Jemez Pueblo

Name

Jemez Pueblo (pronounced HAY-mes PWEB-loh). The Jemez called themselves Hemes, which in their language of Towa means “people.” The village where most tribal members reside is called Walatowa, which means “this is the place.”

Location

The Jemez Pueblo, a federal reservation, includes 90,000 acres of the tribe’s former homeland in north-central New Mexico. It is located in the San Diego Canyon on the Jemez River. Most of the Jemez people in the early twenty-first century live in the reservation town of Walatowa.

Population

In 1583 there were an estimated thirty thousand Jemez Pueblo people. In 1630 there were only three thousand. In 1706 there were just three hundred. In the 1990 U.S. Census, 2,238 people identified themselves as Jemez. According to the 2000 census, 2,705 Jemez people lived in the United States. In 2001 the Bureau of Indian Affairs reported that tribal enrollment was 3,486.

Language family

Tanoan.

Origins and group affiliations

Jemez tales trace the tribe’s origin to a lagoon near Stone Lake, New Mexico, now the site of the Jicarilla (pronounced hee-kah-REE-yah) Apache Reservation. Between 1250 and 1300 the Jemez moved from that site to the mountains of northern New Mexico in what is now part of the Santa Fe National Forest.

In 1838 the Jemez at the Jemez Pueblo were joined by the people of the Pueblo of Pecos. (Pueblo is the Spanish word given to the stone and adobe, or mud-walled, villages inhabited by the various pueblo peoples.)

At the time the Jemez people first made contact with the Spanish, the Jemez Nation was one of the largest and most powerful in the region that is now the state of New Mexico. Their original homes, stone fortresses that sometimes contained more than two thousand rooms, are some of the largest ruins in the United States. Over the years the people of the Jemez Pueblo have been able to withstand enormous outside pressures and still retain their traditional religion and culture.

History

Jemez make contact with the Spanish

During the fourteenth century the Jemez made their home in the hills of San Diego Canyon, whose fertile floor is irrigated by the Jemez River. It was in this canyon that the first Spanish explorers of New Mexico came upon the Jemez people. The meeting took place in 1541, when Francisco Vasquez de Coronado (c. 1510>en>1554) led an expedition into the area. At that time the pueblo had a population of more than thirty thousand.

Not until 1598 was there significant interaction between the Jemez and the Spanish. The association, lasting for a little more than eighty years, was fraught with difficulties and ended in a massive rebellion by the Native Americans.

Important Dates

1680: The Pueblo Revolt, in which the Jemez people play a vital role, drives the Spanish from New Mexico.

1694: The Spanish recapture the San Diego Valley, home of the Jemez.

1696: Luis Cunixu, a Jemez war chief, tries to spark another Jemez rebellion, but is later executed.

1838: The people of Pecos abandon their pueblo and join the Jemez at Walatowa.

1848: The United States takes control of New Mexico.

1936: The Jemez and Pecos peoples legally become one group.

2003: The Jemez Community Development Corporation (JCDC) is established to oversee business and economic development.

Pueblo Revolt

The Spanish planned to convert the Jemez to the Catholic religion, by force if necessary. When the missionary priests first arrived, the Jemez were living either in small pueblos scattered throughout San Diego Canyon or on the surrounding large hills. These large hills had steep sides and flat tops and were called mesas (meaning “tables” in Spanish). The mesas offered protection against wandering raiders like the Apache and Comanche (see entries).

To make their work easier, Spanish priests and soldiers forced the Jemez and other Pueblo peoples down off the mesa tops. They took Jemez homes for themselves and ordered the people to build new villages and churches. The Spaniards made the Jemez pay taxes to the king in the form of crops, blankets, and pottery. They also forbid the tribe to practice their own religion, but many did so in secret. Finally, in 1680 the Jemez could take the mistreatment no longer and agreed to join in the Pueblo Revolt (see Pueblo entry). In spite of the superior weapons of the Spanish, the Pueblo peoples succeeded in casting the Spanish out of New Mexico.

Return of the Spanish

The Spanish were not gone for long. Between 1688 and 1692 they regained their power over Jemez land. They ordered the Pueblo peoples to pledge their support for Spain, but most Jemez refused to take such a vow. In 1694 the Jemez staged a raid against the Zia and Santa Ana tribes, who were supporters of the Spanish, taking their livestock and killing four men.

The Spaniards sent out an expedition to punish the Jemez. In the bloody battle that followed, 381 Jemez women and children were captured, 84 people were killed, and villages were destroyed. Jemez crops and cattle were taken and distributed to Native American allies of the Spaniards. The Spanish later pardoned and released most of the survivors. In 1696 the Jemez were commanded to leave their homes and live together in the small village of Walatowa.

