I was sitting here this cold morning, remembering a time when winters were more difficult when I was younger, now..I am warm and have the modern conveniences, electricity, indoor plumbing, internet, etc..I was remembering a morning when my grandmother was tired of commodities, food from the government, and she wanted fresh meat, so she said Tii (lets go) gaah tsaanii haadii nitaal So,I went with her that cold morning..I thought she said were going to look for a rabbit, (I was still learning Navajo at that time)..so I was keeping my eyes peeled for a rabbit..But grandma already knew where she was going and what we were going to bring home..we walked about a good hour further back from our home, in the hills..it took a little while until she located an old marker she had originally put up previously..as we came upon a dead tree log, I saw some prints, there was a hole about a foot wide, but the depth was longer than two feet..so Grandma had this stick, it was in the shape of a Y at the tip, and she put that stick down in that hole, I was wondering What is she doing..?..she had given me a big stick earlier and told me to have it ready, so, as she put that stick once again in the hole, she started twisting the stick, after a few attempts, she finally managed to grasp, what I thought was a rabbit, but when grandma pulled out the gaah tsaanii it was a porcupine.. And things happened so fast, first the shock of what we had at the end of the stick, then, her yelling at me to hit it with the stick I had, of course, it took a few seconds an finally did my part, we killed the porcupine, and took it home..it was a great learning experience, on how to kill, butcher and cook porcupine, you have to burn off all the quills, and be ready for the smell..:)..but having fresh meat was well worth the trip that day, my grandmother an I went on a few other hunting excursions, mostly for rabbits, no more gaah tsaanii..I appreciated returning to our small warm home on that day..and many more teachings of a strict grandmother, I realize that she was that way, because she had to be, she had 5 kids to support and two Grandkids to fend for, no time to give us an easy life..life was very difficult, and we learned what we had to survive the cold winter months..Im enjoying a cup of Navajo tea as I remember this, thot Id share with you this New Year...:)
Posted on: Fri, 02 Jan 2015 16:28:39 +0000