“We celebrate birth, and we celebrate that first laugh because it is a very unique experience,” said Wally Brown, a Diné storyteller. Nourishing them with Mother Earth’s gifts allows them to build a reciprocal relationship with her, Father Sky, and every other living creature in between. I realize more and more as I grow older, especially during these climate-changing times, that I need to learn these ancient cultural practices and pass them on to my own nieces and nephews. My relatives say that giving a baby salt will ensure their continued generosity with their laughter. My nálí keeps the salt stored away for special occasions: celebratory meals, coming-of-age ceremonies, and even a baby’s first laugh. I wonder how manufactured iodized salt came to replace what my people harvest. After tasting the salt, I thought of how my people-the Diné who live on Dinétah, or the Four Corners region where Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona meet-have been eating this salt since time immemorial. Digging inside the cabinets of her home last summer, I came across a jug of áshįįh. While on my journey, I had the special opportunity to learn some of these teachings from shínálí asdzáá (my paternal grandmother). I’ve been healing historical traumas through ceremony and through my writing and farming. Now as an adult, I’ve not only learned more about the value of salt-but also of my Diné culture more generally. As a child, I first learned the value of harvesting or trading for áshįįh (mineral salt) from my parents who learned from their parents.
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