Return to Jemez Pueblo

More bloodshed was to follow. In June 1696, a Spanish priest was found dead, and Jemez leader Luis Cunixu (was accused of his murder. The Jemez, fearing vengeance from the Spanish, left the village and made plans to defend themselves. They requested help from the Acoma, Zuñi, and Navajo peoples (see entries), who obliged by sending some warriors. After a few battles the Native Americans were forced to surrender. The Jemez scattered, and the other Native American warriors returned home. By the early 1700s matters had quieted down, and the people again began to settle at the Jemez Pueblo.

The Spanish retained control of the region until 1820. During that time Spain’s king assured the Jemez people of their rights to more than 17,000 acres of their traditional land. Although the Spanish persisted in trying to convert them and trampled on many sacred shrines and religious centers, the Jemez were able to stay together and preserve much of their culture.

Assured land rights

Pueblo territory passed into Mexican hands in 1820, and the Jemez lost much of their ancestral land. In 1838 the Pecos peoples, who were fleeing enemy raids and deadly epidemics (uncontrolled outbreaks of disease), joined the Jemez at Walatowa. Nearly one hundred years later the two groups would legally become one.

Following America’s victory in the Mexican-American War ((846–48; a war fought between the United States and Mexico which led to loss of about one-half of Mexico’s national territory to the United States), the United States took over the Pueblo region from Mexico. The new government assured the Jemez that their rights to their land would be protected, but the United States failed to keep its promises. White settlers were allowed to move onto the land illegally. Throughout the twentieth century the Jemez engaged in ongoing battles with U.S. courts to defend their land and water rights. They did achieve some victories, though, including the 1975 expansion of their land holdings to its present 90,000 acres.

Religion

Very little is known about the traditional Jemez religion. Believing their ceremonies will lose power if they are made public, the Jemez people hold all religious services in secret. They try to live in close harmony with nature. Their ceremonies are held to bring rain, help crops grow, and ensure abundant game supplies. When Jemez people tell tribal stories to outsiders, they sometimes leave out details that would reveal certain secrets about their traditions.

Arson by Witches

To protect their privacy and sacred stories, the Jemez people normally do not share them with others. If they do tell a story, they omit parts of it—especially those that reveal information that should not be shared with outsiders. When anthropologist Elsie Parsons heard this tale, the teller explained that he left out certain parts so the story is not complete as recorded.

Dypolah. They were living at kyulawimu [a half-mile north of modern-day Taos], and at that time there were many people at Jemez. There was a boy visiting from setokwa. He was spending the night with one of his friends in the house where they were meeting. As he lay there still awake he overheard them say that they were going to burn the whole pueblo as far as setokwa. They said that all those who did not go into the water would be burned and all those who stepped into the water would be saved. The witches said that they would wrap pine gum in cedar bark and put it into the roof above people asleep. After he heard all this the boy left to tell his father. His father was ts’untawhi [chief of setokwa]. The boy said, “Father, something is going to happen tonight. I heard those bad people saying that they were going to fire the whole pueblo tonight. They are having a meeting at kyulawimu. So you had better do something to save your pueblo.” “Yes, my son, I will try to.” Then his father made prayer-sticks, and with them put canteens (babo) in a line, at black rocks [conspicuous boulders south of Taos]. While he was putting up the sticks he saw a big fire in the pueblo. It was burning as the wind blows, quickly. All of the people were burned, only those who went into the water were saved. The fire reached the place where the prayer-sticks were. When the fire touched the sticks they began to throw out water, and the fire stopped there, and that saved the pueblo. That is why there are witches now in Jemez, and that is why, because of that fire, we have only one pueblo. This happened in the beginning (kwaosho [a term descriptive of “anything of long ago”]). Qtsedaba.

Parsons, Elsie Clews. The Pueblo of Jemez. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1925.

Language

The Jemez language, Towa, is still spoken at Walatowa in combination with English and Spanish. Jemez law does not allow the language to be written down, because the people wish to keep outsiders from gaining knowledge about the tribe. Many elders also believe that because their language and history have been handed down orally since ancient times, it is important to respect and adhere to this tradition.

Government

The Pueblo of Jemez is a sovereign nation, which means it is not subject to outside laws. Two types of government are in place: traditional and secular (nonreligious). The traditional government has two leaders who hold their positions for life. The most important of these, the cacique, is both a spiritual and a societal leader. He is served by the opng-soma (war captain), who enforces the religious rules and regulations. The secular government began during the time of the Spanish occupation. It consists of a governor and his staff, who are selected each year by the cacique, and a tribal council. (The council is composed of former governors.) The secular government maintains business relations with the outside world.

