The Sacred Tzolk'in of the Maya: White Overtone Wind/ White Solar Wizard - Planetary Dog Moon of Manifestation, Day 17

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

White Overtone Wind/ White Solar Wizard - Planetary Dog Moon of Manifestation, Day 17

Picuris Pueblo, New Mexico.

Picuris comes from the Spanish Picuris, "at the mountain gap." The word "pueblo" comes from the Spanish for "village." It refers both to a certain style of Southwest Indian architecture, characterized by multistory, apartment-like buildings made of adobe, and to the people themselves. Rio Grande pueblos are known as eastern Pueblos; Zuni, Hopi, and sometimes Acoma and Laguna are known as western Pueblos. The people call their pueblo Pingultha, which means either "mountain warrior place" or "mountain pass place."

Location Picuris Pueblo is located on the western slopes of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, 18 miles south of Taos Pueblo. The average elevation is about 7,000 feet, which makes for a relatively short and somewhat precarious growing season.

People from Picuris spoke a dialect of Northern Tiwa, a Tanoan language.

In the 1200's, the Anasazi abandoned their traditional canyon homelands in response to climatic and social upheavals. A century or two of migrations ensued, followed in general by the slow reemergence of their culture in the historic pueblos. The Tiwas were probably the first of the Tanoan Pueblo people to enter the northern Rio Grande region. Initial settlement of Picuris Pueblo occurred in the twelfth century. It reached its prehistoric peak in the sixteenth century, then declined, probably as a result of the arrival of the Athabaskans.

Picuris joined the Pueblo rebellion of 1680. For years, the Spaniards had routinely tortured Indians for practicing traditional religion. They also forced the Indians to labor for them, sold Indians into slavery, and let their cattle overgraze Indian land, a situation that eventually led to drought, erosion, and famine. Pope of San Juan Pueblo and other Pueblo leaders, including Tupatu or Luis Picuri, planned the great revolt, sending runners carrying cords of maguey fibers to mark the day of rebellion. On August 10, 1680, a virtually united stand on the part of the Pueblos drove the Spanish from the region. The Indians killed many Spaniards but refrained from mass slaughter, allowing most of them to leave Santa Fe for El Paso, Texas.

When the northern pueblos again revolted in 1696, the Picuris abandoned their pueblo and went to live for 20 years on the plains with the Apaches. Between 1680 and 1716, the Picuris population declined by 90 percent. By the 1700's, excluding Hopi and Zuni, only Taos, Picuris, Isleta, and Acoma Pueblos had not changed locations since the arrival of the Spanish. Although Pueblo unity did not last, and Santa Fe was officially reconquered in 1692, Spanish rule was notably less severe from then on. Harsh forced labor all but ceased, and the Indians reached an understanding with the Church that enabled them to continue practicing their traditional religion.

In general, the Pueblo eighteenth century was marked by smallpox epidemics and increased raiding by the Apache, Comanche, and Ute. The people practiced their religion but more or less in secret. During this time, intermarriage and regular exchange between Hispanic villages and Pueblo Indians created a new New Mexican culture, neither strictly Spanish nor Indian, but rather somewhat of a blend between the two. In the early part of the century the Picuris fought with the Spanish against the Apaches, Utes, and Comanches. They also welcomed a French trading party to the pueblo in 1739, having first encountered French goods through trade with Plains tribes 80 years earlier. By the late eighteenth century they had achieved peace with the Comanche. Partly as a result, Spanish settlement grew, and Picuris Pueblo became surrounded by Spanish-Americans.

The relative isolation of Picuris delayed the assimilation pressures faced by other pueblos. However, a government day school, in which children learned Anglo ways and values, opened in 1899. Adults were encouraged to engage in wage work off the pueblo. Timber operations also began, damaging the fragile irrigation system. In an attempt to retain their identity, Pueblo Indians clung even more tenaciously to their heritage, which by now included elements of the once-hated Spanish culture and religion. By the 1880's, railroads had largely put an end to the traditional geographical isolation of the pueblos. Paradoxically, the U.S. decision to recognize Spanish land grants to the Pueblos denied Pueblo Indians certain rights granted under official treaties and left them particularly open to exploitation by squatters and thieves.

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