This is a Navajo blessing called a “prayer for protection” that you can easily incorporate into your own daily routines. You’ll quickly note that there are no direct actions in this prayer. There are only refrains. This is to allow you to internalize the words while still feeling like you’re doing something to change your life direction and goal. Of course, if you attach any of the words to an action, such as, while you’re studying or while you work, then those will work too. But if symbolism matters (and it should), keep in mind that this prayer can be used in so many ways, because it is just sounds and concepts repeated over and over again.
In the Navajo language, prayer is called hozho. It means beauty and harmony, and is also used to describe a state of health, happiness, or prosperity. The word for “prayer” comes from the verb hozhóó, which means “to pray.”
Hozho is at the heart of Navajo culture. It’s what makes them who they are as a people—and it’s something that can be cultivated by anyone who seeks it out.
A Navajo prayer for protection goes like this: “Ho’aahidziniih.” This translates to “He/she stays with me.” By repeating it over and over again, you’re creating a kind of protective barrier between yourself and whatever might threaten you. This allows you to focus on other things while staying safe in the process!
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Navajo Prayer For Protection
Navajo Prayer For Protection
FAQ:
- What is the Navajo Prayer For Protection?
- How does the Navajo Prayer For Protection relate to biblical verses?
- Which biblical character resonates with the Navajo Prayer For Protection?
- When is the Navajo Prayer For Protection recited?
- Is the Navajo Prayer For Protection specific to the Navajo tribe?
Navajo Prayer for Healing
FAQ:
- What is the Navajo Prayer for Healing?
- How does the Navajo Prayer for Healing align with biblical teachings?
- Which biblical character can be associated with the Navajo Prayer for Healing?
- When is the Navajo Prayer for Healing recited?
- Is the Navajo Prayer for Healing exclusively practiced within the Navajo tribe?
Navajo Prayer for the Dead
FAQ:
- What is the Navajo Prayer for the Dead?
- How does the Navajo Prayer for the Dead mirror biblical teachings?
- Which biblical character aligns with the Navajo Prayer for the Dead?
- When is the Navajo Prayer for the Dead recited?
- Do other cultures have similar prayers for the dead?
navajo prayer for protection
A Navajo journalist wrote a piece for The Arizona Republic on October 18, 1999, about Navajo prayer and the disappearance of the Navajo language. Words spoken during a prayer of protection hold great significance for Navajos; nonetheless, the author recalls a recent incident in which her memory of a specific Navajo term faltered. As more Navajos relocate to the city and learn English, many of them are losing their native tongue. As one grows fluent in English, subtleties, meanings, and pronunciation that were previously effortless vanish.Many of us do not instruct our children in Navajo. We simply lack the desire and the time.” The author is aware of specific instances in which young Navajo patients were refused treatment by Navajo medicine men due to their inability to recite the words of prayers. The author made the decision to not teach her little daughter Navajo because she didn’t want her to experience the same challenges with English as she did when she was a child.
VII. Once more on this side of it, via the third chamber composed of the yellow cloud, Nagaynezgani gives me the path with his black wand. He comes for me. Thobajischeni, behind him, gives me the go-ahead with his blue wand. For my benefit, he comes with him.
On the other hand, kos litsogo tqagidibe daqonikade binakade. (The remainder, starting with the term Nagenezgani, is as in V.)
VIII. Once more on this side of it, via the fourth chamber composed of the white cloud, Nagaynezgani gives me the path with his black wand. He comes for me. With his blue wand, Thobaji-scheni opens the door for me behind him. For my benefit, he comes with him.
Nevertheless, as far as I’m concerned, it’s not a problem. (The remainder, starting with the term Nagenezgani, is as in V.)
IX. Once more on this side of it, via the first room composed of the black mist, Nagaynezgani gives me the go-ahead with his black wand. He comes for me. With his blue wand, Thobajischeni stands behind him, paving the road for me. For my benefit, he comes with him.
On the other hand, a’dilyilgo la’adibe daqonikade binakade. (The remainder, starting with the term Nagenezgani, is as in V.)
X. Once more on this side of it, through the second room composed of the blue mist, Nagaynezgani grants me access with his black wand. He comes for me. With his blue wand, Thobajischeni stands behind him, paving the road for me. For my benefit, he comes with him.
