{"id":3146,"date":"2021-01-13T15:37:11","date_gmt":"2021-01-13T15:37:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/?p=3146"},"modified":"2021-03-18T10:57:32","modified_gmt":"2021-03-18T10:57:32","slug":"acoma-pueblo-a-place-prepared-sky-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/acoma-pueblo-a-place-prepared-sky-city\/","title":{"rendered":"Acoma Pueblo: a place prepared"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It happened that the Mogollon inhabitants of Chaco Canyon were forced to leave their home by a prolonged drought. Their ancestors had been told by the spirits \u2018at the time of emergence\u2019, that is from the very beginnings of their existence, that a place had been prepared in which they would live. So the tribe left their lands in Chaco and wandered through the American Southwest, pausing from time to time to call out \u2018Haak\u2019u\u2019, which means \u2018a place prepared\u2019. When they arrived in this particular valley, their call reverberated off the mountain peaks and returned to them in an echo, telling them that they had at last found their \u2018place prepared\u2019.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their first home in the valley was on nearby Enchanted Mesa. Their legends tell how one day, when all but a few elderly women were down on the valley floor below tending the crops, a terrific storm blew up and destroyed their only path up to the top of the mesa. Those left above were trapped and sadly died (some say that they jumped to their deaths rather than face a slow starvation); the larger part of the tribe abandoned Enchanted Mesa for one nearby, where they remain to this day \u2013 Acoma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"View<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"View
Views of Enchanted Mesa (middle distance)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Acoma past and present<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

To visit Acoma today is to be transported to a time and place that has existed for centuries. We turned off busy Interstate 40, drove a few miles across an empty, dusty land, and suddenly we were in a different world, a shallow valley studded with towering monoliths or mesas, many of them sacred to the Acoma people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The village that the people call Sky City is built on top of a sheer-sided, 367 foot sandstone bluff. But it was hard as we drove across the valley to pick out exactly which mesa had a pueblo on its summit. The only giveaway sign was the church of San Esteban with its twin adobe towers on one side of the village; but even this blended into the warm hues of the sandstone, only becoming distinct when we were just a couple of miles away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Life here has been touched only superficially by the twenty first century, and indeed by all the other centuries that have passed since the village was founded in around 1150. Houses may have been modernised (although only a little) and access improved (one road now ascends to the mesa\u2019s top); but the traditions, the sacred beliefs and much of the lifestyle of the Acoma people is as it has always been.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Group
Typical houses, most restored<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Of course there have not always been tourists here; but others have come, some much more invasive than the current busloads of visitors. The first white visitor was Francisco Vasques de Coronado on his 1536 expedition to the Indian pueblos. He and his soldiers were in awe of the seemingly impenetrable fortress at the top of the mesa and left the Acoma people alone. But that could not last.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1598, the Spanish conquistador Don Juan De O\u00f1ate, under orders from the King of Spain, invaded this region. He raided the native American pueblos, with his troops looting anything of value. They tried to steal grain from a granary and the Acoma fought back, killing several Spaniards in the defence of their crops. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

De O\u00f1ate ordered his soldiers to conquer the pueblo. In the ensuing battle the indigenous population, which had been approximately 2,000 people before the Spanish attacked, was reduced to just 250 survivors. These were herded to Santo Domingo Pueblo, which the Spanish had previously defeated and were now using as a base. There children under the age of 12 were taken from their parents and assigned to Spanish missionaries to be raised. Most of the adults were sold into slavery. Of the few dozen Acoma men of fighting age still alive after the battle, O\u00f1ate ordered the right foot chopped off each one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Lady
Our guide<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

As we toured the pueblo and listened to our guide we learned that although such injustices may, we hope, have been confined to the pages of history, they are not forgotten. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The past has shaped this people, and in this almost mystical place past, present and future seem largely indistinguishable from each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Acoma houses<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

There are about 275 houses in the pueblo, although only around 30 people live here year-round. These are mostly older people and pre-school children, who are often sent to live with grandparents so that they can learn the culture and traditions of the tribe from them. But all the houses are owned and cared for by an Acoma family, and the family will visit and stay there during festival times. Many of the houses we saw therefore had been extensively restored; this is very much a living village, not<\/strong> a museum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The houses are made of adobe, like so many buildings across New Mexico (and indeed across the south-west). The thick adobe walls keep the homes cool in summer and warm in the winter; while sharing walls with neighbouring houses adds to the insulation effect. The roads too were carefully planned; each is exactly the right width to ensure that even the long shadows of winter would not fall on the houses opposite, so that all could benefit from the warmth of the sun\u2019s rays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traditionally all the houses were of three stories, but the use of each floor varied with the season. In the winter, the ground floor would be used for cooking. Heat from the fire would rise to the floor above, which was used as living and sleeping space year-round, and food would be stored on the top floor away from that heat. In the summer, the ground and top floor usage was reversed; cooking would be done on the top floor so the heat could escape through the roof without overheating the inhabitants, and food was stored on the ground floor.<\/p>\n\n\n