Transcriber: Tammy Lynn Pertillar Reviewer: Rahul MS
(in Navajo)
What I have shared with you is my name,
which is Jolyana Begay-Bitsuie,
and the four clans that I use to identify myself as a Navajo woman.
The first clan belongs to my mother's clan,
and they are The Red Running Into the Water People.
The second clan belongs to my father's,
and they are The Black Streak Wood People Clan.
The third clan I use to identify myself belongs to my maternal grandfathers,
-- my "Cheis" -- and they are The Red Bottom Cheek People Clan.
And finally, the fourth clan belongs to my paternal grandfathers,
and they are The Giant People
of the Red Running Into the Water People Clan.
As a young child, my parents had stressed to me:
any time you get onstage,
anytime you meet someone new for the first time,
it is absolutely crucial that you identify yourself using your four clans.
And so that's what I've shared with you today.
I'm very happy to be here.
I would like to share with you the journey that I went through
to become Miss Navajo Nation 2001-2002.
The journey of Miss Navajo began when I was a very small child.
I grew up on the Navajo reservation in the Four Corners Area.
My parents and my grandparents
were very active in our traditional way of life.
We attended many ceremonies since I was very small,
and I was surrounded by my language.
I knew what people were saying to me, I could understand prayers,
I could understand the songs that they would sing.
I alI also had the opportunity to attend
the Fort Defiance Immersion Program.
This immersion program allowed me
to read, write and speak my own native Diné language.
At the time that I was young, however,
on our reservation, for a crazy reason,
if you speak Navajo, if you wear your traditional Navajo attire,
if you put your hair in a Navajo hair bun just like mine is,
people considered you to be poor.
You were considered rural.
And children my age at my school made fun of me,
and called me names because I was able to speak, read and write.
And so, at that time when I was younger, for a great part of my younger...
when I was in elementary and middle school,
I chose not to speak the language.
I pretended that I didn’t know for a long time.
I took for granted the teachings
that my parents and my grandparents had instilled in me.
When I got to high school,
I decided I would move away from the reservation, which I did.
I came down here to Phoenix for higher education,
and while I was here, I realized
that I wasn’t surrounded by "Diné Bizaad"
I no longer heard the songs,
I no longer heard my mom speaking to me in Navajo anymore.
I felt like I didn’t know who I was.
I was trying to walk two worlds and I was confused as an individual.
I remember my grandpa telling me one time --
a very long time ago when I was small
-- “Shiyáázh”,... (in Navajo)
And what that means is, “One day, my child,
you are going to come back to our People,
and you are going to help us.”
I didn’t know what he meant.
“What does he mean I’m going to ‘come back’?
Where am I even going?" (Laughter)
It wasn’t ‘til I was away from the reservation
that I'd finally understood what my "Naali" was talking about.
I decided I would go back to the reservation,
and I would run for the coveted title of Miss Navajo Nation.
The Miss Navajo Nation pageant is held every year on the Navajo reservation
in the capital in Window Rock, Arizona, at the annual Navajo Nation fair.
Thousands of people come every year – Navajo People –
and they have many different types of activities
that go on during the fair,
and one of the activities is the Miss Navajo Pageant.
It’s a week-long competition.
And one thing that’s very unique about this pageant
is that there's both a traditional
and a contemporary competition.
Everything is done both in English
as well as in Navajo.
And so, it's one week long.
We begin with an interview panel.
This interview panel is applying for the job.
It is done both in English and in Navajo.
Questions are asked and expected both in English and in Navajo.
And in our society today,
it is very hard to find fluent speakers
that can translate very easily what it is they want to say.
Articulating is easier in English because
that's the language that most of us speak.
And so it’s harder to find younger women who are able
to go back-and-forth and really explain
why they want to be Miss Navajo; what their platform is going to be.
Another part of the competition is
the contemporary, as well as the traditional skill and talent.
And so not only do young ladies have to demonstrate some sort of talent
in the contemporary society, but they have to do it also
in the Navajo traditional style as well,
of course being given only in the language.
And so it’s a very tough competition.
As Tomás Carillo mentioned,
the highlight of the Miss Navajo pageant
is the sheep butchering! Now, you’re probably wondering,
“Why do these young ladies have to butcher sheep
in their traditional outfits?" Well, it was our way of life!
