Past and Present of The Indians of The Southwest

By Julio Punch

Preparations

After an absence of two years from Indian Country, I felt the urge to return. The Southwest seemed interesting, although the Plains Indians were originally my forte. “In that area the Indians live just like their ancestors did hundreds of years ago” I had always read in books and that was something I wanted to see with my own eyes. Moreover, experiencing the unique natural beauty of the region was also an attraction.

As with most important undertakings, this undertaking required quite a bit of preparation. You will need a well thought out plan for a journey like this. There is so much to see and do in the region that relates to Indians, that unless you have time and money in abundance, you will have to make certain choices. On the other hand people in the location will recommend certain things, so a bit of open space in your travel plans is no luxury.

Something I had to take into account as well is that the distances over there are not what they are in The Netherlands and you cannot rely on the public transport system that heavily. You can forget jumping on a train and reaching your destination an hour later.

Several things that come in handy are easy to come by. There’s a shop in the Utrechtsestraat in Amsterdam that is specialized in maps. There’s one there for each American state. They have loads of travel guides in the same shop. The series Moon Travel Handbooks has one for each state in the US. They’re full of information about things like accommodation, recreation grounds, National Parks and restaurants. They contain lots of handy tips about things you should do and things you shouldn’t. A couple of travel guides specifically geared to Indian Country have been written, “Discovering Indian Reservations USA” is one of those.

Of course it's wise to read a bit beforehand about the Indians of the Southwest and I must remark that “Dancing in the Tracks of Our Ancestors” by the famous author Thomas Mails is an excellent study that could almost be a handbook.

The Internet was by far the most helpful tool. I searched for, found and booked my accommodations through the Internet, I booked my flights online and found quite a bit of info about the museums, reservations, etc. that I was going to visit. There’s also a considerable amount of factual information about the Indians of the Southwest on the Internet. The University of Arizona Library, for example, has a large number of documents pertaining to the subject that can be viewed for free.

After all that reading and planning I was finally aboard an airplane on September 8 2002. It was good thing that I took the necessary reading-matter, as the films in the airplane were really awful. The plane did succeed in delivering me at my destination. After a five-hour wait and another four hours in a plane I arrived in Albuquerque totally exhausted. After a night of well-deserved rest my journey could begin at a strategically chosen starting point.

The Pueblo Indian Cultural Center

Having left the highway and after having ridden through a district that probably wasn’t the most beautiful district of Albuquerque, the signpost to a broad and well-filled car parking space told us we were at our destination.

The “Pueblo Indian Smoke Shop” is also a part of the Pueblo Indian Cultural Center. It’s a separate building in which tobacco and smoking articles are sold for low prices. As a non-smoker I just walked on to the main building. A friendly, young Indian woman awaited me behind the counter. The admission to the center is free. The center calls itself “The Gateway to the 19 Pueblos” and is also operated by them.

The building, that doesn’t look all that impressive from the outside, is a fine piece of architecture based on Pueblo Bonito, a complex in the ruins of Chaco Canyon. You often see that the Indians of today give a contemporary swing to concepts from their own past. The ground plan of the building resembles a half full moon with an open courtyard of the same shape. The entrance is right in the middle of the straight line. There’s the Pueblo Harvest Café on the right side and two conference rooms on the left. The two rooms are called the Turquoise Room and the Silver Room. This is a reference to the division of many pueblo tribes into moieties (halves). One of them is associated with the summer and the other with the winter. They are sometimes called the Turquoise and Silver moieties.

There’s a traditional oven (horno) in the courtyard. Benches are placed in shaded areas so that spectators don’t have to stand in the blaring sun. Often demonstrations are given with the horno. When used, a fire is made in the oven with cedar wood. When the temperature is right, the fire is extinguished and the dough placed in the oven. Several beautiful and large murals surround the courtyard. Seven different artists from seven different pueblos painted them. Pablita Velarde, a very famous pueblo artist, made one of them.

