Existing comment:
Migration is not abandonment:
Walnut Canyon was once filled with the sounds of a busy community as families hunted, planted, and harvested with the seasons. Children were born, grew up, and raised children of their own. They were neither the first nor the last to use and value what this canyon has to offer. But they left behind the greatest legacy.
When they moved on they did not give up their responsibility to care for this ancestral village and those left behind. Sites were and are revisited by by descendants. Prayers are still offered. Plants are still ritually gathered.
Walnut Canyon was -- and is -- a place that resonates with life.
"... where people stopped and built homes are all sacred places. No matter if they passed on, the people who couldn't travel stayed in the homes. Their spirits are there in all the sites. All the sites are sacred to us."
-- A Zunni tribal member |