Mudheads
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Wow – what a day. Actually only saw a couple patients all day – however, I really learned a lot about the hospital and the Zuni people. Also got to FINALLY have brewed coffee! Woo-hoo! Had it from the patient waiting area :)
Spent most the day doing orientation stuff. Learned about how the hospital works, retrained on HIPPA (if I get another HIPPA training I am going to quite possibly explode). I met a lot of people, all of them so nice. Everyone has been incredibly kind. The pharmacists are all from the Public Health Service and have to wear these brown military uniforms. There’s one young pharmacist that’s a Navy officer and he always calls me ma’am. In every sentence he addresses me he uses it. I think it’s funny, but he’s so endearing I wouldn’t laugh for fear of making him feel bad.
I learned about where to go walking in Zuni. Finally. Apparently, I have been exploring a few tiny areas and the wrong area at that. Across 53 there is great hiking, you can climb the enormous Corn Mountain (it has a Zuni name but I keep forgetting it) and you there are ancient ruins. Then further West is the heart of Zuni with the Old Mission, artisan shops (as a hospital employee I get 50% off at one of the shops) and places where they sell food (including a pizza join I hear). Here's to hoping I have time to explore it all.
I was told about religious ceremonies they have in the Old Town. I heard about the Fourth World and the Creator (maybe will explain that later). There are these religious groups, several of them, that apparently come dance, sing and pray around the solstice. The celebrate summer and winter. And summer Solstice is still underway apparently because groups 5 and 6 of the Kachina. The Kachina, I was explained, are kind of like neighborhood Holy men. They have this role at different times. I guess some of the things they due are fast – which means no shopping or sex in addition to not eating (so if I ask a patient to fast before we draw labs I have to be specific and just say no food or drink except water and medications). The woman who was explaining this to me talked about how the powerful men of the Kachina “are separate from us”. All these concepts that I don’t quite grasp but I was adequately warned I might not. But the powerful people of the Kachina arrange the dances, the ceremonies. On the days of the ceremony the Kachina will dress in masks walk to the old part of town where they will dance and sing. Non-Zuni cannot be in the area that they dance, but they can stand on a roof of a nearby building and watch. When the Kachina walks to the ceremony they do not stop, look sideways, and seeing through tiny horizontal slits in their masks they walk non-stop to the site. So everyone knows they have the right of way and you have to stand at least 10 feel behind them.
I also learned about Mud Heads (the little guy peeking out behind the Kachina at left). Fascinating. They are also called "the clowns". They wear disfigured masks – the face supposedly the child of a brother and sister to remind us how incest is bad. They interact more with everyone (while the Kachina does not and requires a large berth at all times). While a man is acting as a Mud Heads he cannot be touched by women at all – that even means in the hospital. One Mud Head was transported by EMT with only women staff and at the hospital all the nurses were women and they had to transport him by grasping the sheets he lay on. The intake had to be done by a male nurse that was called in from home. Mud Heads are at the mercy of the Kachina. They apparently are always fasting. They can, however, eat food that is offered them. They cannot work either. So they have to beg for food, money and perform blessings in people’s home in exchange for meals. During the dances and prayers they apparently will sometimes interact with the audience. Even the Melikas (Zuni for white people. Belagona is Navajo for white people).
I learned about the cultural difference between the Navajo and Zuni. Navajo apparently are very superstitious and do not want people dying in their homes. They also prefer their medicine men to heal on the dirt and will often transport out (on pass) sick relatives for a ceremony in a Hogan. When a relative dies they do not view the body or mourn over it, the just take the information and go back home. Also, during childbirth, they are apparently very vocal. The Zuni, I’ve learned, are quiet during childbirth. Even the youngest teen moms do not make a sound. And in contrast to the Navajo, the Zuni prefer to pass on in their homes. When they are dying relatives and clansmen (which, I’m told, its pretty much everyone) will gather around them and wail. After death they will be taken to their Aunties house (if they did not die there) and overnight there “is a lot that happens” involving the whole family and ceremonies. The person is buried at dawn.
Pressers. At first I thought they meant pressors (for hypotension) but these in fact are people, kind of like healers. They come and press part of the body. If a woman is breech they press her belly to turn the baby. If someone has a broken arm they come press that. They press for headaches and abdominal pain. They are apparently often in the hospital and when they are doing their thing I’m not allowed in the room. These are not Medicine Men or religious figures – however, those people also come and I am also not allowed in the room for that either. However if the patient requests it apparently I can stay for these things but that is unusual.
Also, went check out a coffee shop in Gallup (called, “The Coffee Shop” – go figure). They had live folk music and lots of hippie folks noshing on sprout sandwiches and gourmet lattes. Much more the New Mexico I’m familiar with but strage in comparison to where I've been the last several days. I ate a “Turkey Albuquerque” sandwich and a cream soda and reviewed my articles on fat embolism after knee surgery (my paper for last month). I plan to go back – maybe finally get this blog up and running. Maybe even upload some pictures of where I am.