The gift shop occupies the greater part of the ground floor. You will find pottery, sandpaintings, books, music and jewelry there. The second floor is the location of the Institute for Pueblo Studies. Visitors are not allowed into this documentation center. It contains many unique historical documents, books and photographs. This huge collection of information will be on the Internet soon. Although the center receives donations, it can survive by the profits made from entry fees of the museum and profits from the gift shop.

The center also hosts activities for children. A group of kids can come to the center with their teacher and get to know the culture of the Pueblo Indians through performing certain assignments.

After a short exploration I began with the museum. You can buy the tickets for the museum in the gift shop. Adults pay 4 dollar, seniors 3, children 1 dollar and children under 4 can go in for free. The tickets are good for 10 percent discount in the gift shop on jewelry and 5 percent discount on books and CD’s.

One must descend into the basement to enter the museum. The choice for an underground location was a deliberate choice. The pueblo tribes have an origin myth that states that man came into this world from a previous world through climbing through a hole in the earth. The origin myth is revealed on a colorful painting in the hall of the museum. The white attendant in the museum was very friendly and told us a bit about the collection. The museum uses a chronological order to tell the history of the pueblo tribes. From the nomadic hunters and gatherers that slowly switched to farming to the 19 pueblos that exist in New Mexico today. Every one of the 19 pueblos has a show-window with information, photographs and objects that are connected to the pueblo.

There’s a beautiful bronze statue made by a blind sculptor in the museum. Two short films are shown in the museum continually. One is about Maria Martinez and the other about Pablita Verlarde. I do not have to elaborate when I want to tell you who Maria Martinez was. She was the Muhammad Ali of Pueblo Indian pottery! She put this art form on the map in a time that it was not considered to be art by most of the whites. The film shows that Maria Martinez (1887-1980) was a traditional lady if there ever was one. She had difficulty expressing herself in English. She learned the art of pottery from her aunt. She reinvented a style from Santa Ana Pueblo (she was from Santa Domingo herself), the so-called black on black pottery. The style would later be unmistakably identified with her, although she also practiced other pottery styles during her long life. Black on black pottery can be recognized by dark, gray motives on black pots. In the film the different stages in making pottery are discussed. From collecting the clay in the surrounding area to the burning of the pots. During this process a certain percentage of the pots is destroyed and it also determines the final color of the pot.

The film about Pablita Velarde is also interesting. She claims to have fulfilled the role for which God put her on this earth: to be a link between two cultures, that of the whites and that of the Indians. She gives lessons at schools and illustrates children’s books with her drawings.

After the museum it was time for a bit of rest in the Pueblo Harvest Café. Many Native American families go to the restaurant to have a bite to eat. Aside from the usual American foods like French fries and hamburgers you can enjoy a number of traditional Native American meals here that can be recognized by a lizard on the menu. A few examples are Blue Corn Pancakes, a Tiwa Taco (Frybread covered with beans, cheese, lettuce and tomatoes, smothered with red or green chili then topped with another frybread) or a Jemez Enchiladas (a flour tortilla dipped in red chili paste and baked with onions and cheese). The restaurant is open seven days a week and is available for banquets and catering.

Every weekend traditional Indian dances are performed twice a day by groups of dancers from one of the pueblos. The day I was there, the dancers were from Acoma Pueblo. Two men played the drums and sang and four young women danced to the music. The first dance they did was a rainbow dance. A rainbow appears when there's both sunshine and rain and is a symbol of relatedness. These dances are very unlike the "flashy" dancing that you see at powwows. They are enjoyable to watch though, because of the serenity that speaks from the dances and the beautiful costumes that are characteristic for the pueblo.

The second dance was a butterfly dance. The butterfly is a much-used design in Southwestern Indian art. In the spirituality the butterfly is a symbol of regeneration and rebirth because of all the different phases a butterfly has to go through before it reaches it's final form.

The leader of the group gave a speech in between the two dances that was undoubtedly interesting, but because of a problem with the sound system I could only make out that he warned for the effects of alcohol and that he was from Acoma Pueblo.

