![]() To protect the fragile sites in the 125,000-acre park, tourism is limited, and every visitor is accompanied by a guide. ![]() One day, I explored the ancient places of Ute Mountain Tribal Park, owned and run by the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, about 20 miles south of Cortez. Others preferred more severe beauty they woke up each day to the sight of rock-strewn desert sweeping up to distant mountains. ![]() Some chose to overlook cozy, wooded, stream-fed canyons. In siting their villages, the ancestors clearly loved a good view. Today, some of their descendants, like Michelle, may live in the area, but most live in the modern Pueblos of New Mexico. As a result, in Sando's view, they moved from time to time in search of a place that would satisfy this yearning. They were "filled with a longing for perfection in their society harmony with their environment," according to Jemez Pueblo scholar Joe Sando. I discovered during a five-day visit to the area that interactions with the sacred are commonplace here-as likely to occur at a b&b as at an ancient ruin-thanks to the people who inhabited this arid landscape nearly a millennium ago and left their imprint on it. Michelle, a Native American attorney from Santa Clara Pueblo, and her husband, a dentist, run a at the base of Mesa Verde, the vast tabletop that encompasses both Mesa Verde National Park and Ute Mountain Tribal Park, with their many famous Ancestral Puebloan dwellings and sacred places. This installation in southwestern Colorado was her interpretation of the ancient rock arrays found throughout Native American lands most are spiritual places that marked the movements of various celestial bodies. I've got to re-arrange some of the poles," explained Michelle, indicating the tall totemic stakes that were evenly spaced around the perimeter of the circular plot. "The energy coming off the mesa is a bit too strong right in this spot. It was as though an unseen hand had given me a little shove. Colorado Sacred Places Distant times felt like yesterday at tribal sites on the Colorado Plateau AS MICHELLE EAGLE BOYER and I entered the medicine wheel garden she had constructed on her property eight miles south of Cortez, CO, I stumbled slightly. Spiritual connections to ancient spirits make a Ute Tribal Park visit.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |