Winter Stories - 2016

by John Aldrich

The first big event on the ANE calendar every year is our Winter Stories night at the warehouse. Among traditional Navajo families, winter is the time to gather and tell stories and play games. Such times serve as one of the principal mechanisms by which the culture gets passed along to younger generations. In our urban environment it's harder for families to maintain this tradition. The many Navajo families who live along the Wasatch Front are mostly from younger generations, and their Elders, the source of wisdom and cultural knowledge, remain on the reservation.

Winter Stories night is an attempt to provide something of a substitute for our local Navajos as well as interested Bilagaanas (Anglo people). Rodger Williams has been organizing this event for a number of years, and the crowd keeps growing with each iteration. Last Sunday evening 180 people gathered for the potluck event with the majority being Navajo. In addition to story tellers, we had a drum group with singers and a variety of assorted royalty.

The evening began with the drum group, Cliff Eagle, performing an Honor Song.

Being a potluck meal, there was a wide variety of food and an ample amount of everything. No one could possibly have left hungry.

In addition to organizing the event, Rodger Williams also told stories and sang.

Our new Shi Yazhi Ambassador, Athen Canyon, was attending and presented a story about her grandfather. Other royalty included 1st attendant Ash Ne'a Anderson as well as Miss Native American Events.

Before each performance by the Cliff Eagle group, their leader, Emerson Bill, provided some background about what they would sing.

Although Cliff Eagle usually performs around their big drum, they also presented a song using hand drums.

Lacee Harris has been a popular story teller at many previous Winter Stories nights. This time he told several including one about Ma'ii. Ma'ii, or Coyote, is a popular subject of Native American stories. Representing the Trickster, Ma'ii gets himself into all sorts of predicaments which serve as lessons for all of us and the youngsters in particular.

We were particularly pleased to have Harry James and his wife Prestine join us again. Harry has been a fixture at ANE events for years and leads the Pow Wow that is the final event at our annual rug show.

Prestine took some time to describe one of the sacred Navajo winter ceremonies, the Yei Bei Chei, a nine-day event for healing and well-being. During the ceremony dancers appear wearing costumes and regalia representing the Yeis or Holy People of the Navajo. She also brought some art work so that we all could see what these costumes look like.

The Medicine Man who leads the Yei Bei Chei ceremony must sing hundreds of songs during the course of the nine days, and they must all be sung correctly and in the proper sequence for the ceremony to be effective.

Harry sang one of the songs from this special winter event.

A stirring conclusion to the evening then came with a final song from Cliff Eagle.

Winter Stories - 2014

by John Aldrich

Last Sunday, January 26th, was the night for our annual Winter Stories event. Organized by Rodger Williams, we were treated again to an evening of cultural immersion.

Once more Rodger invited us to imagine ourselves in a hogan listening to the stories that might have been told by our grandparents if we were young Navajo children. This event has become increasingly popular with our local Navajo population, and whole families came to enjoy the evening. My guess was that there were more Navajos than Bilagaanas in the audience this year.

As in past there was plenty of tasty food items to eat since most people brought one of their favorite dishes to share.

When Rodger announced that the program would begin with a prayer song, I wasn't prepared for the singer to be Sally White. It turns out that she has a beautiful voice, and, as best as I could tell, she rendered the song in a very convincing Navajo manner.

The drum group Southern War Pony returned again. Their singing, along with the stirring drumming, is a favorite with the audience.

The lead singer has an extraordinary voice.

Before any of the speakers made their presentations, our new princess, Tiffany Grace Singer, introduced herself.

The first speaker was Steve Todechine who spoke about a variety of cultural topics and described the shoe game in detail. This is an all-night entertainment on the reservation and quite popular in the winter time.

The audience listened raptly to Steve.

Other speakers/singers included Harry James who performed a Yei Bei Chei song.

Eileen Quintana, who always brings us words of great wisdom, spoke about a variety of cultural topics and reminded us, especially, that we are all five-fingered people - in other words, brothers and sisters.

Rose Jakub spoke and sang in her usual fine style.

Interspersed throughout were additional stories and songs from Rodger as well as additional performances by the drum group.

It was a wonderful evening. If you couldn't make it this year, make plans for the last Sunday of January in 2015.

Ma'ii Comes To The Warehouse

by John Aldrich

It was a week ago today when we were scheduled to have our annual Winter Stories event at the warehouse. At about 3:00, two hours before starting time, it began to snow. Ma'ii was trying to trick us into staying home. By 5:00 there was heavy snow on the roads and no sign of a snow plow. Those of us who got there early speculated that no one was likely to show up given the conditions which were only getting worse. Some folks had to come all the way from Spanish Fork, 50 miles distant.

But people started trickling in, and they kept coming and coming. We ended up with a full house - over 125 - and most everyone brought something to contribute to the food table so we had quite a feast.