I spoke to the leader after the dances. I told him I regretted that I couldn't understand most of his speech. He told me that English is a second language for him and that he speaks his tribal language fluently. I told him about the Kiva (the support group that I work for) and told him that we might be able to support him in some way. He told me to wait in the gift shop and that he would give me his address. I waited but never saw the good man again and I had to leave soon as well.

Visit the website of the Pueblo Indian Cultural Center.

Santa Fe and the Indian Market

The Indian Market of Santa Fe is a must-see for students of the American Indian. In front of the building that used to be the Palace of the Governor, Indians of different tribes sell handmade arts and crafts which are mostly laid out on blankets on the ground. The people that sell things are screened. It is not the case that just anyone can go and stand there and sell objects. Among the things sold are pottery, Kachina dolls and more contemporary objects like beaded belts.

The only belt I still had was just about falling apart, so I picked up a beaded belt and examined it. A not so young Indian lady said to me "it's 32". I had read somewhere that haggling could lower the price considerably. So I replied: "30 dollar?". Then the lady said: "no, no, no. 32 is the size, that's a 120 dollars!". I then laid the belt back on the blanket.

In downtown Santa Fe you are almost engulfed with shops selling Native American arts and crafts. There are about 30 of them around the main plaza and many more in the surrounding streets. Of course, not everything that is sold is authentic. There are two things you can do to make sure you buy authentic Native American crafts. In the first place: buy it directly from the person who made it. That way there's also a good chance that you can save money. In the second place, the gift shops in museums about the Indians are very reliable and they often buy the objects directly from the Indians themselves.

One of the nicest of the many art galleries in Santa Fe was the Frank Howell Gallery. It is situated just around the corner from the Indian Market. It was founded in 1986 and has five rooms. Frank Howell, who died a few years ago, painted Indian women with their entire face visible against somewhat unrealistic backgrounds. Many of the paintings in the gallery are for sale. They also sell prints for the price of 40 dollars a piece, which is quite pricey. Frank Howell (1927-1997) grew up in Texas and Iowa where he came into contact with the Lakota Indians. He practiced several art forms, but is best known for his paintings. He never received any formal training in painting.

You can also admire art from some other artists in this gallery from people like Ben Worell and Gene and Rebecca Tobey. They make carvings that are inlaid with precious stones. Although this is contemporary art, the Indian cultures of the past are the primary source of inspiration.

Visit the website of the Frank Howell Gallery.

The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture

Having ridden quite a while through the suburbs of Santa Fe a sign suddenly appeared with two words on it: Museum Hill. That was our destination. Museum Hill is a hill with three museums on it. The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, The Museum of International Folk Art and The Museum of Spanish Colonial Art. Together with The Palace of the Governors and The Museum of Fine Arts all five museums together form The Museum of New Mexico. You can buy a pass that gives you access to all five museums for four days. I was mainly interested in the museum about Indians. The museum is open from Tuesdays to Sundays. The entrance fee is seven dollar.

There’s an enormous statue on the plaza on Museum Hill of a Gan dancer. Gan dancers performed during religious rites of the Apache tribe. Four men performing as Gan dancers would each represent one of the four winds.

 There’s a sculpture of Maria Martinez in the hall. She is apparently a national icon in this part of the country. You can reach the exposition by (again) descending down a hallway that is pitch dark and where you hear the sound of running water. The museum made me think of the Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam. Some elements are “interactive”. For instance, there’s a replica of a hogan (traditional dwelling of the Navaho) that you can enter and you can listen to Indian languages on headphones.

Eight aspects of the Indians of the Southwest are covered. Flora and fauna, language and songs and architecture are a couple of these aspects. The present is also included in the information. Two films are shown in the exhibition. The exhibition was set up after extended talks with tribal elders.

On the floor above there’s a gift shop and a unique collection of paintings made by Native Americans from the local Art Academy. Although they want to be seen as artists who just happen to be Indians, themes related to Indians appear in most of the paintings.

