I learned some wonderful news yesterday while substitute teaching. A mother and grandmother gave a presentation on Navajo culture.
They talked about important ceremonies, including one I love. It’s a celebration held after a baby laughs for the first time.
It’s nothing new, but it’s news to me. Isn’t that delightful? Isn’t it darling? Can’t you picture that cooing chuckle? For some reason I’m reminded of a passage of Peter Pan when we learn that the first fairies were born when the first baby laughed. As he did so, his peals of laughter turned into a sizeable crop of fairies.
Anyhow, I think we need to do this for every baby, because it’s a brilliant idea. A sense of humor gets you through life.
There’s a nice picture of a Navajo mother and infant and an article about the Navajo Baby’s First Laugh Celebration on the Aesthetics of Joy blog.
I heard it first, though, from a Navajo grandmother. That’s a cool school day.
–Sarah Torribio
Update: I live in Southern Utah, where there is a relatively sizable Native American population. In fact, a 10-minute drive takes me to the reservation Shivwits Band of Paiutes. They sell snacks, $3.99 packs of cigarettes equivalent to various popular tobacco brands. Word on the street is that they are also a bit healthier, more tobacco-based with less carcinogenic additives.
Given this, it’s not surprising that at my recent stint at a sandwich joint, there was a Navajo woman working there. She wasn’t a grandmother but a hip, tattooed young mother.
I asked her about the A’wee Chi’deedloh ceremony or “laughing party,” which the Internet tells me is thrown by the friend or relative who elicits the baby’s laughter. She’s a girl of few words, at least while she’s making sandwiches. But she gave a short and sweet explanation: “It means the baby’s soul has decided to stay on the earth.”
See more random musings by Sarah Torribio HERE
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