For the Diné, also called Navajos, the San Juan River is more than water flowing through an arid landscape. They believe the river is sacred kin, an organism whose health is intricately interwoven with Hózhó, a word meaning harmony, balance, and beauty. For many years, communities have lived along its banks, relying on its water to irrigate farms, feed livestock, and grow plants used in religious rites. These ancestral seeds, passed down from one generation to the next, need the river's water to germinate and thrive.
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