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Navajo
Mon Feb 10, 2003
Listen in RealAudio 
Hi, I'm Bryan Yeaton for The Weather Notebook. The wind has clearly shaped the landscape and
the minds of those who live in the American Southwest. Commentator Jan DeBlieu tells us today
about the holy wind of the Navajo.
Deep in the red rock, breeze chiseled country of the American Southwest live a people whose
religion may be more steeped in wind than any other in the world. The Navajo believe that
humans are brought to life by the holy wind that leaves whorls on the tips of our fingers and
toes, whispers words of advice in our ears, and dictates how many days we spend on Earth.
The Navajo teach that a holy breeze known as Little Wind or Wind's Child gives people breath
and helps them stand erect. A person's posture, balance, and ability, all are gifts of the
winds dwelling within him.
When a child is conceived it takes a wind from its mother and another from its father. At
birth, with its first breath, the child receives yet another wind sent from the Holy Ones to
guide his or her life.
Each individual's temperament turns not on upbringing, or on any misfirings in his
neurological circuitry, but on which winds, the good or the evil, he allows to guide him as he
moves through life. This ties individuals strongly to the natural world. For a person's
thoughts and actions, indeed his very mind belong not to him, but to the Holy Air.
"The wind within us stands from our mouths downward", a Navajo elder once said. "We breathe by
it, we live by it. It moves all parts, even our hearts".
Jan DeBlieu is a writer from Manteo, North Carolina. The Weather Notebook is underwritten by
Subaru, The Beauty of All-Wheel Drive, with major funding provided by the National Science
Foundation.
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