Same stars, same sky, same humanity
ATD Fourth World was founded on the conviction that we are all part of the same humanity, that even when life is hard, all of us still share a deep aspiration for knowledge, for beauty, for the great achievements that come with life. Story Garden is rooted in this belief.
Winter is a special time for Navajos—who are also known as the “Diné,” which means “the People”—to reflect on the meaning of star patterns in the sky, so ATD Fourth World in New Mexico decided to introduce star constellations as an artistic project at Story Garden at the Gallup flea market. We thank Gloria Begay from the Diné Food Sovereignty Alliance and Noreen Kelly from Diné Council of Elders for Peace in partnering with ATD Fourth World to help inspire this significant art project.
In one January session of Story Garden, we watched a cartoon Illustration of how Black God, one of the Gods in the Navajo traditions, placed the stars in the sky to guide the Diné. Being a mischievous trickster, Coyote offered to help Black God but ended up ruining his plan by randomly throwing many stars in the night sky.
Children at Story Garden painted their own version of a dark sky. They used a holed constellation model to trace the one they liked and they added gems to make stars stand out. A vendor at the flea market told us that as a child, she used to look for the Small and the Big Dipper to pass the time. When a 10-year old girl at Story Garden heard this, she offered to make the paintings of the two Dippers and she dedicated them to the vendor’s granddaughter who had to help sell and could not join us. When the young girl was happy with her work, we went to give the paintings to the vendor. On our way to the stand, we met the girl’s mother who is Mexican. She approved of her daughter’s thoughtful gesture by congratulating her.
Just as Black God had originally hoped, stars can indeed guide us - in the multicultural Story Garden of Gallup’s flea market, they guided us in building unity!
If you are interested in learning more about astronomy, contact us to find out about ATD Fourth World’s mobile science exhibits at newmexico@4thworldmovement.org.
