“It feels so good to be here, to be home.”
“Lady in Red has her hair down, long and untied, flowing beautifully,” said Taadidiin Tours Reputation Coordinator Angelita Nez. “Normally, Navajo women wear their hair in buns. When we take our hair down, we are in our fierce state. Her figure in the canyon shows her fierceness as the protector of this particular canyon.”
This “particular canyon” is Antelope Canyon X, where Lady in Red, symbolized in rock, saw more than 130,000 visitors last year. The slot canyon is named for the X-shaped opening above that invites the sun to shine in and set the red rock hues aglow. And this is only the beginning of miles of stunning, hidden pathways in a maze of ancient rocks, dripping in sunlight, that fit together like puzzle pieces crafted by time, wind and water.
In 2016, another Navajo woman, Rita Tsinigine, a mom and grandmother, founded Taadidiin Tours, with much the same goal as Lady in Red – to protect the stunning and sacred landscape. She is accomplishing this through awareness – by sharing the natural beauty, along with the traditions, history and culture of her tribe. Taadidiin Tours owns the exclusive rights to operate in Antelope Canyon X and Cardiac Canyon.
Her son, Logan Tsinigine, an engineer who worked at the now defunct Navajo Generating Station, runs the family-owned company that employs more than 50 people – all Navajo. He added the Corn Pollen Internship program to teach business skills, including marketing, human resources, the tribal legal system and tour operations, to young members of the tribe. The internship is designed after a similar program created by Salt River Project, the primary operator of the Navajo Generating Station, which had employed many tribal members, including Nez, Tsinigine and Begay. Through the Corn Pollen Internship, college-bound students can apply for a $4,000 scholarship.
Nez explained that corn pollen is important to the Navajo culture and used in many ceremonies. She carries a small pouch of corn pollen with her and sprinkles a pinch to the east during her morning prayers.
“There’s not really that much exposure to the young people as far as cultural instructions are concerned,” said Navajo historian and Taadidiin Cultural Advisor Paul Begay. “The tour company here understands that, so that’s how we set up the program, so we can teach the young people. Tour guides want to learn the culture, the language and the history of the Navajo.”
In the inaugural class of the internship program, the teenagers enrolled were all members of the Taadidiini family, now Tadytin, the English translation.
“In our culture, the stories of history and tradition are passed on orally. They are not written down,” said Begay. “It’s understood that if the young people want to learn about it, they approach the elders and ask questions. Of course, the elders themselves sometimes are willing to talk about it freely, but for the most part, they will wait to be asked.”
When Taadidiin Tours opened eight years ago, it consisted of two Chevy Suburbans and a card table where Rita Tsinigine and her daughter, Jackie, sat on the side of Highway 98, about 10 miles southeast of Page. Today, it has a gift shop, a maintenance building and large equipment like road graders, plus a fleet of four-wheel drive vans, necessary for transporting hikers and photographers while navigating the hilly, fine-sand-covered terrain – the same sand used in traditional Navajo sand paintings.
“We are growing and opening a new building soon that will have all the amenities necessary,” said Rita, who, like Lady in Red, once roamed this land. She recalls running with her friends under massive boulders, scrambling up corkscrew-like formations and squeezing through tight rock wall passageways as a teenager. “It feels so good to be here, to be home.” QCBN
By Bonnie Stevens, QCBN
For more about Taadidiin Tours, visit
antelopecanyon-x.com
Photo by Bonnie Stevens: Taadidiin Tours Guide Marcus Onesalt enhances the visitor experience with gentle flute music, taught to him by his elders.
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