Code Talker

Even though Ned’s only 16 and hasn’t completed school, his parents agree that he can enlist, on the condition that a tribal Blessingway ceremony will be performed to protect him. A local man named Hosteen Mitchell will be the “singer” in the ceremony. Mitchell is a Catholic, as are many in the Navajo community by this point, and he has been friends with Ned’s uncle since they both attended the mission school together. Ned notes that his four younger siblings and many of his cousins have also attended the mission school, though they and their families in the tribe maintain their Navajo customs.

Ned is glad to have Hosteen performing the ceremony, as the older man is respected in the community and fun to be around. Hosteen lets Ned help him haul boxes for his freighting business; he nicknames Ned “Wolachii,” or “Ant,” as a joke about his strength relative to his small size. As they ride together on a wagon one day, Hosteen and Ned talk about the funny mistakes non-native speakers make when speaking Navajo and about the similarities between the Navajo and Catholic religions. Hosteen remarks that Jesus would have made a good Navajo.

Ned’s narration turns reverent as he details the Blessingway ceremony, saying, “You know what it is like to be the One Sung Over, to be washed in the morning with soapweed, your clothing piled there in front of you on the blanket as the Bathing Songs are sung” (54).