‘Shiinéí’: Piñon elder dances to Super Bowl halftime show, cheers on Rams

TSÉBIGHÁHOODZÁNÍ

When Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg took the field during the Super Bowl halftime show at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, Ruby Hoskie stood up in front of the TV at her daughter’s home in Be’ak’id Baa Ahoodzání and danced.

Her grandson, Alan Begay, recorded his grandmother dancing alongside Snoop’s signature C-walk to Dr. Dre’s “Still D.R.E.” as she waved her cane overhead.

“We were watching the halftime show and I turned it up, and grandma just got into it and started dancing,” Begay said. “So, I took out my phone and started recording.”

After Begay posted the video on his Facebook page, it started getting hundreds of views, likes, shares, and comments. As of Wednesday morning, the video of Hoskie dancing received more than 109,000 views, more than 6,200 likes, 6,156 shares, and 555 comments.

One commenter wrote: “I had friends from Washington and Oklahoma sharing your post.”

Another wrote: “Másáni, the O.G.”

Hoskie, 87, is Tábąąhá and born for Tódích’íi’nii. Her maternal grandfather is Kiyaa’áanii, and her paternal grandfather is Naakaii Dine’é. She’s originally from the Piñon area.

Hoskie said she is a big football fan and cheered on the Los Angeles Rams with her family on Sunday evening.

“My family and I gather for the Super Bowl every year,” Hoskie said in an interview with the Navajo Times t’áá Dinék’ehjígo. She speaks only in Navajo.

“We cook food, make coffee, and have a Super Bowl party to get closer to the game,” Hoskie said. “It’s our tradition.”

When the rap titans, who delivered a LVI halftime spectacular heavy on nostalgia and homages to LA, the women in Hoskie’s family started dancing.

“I was sitting when they started dancing,” Hoskie said. “That’s when I got up and started dancing too.

“I was so excited and energetic,” she said. “I wanted the white jerseys, the Rams, to win! I danced so the Rams could win – to add a little luck to the team’s chances. I danced and the Rams won!”

Hoskie said she considers herself as an NFL fanatic and usually visits with her relatives to watch regular-season games with them.

“She doesn’t really go for any specific team,” Begay said. “She’ll pick a team when we’re watching and when her team gets an interception or they score a touchdown, she’ll get happy and start screaming and cheering.”

To prepare for gameday, Hoskie and her family made haníígaii, neeshjiizhii, dah díníilghaazh, among others. Hoskie said there was so much food on the family dinner table that she didn’t get to eat everything.

Hoskie said she doesn’t have any major health issues and is trying to stay healthy, though she had a fall-related injury a couple years ago and survived COVID-19 six months ago.

“I still move around and do things such as grinding corn even though my left is affected from the fall,” Hoskie said. “I want to be active and energetic despite my pain.

“Shiinéí!” Hoskie exclaimed. “If I didn’t fall and ended up with a leg limitation, I’d be running around.”

Hoskie also spent one month in the COVID-19 intensive care unit at Chinle Comprehensive Health Care. She said her medical team treated her with courage and compassion as she fought COVID-19.

“I survived COVID and I’m going to be happy and energetic,” Hoskie added. “Shiinéí.”

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