First-graders learn about Navajo traditions, giving thanks

Intermountain Catholic

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Julius, a Navajo Indian from Arizona, drops in on St. Vincent de Paul Elementary School students in November to teach them about Thanksgiving from the Native American point of view.

HOLLADAY — The first-graders at St. Vincent de Paul Elementary School in Holladay got a rare treat for the Thanksgiving holiday.  David and Jan Petersen, parents at our school, invited their Navajo friend Julius to come talk about the Navajo traditions of giving thanks.

Julius is a Native American who lives in Arizona.  Julius started his program with an ear of corn and showed the students how to grind it.  As he put the corn between the two rocks he explained how grinding corn is like life.  We all get ground down by obstacles in our lives, but it is through these hardships that we learn and become pure like the final outcome of the ground corn.

He emphasized the importance of being able to use all that comes from the earth.  In the Navajo culture, they pray to the higher being for everything they get from earth.  For example, they say a prayer prior to grinding the corn for the abundance of food that has been given.   

The students then learned about musical instruments and Native American artifacts.  At the end of the program, Julius had the students gather in a circle.  The little children started in the middle, holding hands, then young adults (our first-graders’ eighth grade buddies) encircled them followed behind by the adults.  The circle represented life, and how it was the responsibility of the young adults to protect the little ones from harm and the adults to share their wisdom and traditions.  

As Julius tapped the drum in the middle of the circle and chanted a Navajo prayer, all students raised their hands together.  This showed the interconnection among all the people within the circle and how we lift up our hands to the higher power and give thanks for our many blessings.  The students were generously treated to pies donated by Marie Calendar’s in celebrate of Thanksgiving.  The circular pies represented that love is eternal, Julius said.

Barman is advancement director for St. Vincent de Paul School.