It is said that when this new hogan was completed it was covered with dirt which the Creator manifested as a rainbow. The Dine People have the spiritual mission to protect this land in order to keep the whole universe in balance. Near the center of the sacred hogan, that is our homeland, is Big Mountain which is considered our altar, where people from the world can come to be healed. The first Navajo words we were taught as children were prayers and that was made it possible for their success in protecting our land, and has allowed us to remain here. Even the Navajo Code Talkers in World War II protected this land using the Navajo language, using our prayer.
Religion is our road, the corn pollen path.
It is a road that we have made since childhood. When we rise every morning we say our prayers and we pray throughout the day. Everything one does is a prayer. We arise with it and with it learn to walk. This is our teaching that is now being taken away from us.