76 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BuU. 188 



holm and Leighton, 1946, pp. 51-54). Games and other organized 

 recreational activities of Anglo-American origin have not taken hold 

 in the community. Most Navaho men know how to play a peculiar 

 variety of Mexican rummy, but occasions for play are few, and Shonto 

 Trading Post did not sell a deck of cards in 1955. Contests are 

 limited to impromptu horse races and roping sessions, and occasional 

 shotputting with a heavy stone by young men who have been to 

 off-reservation school. 



Drinking is undoubtedly the principal diversion which Shonto 

 Navahos have borrowed from their White neighbors. Use of alcoholic 

 beverages, both imported and domestic, is widespread in the com- 

 munity, and drinking appears at the present time to be gaining ac- 

 ceptance as a social institution. 



Excessive drinking is largely confined to the younger men, and 

 it is on most occasions considered as antisocial behavior. Probably 

 no individual fault is more frequently cited than drunkenness. For 

 this reason men seldom indulge heavily at home; as a general rule, 

 a group of young men will meet at Shonto store and go off up the 

 canyon to engage in a drinking bout. Sings, meetings, and other 

 public gatherings are also common occasions for excessive drinking, 

 although it is regularly disparaged by the "nat'ani." 



Wliile drmiken behavior is strongly disapproved, "orderly" drink- 

 ing seems to find wide acceptance. About three- fourths of Shonto 

 men are believed to use alcoholic beverages from time to time, along 

 with a lesser but considerable number of women. It is said that mod- 

 erate or at least self-controlled drinking is a fairly common family di- 

 version, although groups seldom get together for the express purpose 

 of drinking. No disapproval is expressed with regard to drinking by 

 either sex so long as it does not result in disorderly behavior or 

 interfere with performance of necessary duties. 



Illicit sex is another popular Shonto diversion. Actual frequency 

 of occurrence is, needless to say, impossible to determine. Some older 

 men have had intercourse with nearly every woman in the community, 

 to hear them tell it. Boasting of extramarital adventures, especially 

 to the trader, with whom a kind of patterned teasing relationship 

 exists, is universal among men. 



Shonto has one acknowledged professional prostitute, but it is 

 assumed by most men that every woman has her price. Illicit sex 

 is a diversion that can be had by anyone for the money ; the necessity 

 of paying in all cases is a condition which Shonto's men take entirely 

 for granted (cf. Hill, 1943, p. 26; Eoberts, 1951, pp. 68-70). 



It is not uncommon for Shonto men to tease their wives by hinting 

 at their sex relations with other women. Especially frequent is the 

 practice of making invidious comparisons between Navaho women 



