December, 1981 $2.00 - Desert Magazine of the Southwest

along the dusty road.
"I did, I did," Skeeter assured me,
and when I looked doubtful, he opened
his mouth wide and taking a grubby
finger he pulled his lips as far as flesh
will stretch. I could see signs of
chocolate and bits of nuts still clinging
to his molars. Defeated, I had to laugh.
As Christmas approached I had little
faith that our trader would be able to
supply the demand for holiday
goodies. I sent off a large order to
Sears Roebuck. From past experiences,
I knew half the items shown in
the catalog would be unavailable, but I
trustfully marked each item "substitute
with whatever you have." Desperately,
I marked dress goods and linens
"any color will do, just send something."
From the skimpy pages of candy
offerings, I ordered some of everything
pictured. I mailed the order with
crossed fingers—derned little good it
did me. When the packages arrived
there was no candy of any kind.
During November I'd made extra
money for Christmas by baking
cookies and cupcakes, which I sold to
the trading post. I'd used almost all my
sugar ration stamps and had none to
make candy for Christmas. Unless
there was a modern day miracle, we'd
have little sweets during the holidays.
The Hopis are a religious people and
their lives center around their
centuries-old religion. Most participate
in their many seasonal ceremonies.
Skeeter became a steady visitor to
the kiva, where the Hopi priests
stayed, and in one year's time he could
speak Hopi. The kiva was so close to
our house, I could hear the drums and
chanting through the night. Often I
had to send someone in to dig Skeeter
out, so he could come home to bed.
Corn is a focal point in Hopi religion
and is used in every ceremony. Almost
every day Skeeter came home with
some kind of edible made of corn.
Usually he brought piki, a tissue-thin
cornbread that is unique to the Hopi
culture and served as crackers, often
eaten with soup or stew. Another tidbit
Skeeter relished was a sweet cornbread
he called somevike, which was steamed
in corn husks and eaten hot with meat
or beans. Once, when attending a
party (uninvited, I'm sure), he returned
with a crescent-shaped, blue cornmeal
roll, wrapped in corn husks, which he
called chukyviki. Later I found this is
served at wedding ceremonies only.
Hopi ceremonies for the public were
held in the plaza just beyond the store.
I wasn't surprised, when two days
before Christmas, I saw a great many
people gathering there. Trucks full of
people were parking everywhere. Even
horse-drawn wagons, loaded to the
sideboards with oldsters and children,
rattled off the mesa from Old Oraibi
and stopped at the store. Skeeter began
begging to attend, and when I gave
him permission, he left, riding his stick
horse on a dead run.
Soon I heard the squawking sounds
of a loudspeaker and then a recording
of "Silent Night" began to play. This
was something I'd have to see for
myself. I dressed the baby for the cold
weather and went to investigate. Well,
I found no regular Hopi ceremony,
but instead a huge Christmas party
sponsored by a missionary group from
Gallup. They spared nothing in
presenting treats for everybody.
I watched the missionaries hand out
candy canes, gum drops, boxes of
Cracker Jacks, packages of gum,
oranges, apples and sacks of peanuts.
There were even toys, some new.
There were boxes of used clothing and
I saw warm coats, heavy jackets,
woolen sweaters and stocking caps
handed out to eager recipients.
Another truck held hundreds of loaves
of bakery bread, boxes of crackers,
cases of canned tomatoes, bags of
flour, and sacks of beans and rice. All
was distributed in an orderly manner
while recordings of Christmas carols
played over the microphone.
Skeeter ran up to me, his arms full
of candy and fruit. He returned to get
bags of candy for his baby sister. After
listening to numerous speeches I
returned home with enough candy to
last the holidays. Glory be!
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