Ceremony

Tayo has a flashback to when Josiah bought the cattle. Josiah had fallen in love with a Mexican cantina dancer named Night Swan, who lived in Cubero above an old bar/convenience store (Night Swan would mysteriously vanish after Josiah’s death). Night Swan convinced Josiah to buy some cattle from her cousin Ulibarri in Mexico, saying they would be highly resistant to the ongoing drought. Josiah agreed, wanting his family to enjoy independence and financial security.

Josiah began to teach himself about cattle breeding and rearing, though he had little faith in how white people approached these things. He butted heads with Rocky, who was convinced Josiah needed to follow white scientists’ books to the letter. Once they were delivered to the ranch, the cows were scared of the open land, having been kept in barns their whole life. They constantly tried to move south to Mexico, forcing Josiah and Tayo to keep a close eye on them. Meanwhile, Josiah’s relationship with Night Swan strained his relationship with his sister, Thelma, who worried about their familial reputation.

Before the drought, Tayo’s family had hired his cousin Pinkie to herd their sheep. Pinkie routinely stole and sold their sheep for his own personal gain.

Despite Thelma’s attempts to break up the relationship, Josiah continued to see Night Swan. Tayo prayed for rain shortly before he left for the war: When it rained, Josiah sent Tayo with a note to Night Swan. Night Swan read the note without revealing its contents, and then she and Tayo had sex. Night Swan encouraged Tayo to accept his difference from others (i.e., his diverse heritage).

In the present day, Tayo walks to Cubero from the bar after drinking with his friends. He finds himself outside Night Swan’s abandoned apartment and reminisces about her. He sleeps in a barn that night.

Meanwhile, Hummingbird and Fly visit Corn Mother. She wants them to purify the town of witchery before she returns and rescues the people from drought. The two go to see Buzzard, who they know can purify the town.

The next day, Tayo’s family sends him to another medicine man, Betonie, because they are deeply worried about him. Betonie lives in Gallup, and the locals fear him. He is an outcast who believes the rituals and ceremonies of the past need to adapt to suit the present day. When Tayo arrives in Gallup, he has a flashback to his childhood. Until the age of four, he lived beneath Gallup’s main bridge with his mother. The two were unhoused, and Tayo’s mother provided for both of them with sex work. Tayo was often left to fend for himself and witnessed the police’s destruction of unhoused people’s shelters.

Hummingbird and Fly meet Buzzard, who demands tobacco before he will purify their town like Corn Mother wants. In order to get tobacco, they must see Caterpillar.

Tayo meets Betonie and opens up to him, unlike with Ku’oosh. Betonie explains that there is a force in the world, witchery, that created the “destroyers” (people such as white colonists, who destroy the land and traditional, sustainable ways of living). Witchery tricks people into cutting ties with the natural world in exchange for power over it. Betonie begins the Scalp Ceremony, a ceremony for warriors who have killed an opponent in combat, with Tayo.