Crestone Visitors Guide 2003 > crestonevisit.com

If it is to be said that the Native Americans are spiritual, then their spirituality can only be described as their relationship to the natural world. This relationship begins with oneself, to others, the environment and ones view of the world and universe. This created a belief system through interpretations of Creation. Indigenous culture, or mother earth worship, thus evolved. Traditions or a Way of Life began.
Native people in North America sought an ideal state of being based on the quality of interaction with the natural world. This harmony and balance inspired a spiritual consciousness for each act in life. They were one and the same. All manifestations of life, our environment resulting from the union of Father Sky and Mother Earth, were deemed sacred and fragile.
The Native American peoples have a long and historic relationship with the land that is now known as San Luis Valley and the surrounding San Juan and Sangre de Cristo Mountains. For local tribes of the Pueblo, Apache, Navajo (Dineh), Ute and others, it was a paradise for gathering food and medicinal plants, hunting, ceremonies, and other gatherings. It was a place to waken the creative mind, body, and spirit. Until they were dispossessed, the Native people maintained the area here as a place for peaceful contemplation and resolutions.
The mountains in particular were viewed with awe and mystery. The Mountains are sacred to indigenous people. Pilgrimages are still made to the Sacred Mountains for medicine bundle renewal, rain, medicinal herbs and ceremonies by various tribes.
Nearby Mount Blanca is one such mountain. To the Dineh, it is called Sisnajinii, meaning “black sash trailing down”. The sash is the range extending from Blanca northward to include Crestone community. It is the revered eastern mountain of the Dineh cosmos. Blanca and three other cardinal direction mountains are mentioned as the pillars holding up the sky-universe in the Navajo spiritual geography. Together they form the boundary for the Southwest Medicine Wheel.
The Dineh cosmology is further represented in the building of traditional hogan. The creation of the Father Sky and Mother Earth is represented in the Hogan. Sisnajinii represents the mind opening door of the Hogan, where offerings for renewal and growth are made each new day at dawn. In this sacred manner, we greet each new day and all our relations. This cycle of life has no beginning and no end.