Ninanoh'a'ah (Shoe Game Song)

Keshjeeh / Moccasin Game (Navajo Shoe Game Story)
Transcribed by Sylvia Jackson, The Navajo Nation

Changing Woman gave birth to Naayeeneizighani and To’bajishchini, twins. The story tells the boys were born just a hand length of time apart. Naayeeneizighani was delivered first. He was given the name Child of the Sun Beam and later gained his warrior name, Naayeeneizighani.

To’bajishchini, at birth was called Child of Mist and later gained his warrior name also. While the boys were growing, Changing Woman hid the boys in a dugout beneath the fire hearth whenever she sensed danger for her children. They are referred to as Leeya’naayani, Raised Underground, elsewhere in the Dine' Baahane’.

Ye’iitsoh, curious with seeing little footprints around Changing Woman’s home, made a special visits to her home. He asked about the little human footprints all about her home. She told Ye’iitsoh she made the little footprints using the side of her fist pressed into the ground because she lives alone and gets lonely. Seeing the footprints all around her home helps her feel less lonely. She showed him how she made the foot imprints. She pressed the tip of her pointer finger into the ground to add toe prints to the fist imprint to create imagines of footprints.

Through the passage of time, the monster, Ye’iitsoh grew more curious with footprints around the home of Yoolgaii Asdzaa. As the Twins grew stronger, Haashch’eeyaati’i and Haashch’e’ewaan continued to display guardianship and volunteered as spiritual keepers for the boys. They taught the boys to provide for their mother small games such as rabbits, squirrels, gophers, and prairie chickens. Haashch’eeshzhini, the boys practiced on everything that moved around the DzilCh’ool’i’i and Dzil Na’oodili area.

Rabbits, squirrels, gophers, prairie chickens, and birds complained to Ye’iitsoh to do something about the naughty disrespectful boys living with Changing Woman. Y4’iitsoh would ask others about two boys living with Changing Woman. However, the Holy Ones were aware of the purposes for the Twins so they protected them. No one volunteered to help Ye’iitsoh find the twin boys. He planned to lure Changing Woman away from her home so that he can find the twins himself.

He invited everyone to To’nts’isi Kooh, Mancos, Colorado for a very important meeting. All kinds of animals, birds and insects showed with anticipation because no one was told what the meeting was about. Bear, bobcat, turkey, and deer were first to arrive. Ye’iitsoh waited for more people to come. He wanted them involve in a game so he can check out the home of Change Woman.

He buried the moccasins of bear, bobcat, deer, and turkey in sand. He tried to give directions as how to use their shoes in a game of chance. The creatures became confused, did not understand why they were called together. Some traveled far. The creatures talked and designed the game of chance as they played. Each time they played, the game improved. The game of chance was up the alley of Coyote and so he ran to the four cardinal directions and observed how other living beings entertained themselves. He had many times observed Dine' wash their hair with yucca root suds and he concluded the yucca plant contributed to the developing knowledge.

He has observed Dine' hunting and he knew they hunted well. He pulled out two whole yucca plants and ran back to the gathering place and through them in front of the attendance saying, “This is what I have observed the Dine use to wash their hair. Maybe we can use it in the game to be good hunters like the Dine'.”

Porcupine and mole pulled off hundred blades from the yucca plants and left with the root. Gopher carved out a round object and suggested they hide the ball in the moccasins. Coyote did tell them he has observed Dine' People hide a small piece of yucca root in water, swish water around with the yucca rose to create a pile of suds and use it to wash their hair. He has observed them hunting many times and has concluded they are excellent hunters. They are good trackers and never return home empty handed.

The game would be a good game for the animals to develop knowledge, there is a chance that they can out smart them if they learn the tricks. The evening of the first real game, various animals and birds volunteered their moccasins, the bear, gopher, owl, and raven. As the game progressed, Ye’iitsoh grabbed the honeeshgish from near the fire hearth and used it to dig out the hidden ball saying this is how the Dine' clubbed their prey.

Owl suggested using his feather blanket to blind others from looking on while the ball is being hidden. Each wrong guess would cost a team yucca counters to pay out to the opposing team until one of the teams have gained all the counters. Coyote added two extra long inseparable counters making a total of one hundred and two counters in all. He said the two would be called bicho’o’ to represent old age and wisdom. He volunteered to pay out the counters to both teams until they are all distributed. He ran back and forth between the two teams.

