SIMPLE.
D1NNEK IS
family and to learn the Navajo ways. She
that her firstborn son's hyperactivity is
also sought to know her mother, and
common in their family. And, she has
found the woman in the stories people
learned that she also had some white
told, by walking in her steps, and by
ancestors, which explains her com-
learning to weave rugs, as she had done.
plexion.
The Melansons participate in their
When asked about the Silvermans
clan's rituals and learn about Navajo
and how much they might have
spirituality and healing, the necessary
known about her background, she is
harmony between body and spirit.
convinced that Bea didn't know that
One aunt shows Yvette the exact
her adopted daughter was a lost bird.
place where her umbilical cord had
In the last pages of the book, she
been buried. "For Navajos," she
writes: "I had gone searching for my
writes, "it's very important to know
family, but I had found myself. I was
where that place is. They believe that
discovering a new harmony. As a white
if you don't know where your umbili-
woman, I had beaten my head against
cal cord is buried, then you may be
stone walls and broken my heart trying
fated to spend all of your
to change what
life searching for it."
couldn't be changed.
Although life on the
Now I was learning
reservation is difficult, the
Yvette Melanson
the great Navajo
experience is a rich one.
was raised to believe
secret — how to live
she was white and
Ultimately, she finds her
in the world as it is,
Jewish. At age 43,
twin brother, who had
how to adapt, how
she learned she was
been adopted by a Catholic
to bend in the wind
a Navajo and a
family, and they are reunit-
so as not to break.
stolen child.
ed on the reservation.
"I was learning
Melanson, 46, now
what to leave
splits her time between
behind, and what to
Tolani Lake and her home
keep with me forev-
in Newport, Maine, where her hus-
er. I was following a new road of life,
band is able to get better medical care
but in the Navajo way, it ran parallel to
than in Arizona. In Maine, they sup-
my old Moses road. I was still a woman
port themselves by selling produce
who looked in the rearview mirror, but
along the side of a major road, and
I had found the switch that clicked the
she also weaves rugs according to tra-
view from day to night, from now to
ditional patterns and sells Navajo
then, from the glare of pursuing head-
crafts through a Web site.
lights, always there, always following,
Comfortable as both a Navajo and
to a clearer vision." El
a Jew, Melanson continues to
celebrate Passover in her
_home, and her daughters also
are confident with their dual
Jewish and Navajo identities.
She points out several connec-
tions between Jewish and
Navajo cultures, from dietary
restrictions and laws about
slaughtering animals to respect
for elders and for the land.
Reflecting on the circle as a
sacred shape for the Navajos,
she recalls a conversation with
her grandmother about the
symbolism of the circle at
Jewish weddings, representing
the eternal cycle of life.
For Melanson, living on a
reservation is similar to her
experience of living on a kib-
butz, with its communal sense
of purpose and caring for one
rtr
fn
another.
WISH WOMAN DISCOVERS
Her daughters, now 13 and
HER NAVAJO ROOTS
14, adore their new grandfa-
ther, and they all speak the
Navajo language with him.
CIAIRE
Melanson now understands
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