The Power to Symbolize

To thirteen tribes, this cinder cone is not a geologic curiosity but a living part of a sacred landscape. The Hopi know it as Palatsmo and believe their ancestral spirits, the katsinam, travel between the San Francisco Peaks and the Hopi villages through here each year. The Diné count the cones around Dook'o'oostiid, including Dzil k'idzitsooi, as guardians of that sacred mountain, home to holy beings honored daily. The Zuni gather plants and minerals across the wider landscape. People still return to pray, and the place is revered, remembered, and cared for.

What the plaque says

The Power to Symbolize. , As a living ancestral homeland to the Hopi, Zuni, Yavapai, Havasupai, Navajo, Western Apache, and Southern Paiute, Sunset Crater is remembered, revered, and cared for. People return often, bringing prayers and engaging in timeless traditions. Through the land, the past comes into the present, stories are recalled and values are evoked. Hopi people believe that their ancestors' spirits, the Katsinas, travel from the San Francisco Peaks to the Hopi villages and back each year via Palatsmo (Sunset Crater) and Bonito Park. The Pueblo of Zuni considers Sunset Crater part of a much larger sacred landscape which continues to be important for plant and mineral collection. The Navajo people believe the cinder cones surrounding Dook'o'oostiid (San Francisco Peaks), including Dzil k'idzitsooi (Sunset Crater), are the guardians or protectors of Dook'o'oostiid. Within these sacred mountains reside Navajo deities honored every day by offerings.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Sunset Crater Volcano — 0.6 mi
  The volcano northern Arizona watched erupt, around 1085
• San Francisco Peaks — 9.2 mi
  The sacred mountain of the west — 12,633 feet, and a live argument
• Walnut Canyon National Monument — 13 mi
  Sinagua cliff dwellings in the limestone — the Hisatsinom
• Flagstaff — 14 mi
  The ponderosa town where they found Pluto and saved the dark

More markers nearby

• As Powerful as a Volcano — steps away
• Life and Landscape Transformed — steps away
• Changes to Come — steps away
• The Birth of a Mountain — steps away