From Second Mesa to Sedona
But, first, we had heard of the Katsina dances being held in
Moenkopi, a Hopi village located near the Navajo settlement at Tuba City. (The
land arrangements here are complicated, to say the least.) Unlike many Hopi
ceremonies, these were open to the public, so, with some good advice on
deportment from an Anglo who lived in the area with his Hopi wife, we set out.
Of course, I was unable to photograph any aspect of the
village or the dances, but just witnessing them was enough. They were held in
the central plaza between two rows of houses. We had the good fortune to arrive
just as one of the dances began. The dancers were dressed as you see them in
standard depictions and this was a serious dance. I cannot ever pretend to have
understood any of the rituals performed, but these are early planting dances,
prayers for fertility and a good growing season and perhaps this drought cycle
made them even the more intense. There were about eighty dancers ranged in an
oval, all men, of every age and stature. The Hopi tend to be short and thick,
we fit right in, though we were two or only four “anglos” we saw there. The
beat of the drums was hypnotic, you could feel it and soon my body picked it
up. It was a fitting and appropriate way to spend Easter morning.
After the dance ended around mid-day the question was where
to go and what to do. We had a late, specified check-in at our bed and
breakfast (loosely construed, more on that, perhaps, later), so we had a day to
kill. Under the heading of it seemed like a good idea at the time, we decided
to drive 178 miles southeast to the Petrified National Forest. We got there
barely in time to stroll about looking at the fallen trees before heading out
to head to our “real” destination of Sedona.
On Monday we look forward to lunch with pen buddy Jon Messer
and his wife Beth and strolling through Sedona itself.
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