STATEMENT BY PAULINE WHITESINGER 04.29.03

Dine’ elder, ta’baa hnii dine’e’ B. F ashiih

Translated by Kee Watchman, Transcribed by Owen Johnson 4/29/03

When I was young, just beginning to sit down, I began to get these teachings from my grandparents. My grandmother was with me a lot. Grandpa only saw me the once, the night before he entered the spirit world. But I learned these from them both. Growing up I heard this story about this female mountain range that we are living on here, Black Mesa. It’s got a male one too, that has a special clay and they say the sheep comes from there. And here on Big Mountain is the high point on the female, where there is a shrine and a home there for the holy people, a place to give offerings. And my grandma would tell me, ‘someday in the future somebody might be coming along and tell then it belongs to them ~ maybe Hopi.’ But Big Mountain and Black Mesa is for Dine’ only. I don’t even know how old I was then. Today I still don’t know how old I am. Read more