The collection of paintings is dwarfed by the astounding collection of pottery on the same floor. The oldest pieces are almost 600 years old. Some pots are from the Mimbres and were buried with people. We know this because there were holes made in them. Because these are objects with religious significance for the Indians of today, they may be removed from the exposition in the near future.

The exhibition about pottery also includes the present. The museum has pots from just about every pueblo in the Southwest. And, of course, it contains several pieces by Maria Martinez. I could listen in on a part of the tour that is given twice each day. Pottery is a cultural element, that like so many others, came from Central America where it was know many centuries earlier. In ancient times these pots were used to transport or store things like water and maize. Women often carried the pots on their heads. The making of pottery was exclusively done by women.

Every pueblo has it's own style of pottery. The real buff will immediately be able to see from which pueblo a pot is. Cochiti Pueblo is the only pueblo in which the potters portray human figures on their pots and the pots from Acoma Pueblo can be recognized by their thinness, which has to do with the consistency of the clay in the region.

The husband of the legendary Maria Martinez, Julian Martinez, worked as an assistant on archeological expeditions. One day at work he saw a picture of a Horned Serpent, a much-used motive by the Indians of the Southwest in the past that was originally from Central America. The same evening he told this to his wife who integrated it in her work. It's evident that the pottery of the past is a source of inspiration for the potters of the present without tying them down in any way.

The museum's collection is the result of nearly a century of collecting. The entire collection has almost ten thousand objects from numerous sites in the State of New Mexico. There's a discussion between scientists that is open to the public every first Friday of the month, besides lectures and book signings.

Visit the website of the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture.

Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian

A few minutes ride in the car from Museum Hill is another hill with The Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian on it. It is a private institute and was the first museum in New Mexico without an entrance fee. It is not related to the museums of Museum Hill.

The museum came about through the cooperation between a rich, white lady from Boston called Madeline Wheelwright and a medicine man from the Navaho tribe called Hustin Klah. Madame Wheelwright traveled around the globe to study the different religions of mankind. She ended up in the Southwest in 1921 (???) where she got to know Klah in an attempt to save the traditions of the Navaho for posterity. Klah was a grandchild of the famous Navaho chief Narbonnah. Wheelwright recorded the traditional healing songs that Klah sang for her with wax cylinders. In 1976 the Navaho asked certain objects from the collection back and the museum complied with the request. It was the first museum in the US to do so.

The museum is built in the shape of a hogan. A heavy wooden door, that could have been a church door, gives entry to the museum. The museum can survive through donations from supporters, but even more so through gifts from organizations like The National Endowment for The Arts.

From May 19 to 27 October 2002 an exposition called Navajo Women’s Garments was held in the museum. The room that was used was not too big, but could show quite a lot through the arrangement of the showcases. Many of the blankets of the exposition were beautiful and unique. Of course there’s information with the blankets that explain their function and the way they were made. According to their myths the Navaho learnt the art of weaving in a world below this one from two mythical creatures called Spiderman and Spiderwoman. The Navaho also believe in an origin from an underworld. The wool they use comes from the sheep that were introduced into the Southwest by the Spaniards. The traditional loom that is stretched between two trees is an invention the Navaho made themselves. The wool was colored with several natural pigments and later also with others that the Navaho obtained by trade. Nowadays, nearly all the blankets the Navaho weave are made for the trade with outsiders and not for personal use.

Of course this museum also has a gift shop. They had quite a few Navaho blankets there that seem very attractive until you discover the price tag.A film is show in the museum about the history of the museum. The famous Indian writer and painter Scott Momaday (Kiowa) does the narration. The museum has a special morning for children once a month, an activity at sunset (for which you have to bring your own chair) once each week and a powwow for children once each year.

Visit the website of the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian.

Taos Pueblo

Taos Pueblo can be reached from Santa Fe by a route that is called The Enchanted Circle. This is a great opportunity as the landscape is truly enchanting. Taos Pueblo is a 15-minute drive from the city that bears the same name and is a haven for winter sports though not during this time of the year. The pueblo functions as a tribe.

