Diné raise concerns about Hózhǫ́ǫ́jí appropriated across Tónteel
PHOENIX
The Hózhǫ́ǫ́jí is being appropriated across Tónteel by a non-Native woman.
The woman, April Wild, is allegedly performing the Blessingway – sacred to the Diné – in England.
Over Instagram, a social media platform, Wild, reputedly based in England, promoted a “Blessing Way Ceremony” for new mothers stepping into motherhood and didn’t properly respect the Navajo culture and people.
The post was then shared with a local Navajo-owned storefront owner, Dawn Brown, who said she couldn’t take her eyes off the posts shared with her.
One of Brown’s followers on Instagram shared their exchanged messages with the non-Native woman performing the ceremony. When Brown confronted the woman, she was blocked.
“When are we going to do something about it?” Brown asked. “I just thought I’d use my platform to say something because my audience is 99.9 percent Navajo so I have nothing to lose.”
Read the full story in the May 18 edition of the Navajo Times.
Highway 264,
I-40, WB @ Winslow