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)
