“Deborah Tsosie grew up on the reservation and teaches third grade at Canyon De Chelly Elementary School in the town of Chinle. She is a regular drinker of Navajo tea. This wild herb resonates deeply with her as a means to connect with distant pieces of her culture, and the great-grandmother who first taught her how to harvest it.
“Each year, [Great-grandma] would gather the extended family up, and we would spend a few days picking tea,” recalls Tsosie. “We would make camp where the tea was, cooking outdoors with oak and cedar fire. These are the times when I learned that you always appreciate what you have. If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t know anything,” about traditional Navajo ways.
Navajo talk of a deep sense of kinship with all things in nature, called K’é. Honoring that, Tsosie picks green thread by snapping it off low-down on its stem, taking care not to pull out its roots. Then, she shakes the plant to release its seeds back into the soil.
Read More: Fall Equinox Space Clearing with Copal, Archangel Michael & Grounding
“That way, it will be replenished,” she says. After rinsing and a day or two of drying, the plants are folded into tidy bundles and strung into garlands. “Tea” is made by snipping off a bundle and boiling it in water for several minutes with sugar or honey. ”
Click here to read the full article on NPR
PC:NPR
1 thought on “For Navajos, Desert ‘Tea’ Fosters Kinship With Heritage And Nature”
Pingback: Full Moon In Taurus & Hops: Permission to Relax & Surrender