Corn, Sand, and Healing

For the Navajo people, corn represents many things. Planting and harvesting corn are not only acts of physical subsistence and resilience, but also that of ceremony and spiritual nourishment. As Navajo people, we are told to rise before dawn to offer corn pollen and prayer as the deities cross the sky with the sunrise. We use cornmeal to welcome a new child into the world. Girls transitioning into womanhood grind corn and cook a corn cake underground alongside her mentor, family and community. The corn stalk represents life: emerging from the earth, growing tall and straight, producing leaves to protect and ears of corn with hundreds of kernels holding life and future generations; with silk like threads that connect all 5-fingered people, and pollen producing tassels to promote fertility. Each kernel carries all of these ways of life that have nourished us and kept us in physical, mental and spiritual balance for time immemorial. To tend corn, is to tend to life itself.

Sandpainting is a sacred artform used in Navajo healing ceremonies, specifically the Yeiibicheii ceremony. We see the land as a living entity that has energy expressed through our natural pigments. Medicine people will harvest these pigments—dark red sandstone, black charcoal, white gypsum, green malachite, blue lapis or turquoise—and grind them into fine sand. When someone is ill, healers will gather around the patient during a ceremony and paint intricate designs, helping to diagnose and treat their ailments. The designs are intentionally painted on top of a base of farm soil, the source of all life. This starts at birth, in our traditional birthing practices, farm soil collects all birth fluids, and is placed back on the farm after the child comes earthside. Throughout the highs and lows of life, we are often brought back to the farm soil through coming of age ceremonies, weddings, protection prayers or healing ceremonies. Mother Earth simply provides a canvas for ephemeral energies to become tangibly seen (with the natural pigments) and applied to our spirits and physical bodies for healing. And at the conclusion of every sandpainting, the designs are swept back into the earth, showing us that healing is not permanent or fixed, and that what is taken from the earth must be returned.

The same is true of farming. In today’s “regenerative agriculture” movement, Navajo teachings of traditional farming and sandpainting remind us that regeneration is rooted in maintaining reciprocal relationships with all living things. Regenerative farming is not simply ecological and “scientific” but also spiritual and deeply interconnected. Cornfields are often represented in sandpaintings, with rows of green stalks in red soil, in alignment with cosmology. Just as a medicine man places the patient at the center of the sandpainting, the farmer places themselves in the center of the field, releasing seeds back to the earth to provide healing and nourishment. Farming and sandpainting are parallel modalities that have the ability to restore balance within the body, spirit and community. Together, they invite us to view the world more holistically, inclusive of things we cannot necessarily see or scientifically prove. Conventional agriculture is just starting to recognize its impact on soil health and production, but Indigenous farmers have always known the impact of extraction without reciprocity. We have treated the soil as a living relative, and now scientists are able to show evidence of complex webs of microbial activity in soils. Their current recommendations? Crop rotation, cover the soil, feed it nutrients through composting, limit harsh disruptions and erosion. Practices that Indigenous farmers have done for time immemorial, knowing that this is the only sustainable way to take care of ourselves and the Earth for future generations.

In both farming and sandpainting, the foundation is soil. We have the ability to sustain life with the soil by consuming what we grow physically from the farm, and spiritually through ceremony and community. We also have the responsibility to make offerings back to the soil in the same ways she provides for us. This is the cycle of life and healing that can be practiced by all. Regenerative agriculture is not a new concept but an affirmation of this long standing cycle of giving and receiving in reciprocity. Both farming and sandpainting are living practices that remind us of our collective humanity—that healing, nourishment and balance emerges when we honor our relationships with each other and with the Earth.

Zachariah Ben is a 6th generation farmer and sandpainter from Shiprock, NM. He is of the “Giant People” born for the “Red Running Into Water” clan. His maternal grandfather’s clan is the “Red House People” and his paternal grandfather is of the “Salt People.” Zach has over 15 years of experience in traditional Navajo farming and is the Owner of Bidii Baby Foods, an LLC and agricultural cooperative on the Navajo Nation. Bidii Baby Foods manufactures a product line of organic Indigenous baby foods, which are primarily sold to local/tribal institutions serving young children and low income families.