Navajo Prayer For Protection
Introduction
There’s a lot of anxiety in this world. That’s why we need reminders to relax, be ourselves, and embrace happiness when it arrives—because it will arrive. For my money, the best way to find calm and peace is through spirituality, whether it’s Christianity or Buddhism or any other form that helps relax your mind and connect with a sense of purpose. As a Navajo person (Diné), I’m particularly drawn to Native American spirituality—especially the traditional Navajo belief that our Creator has already blessed us with everything we need for happiness. This belief was made clear to me as a child by my mother and grandmother, who passed down this prayer:
Hózhóogo náhásdlíí
This Navajo prayer for protection is used to give you a blessing for good health, safety and happiness. It will help you avoid accidents, diseases and other misfortunes. This prayer is also used as a protective shield that keeps you safe from harm while traveling or on your way home at night.
The prayer was given to my mother by her great-grandmother many years ago, who had passed on the words of wisdom as well as prayers from generation to generation within their family lineages. It has been used throughout history by many different people including warriors and hunters alike! If you are having trouble sleeping at night because of nightmares or bad dreams then this Navajo Prayer For Protection will definitely change things up for you!
(Happiness is coming)
- You are the one who will bring it to them.
- Happiness is coming. It is already here, all around you; happiness is in the air, surrounding you like a field of flowers that are just waiting to be picked by your hands. Feel it? The happiness that shines through everything else—the beauty and love and peace that comes with knowing someone cares about you enough to make this prayer for protection on your behalf? That’s what I mean by “happiness.”
- Beauty is coming. Like happiness, it’s all around us; we just have to open our eyes and hearts enough so that we can see it and feel it as well. Beauty exists everywhere in nature and even within ourselves—if only we allow ourselves this gift!
Shide’é begaaz
This prayer is both a blessing and a curse. It means “all around you”, but it can also be interpreted as meaning “the beauty of nature, the beauty of human spirit and the beauty of the universe.” This prayer calls upon all three forms of beauty to be present during your time on this Earth.
(It is all around you)
You are already happy. You already have everything you need. You are already beautiful. You are already whole, complete, and perfect just as you are now. This is not something you need to work on or change—you simply need to realize it and believe it. It’s not a matter of finding more things that bring happiness; rather, it’s about letting go of the illusion that there is something outside yourself that will fill the void within your heart and make everything better for good (which isn’t possible because there is no such thing as “for good).
Naaki, naaki
Naaki means you, one, I and me.
This prayer is a way of saying “I” or “me” in Navajo language. In the Navajo language this prayer will be said with the naaki (second person) pronoun at the beginning of each sentence and repeated when appropriate throughout the prayer. Therefore when pronouncing this prayer it is important to remember that you are using your own name as well as saying something about yourself that makes you unique from other people such as your age or gender among other things that are specific to who you are as an individual within society today because these factors make up who we all truly are deep inside where no one else can see us except ourselves alone together with our own spirit talking about its experiences being born into life already knowing how hard it could get out there so try not
(You are the one,)
(You are the one,)
You are the one who will help them. You are the one who will bring it to them. You are the one who will protect them. You are the one who will make them happy, and you’re also the one who can help them see beauty in this world!
(who will bring it to them.)
You
Who will bring it to them?
Nizhonígo náhásdlíí
You are the one who brings beauty to them. You are beautiful and you are the one who will bring your beauty to them.
Nizhonígo náhásdlíí, my friend. Nizhonígo náhásdlíí, my friend.
navajo prayer song
(Beauty is coming)
You are the one who will bring beauty to them. You are the one who will bring happiness to them.
You are the one who will bring joy to them.
You are the one who will bring them peace and protection and love, because that is what they need most of all in this world at this time—love, peace, protection and beauty.
Nizhonígo náhásdlíí.
You are the one who will bring it to them. You are the one who will bring beauty to them. You are the one who will bring happiness to them. You are the one who will bring protection to them, and you can do this because you know that it is in your power.
Takeaway You don’t need to worry about your own happiness because it’s already within you and surrounding you.
Navajo Prayer For Protection
“Takeaway: You don’t need to worry about your own happiness because it’s already within you and surrounding you. Takeaway: You are already beautiful, no matter what others say or do.”
