Day Eleven- Friday 25th April

The Navajo Code in Code Talkers Museum

The Navajo Museum and Code Talkers Museum proved insight into a private way of living. During this trip I found it difficult to comprehend why the Navajo would fight for so long about land however after understanding their spiritual relationship with their land and how they believe the Navajo are in the fourth world, where they have everything they could need. Hogan’s are important for the Navajo and it is present throughout many of the houses we saw during the trip. Hogan’s are used for ceremonies but the Navajo believe that they were “built at the place of emergence where planning was developed for the future”.¹³ The Navajo museum explores through different time periods and how the Navajo both lived and were captured by Americans. They have more freedom today than they have had for centuries, with rights to owning their own land and livestock, self-determination rights and having their own government. This is a significant step from the actions that Americans did in previous years. The Code Talkers Museum showcased a better history, as the Navajo joined the Marine Corps in order to win World War Two. The complex and beautiful language of the Navajo people were used in order to send secret messages to people without the Japanese military deciphering the code. The first twenty-nine code talkers started using this code in 1942, this is one of the most valuable tools the U.S had that the Navajo were responsible for and it is displayed throughout the museum to show their pride.

Staying the night in Marble Canyon Lodge was interesting as it is the most isolated place we had been throughout the trip. No streetlights made it harder to walk around the lodge and the appearance of bats proved that we were in a quiet and dark area.

¹³ Tour Guide, Explore Navajo: People of the Fourth World, Explore Navajo Interactive Museum