Of Zhindians and Corn Pollen

Long time no post, everyone.

A few weeks ago, Mr. Salt and I babysat for my friend's children while they took a well deserved outing out of town for their anniversary. In addition to their older boys, they are taking care of a toddler they recently gained guardianship of. The toddler pretty much knows what is expected of him, but he can leave a mess.

And boy did he.

He's potty trained pretty well, but he had an accident. And not of the first kind. The poor kid had gotten "number two" all over himself, and had attempted to hide it to no avail. Mr. Salt kindly(and promptly) gave him to me to clean up. Use it as practice, he said.

Great.

I think I did surprisingly well. After an initial gaging session (It was bright green, y'all), I cleaned him up real good and calmed him down. Not bad for a girl that didn't have younger siblings or babysat growing up.

So that the little guy wouldn't have an accident again, Mr. Salt brilliantly sent him to the bathroom on the hour. It was genius. Might have to remember that if/when we babysit again.

Later, after all that, it kinda got us thinking seriously about having zhindians. So we're getting serious. From my medication, to thermometers, and charting. I joked with Mr. Salt that he should sprinkle corn pollen on me to speed things up.

Corn is sacred to the Dine. Corn pollen symbolizes the birth or start of new life or new places. When we moved to our new place, I sprinkled corn pollen on all the doors and windows. Blesses our new place, and gets rid of the old ways.

Mr. Salt hasn't done it yet, but who knows....

-DineBoo

P.S. Thanks to everyone who responded on my last two posts, as well as the PCOS one. I do want to respond to them in a concise way, so be on the look out for that. -DB

Zhini on the Rez

Greetings from Dinetah! The Navajo Reservation! (Well, to be honest, I'm just north of it now in Colorado. But I spent a majority of my time on it.)

This is third time visiting the Rez, and I learn something new every time. While I wanted to come in less urgent circumstances around Christmas, I still loved my time here.

A bit of back story: The Salt Clan (SaltMama's clan and Mr. Salt's maternal clan) had a family emergency, so Mr. Salt and I took the 18 hour trip from Texas to get all the way to Rez. Why not fly? It still takes four hours to drive to Shiprock, Mr. Salt hometown on the Rez, from Albuquerque.

So while I have a moment, I thought I'd post some random thoughts about my time here. I'll have pictures soon as I develop them, as well as some more in depth posts:

1. I was probably the only Zhini (black person) for miles in certain areas of the Rez.

2. SaltMama's cooking, especially her frybread, is heaven.

3. I received a Storyteller's bracelet from SaltMama as an early Christmas gift.

4. I got a chance to meet more of Mr. Salt's family this time around.

5. SaltMama is my mom, shi ma in Navajo. SisterSalt is my sister. They're in laws, but I only refer to them as that when I'm talking to other people. Otherwise, it's my mom or my sister. It's common terminology for the Dine.

6. Rez dogs are everywhere on the Rez. Rez Dogs are dogs "owned" by people as far as being fed, but are allowed to roam free since there are no fences around the houses.

7. You truly make your own roads on the Rez. It was muddy around SaltMama's housing complex, and you could see the deep grooves in the dirt paths leading to the houses.

8. It's very cold up here! As a Texan, it's something I have to get used to.

More coming soon! Hopefully, I would have done the City Market experiment the next time I post. City Market is a store in Shiprock, and I need to by my quarterly supply of Blue Bird flour.

-DineBoo

Tales from Dinetah: Sleeping Man and Sleeping Woman

This is the first of a few tales that come from Mr. Salt family in Dinetah. Dinetah is Mr. Salt's home, the Navajo reservation.

Mornings in the Mr. Salt/DineBoo residence go something like this:

DineBoo: Get up! Sleeping Woman was crawling all over you!
Mr. Salt: I know. She had me wrapped up pretty tight. I had to get Sleeping Man to come get her off me.

When you have trouble waking up in the morning (or just waking up period like I do), it is said that Sleeping Man (or Woman if you're a guy) has you all wrapped up tight and is not letting you go.

Sleeping Man and Sleeping Woman are said to be foul, smelly people. Just really rank and dirty. Their breath stinks (morning breath) and they have matty hair (bed hair). That dried, crusty matter in your eyes after you wake up either dried drool from your respected Sleeping person or something else entirely. Mr. Salt can get creative with what that 'something else' is, so I'll just leave it as other body fluids and continue on.

Sleeping Man is always trying to get with Sleeping Woman, but if she rejects him, he'll find someone else to be with for the night. Same with Sleeping Woman. So you (or your partner) need to shake him off and chase him away.

When you're waking somebody up you need to shake them hard so that Sleeping Man will go away and find another person to be with for rest the night. The harder it is to wake the person up, the harder you need the shake the person awake. You might say some really gross things (like Sleeping Man's drool is all over them) so that they'll wake up faster. Mr. Salt says this works great with kids.

It can also be a sign of laziness when you are told that Sleeping Man(or Woman) is always around you. It means you're sleeping too much and not getting ready for the day!

-DineBoo

Rezzed Out...aaayyy!

Over time, Mr. Salt and I have developed our own unique way of talking and mannerisms. Some words we use are taken from the Rez, the Navajo language, and black slang. I'll start with the word 'john' from my previous post.

'John': Mr. Salt says this means a really bozzie "ghetto" Navajo. Yes, they can be ghetto. More relates to the way they live on the Rez and life itself.

"...aaayyy!" Attached to the end of the sentence, it's how women flirt on the Rez. "That guy was giving you the eye, aaayyy!" RezDog.com has a great shirt with this saying on it. I want one.

"...and everything!" Attached to the end of sentence, it rolls up what could goes on with a person or a situation into one word. "He was drinking with his friends and everything!" "He was running around and everything!" Most people know what the "Everything" is.

"O'er there!" Basically, "over there!" Also point with your lips when you say this to give the right directions. Mr. Salt rubbed off on me because now I say this every time I give out directions.

"Ckys!" Put your tongue at the roof of mouth and make the 'ck' sound. Basically used when you have a "Are you kidding me? No way!" moment.

'ennit': No explanation necessary. Really.

Indianuity: Whenever Mr. Salt figures out how to rig something to make it work or make it work better. Similar to N*gger rigging.

-DineBoo