Wow – what a day. Actually only saw a couple patients all day – however, I really learned a lot about the hospital and the Zuni people. Also got to FINALLY have brewed coffee! Woo-hoo! Had it from the patient waiting area :)
Spent most the day doing orientation stuff. Learned about how the hospital works, retrained on HIPPA (if I get another HIPPA training I am going to quite possibly explode). I met a lot of people, all of them so nice. Everyone has been incredibly kind. The pharmacists are all from the Public Health Service and have to wear these brown military uniforms. There’s one young pharmacist that’s a Navy officer and he always calls me ma’am. In every sentence he addresses me he uses it. I think it’s funny, but he’s so endearing I wouldn’t laugh for fear of making him feel bad.
I learned about where to go walking in Zuni. Finally. Apparently, I have been exploring a few tiny areas and the wrong area at that. Across 53 there is great hiking, you can climb the enormous Corn Mountain (it has a Zuni name but I keep forgetting it) and you there are ancient ruins. Then further West is the heart of Zuni with the Old Mission, artisan shops (as a hospital employee I get 50% off at one of the shops) and places where they sell food (including a pizza join I hear). Here's to hoping I have time to explore it all.
I was told about religious ceremonies they have in the Old Town. I heard about the Fourth World and the Creator (maybe will explain that later). There are these religious groups, several of them, that apparently come dance, sing and pray around the solstice. The celebrate summer and winter. And summer Solstice is still underway apparently because groups 5 and 6 of the Kachina. The Kachina, I was explained, are kind of like neighborhood Holy men. They have this role at different times. I guess some of the things they due are fast – which means no shopping or sex in addition to not eating (so if I ask a patient to fast before we draw labs I have to be specific and just say no food or drink except water and medications). The woman who was explaining this to me talked about how the powerful men of the Kachina “are separate from us”. All these concepts that I don’t quite grasp but I was adequately warned I might not. But the powerful people of the Kachina arrange the dances, the ceremonies. On the days of the ceremony the Kachina will dress in masks walk to the old part of town where they will dance and sing. Non-Zuni cannot be in the area that they dance, but they can stand on a roof of a nearby building and watch. When the Kachina walks to the ceremony they do not stop, look sideways, and seeing through tiny horizontal slits in their masks they walk non-stop to the site. So everyone knows they have the right of way and you have to stand at least 10 feel behind them.
I also learned about Mud Heads (the little guy peeking out behind the Kachina at left). Fascinating. They are also called "the clowns". They wear disfigured masks – the face supposedly the child of a brother and sister to remind us how incest is bad. They interact more with everyone (while the Kachina does not and requires a large berth at all times). While a man is acting as a Mud Heads he cannot be touched by women at all – that even means in the hospital. One Mud Head was transported by EMT with only women staff and at the hospital all the nurses were women and they had to transport him by grasping the sheets he lay on. The intake had to be done by a male nurse that was called in from home. Mud Heads are at the mercy of the Kachina. They apparently are always fasting. They can, however, eat food that is offered them. They cannot work either. So they have to beg for food, money and perform blessings in people’s home in exchange for meals. During the dances and prayers they apparently will sometimes interact with the audience. Even the Melikas (Zuni for white people. Belagona is Navajo for white people).
I learned about the cultural difference between the Navajo and Zuni. Navajo apparently are very superstitious and do not want people dying in their homes. They also prefer their medicine men to heal on the dirt and will often transport out (on pass) sick relatives for a ceremony in a Hogan. When a relative dies they do not view the body or mourn over it, the just take the information and go back home. Also, during childbirth, they are apparently very vocal. The Zuni, I’ve learned, are quiet during childbirth. Even the youngest teen moms do not make a sound. And in contrast to the Navajo, the Zuni prefer to pass on in their homes. When they are dying relatives and clansmen (which, I’m told, its pretty much everyone) will gather around them and wail. After death they will be taken to their Aunties house (if they did not die there) and overnight there “is a lot that happens” involving the whole family and ceremonies. The person is buried at dawn.
Pressers. At first I thought they meant pressors (for hypotension) but these in fact are people, kind of like healers. They come and press part of the body. If a woman is breech they press her belly to turn the baby. If someone has a broken arm they come press that. They press for headaches and abdominal pain. They are apparently often in the hospital and when they are doing their thing I’m not allowed in the room. These are not Medicine Men or religious figures – however, those people also come and I am also not allowed in the room for that either. However if the patient requests it apparently I can stay for these things but that is unusual.
Also, went check out a coffee shop in Gallup (called, “The Coffee Shop” – go figure). They had live folk music and lots of hippie folks noshing on sprout sandwiches and gourmet lattes. Much more the New Mexico I’m familiar with but strage in comparison to where I've been the last several days. I ate a “Turkey Albuquerque” sandwich and a cream soda and reviewed my articles on fat embolism after knee surgery (my paper for last month). I plan to go back – maybe finally get this blog up and running. Maybe even upload some pictures of where I am.
Labels: Zuni
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