“WE ARE WALKING THROUGH ONE OF THE oldest, continuously-occupied places in America,” said my guide as we strolled down the dusty streets of ‘Sky City’, New Mexico. “The ancestors of the present-day residents lived here at least 900 years ago. They were first seen by Europeans when the Spanish explorers arrived in the early 16th century.”
In fact, when Francisco Vásquez de Coronado’s expedition arrived from Mexico in 1540, they recorded their amazement at finding members of the Acoma nation perched on the top of a 367ft mesa that could only be accessed by almost vertical steps hewn into the rock face. (According to tribal history, all the inhabitants of an earlier settlement on a nearby mesa died of starvation after a lightning strike destroyed the only access to the site.)
Within a decade there were hostile encounters between the invading Spaniards and the residents of the various pueblos in the region and in 1598, hearing that conquistador Juan de Oñate planned to colonise their ancestral land – which then covered some five million acres – the residents ambushed and killed 11 of his compatriots, including his nephew. The retaliation was horrific; most of Acoma, (‘the place that always was’), was destroyed, more than 600 natives were killed, 500 more were sent as slaves to places such as Mexico City, and any men over 25 years of age who remained had their right foot amputated.
Between 1629 and 1641, Spanish missionaries forced the native men to carry huge and heavy wooden tree trunks from forests about 40 miles away to Acoma, where they were used in the construction of the San Esteban del Rey Mission Church. Greatly esteemed over the centuries by the pious Acoma people, it is now a National Trust Historic Site. Its sober exterior hides a dazzling interior decorated with brightly-painted images inspired by Christian and native religious themes.
Surrounding it are 300-or-so two- and three-storey adobe brick buildings, their ground levels usually allocated for storage and the upper levels traditionally only reachable by retractable wooden ladders. Its 15-or-so semi-permanent residents live in the traditional way – there’s no electricity; water is only available from natural cisterns; and bread is baked in traditional horno mud ovens. However, a road now runs up to the mesa top, bringing about 55,000 visitors a year.
In addition to the uniqueness of the site, one of Sky City’s great attractions is its beautiful, primarily-black-and-white pottery that is sold in front of the artists’ mesa-top homes or down in the valley at the modern Sky City Cultural Center, which encompasses a museum devoted to the tribe’s history, culture and crafts.
THE NATIVES TAKE THEIR VENGANCE ON THE STATE’S ‘FOUNDER’
Today, the Spanish and native cultures both exist throughout New Mexico but the pueblo tribes have not forgotten the cruelty the Spanish invaders inflicted on their people. In fact, when the state decided to erect a statue to Oñate as the ‘founder of New Mexico’, the natives got their own back in retaliation for his cruel treatment of the Acoma men back in 1598 by cutting off its right foot with a chainsaw.
Today there are approximately 5,000 Acoma tribal members. Some of them live and work in cities in the Southwest and elsewhere as lawyers, engineers, educators and politicians whereas those that remain on about 365,000 acres of their original land make a living farming, raising cattle, selling their remarkable pottery, working in the tourism industry and benefiting from the proceeds of the Sky City Casino near one of their valley-sited communities.
As the Acoma Pueblo is one of 19 throughout the state, we decided to get an overview by visiting the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque, 52 miles east of Acoma. An exhibition told the story of the Pueblo revolt of 1680, which drove the Spaniards out of New Mexico for a considerable time. In the central courtyard, colourfully-attired native dancers were performing. The restaurant served a wide choice of regional food, from posole (traditional pueblo maize and pork stew) to elk tenderloin served with blue-corn green chilli pancakes, and the large gift shop was full of wonderful pottery, jewellery – notably some of the Zuni Pueblo creations of inlaid, semi-precious stones – weaving and basketry.
Most importantly, there was advice on the locations and attractions of the various pueblos (a Spanish word meaning town), each an independent nation with its own government, culture and one of three different languages groups (although English is also widely spoken).
We decided to head first up Interstate 25 and Routes 84/285 to the Santa Clara Pueblo, site of the amazing Puye cliff dwellings that were home to the local people from the 12th to the 17th centuries. Although more courageous tourists were exploring them via multi-storey wooden ladders, we took the easier route via a 4×4 to the cliff top, also crowned by ruins of ancient inhabitation.
Today, the pueblo residents live in and around the community of Española, making their living from their traditional black-and-red pottery, which is sold in the local shops, the 27-hole Black Mesa Golf Club, the Big Rock Casino and the other attractions of the surrounding shopping centre. Also appealing to tourists are the fishing and other outdoor attractions of the scenic Santa Clara Canyon and the stylish Santa Claran Hotel, particularly well-known for its excellent steak restaurant. Dining there with several tribal members, we discovered that they were particularly proud of the local school system’s focus on teaching the Tewa language, which is shared with the nearby Pojoaque and four other pueblos, whereas the residents of Taos, which we later visited, speak Tiwa, and those of Acoma speak Keres.
