Navajo Life
03/28/21 Ship Rock is called Tsé Bitʼaʼí in Navajo, which means "rock with wings" or simply "winged rock." The formation figures prominently in Navajo Indian mythology as a giant bird that carried the Navajo from the cold northlands to the Four Corners region. Ship Rock, when viewed from certain angles, resembles a large sitting bird with folded wings; the north and south summits are the tops of the wings.
