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See you in the Temazcal, Jordan

The "Temāzcalli," known commonly today as, "temazcal," refers to the Aztec steam bath,
similar to the sweat lodges, kivas, and inipis of other North American natives.
Source: University of California-Berkeley. 1903.

It has been four years since I last crawled over the earth, through the doorway of the temazcal. In four years I have not planted my forehead on the earthen floor of the lodge entrance to speak the words "con todas mis relaciones" ("with all my relationships").

"Temazcal, also known as temazcalli, is a traditional native Mexican American purification ceremony. It's similar to the sweat lodge, or inipi, of the Lakotas, or kiva of the pueblo dwellers in the western United States." (Bacon 1996-2016) 

Victoria de Durango, Durango, Mexico, where I first participated
in a temazcal. Source: Wikihistoria. 2013.
Four years seems appropriate as I prepare this post. Four years seems appropriate as I reconnect with my brothers and sisters from the lands where I first heard the word, "temazcal." Four years seems appropriate as I recall an important man; I last saw him four years ago. Four years seems appropriate as I enter the fourth stage, the winter, of my life.

Today I spent much of this morning ... the morning of the first quarter moon ... looking for those who sweated and scorched on the lodge floor alongside me. I decided to look for them because the important man asked me for a favor. To help him, I decided to seek my fellow "temazcaleros," meaning "those who participate in the temazcal."

Today I found some of them, and they welcomed me. Others, like Rebecca, tell me they no longer walk the red road, but they welcomed me anyway. Some I could not find at all.

A few of those I found today had walked with me, at some time or another, on different roads. Today we walked again together. A few of the temazcaleros that I talked to had never walked any road with me before today, but today we walked together.

Now, though, is not about then ... this morning. Nor is it about four years ago. It's about now. Now I have a promise to keep. I've made a promise to a man who's very important in my life. He's a man with whom I share little time, and he's a man who never stops checking in on me, regardless of how busy I am.

Hung, the important man, and I "dormed" together decades ago ... sometime in the 1980s, in Douglas Hall, at Northern Illinois University (NIU), in DeKalb, Illinois. Back then, "dorming" meant 'living together in a dormitory."*

Not long ago he sent me a letter ... one of those paper things that people used to send back and forth in envelopes with stamps on them ... and a rectangular slip of paper that fit inside the folded letter. The letter, bubbling with the usual Hung bubbles, told about his son's endeavor to participate in a mission heading to Brazil and asked me, the reader of the letter, to support him either through funding or prayer during that journey.

I barely know Jordan and his sister, but I know their parents. They're my brothers and sisters, and so are their children, and they're important to me. Here's to you, Jordan. Today, through the full moon I'll be remembering you in the temazcal, brother.

Aho!**

________________

*nothing at all to do with today's use of "dorming," which refers to, according to the Urban Dictionary, "leav[ing] your facebook [sic] open in your dorm [sic] and everyone posts status updates [sic] and messes up your reputation." (1999-2016)

** from the Kiowa language, and used by native Americas throughout much of North America, south through parts of Mesoamerica; "aho" means, “thank you.”

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