For many generations, women had to go and butcher sheep in order to
provide food for their families. So this is one of the ways that
the judges can see the teaching
being passed down through many generations.
It is very hard to do. It is much harder knowing that there are grandmas
and grandpas watching your every move!
(Laughter)
I wasn’t very skilled, I will admit, in that area.
I got the easy stuff: yes, I was around butchering my whole life
It was nothing new to me.
But I never got through it doing it all by myself.
I was told to do the easier things like, “Go get a clean bowl,” or,
"Go put the wood right here," something easier,
those tasks were given to me.
So in prepping for the title itself,
I had to kind of go through the different steps:
‘What’s supposed to be done next?’, ‘What are these things called?’
because that’s what they were going to ask me.
On day-of-competition, my mind was blank!
Things that you should know -- everyone knows, anyway –
I couldn't remember.
And I had to answer in Navajo.
All the grandmas had their eyes on me and I was shaking,
I had some blood on my outfit. I’m not supposed to get dirty,
you’re trying to move as fast as you can
but stay as clean as possible.
At the end of butchering,
I made it through – I made it through the day --
I thought I was going to give up.
I thought, ‘Miss Navajo is not for me. I don’t think I can do this.
If I can’t even butcher a sheep and get through the day, (Laughter)
imagine what the whole year is going to be like!'
(Laughter)
I sat there and decided, ‘I think maybe I’m just going to walk away.
I don't think I have it in me,’
But then I remembered what my “Naali” (Grandpa) had told me:
(recounts her grandfather's words in Navajo)
“You are going to give us teachings, my child.”
I remembered what he told me,
and I said, “I’m not going to give up!
I’m going to go through with this.”
And I did! I made it through the next two competitions
that they had the next following days.
The coronation is on the final night; it’s on a Saturday night
when they announce who the next Miss Navajo Nation is going to be.
She represents the Diné People for one full year
She travels on a local reservation level,
as well as the state level, national and international.
And so it’s a very hard job that this young lady has.
At the time I was only twenty years old.
I was twenty years old and really had a lot
that I was trying to accomplish within this one year.
On the evening of the coronation,
I finally was able to speak to my mother for the very first time,
because during competition week,
you can’t have any interaction with your family.
And she told me, “Shiyáázh", “my child”, “I’m very proud of you.
I think you are representing” what she has taught me,
what her mother has taught her,
and what her mother’s mother has taught her.
And she had said that she could see me, throughout the week,
and the way that I was speaking and the songs that I was singing!
She said, “If you win or not,
I think that you have shown me,
you have shown your grandma – your “Ma Sani” --
everything that we have taught you.” And she was very proud of me,
and that was good enough for me!
Coronation came, and they announced me
as the new Miss Navajo Nation for that year.
Two days later, 2001,
September 11th happened.
And they said, “Jolyana -- Miss Navajo --
we need you to go up there,
we need you to address the People.”
Because everyone was in shock, everyone was panicking.
It was then that I realized I had a very important job to do.
So I really focused on trying to calm the People,
as well as understand my role.
What does Miss Navajo represent?
Miss Navajo Nation represents White Shell Woman.
She represents Changing Woman.
Those are deities in our traditional stories.
She is the representation of our mothers; of our grandmothers;
of our great-grandmothers. And so through that year,
I carried myself as best I could in that fashion,
I talked to many people on our reservation
-- mainly the youth --
about the importance of knowing who you are as an individual.
All of us are unique in our own way. We have stories that our grandmas,
our mothers, our fathers
have shared with us.
And as Miss Navajo, I realized that
I had such an important thing:
to be able to understand
who I am as a Diné woman.
I wanted to share that with everyone.
And so I traveled speaking to many younger People,
telling them, "Don’t be ashamed of who you are.”
“Don’t let the language die out.”
Our language – especially among indigenous Peoples – is at a decline.
There is a huge shift! And if we don’t do anything about it,
we can no longer understand what our turquoise represents.
We won’t understand what our “moccasins” mean and
what our “tsiiyéél” (hairstyle) is all about.
