 |
| Spring at the Animas River, New Mexico side Photo courtesy of Venaya Yazzie 2016 |
I feel I am very blessed to live near the high desert water ways of northwestern New Mexico. I can drive about one hour and be in Colorado, near the source of the Animas river.
The spring time rains have finally arrived in the area of Durango, Aztec, Farmington, Shiprock and beyond that means moisture, but also high waters in the Animas and San Juan Rivers. Since August 2015 when the rivers were contaminated by the Environmental Protection Agency, the river has been 'healing' or working to be filter out its toxins. But, when it rains upstream in Colorado the river waters rise and the sediments that settled to the bottom of the river are stirred up again.
As an area resident in the San Juan Valley in New Mexico I visit the river daily. It is where I trek to exercise my body, clear my mind and also to free my spirit. For many reasons, feel I am unconsciously 'pulled' or drawn to the waters because I my cultural memory. This memory is ingrained into my desert bones, it is a call from the generations of my Dine' (Navajo) and Pueblo who in the past previously stood and slept near the banks of the waters here.
My family still carries the oral history stories of the ancestors who dwelled and lived in the area here in the past. It was here too that many of the Indigenous people held there ceremonies which included the use of these 'sacred' waters.
In 2016 as the river works to 'heal' itself from the pollution, I think we all heal too. For the event that occurred in August of 2015 was a traumatic experience for many of us.
Bless.
Venaya