After we had parked on the parking lot I saw a sign across the road that read: only parking for governor and war chief. The governing system that was installed by the Spaniards and is now viewed as more or less traditional, is still in existence. After a short walk down a sandy path you reach the “entrance” of the pueblo. Taos used to be the only pueblo with a wall around it; parts of the wall still stand. At a ticket-window you must pay the entrance fee of 10 dollar and, if you want one, a photography permit that is also 10 dollar (you have to hang the label on your camera). Tours are given several times each day. The pueblo is open to visitors from 8 in the morning till 4:30 in the afternoon. Taos Pueblo closes each year from February till April because of ritual activities in the pueblo and the pueblo is sometimes closed when funerals are held. Calling in advance before a visit is a wise move.

Taos Pueblo has a pleasant atmosphere that is brought about by the wood-covered mountains that can be seen from the pueblo and also by the friendly residents. Visitors are allowed to walk about freely in the pueblo. However, red roadblocks with the message “no entry” on them in English, Japanese and German tell you which areas are prohibited to visitors. The Kivas are in the prohibited areas. A Kiva is a ceremonial chamber that is either underground or gives the impression that it is underground. They are thus linked to the origin myth that states that the Pueblo Indians came from a world that was situated below this one. In Taos the Kivas are circular and underground.

Taos has seven pueblos of which six are still used. Three are situated in the northern part and three in the southern part. It is said that the Kiva that isn’t used anymore had to do with war. The residents have never disclosed much about what happens in the Kivas, so our knowledge about it is very limited.

A young Indian woman in her mid-twenties conducted the tour. The tour could have been a bit longer, but was interesting and informative.

Taos Pueblo is divided into two by a murmuring stream, the Red Willow Creek. The water of this creek is still used as cooking and drinking water by the residents of the pueblo. The creek takes its rise from the Blue Lake in the Sangre de Christo Mountains, which contain the highest peaks in New Mexico. The Blue Lake is a kind of natural altar for the Taos Indians. There’s a building on both sides of the stream. They are called the North House and the South House. The North House is five stories high. There’s a plaza in between that is used for ceremonies. There are quite a few shops around the plaza where self-made arts and crafts are sold. Drying racks, which were used in the past to dry food on them so that it could be stored, are still plentiful in the pueblo.

The residents don’t want electricity or plumbing in the pueblo. They also do not permit scientists to use methods like carbon dating in the pueblo, so it is not know exactly how old the pueblo is. The oral history of the tribe goes back 2000 years and the history of the pueblo 1000 years, at least that’s what the people say themselves. If that is correct then Taos might be the oldest, or one of the oldest, continually inhabited communities in North America. Many scientists claim that when white men saw the pueblo for the first time in 1540 it was not on the present location and suspect that Taos was founded around 1400.

The tribe owns a piece of land of 100.000 acre. Only five families, just about 60 people, still live in the pueblo. The other members of the tribe, as is the case with nearly all contemporary pueblo’s, live either outside the reservation or have sought refuge in more modern living accommodations elsewhere on the reservation. In some cases whole communities emerge around the original pueblos.

There was enough water here for bountiful harvests and the surrounding area teemed with game and still does. The Taos Indians didn’t have to struggle to survive like some other pueblos. Taos is the northernmost of all the pueblos and has always had much influence from the Plains tribes. That influenced, among other things, their traditional clothing. They also intermarried quite frequently with Indians of Plains tribes.

The Taos Indians speak the Tiwa language. The same language is spoken in Picuris, Sandia and Isleta Pueblos. Apparently Native speakers from these communities have trouble understanding each other. It is prohibited in this tribe to pass on the tribal language to outsiders. The language is not taught at the Taos Pueblo Day School that is situated close to the pueblo and has never been studied by scientists. There’s a certain risk, then, that the language will disappear.

The reason for this is that the Taos Indians see the language as a part of their religion and do not want to see their religion exploited in any way. The religious power of the spoken word is an important theme in Native American spirituality. It’s not enough to have an origin myth stored in your memory. No, it has to be recited again and again in the Kiva. A similar practice is found in Zen Buddhism when after a meditation session the names of all the enlightened masters are recited beginning with the historic Buddha and ending with the most recent enlightened master in the lineage. The average Dutch person would probably express this as “you can only know where you’re going to, if you know where you’re coming from”.

