On prior trips we had seen the signs on the freeway
announcing the Acoma Pueblo. “Visit Sky
City” Visit the “Indian heritage and cultural museum” “see real Indian pottery
and jewelry” commercial come on’s that convinced
us to take off ramp 182 on this recent cross country trip.
The cultural center and museum are about 15 miles off the
highway. The road to them, the only road, meanders through the Acoma
reservation. This trip to the center offers exposure to the current status and
living conditions of the Acoma people. With the exception of the small cluster
of modern buildings near the highway, an elementary school and two
administration buildings, the buildings are small residential buildings
clustered into what appears to be either communities or neighborhoods. Based on
the apparent small size of the houses, it would seem that socializing is not
home based but instead community oriented occurring in the community hall near
the administration building. The early
Acoma were subsistence farmers eating corn, beans, and squash they grew to
supplement the native berries and nuts along with the deer and antelope they
could kill. This lifestyle diet appears
to have been replaced with food provided by the tribe through its distribution
center, the second largest building in the administration center. No gardens or other personal food provisions
were noted at any of the houses we could see from the road. Another large building in this reservation is
the elementary school. The K-8 school
looked as modern and up to date as any found in an urban environment. The nearest high school is a 30-45 minute
ride to Laguna, New Mexico.
On the road to the center we encountered only two other cars,
three if you count the police car that followed us for a while. On arriving at the center we were greeted by
a locked door and sign announcing the center was only opened on weekends. We
were there on Thursday, no extended weekends here in Acoma. However, we were not to be deterred, and so we
drove a bit farther on the road hoping to be able to see the buildings on the
mesa. A full sheet of plywood with “Visitors not allowed beyond this point” painted
on it (LARGE ALL CAPS) ended our trip toward the mesa that held Sky City.
Turning on a side road, one without signs prohibiting entrance, we looked for a
picture opportunity. During this
exercise the pueblo police car appeared and slowly passed us, twice. Not looking for confrontation, our
photo excursion ended and we opted to leave the valley area and return to the
highway.
I am placing a visit to Sky city and the Acoma reservation
back on my bucket list of places to go.
While our visit was not as productive as hoped, it did spark
a curiosity that led to some added research about the Acoma.
One of the first things discovered is that photography on
the Acoma pueblo requires a purchased permit from the tribe. This desire for privacy is further extended
to exclude photos, videos, and drawings of the few ceremonies and dances. Pictures of the homes and buildings are also
limited to authorized sites. This
self-induced isolation seems a bit in opposition to the casino/hotel built and
operated by the Acoma. The Acoma
prohibit alcohol on the reservation and none is served at the casino or
hotel. Regardless of this cultural
abstinence, alcoholism is noted as being rampant on the reservation. No buying or selling but drinking is OK;
reality beats culture on this one.
The solitude desired is deeply entrenched in the culture and
the result of a need for protection. The
original pueblo, now called Sky City, was positioned on a 350 feet tall mesa
with the only access via a set of stairs carved into the steep side of the
mesa. This limited access provided a
small measure of protection from the regular attacks by neighboring Comanche,
Ute and Apache tribes. However, this protection
was not impenetrable. In 1598, the
Spanish Conquistadors sent explorers from Mexico to expand their land holdings
and capture slaves. The Acoma resisted a
group of these explorers and killed eight of the invading Spaniards. The next year an army of conquistadors came
north invading the Acoma, killing about 600 and taking over 500 slaves thereby decimating
the tribe. Surviving Acoma rebuilt the
pueblo but were forced to pay taxes to Spain until the mid 1800’s when the US
acquired the New Mexico Territory.
The Acoma pueblo includes about one half million acres. Commercial farming is a large enterprise as
are oil and gas production. Uranium
mining is also a part of the economic resources, however, this brought bad
consequences by contaminating several lakes and rivers on the reservation. Tourism, from casino/hotel operations, is a
large part of the Acoma income. Almost
all of the approximately 4900 tribe members live and work on the reservation
and yet even with the many various commercial activities, unemployment is
high.
Indian art and crafts contribute are also a part of their
resources. Acoma pottery is noted as being
very thin walled and decorated with Thunderbird and rainbow designs. After a
pot has been made and dried the artist will tap it gently see if it rings. If
it does, it is ready for final firing and decoration. If not, it is broken, ground up and missed
with new clay to form other pots. Early Acoma were noted for making spherical “seed pots” in
which seed for the next season would be sealed inside for storage until needed.
When planting season was at hand and the seed was needed, these pots would be
broken and the seeds retrieved.
The Acoma are just one of the 19 pueblos in New Mexico. Among these 19 are five native languages with
each pueblo contributing a distinct culture.
The success of their attempts to integrate with the majority varied and
clearly demonstrate the problems that exist when a people’s culture is in
conflict with that of the majority. Resistance, while not as futile as the
science fiction Borg would have us believe, it is certainly a significant
pressure facing the Native American Indian today.
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