"Why are those towns sacred?"
"Because for the Indians the location of each town along the river symbolically corresponds to a spot in their mythical world. Like the lava mountains in Arizona, these sites are places of power. The Indians have a very rich mythology. They believe they can step in and out of a dream world at a moment's notice. you see, their concept of reality is not like ours.
According to the Yaqui myths, those towns also exist in the other world." Clara went on, "and it is from that etereal realm that they receive their power -- they call themselves the people without reason, to differentiate themselves from us, the people with reason."
"What sort of power do they get?", I asked.
"Their magic, their sorcery, their knowledge. All of that comes down to them directly from the dream world. And that world is described in their legends and stories. "

From The Sorcerer's Crossing by Taisha Abelar

In our world, "reason" and science are forced upon us and we are even ridiculed for rejecting it. The popular thing to do is to be on the side of reason. It's not hard to see the reason why, is it?