The stories behind them can only be done in a language,
your own Mother Tongue.
And so for that reason, it’s that much more crucial,
I realized as I was Miss Navajo,
so that everyone can understand that they can’t walk away from who they are.
They need to be proud of themselves as Diné People.
The pageant and the full year of traveling,
I felt have really shaped who I am.
The pageant does continue, and there are Miss Navajos named every year still.
This past September, we again welcomed a new Miss Navajo who is now traveling –
she was actually here a couple days ago in Phoenix -- and she has her own message
that she shares. She’s a representation of her family, and of her culture.
And so it’s really a unique thing. If you ever have the opportunity to come out to
Window Rock in September, during the Navajo Nation Fair,
you can witness the pageant itself.
You are welcome to do that.
Because of my role as Miss Navajo, and understanding the importance
of not moving away from who you are, learning to speak your language
and being proud of who you are as an individual,
has shaped who I am today.
Currently, I live here in Phoenix,
and I work with Urban Navajos.
Urban Navajo People are those that don’t
have the opportunity to go back to our reservation
and surround themselves around the language and the culture.
They are here because of work purposes and so on.
And so I work with these younger people
and really try to help them understand who they are.
It’s much harder for them, because they don’t have their grandmas there.
And so that’s part of the work that I do now:
I work for the Phoenix Indian Center downtown,
and we have a Navajo language and culture program there,
where I teach the language and share with the younger children.
Even through song, through a simple song,
they are able to build their Navajo vocabulary, and they’re so proud
of themselves as Navajo people.
I want to ensure the existence of “Diné Bizaad” –
our language and our culture. And although I am very young,
although I don’t think that I know it all,
-- there are many words I do not know –
Not speaking it on a daily basis is hard for me when I go back
because I have to interact more fluently -- it gets tougher and tougher.
However, I feel that I am doing something. I’m trying to!
It is good to see, on a good note, that there are many people my age
-- the younger generation –
that are really realizing what’s happening.
The shift in our language is at a very fast decline,
that if we don’t do anything,
we are no longer going to have our language anymore.
Many of the Miss Navajo contestants that enter the pageant each year
come with a strong platform.
They are passionate about what it is they want to share
during that year, and that’s really important and good to see.
And so I felt that, through my experience as Miss Navajo,
it has given me the passion to go out and to try to do as much as I can.
I would like to share with you a song that I used
during the time that I ran for Miss Navajo; it was my traditional skill.
It's a song that I composed
when really thinking about, “Why am I here?
My "Naali" said I have something to give back.
What am I giving back?”
In this song, I am talking about, “There is beauty before me,
there is beauty behind me, there is beauty below me,
there is beauty above me, and there is beauty
with everything that comes out of my mouth."
Although you probably have never heard the Navajo language being spoken,
you probably have your own language that you speak.
You have your own stories that your parents and your grandparents
and your family have shared with you. I encourage you as an individual
to hold onto that, because that's what shapes our society!
We have all of these different, beautiful languages and
beautiful cultures that we need to pass on to the younger generation.
We can’t walk away from them, we can’t ignore them,
we can’t shy away from them, because if we don’t,
our future children -- what are they going to have to appreciate?
That's kind of my message to you today. And so, as I sing this song,
the words in it again are talking about, "Beauty before me, behind me
below me, above me, all around me,
and with what I say.”
I hope you’ll enjoy it.
(Jolyana Begay-Bitsuie sings unaccompanied in the Navajo language.)
In this song, I talk about, “I want to hold on to what I have.”
The second verse of the song is, “I want you to hold on to what you have.”
I hope that what I have shared with you today can really help you to think about
those communities that are striving
to ensure the existence of their language and their culture.
Within the United States, among many Native American tribes,
many tribes are down to one speaker, are down to two speakers.
They are trying to do everything that they can.
And, globally, that is also happening.
There are many languages that are at a decline.
Language is tied to culture: if we lose our language,
we lose our culture. That is something that I don’t want to happen
for my Diné People.
It is something I don’t want to happen for all of the other rich cultures
and rich languages that are out there.
I hope that you enjoyed what I had to share with you today.
Thank you very much for listening to me.
“Ahééhee” (“Thank You”)
(Applause)