Left to right: Patrick Smith, Nanabah Aragon, Lisa Hayes (Executive Director, Sharlot Hall Museum)
At the Prescott Indian Art Market on September 17, Navajo master weaver Nanabah Aragon took the stage and stole everyone’s hearts as she presented one of her weavings as a gift to the Sharlot Hall Museum.
Nanabah has participated in the Prescott Indian Art Market since its inception in 1998. Each year she sets up her loom and brings out her basket of home-made woolen yarn to demonstrate her craft for appreciative audiences. “My weaving is a part of me, and I love sharing it with people,” she says.
As she offered her rug to Museum Director Lisa Hayes, Nanabah stepped to the microphone and in a soft, clear voice sang a song she first heard when she was a little girl sharing a small hogan with her mother. Nanabah watched and listened as her mother wove rugs and blankets and sang “Walking in Beauty”. Nanabah has carried that song with her, wherever she goes, throughout her long life.
“I walk in beauty. Beauty in front of me, beauty behind me… beauty all around me… I walk in beauty. In the house of long life, there I wander. In the house of happiness, there I wander… In old age traveling, with it I wander. On the beautiful trail with it I wander.”
She sang it in Navajo, of course, but the audience was deeply moved by the experience.
Nanabah typically sings the song quietly when she weaves, maybe a bit more loudly when she travels alone. “I love to weave. It keeps me company. It is a spiritual thing,” she says. It keeps her in touch with creation and Navajo culture.
Nanabah still teaches classes — of all ages — to weave in the traditional Navajo way. She has a standing invitation to participate in the Prescott Indian Art Market as long as she can be here.
The Museum plans to mount the rug and display it safely. It will enjoy a permanent home and place of honor at the Sharlot Hall Museum.
The Sharlot Hall Museum, located two blocks west of Prescott’s Courthouse Plaza, is one of Arizona’s premier history museums. Its four-acre campus tells Arizona’s story through exhibits, gardens, and historic buildings, including the 1864 Territorial Governor’s Mansion. Events and programs include the annual Prescott Indian Art Market, Sharlot’s Cellar, monthly Living History Adventure days, and more.