New Miss Western to encourage parents to teach culture
Contestant No. 4 Inikki Begay from Shonto, Ariz. demonstrates how to remove the outer layer from the stem of a sumac on Saturday during the 2015 Miss Western Navajo pageant in LeChee, Ariz. (Times photo - Krista Allen)
ABOVE: Contestant No. 4 Inikki Begay from Shonto, Ariz. demonstrates how to remove the outer layer from the stem of a sumac on Saturday during the 2015 Miss Western Navajo pageant in LeChee, Ariz. (Times photo – Krista Allen)
Former titleholder Ann Marie Salt from Kayenta holds up a storyboard as Tashina Benally, 20, from Leupp, Ariz. tells a short story in Navajo about Little Boy Blue during the 2015 Miss Western Navajo pageant on Saturday in LeChee, Ariz. (Times photo – Krista Allen)
LECHEE, Ariz.
Four young women competed on Oct. 11 as LeChee Chapter presented the 2015-14 Miss Western Navajo pageant.
In front of a large crowd on Saturday afternoon, the panel of judges selected Tashina Benally from Leupp, Ariz., as the new E’e’aahjigoh Diné Bich’eeke’ to represent the 18 chapters.
For her contemporary skill, Benally put a new spin on “Colors of the Wind,” the 1995 Oscar-winner for best original song from Disney’s animated feature film “Pocahontas.”
Highway 264,
I-40, WB @ Winslow