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In the Southwest, the Navajo shoe game is a big draw for storytelling and games in winter. It’s essentially a guessing game but it’s laced with songs, origin stories and some valuable life lessons. In the Great Lakes, males play Makazinitaagewin, or moccasin game. It’s a different kind of guessing game with as much culture, music and community bonding. We’ll hear more about shoe games and how they incorporate and preserve Native culture.
Guests:
Damon Panek (White Earth Ojibwe) – Moccasin game player
David “Amik” Sam (Mille Lacs band of Ojibwe) – Mille Lacs band elder and Makizin instructor
Kevin Belin (Diné) – Navajo language teacher, recipient the Billy Mills Dream Starter Grant “I’m a dream started”
Break 1 music: The Yucca Ball Is Hidden Now (song) Sammie Largo (artist) Navajo Shoe Game Songs Keshjee Siin (album)
Break 2 music: Rumble (Remastered) (song) Link Wray (artist) Rumble (Remastered) (single)
Enjoyed January 8, 2020, Poet Laureate interview.
A couple of tangents: in Navajo (Diné) I’m bilagána (white guy), and also in Navajo, a native who looks red but acts white is bilasáana (Apple—red on the outside, white on the inside), and my Asian friends tell me they have a similar word for banana (yellow in the outside, white on the inside). First generation USA Asians even refer to their American-born children that way.