Top 10 Stories of 2021 | No. 9: Rays of sunshine for beleaguered people

DÁ’DEESTŁ’IN HÓTSAA

Bearsun is an artist, period.

In late July, the 33-year-old California man in a giant teddy bear suit of his own creation arrived in northern Arizona and then made his way through southern Diné Bikéyah.

To raise money on GoFundMe for multiple causes such as autism, cancer, and the environment, the man, Jessy Larios, in the shash yáázh (daane’į́h) suit, walked from Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo neighborhood to Times Square in New York City.

Larios’s 3,000-mile walk from LA to the Big Apple took him 134 days. He started his long walk on July 5 and braved sweltering temperatures and rain along the way.

He arrived in Times Square on Nov. 14.

Bearsun became a media sensation after he crossed into Arizona along U.S. 95 on July 19. He stopped in several places, including Oatman, Kingman, Peach Springs, Seligman, Ash Fork, Williams, and Flagstaff.

Then he reached the Navajo Nation, where he spent most of his time – perhaps because Diné appreciated and understood the suited man.

Diné Bikéyah is where his journey morphed into something bigger, drawing fans from across the Nation. He was buoyed by people who stopped to pose for photos along his route.

Larios told the Navajo Times that walking through the Nation was tough but “it was glorious.”

“It was amazing, and I learned a lot, especially from the culture … and even the land itself,” he said. “And I took that with me the entire way. It motivated me to finish.”

Larios said Diné have much respect for what he did and appreciated his design of Bearsun, which created a ray of sunshine, a positive figure, amid the coronavirus pandemic affecting people’s lives, the economy, and nearly every corner of the globe.

He said the Diné understood that and took Bearsun seriously.

“That’s why I have respect not just for the Navajo Nation, but all the Natives that came out from all the different tribes,” Larios said.

While he was here in the Nation, hundreds of people greeted Bearsun, and beamed when they saw him along the road. Some went as far as placing tá’dídíín on the suit’s head; fed Larios and made sure he was hydrated inside the Bearsun suit; offered him places to stay; said prayers for him; and walked with Bearsun along the road.

President Jonathan Nez also welcomed Bearsun numerous times and called him “Shashjóhonaa’éí” as he tried to give Bearsun a name in Navajo.

While Bearsun spread love, joy, laughter, faith, hope and healing, the suit, along with Larios, had some naysayers saying Bearsun sounds like a “stoner” and has become a “Rez Ted” that spits curses, collecting money for his benefit.

But Larios simply ignored the negatives and his critics and moved on and continued to spread positive vibes wherever he went.

Larios, inside Bearsun, returned to Diné Bikéyah for Thanksgiving and had a holiday dinner with Nez and his family. He called the reverse course the “thank-you tour,” for which Window Rock was a whistle stop before he returned to LA shortly after.

Larios raised $86,400 for five charities – Active Minds, Autism Society of America, National Breast Cancer Foundation, Villa Esperanza and Environmental Defense Fund.

While Bearsun’s journey is over, Larios launched a new one – running from Miami to Seattle. He’ll run in a new Bearsun suit as the one he wore to New York City is in tatters.

He’ll begin his “Run from Florida to Seattle, Washington” on Jan. 1, 2022.

Bearsun added that he enjoyed Navajo Tacos while visiting the Navajo Nation.

Perhaps Bearsun is the Nation’s entertainer of the year.

---