Conclusion
I hope you’ll take this opportunity to use this prayer for protection, peace of mind and happiness. Remember not to worry about your own happiness because it’s already within you. Focus on bringing happiness to others.
lakota prayer for protection
There is a simple but profound Lakota prayer: Mitakuye Oyasin. These two words mean “All My Relations” or “We are All Related”. To pray this prayer is to petition God on behalf of everyone and everything on Earth.Mitakuye Oyasin honors the sacredness of each person’s individual spiritual path, acknowledges the sacredness of all life (human, animal, plant, etc.) and creates an energy of awareness which strengthens not only the person who prays but the entire planet.Soon after I first learned this prayer, I saw that it represented all that needed to be said. It was a prayer of respect, honor and love for all of mankind, and for the Earth. It was a prayer that said “I wish goodness and peace for all. I would leave no one out. I pray for all.” It was a prayer that crossed the barriers of religion and could be prayed by one of any faith. It was a prayer that united, instead of dividing. It was an amazing prayer.There has been a growing awareness, among those of every major faith, of the common elements within religions. Over the next few years, we will see increasing overlaps of creed and ritual as people of every faith sense a need to embrace new ways of relating, outside the structure of their own faith to embrace the Godness in others, regardless of the differences in dogma or religious law. There will be less and less need to convert or convince and more willingness to learn from one another. A combining of traditions, and a reaching out beyond the boundaries of divided faith, will result in a focus on common truth, tolerance, acceptance, and Oneness.
The following is the second part of a two part series on the levels of the Lakota language. The first part was published in last week’s Lakota Country Times.)
Another phrase from level four is, “mitakuye oyasin.” This has been badly mistranslated into, “we are all related.” There are two aspects of Lakota culture which is paramount. One is the extended family relationship and the other is warfare for the men.
The Lakota culture has a definite taboo in marrying a relative, even a very distant relative. When I was a young man, I would go to a white dance and my aunt would ask me who I danced with the next morning.
When I told her the names, she would tell me who were my relatives and it was not proper to dance with them again. There was a great fear of having inborn children. There were other reasons as having a dispersed relation base in case a village gets wiped out by the enemy in pre-reservation days. A person could go to another village where s/he has relatives. The other is the survival of the fittest. A Darwinian practice.
This translation of all of us being related would destroy our culture as there would not be any marriages.
The other aspect of relationships is the warfare of Lakota men. We were the enemy to many of the tribes around us as well as the early pioneers.
They tried to take our hunting areas as well as killing us and taking the Lakota women and children. Our forefathers developed a method where there was honor to touch or kill the enemy and earn an eagle feather. All the eagle feathers culminated into a wap’aha or war bonnet. The key word is war. A person had to go to war to get this prized object which recorded the body count of the person.
A Lakota man could not wear his father or grandfathers wap’aha. He had to earn all the feathers of his own wap’aha. This also applied to the wapaha. The notion that a communal wapaha existed is erroneous. A wapaha had to be earned by the individual and also could not be passed on to a family member or a relative.
Earning a wap’aha brings a great honor to the family. Wearing an unearned wap’aha brings shame, ridicule and dishonor to the person wearing. Wearing a wap’aha or using a wapaha from a family member is like wearing their military uniform. Besides, there is a law about a person wearing a military uniform. Only those people who served in the military can wear their uniforms if they have an honorable discharge.
This phrase, “mitakuye oyasin,” was protected by the people who were practicing Lakota spirituality when it was underground up to the late 1960s.
This word was so protected, very few people knew the significance of this word. It was used only when a person finished praying and also used in certain Lakota spiritual ceremonies. Now it is shamefully printed in books, used as a slogan and used in meetings so casually that it has lost its meeting.
This desecration of this word is the work of people who do not speak Lakota. If they understood what the phrase meant and how it was used, they would have left it alone.
Mitakuye oyasin translated at level two means, “all your relatives.” The key phrase is ya in oyasin. If I said, “WAcin,” I am saying, “I want.” If I said, “YAcin,” I am saying, “you want.” The letter o in owasin forms a noun of a verb. If I were to say, “mitakuye owasin,” I would translate it at the fourth level as “everything is related to the existence of all MY Lakota relatives.”
I hope whoever reads this column does not shout to the high heavens about the correct phrase and misuse and dilute the true meaning of this phrase as well as use it as a trite slogan.
This Lakota phrase applies only to Lakota culture. It is not a generic phrase such as “Native American.” Only Lakota can use this word as it is in our language.
I know other tribes who have lost their language as well as white people have been using this phrase and not giving Lakota people the rightful recognition of the concept. I call these people, “cultural thieves.” I have heard of a Chippewa man in the East who gives lectures on the story of the White Buffalo Calf and says it is a Chippewa story.
One last point, all the people who have used their tribal identity to get positions in educational institutions have become role models.
They have a responsibility and obligation to learn how to speak Lakota language fluently and teach the courses in Lakota. Once a concept is translated into English, there is a danger to mistranslate and miss the point of the concept being taught.