twin, known as Tobadzîschíni in Diné.

They begin by visiting their father the Sun and, after passing through many trials, are given weapons. The younger twin, Born of Water, is given prayer sticks and told to watch them as the older twin Monster Slayer goes out to fight the monsters. If the prayer sticks begin to burn, he will know that Monster Slayer is in danger and needs help. Monster Slayer goes alone to kill some of the monsters and Born of Water accompanies him while killing others.

Sometimes Monster Slayer is referred to as The Hero Twin (singular), probably because he does most of the fighting. However, because of their perseverance, both twins become warriors and so serve as a model for young Navajo men today.

The essential but non-physical aspect of a living being, that which leaves the body after death. Depending on the context, "soul" can refer to the spirit, personality, consciousness, mind, or entirety of the being ("another poor soul," as Leaphorn refers to Horseman in Tony Hillerman's 1970 Navajo detective novel THE BLESSINGWAY).

A long and wide trench that cuts into soft rock or sediment. Gullies normally occur in areas where the ground surface has been exposed to fire, the effects of climate change, or human activity. Without plants, especially their root systems, rainfall can cause the sediment to erode as water moves swiftly over the surface of the earth and, via friction, removes particulate matter.

One of the seven wonders of the world, the Grand Canyon is a vast canyon system located in present day Arizona, west of the Navajo Reservation. Almost three hundred miles in length and one mile deep, the Grand Canyon's steep and variegated walls reveal billions of years of geological history. In addition, because the Canyon is so extensive, cut as it has been through the Colorado Plateau by the Colorado River, the Canyon creates its own weather patterns due to the powerful and super-heated uplifts that surge up out of the canyon bottom. Continuously occupied for thousands of years by several Native American communities for whom it remains a sacred place to this day, the Canyon entered protected federal status as a National Park in 1919. Currently, the Canyon is revered as much for its natural beauty as for its various layers of biological, ecological, archaeological, and cultural significance.