The Sangre de Christo Mountains lay north from the pueblo. In the beginning of the 20th century this area was confiscated by the whites. This lead to white people using the sacred Blue Lake for fishing and recreation, something the Taos Indians were not very pleased with. The Indians eventually won a legal crusade that lasted 64 years. In 1970 President Nixon returned the Sangre de Christo Mountains to the tribe. The decision was based on the newly installed law for the religious freedom of Native Americans. It was the first time in history that an Indian tribe was given back land on the basis of this law.

The majority of people that still live in the pueblo own shops in which self-made arts and crafts are sold. The Taos Indians are especially known for their drums and silverwork. In one of these shops the owner had the stuffed head of a deer hanging on the wall. He said that he had shot the deer himself, which means that some people in this community still hunt.

An old lady in another shop, who was at least 70, told me that her daughter was born on Valentine's Day and that she named her Valentina accordingly. It was a practice among Indians in the past to name a child after some event that took place on the day of birth. Another artist turned out to be a nephew of the famous Native American flute player Robert Mirabal.

The ruins of the St. Jerome Chapel also belong to the pueblo. The church was built under directions of the Spanish missionaries in 1618. In 1680 the church was partly destroyed in the revolt of the pueblo tribes against the Spanish that could be considered to be the first American Revolution. The revolt was planned from Taos Pueblo by a medicine man called Popé who was originally from San Juan Pueblo. Popé is not as well known as men like Crazy Horse and Tecumseh, but he does belong in that list as he too managed to unite different Indian tribes in the struggle against the whites. And he did so successfully, as it would last some 12 years before the Spanish regained their hold in the Southwest. The church was then rebuilt.

In 1847 a tragedy took place at Taos Pueblo. In that year revolutionaries murdered Charles Bent, the governor of New Mexico. It was said that Indians from Taos Pueblo were involved in the killing, so the army marched towards the pueblo. A group of 150 residents, mostly women and children, entrenched themselves in the church, where they thought they would be safe. The army, however, fired their canons at the church and killed all those that were in it. Only the crumbled tower with it's copper bell remains of what once was the church.

Where once the vestibule of the church stood, there is now a graveyard. A low wall of adobe surrounds it. All tribal members are buried here, whatever their religion. Corpses are never cremated, coffins are not used and crosses are made of wood. In a sense a somewhat morbid interpretation of the concept of recycling is practiced here. The guide told us that when the cross is decayed and the corpse is decomposed the same space is often used to bury someone else.

Since 1850 the pueblo has a new church that bears the same name as its predecessor. It is still used religiously each Sunday. The church too is a National Historic Landmark. I was not allowed inside the church because of repairs being done.

The Indians of this tribe practice three different religions. In the first place, of course, there is the traditional tribal religion. In the second place you have Roman Catholicism, about three-fourths of the tribe are practicing Roman Catholics. And in the third place, the Peyote Religion (Native American Church) has followers among the tribe.

Sometimes things on the reservations are not what you expect them to be, something I had already experienced during my first journey. Not for a moment did the pueblo appear to be a functional community. It felt more like a tourist attraction and I would not be surprised if during the time that I am still alive this pueblo might be abandoned all together.

Visit the website of Taos Pueblo.

Click on the leaves to read the other parts op my travel log.

Part one: The Pueblo Indian Cultural Center, the Indian Market of Santa Fe, the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture and Taos Pueblo.

Part two: Bandelier National Monument, Indian Arts Research Center, Aztec Ruins National Monument and Acoma Pueblo.

Part three: Mesa Verde National Park, Navajo Code Talkers Exhibit and Monument Valley Tribal Park.

Part four: Grand Canyon National Park, Wupatki National Monument, the reservation of the Hopi Indians and the Museum of Northern Arizona.

Text and photographs, copyright, Julio Punch, 2002