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'We have to work together': To'hajiilee community hosts annual turkey-in-the-hole
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TO’HAJIILEE — To’hajiilee Community School language arts teacher Sharon Arviso looked down at piles of burning cedar wood behind the school grounds. Beneath the flames, turkeys slow-roasted in earthen pits.
“It takes me back to how our ancestors did it,” she said.
Tuesday was the school’s annual turkey-in-the-hole, an over 30-year-old event marking the end of Native American Week.
“It’s kind of like Thanksgiving for everybody,” said junior, and Miss To’hajiilee, Victoria Apachito. “It allows us to come together as one big happy family at the school.”
Some people, like culinary arts training instructor Josh Nez, arrived before 5 a.m. in below-freezing temperatures to fill the holes that were dug earlier in the week with coal and turkeys.
Others, like senior Khyran Guerro, helped out by chopping wood.
“We have to work together to make the fire,” he said. “We have to work together to cook the turkey.”
As the sun and temperature rose, children ran around or played stickball using a piece of cedar wood.
“(The event) is about the family, the people and the time together — something you can’t ever buy,” resident Franci Abeita said. “That’s what makes it that much more special.”
Senior Cadence Yazzie said the annual tradition “reminds us of the importance of keeping our language and culture strong.”
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The significance of the turkey dates back hundreds, if not thousands, of years.
The Diné tell a story of how Turkey saved the People at the ending of one world and beginning of the next, according to a Yale University Forum on Religion and Ecology article.
The turkey is one of the most important spiritual birds in the Diné culture, dual language teacher Marty Monte said.
Fast forward to the 1980s or 1990s, when early childhood teacher Elayne Costello said the turkey-in-the-hole tradition got started. At the time, the firepits were located where trees have since been planted around the school, she said.
“Years ago, people would come with their wagons, and whatnot, and just park here and really bring families together,” Costello said.
Today, people continue to come and pay homage to the turkey with loved ones.
“I don’t know how to explain it, but (turkey-in-the-hole) holds a piece of my heart,” resident Diane Sandoval said. “I do this for my grandkids who go to school here.”
‘Tastes like chicken’
As Sandoval looked at the fire, Nez took the temperature of one of the turkeys.
“If it is above 165 degrees, it is time to take it out,” he said.
As more turkeys reached that ideal temperature, school employees picked them up with wires and put them into pans. Fifth grade teacher Desideria Costello and a couple of her students then took a turkey — along with mashed potatoes and dressing they picked up in the cafeteria — and brought it into their classroom.
Costello’s co-teacher Raffy Puod carved the bird before telling students to “Please come get your turkey. We’ve worked hard for this.”
As the kiddos gobbled down a few juicy slices, they held their thumbs up and said it was good.
“It tastes like chicken,” 10-year-old Heidi Gorman said.
As Costello watched the students eat, she said it brought back memories of when she was a girl who helped out at the event.
Costello said she would like to see her students “eventually take over.”
“I hope,” she said.
Gregory R.C. Hasman is a general assignment reporter and the road warrior. You can contact him at ghasman@abqjournal.com.
