Information AboutPueblo People |
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The Pueblo People are a diverse group of Native American inhabitants of New Mexico and in Arizona who traditionally subsisted on agriculture. When First Encountered By The Spanish in the 1500s , they were living in villages that the Spanish called ''Pueblos'' meaning "town". Of the approximately 25 pueblos that exist today, Taos , Acoma , Zuni , and Hopi the most well known. LANGUAGE GROUPS While there are numerous subdivisions of Pueblo People that have been published in the literature, Kirchhoff (1954) published a subdivision of the Pueblo Indians into two subareas: the Hopi, Zuni, Keres , Jemez group which share exogamous matrilineal clans, have multiple kivas, believe in emergence from the underground, have four or six directions beginning in the north, four and seven as ritual numbers. This group stands in contrast to the Tanoan-speaking Pueblos (except Jemez) who have nonexogamous patrilineal clans, two kivas or two groups of kivas and a general belief in dualism, emergence from underwater, five directions beginning in the east, and ritual numbers based on multiples of three. Eggan (1950) in contrast, posed a dichotomy between Eastern and Western Pueblos, based largely on subsistence differences with the Western or Desert Pueblos of Zuni and Hopi dry-farmers, and the Eastern or River Pueblos irrigation farmers. Linguistic differences between the Pueblos point to their diverse origins. The (Towa), Tewa (San Juan, San Ildefonso, Santa Clara, Tesuque, Nambe, Pojoaque, and Hano); and the 3 Tiwa languages Taos , Picuris , and Southern Tiwa ( Sandia , Isleta ). DESCENT AND HISTORY They are believed to be descended from the three major cultures that dominated the region before European contact: # Mogollon , an area near the Gila Wilderness # Hohokam , archaelogical term for a settlement in the Southwest # Ancient Pueblo Peoples or the Anasazi, as termed by professional archaeologists. Historically, they supported themselves mostly by maize agriculture, although they live in one of the more arid regions in North America. European settlement began in the late sixteenth century, but the desert surrounding the Rio Grande Valley precluded massive intrusions into Indian land until the mid-nineteenth century. As a result and despite forced conversions to Catholicism by the Spanish, the Pueblo tribes have been able to maintain much of their traditional lifestyle. There are now some 35,000 Pueblo Indians, living mostly in New Mexico and Arizona along the Rio Grande and Colorado River . They were the first to successfully revolt against the Spanish in the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, which expelled the Spanish for 12 years. It began August 10 th; by August 21 st, Santa Fe fell. On September 22, 2005, the statue of Po'pay, ( Popé ) the leader of the Pueblo Revolt, was unveiled in the Capitol Rotunda in Washington D.C. The statue was the second one from the state of New Mexico and the 100th and last to be added to the Statuary Hall collection. It is the only statue in the collection created by a Native American, in this case, Cliff Fragua , a Puebloan from Jemez Pueblo . Most of the Pueblos have annual ceremonies that are open to the public. In many cases, one such ceremony is the Pueblo's feast day, held on the day sacred to its Roman Catholic Patron Saint . (These saints were assigned by the Spanish missionaries so that each Pueblo's feast day would coincide with a traditional ceremony.) Some Pueblos also have ceremonies around the Christmas holidays and at other times of the year. The ceremonies usually feature traditional dances outdoors accompanied by singing and drumming, interspersed with non-public ceremonies in the Kivas . They may also include a Roman Catholic Mass and processions. Formerly, all outside visitors to a public dance would be offered a meal in a Pueblo home, but because of the large number of visitors, such meals are now by personal invitation only. Some feast days appear in the list below. CULTURE Historically, the Pueblos were large communal buildings; each family lived in a single room of the building, but if a family grew large enough, side-rooms were added. Among the Jemez and the non-Tanoan-speakers, ownership of the room was largely matrilineal, from mother to daughter. Thus if a Hopi, Zuni, Keres, or Jemez man were to divorce, he would move from the home of his former wife to the home of his mother or a sister. The other pueblos were patrilineal. Men were expected to tend the fields. They would defend the community in ''war societies''; tribes such as the Navajo, Comanche, and Apache were their traditional enemies. The Spanish successfully re-conquered New Mexico after 1692 by allying themselves with the Pueblo people against their traditional enemies (although events in the 1800s were to modify these political alliances). According to Horgan, Pueblo prayer included substances as well as words; one common prayer material was ground-up maize — white cornmeal. Thus a man might bless his son, or some land, or the town itself by sprinkling a handful of meal as he uttered a blessing. Once, after the 1692 re-conquest, the Spanish were prevented from entering a town when they were met by a handful of men who uttered imprecations and cast a single pinch of a sacred substance. The Puebloans employed ''prayer sticks'', which were colorfully decorated with beads, fur, and feathers; the prayer sticks (or ''talking sticks'') were also used by other nations. Cloth and weaving were known to the Puebloans before the conquest, but it is not known whether they knew weaving before or after the Aztecs. But since clothing was expensive, they did not always dress completely, in the European tradition until after the conquest, and breechclouts were not uncommon. Corn was a staple food for the Pueblo people. They would use pottery (see images below) to hold their food and water. LIST OF PUEBLOS
In 1924 these peoples were granted U.S. citizenship. In 1948 , they were granted the right to vote in New Mexico. GALLERY OF POTTERY BY THE PUEBLO PEOPLES |
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