Talks underway with Interior, French over masks
WINDOW ROCK
Twenty-four Yei bi chei masks have been sold to buyers from the Eve Auction in Paris.
This is the latest update the Navajo Nation Council’s Subcommittee on Sacred Sites received from the Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission office and Historic Preservation Department Monday.
In total, there are 34 Navajo masks, used by initiated dancers during the nine-day Night Chant Ceremony, that were identified by tribal officials to be cultural resource property of the tribe. To date, according to both the human rights and historic preservation offices, 24 of them have been sold to private buyers.
“There are 10 still pending,” said Rodney Tahe, policy analyst for the human rights office.
Tahe added that the Navajo Nation doesn’t know who the buyers are but is currently negotiating with the U.S. Department of State and U.S. Department of Interior to see if any information about the buyers can be disclosed.
Highway 264,
I-40, WB @ Winslow