They critters enjoyed the game and returned night after night to play.

Both the night and day creatures were good in making predictions and the ball went back and forth, back and forth throughout the night between the two teams. The night creatures would take out the yucca ball after a guess or two from the day creatures and it would be repeated with the day creatures. As the game improved and progressed, the critters begin to use the game to make decisions on issues.

A win game would support an issue. A lost game would oppose an issue. Making decision was no longer difficult task. Ye’iitsoh enjoyed given credit for the game and was the center of attention.

He forgot the purpose of bring the animals together. His plan to lure Changing woman away from her home and then sneak upon the Twins did not work. Changing Woman did not attend the game.

Night creatures made up songs to honor and show respect for each day creatures according to the unique characteristic, talent and makeup. Day creatures did similarly for the night creatures. Honor songs were constructed for batten, yucca stems, deerskin used in flipping, and the curtain of feathers. Eventually, singing songs became distraction to concentrating and to keep the game going and interesting. Humor was rejuvenated with the game after near extinction when used only by the Diyin Dine’e at the beginning of time.

The game motivated and promoted logistical thinking skills for the creatures. They gathered and played night after night. The creatures played many games and developed it into a contest over day and night activities. Night creatures formed a team forcing the day creatures to form a team as well. The game begin, the creatures flipped a piece of deerskin shaded lizhin on one side and liba on the other side. Day creatures yelled, “liba, liba, liba.” Night creatures yelled, “lizhin, lizhin, lizhin.” The flipped piece of skin landed on the ground with the black side up, so the night creatures hid the yucca ball, To’disht’ooshi, first in the moccasins.

Night creatures proposed if they win, they should be granted their wish to hunt in the night all the time and vise versa for the day creatures if they win they would hunt in the daytime all the time. Each team was inspired to win at all cost. They constructed honor songs for the yucca ball, the blanket, the honeeshgish, the deerskin and the originator of the, Ye’iitsoh.

The creatures played four games and tied two to two and the game was approaching early morning dawn. Day creatures became alarmed at the sight of only two extra long yucca stems left to loose the game to the night creatures. Gopher was asked to check the moccasins. He did and found the moccasins empty of the round yucca ball. He returned to his teammates and told them, the moccasins are empty of the yucca ball and that someone is holding it in his/her hand. Day creatures observed the opposing team closely and found the owl holding the ball in his right claw. Gopher volunteered the club and hit the owl’s right claw. The ball rolled.

Owl was caught cheating in the deciding game. Everyone became upset and all scampered off to their homes in the early morning light. Bear, hurriedly, put on his moccasins and discovered he put them on the wrong feet. Today, he still has the wrong shoe on the wrong foot if you ever see the bear’s footprints. He was, also, caught by the early morning sunlight that left highlights on his hair. If you ever see a grizzly up close, his hair still has the highlights. Crow, once a beautiful white bird, turned solid black, when he stumbled and rolled in the fire hearth just before the sun came up. He could not get back up. Each time he was bumped back into the leeshch’ii. Before day breaks, they were to paint with white clay to make right the wrong they did during the night after each game for handling issues. On this particular morning, the group ran out of white clay and some did not mark their faces. Crow hurried off solid black. There was no winning side and therefore, the day and night animals have equal time to hunt.

Traditionally, moccasin game is considered a healing game appropriately played at hat’aal on any evening of the five day and five night ceremony. Each time ten yucca stems are paid out to the opposing team, they are first held to the patient’s body to transcend power for a fast recovery and to strengthen his/her spiritual being. The traditional moccasin game originated at this particular time and is played today as it was once played by the day and night creatures. The formation of the game is played south to north and never east to west. One team would sit to the south and the other team would sit to the north. The position of each moccasin has a name beginning with the moccasin farthest to the west end to the entrance of the home where the game is played. The entrance is the east. Farther to the west is honiidi, next position is honiiba’, next to the entrance is dlooba’ and furthers to the entrance is dlo’di. Missing on the first guess costs the team ten yucca stems. Missing on the second guess costs the team six yucca stems. Missing on the forth guess costs the team four yucca stems. Some player pay out the stems by the moccasins, meaning each position would be assigned a number value. Everyone plays the game.