Economy

For centuries the Jemez relied on hunting, farming, and gathering to support the tribe. When the Spanish arrived the Jemez sold them rabbit fur blankets and simple knee-length dresses called mantas. The Spanish introduced the Jemez people to (1) new crops (chilies, wheat, grapes, and melons) and (2) livestock (horses, donkeys, oxen, cattle, sheep, and goats). In time most Jemez families owned a donkey. Grapes were harvested until World War II (1939–45; a war in which Great Britain, France, the United States, and their allies defeated Germany, Italy, and Japan), when so many Jemez men went off to war that the vines withered from neglect.

Most modern-day Jemez are farmers or ranchers. Corn and chilies are their most important crops. Some Jemez make and sell various arts and crafts such as ring baskets (round yucca-leaf baskets used to store food and wash wheat) and a red pottery developed in the 1950s. The Publoean Gift Shop serves as an outlet for these and other crafts.

Ponderosa pine and Douglas fir from the reservation are sold for use as timber and fuel. In 1999 the Jemez began the Walatowa Woodland initiative and now partner with several federal agencies to manage the land and reforest areas that are cut. The group has a logging mill that produces a variety of wood products. Concern for the environment also prompted the development of a Native Fish Aquarium with an interactive display so students can learn about the fish that were significant to their ancestors and are still important to the area.

The Jemez operate a several service businesses and tourist attractions. Since 1989 land on the reservation has been producing oil and gas. The tribe also earns funds by permitting the mining of sand and gravel on its territory.

Some tribal members work at nearby computer firms. Others work for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the U.S. Forest Service, local law enforcement agencies, and the tribal court system. In 2007 legislation was introduced that would allow the Jemez to construct an off-reservation casino.

Daily life

Buildings

The pueblo style of architecture (see Pueblo entry) was practiced by the Jemez from around 700. They constructed and maintained large pueblos containing as many as four levels—each level being smaller by one room than the level below it. They built roofs by laying whole log beams across two walls. Spaces between the logs were then filled in with grasses and plastered over with adobe (pronounced uh-DOE-bee; a sun-dried mud made of a mixture of clay, sand, and sometimes ashes, rocks, or straw.)

The kiva, a room where ceremonies and sacred meetings take place, is also central to Jemez culture. One kiva is built for each tribal subdivision in a pueblo village. The kivas are usually built of stone.

Food

The Jemez lived and farmed at a higher elevation than any other Pueblo people. While the men farmed and hunted deer, antelope, elk, sheep, and cattle; the women gathered fruits, cactus, and other wild foods. They adopted the cultivation of chilies, melons, grapes, and wheat from the Spanish. To prepare wheat for grinding, they first winnowed (separated out) it, then washed it in an irrigation ditch in a ring-basket, and finally spread it on canvas to dry. Fields of corn, beans, squash, wheat, and chilies still fill the canyon floor at Walatowa, and agriculture and livestock represent a major source of livelihood on the reservation.

Education

The Jemez Pueblo offers Head Start classes for young children on the reservation. A Bureau of Indian Affairs day school and public elementary and secondary schools have been built there as well. High school students have the option of attending a charter school, a public school in Jemez Springs, or a boarding school in Santa Fe. The Jemez are the only New Mexico tribe to operate their own charter schools.

Healing practices

According to Jemez beliefs, supernatural creatures could either heal people or make them ill. The traditional Jemez relied on a curing society rather than a single shaman (pronounced SHAH-mun or SHAY-mun) to do the healing. Healing ceremonies took place before the whole community. To cure an individual or an entire community, the curing society would call forth the supernatural forces—possibly spirits or even a witch within the pueblo—thought to be causing harm. In the early twenty-first century the Jemez people made use of traditional healing practices in combination with modern methods offered at the Jemez Comprehensive Care Clinic. In addition to emergency and outpatient care, the clinic provides many other services including dental and eye care, mental health and substance abuse facilities, diabetes prevention and treatment programs, a pharmacy, and a lab.

Arts

The Jemez traditions of potterymaking and basketweaving date back to about 700. In addition to their exquisite pottery and basketry, the people are known for their woven cloth, sculptures, and jewelry. Jemez artworks are sold all around the world and at the Walatowa Visitor Center. The center features photographic exhibits, replicas of Native buildings, and a gift shop.

Customs

Moieties

The Jemez have two tribal subdivisions, called moieties (pronounced MOY-uh-teez): the turquoise and the squash. These are not “clans,” that is, groups of people descended from a common ancestor. Rather, they are tribal divisions that determine which group among the Jemez performs certain rites or ceremonies.

From the Spanish the Jemez adopted the idea that the man is the head of the household, and modern families take the last name of father.