THE POJOAQUE – FROM NEAR EXTINCTION TO PROSPERITY
The most obvious tribute to the progressiveness of the Pojoaque (pronounced Poe-wok-ee) is the huge Buffalo Thunder Resort, which is sited only a 15-minute drive from the Santa Claran Hotel. Constructed in traditional adobe architectural style and fronted by a majestic bronze statue of a Native American dancer, this four-year-old, Hilton-managed property features 390 guest rooms, a spa, casino, restaurants, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, meeting rooms, a professional tennis club and use of the three nine-hole golf courses of the nearby Towa Golf Resort.
We were particularly impressed by the vast amount of stunning New Mexican Native America art – statues, ceramics, paintings, jewellery and more – displayed throughout the resort and in the nearby multi-storey Poeh Center and Museum. Within the complex are a gallery featuring the work of acclaimed pueblo artist Roxanne Swentzell and workshops that teach both youths and adults traditional crafts.
The Pojoaque tribe, which now numbers around 460 members – about half of whom are under 18 years old – is exceedingly proud of its leadership in education; it provides scholarships for any of its young people who wishes to attend public or private school or college. Encouragingly, the majority are said to return to live and work in their tribal community, thanks to economic opportunities developed in both the hospitality and farming industries. Other members of the tribe work in various businesses and industries in Los Alamos, Santa Fe and elsewhere.
Feast Day celebrations at the Pojoaque Pueblo
All this is more remarkable when you consider that the Pojoaque tribe was in danger of disappearing several decades ago. Most of its members had drifted away, lived elsewhere and/or joined up with other tribes, but when the call to return went out in 1934 about 12 of them came back. As their number gradually increased they were able in 1991 to build the impressive Poeh Center and Museum under the guidance of an advisory committee of cultural leaders from six Tewa-speaking pueblos.
Before proceeding to our final pueblo, we stopped at the rather enchanting community of Chimayo, a pilgrimage spot for devout Catholics ever since a cross of mysterious origin was unearthed from soil that is now considered to have healing properties. The site is now covered by an ornate shrine but we were allowed to scoop up some of the sacred soil before retreating for a delicious lunch (the tortilla soup was particularly memorable) and drinks on the back terrace of the picturesque Rancho De Chimayo.
TAOS PUEBLO – IS IT THE OLDEST COMMUNITY IN AMERICA?
Sited at the base of the snow-capped Sangre De Cristo range of mountains, Taos is probably the best-known of all the pueblos. As well as being a National Historic Landmark and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, its five-storey, 1,000 year-old adobe structures have inspired both the paintings of some of the late-19th-/early-20th-century artists who settled in the picturesque nearby town of Taos and the architectural style of much of the American Southwest.
Considered by many to be the oldest permanently-settled community in America, the pueblo was also a great gathering place for both Pueblo and Plains Indians, as well as for the European mountain men and trappers who went there to trade with one another and the natives. And, in 1680, it became the centre of the Pueblo Revolt again Spanish slavery and enforced conversion to Catholicism.
Ironically, one of the key attractions of the pueblo today is San Geronimo Catholic Church, built in 1850 on the site of an early-17th-century structure that was destroyed by the US Calvary. Among its treasures are the figures of Santos, or saints, brought to Taos by early Spanish missionaries. Chief among them is the altar piece of the Virgin Mary who the natives see as the equivalent of their Mother Nature. She and all the other Santos regularly have their outfits changed according to the season. Although three-quarters of the natives share in some of the Catholic practices, virtually all of them also continue to practise their traditional religion in the pueblo’s often-underground kivas (not open to the public) and elsewhere.
One of their most sacred sites, the 100,000-acre Blue Lake wilderness area, was expropriated by the US government in 1906 but returned after a lengthy legal battle in 1970. Closed to the public, except by special invitation, it is now used for sacred ceremonies, recreation and the conservation of both plants and wildlife, including bighorn sheep and buffalo.
Taos has always been a centre for major Native American Pow Wows
No visit to Taos is complete without visiting several of its museums. The Harwood, built in 1923, houses both the works of the once-thriving Taos Art Colony and an important collection of Hispanic-era arts and crafts. The Ernest L Blumenschein Home and Museum is a folksy house museum devoted to the lives and art of Blumenschein, his wife and daughter. And the most intriguing of them all, the Millicent Rogers Museum, has an outstanding collection of native jewellery, ceramics (including work by renowned pueblo potter Maria Martinez) and other art forms but also tells the life story of its colourful and wealthy art patron. Married three times – to an Austrian count, an Argentinian polo player and a New York banker – Rogers modelled for fashion magazines and counted Clark Gable and Ian Fleming among her friends.
And, of course, nobody visiting New Mexico should miss wonderful old Santa Fe, where you can shop for Native American crafts along the arcade of the 1610 Palace of the Governors, visit the Mission San Miguel – begun that same year and probably the oldest still operating church in America – admire the Indian and other treasures in several outstanding local museums, visit the scores of art galleries along Canyon Road, and overnight in the Hotel Santa Fe.
Owned by the Picuris Pueblo, it features Native American food and decor and a spa offering such tempting treatments as a pumpkin-spice facial and a moccasin-dance foot massage. As I retired for the night – my last one in New Mexico – I found an Indian spiderweb-shaped ‘dreamcatcher’ on my pillow. It would, said the accompanying note, entrap any bad dreams and only let the good dreams filter through. And, I have to admit, it worked.