Ma'ii is the Navajo word for Coyote who is the subject of many traditional winter stories. He's a trickster, and sometimes a fool, but stories about him usually contain a useful life-lesson. In this case we learned not to be easily put off by the weather because there is a fine reward for persevering.

Rodger Williams is the organizer and master of ceremonies for this event. Every year he puts together an entertaining and instructive evening.

He always encourages us to transport ourselves mentally to the reservation and imagine that we are in a hogan listening to our elders share their wisdom.

If we were in a real hogan, though, we probably wouldn't have the opportunity to enjoy a drum group like we had this particular evening.

Southern War Pony has participated in other ANE events and again offered us stirring and energizing performances during the evening.

Eileen Quintana was the first to speak about cultural topics. Eileen's messages are always heartfelt and sincere. She encouraged us to honor our families and heritage regardless of our background.

She also brought with her a number of her students from the Nebo School District who performed an Inuit song and dance.

Harry James is another crowd favorite. He presents the pow wow at the annual rug show and often sings at Winter Stories. Harry showed us how modern technology has crept in to benefit traditional singers. Harry wanted to sing us a song that he wasn't totally familiar with. After several false starts, he consulted with his IPod to remind him of the proper words.

Another perennial favorite is Lacee Harris, a local Ute, and an engaging story teller. He related a number of Ma'ii stories.

This view shows some of the crowd during Lacee's presentation.

Coyote is the object of stories in many native cultures. Kate Maxwell Stephens, a dedicated ANE volunteer, represented the Comanche Nation and related a spellbinding story.

Another number from the drum group came next and kept our juices flowing.

Our Shi Yazhi princess, Star Nez, introduced herself and told a story.

At age six Star has as much poise and confidence with a microphone as any of our princesses have ever had, yet she still appreciated having her mother Carma close by her side.

Steve Todechiini made his debut at Winter Stories last year and returned for another engagement. He spoke about the clan system within Navajo culture as well as a variety of other topics.

Everyone loves Julius Chavez whose message is typically directed at the younger members of the audience. He told us how a variety of pitfalls and temptations in life have their place in our learning process. We just need to avoid these weaknesses and stay on the correct path.

And finally another song from Southern War Pony gave us the courage to face the weather and return home.

Safely back in our own "hogans" we could reflect on another great evening. Thank you, Rodger.

Winter Stories Night 2012

by John Aldrich

As we gathered for the annual Winter Stories night at the warehouse on Sunday, we were again invited to imagine that we were in a large hogan, part of a large Navajo family, gathered for a traditional winter evening of story telling and sharing about culture. Rodger Williams was once more the organizer and emcee of the event.

And once more the warehouse was full with an appreciative audience that included many Navajo families with their children. There was an extensive array of food that included fry bread and mutton stew for those who wanted to enjoy the full cultural experience.

Rodger led off with a welcome and a song and then introduced Steve Todechine who talked about Navajo culture, told a coyote story, and then had the audience participate in string games, a winter tradition.

Next, Eileen Quintana spoke about the tools, or "weapons", of a woman. Eileen truly speaks from the heart, and it's always inspiring to hear her message.

Here she explains about the brush, made of native plants, that can be used for personal care as well as housekeeping. Then she displayed weaving tools, very powerful implements, since the product of their use can provide for the most important necessities of life, food and shelter.

Many families on the reservation owe their survival to the weaver in the family who supports them through the sale of the rugs she weaves.

Eileen is coordinator for the Title VII program in the Nebo school district and brought with her a group of students who performed a Yupik dance.

Then our new Shi Yazhi princess, Emma Loughlin, introduced herself.

Emma has great poise and self-assurance. She will surely be a fine representative for ANE throughout the year.

Last year we were introduced to Emerson Bill and his group of singers. They were very popular with the audience, so we were delighted that they returned.

The combination of stirring drumming and amazing vocalizations was a special treat that left everyone wishing for more.

The last speaker was Julius Chavez who spoke of the importance of corn in Navajo culture. His remarks were particularly addressed to the Navajo children in the audience. Julius has been dismayed to find that many young Navajos don't know the difference between corn meal and corn pollen.

Both are very important but have different ceremonial uses. Corn meal is used in the blessing of homes while corn pollen is used in the blessing of people.

The different colors of corn each have their own significance.

White corn signifies the young boy while the yellow corn signifies the young girl. Corn, and its use, is central to Navajo culture and ceremonial life. Julius's explanation of its role was both informative and inspiring.

Julius also spoke about the warehouse where we were gathered. He views it as the heart of the program, the place from which the many blessings of ANE extend out to the Elders. He likened the center of the warehouse to the center of a corn field - the focal point from which these blessings emanate.

After another song from Emerson's group, we disbursed with a great sense of enrichment.