Festivals and ceremonies

Traditional celebrations

The Jemez have a very complex organization for ceremonies, with twenty-three religious societies conducting various rites. Every Jemez male is a member of either the Eagle or Arrow society, but membership in the others is reserved for a select few who show some talent in curing, rainmaking, war, hunting, or other areas.

Dances are central to ceremonial and social life for the Jemez. They perform many of their ritual dances and ceremonies, like the Corn Dance, to gain the favor of the spirits. Traditionally, ceremonies and dances are shared among Pueblo peoples. For example, the Jemez learned the Pecos Bull Ceremony in 1838 after the remaining survivors of the Pecos Pueblo joined their tribe. The Corn Dance and Old Pecos Bull Ceremony at Jemez are still held each August as part of the Saint Persingula Feast Day.

Feast days

Feast days are a Catholic practice. Many Jemez identify themselves as Catholics and observe ceremonies of the Christian calendar, but they observe them in a traditional Native American way. For example, the celebration of a feast day displays Jemez reverence for the foods—both animal and vegetable—provided by Mother Earth.

Families from different groups within the tribe are selected to host each feast day celebration. They provide a meal for all visitors, and in turn the guests may bring an offering of food to be included with the meal. Part of the food preparation takes place outside in the tall adobe ovens, called “beehives,” that are still present behind many Jemez homes. As a feast day progresses ceremonial dances take place in the town square to give thanks for the bounty, which has been shared.

Modern festivals

Other important feast days and festivals include the annual Jemez Red Rocks Arts & Crafts Show in June, St. Persingula Feast Day in August, Open Air Market in October, the San Diego Feast Day in November, and Our Lady of Guadalupe Feast Day and the Walatowa Winter Arts & Crafts Show, both in December. The pueblo is only open to the public only during selected special events. At all other times the Jemez people wish to maintain their privacy and ask that visitors respect their closed village policy. Those who wish to visit at other times of the year may go to the Walatowa Visitor Center to learn more about the Jemez Pueblo and its people.

Track and field

Running is a longtime tradition at the Jemez Pueblo, which over the years has produced a number of world-class runners.

Current tribal issues

The Jemez, who once inhabited the entire San Diego Canyon, have seen their land holdings dwindle since the Spanish arrived in their territory in the late 1500s. Four hundred years later New Mexico courtrooms were hearing many cases regarding ongoing efforts to protect Jemez land rights.

Water rights are also a problem. With the increasing use of the Jemez River by people north of Walatowa, as well as the frequency of droughts in the area, Jemez farmers find it difficult to secure enough water for the irrigation of their crops. In 2007 New Mexico’s Native American leaders backed legislation that provided funding for Native American water rights settlements, better education, language preservation efforts, and a minimum wage increase. Jemez Pueblo Governor Raymond Gachupin, chairman of the Ten Southern Pueblos Council, asked for additional funds for health care services for Native people.

Another concern of tribal elders is the spread of white cultural practices among the Jemez. Problems began when the plow replaced the traditional and sacred hoe. The elders thought that the use of modern technology would interfere with the sacred nature of planting of corn—and thereby anger the gods. Then the plow was replaced by the tractor, and the horse was replaced by the pickup truck. In modern Walatowa, antennas protrude from pueblo rooftops and nearly every household has electricity and appliances. Experts in Native American studies disagree on whether or not these elements can coexist with traditional life or if they will someday will replace it altogether.

Along with the changes brought by outside culture, many Pueblo tribes have difficulties with tourists who do not respect their privacy. Taking pictures of ceremonies, recording prayers, or describing dances without the tribe’s permission is an invasion of the people’s rights. Because of this, the Jemez Pueblo closed their reservation to outsiders except on special Feast Days, which they do not publicize to reduce the number of tourists who attend. The tribe’s regular tourist attractions, such as Jemez Mountain Trail Scenic Byway and the Jemez Mountain National Recreation area are still open to the public as are their annual Arts & Crafts Shows held during Memorial Day weekend, as well as during the first weekend in December. The Jemez also run educational programs accessible by contacting their Walatowa Visitor Center.

Notable people

Luis Cunixu, a Jemez leader (probably a war captain) who lived during the seventeenth century, refused to accept the return of the Spanish to his land when Spain reclaimed control over New Mexico in 1692. He fought to remove them, then fled to the Pecos Pueblo after being accused of killing a Spanish priest during an uprising in June 1696. Cunixu worked unsuccessfully to gain the support of the Pecos people but was turned over to the Spanish and finally shot to death in Santa Fe in front of the town church.

Other notable Jemez include: painter Jose Rey Toledo (1915–1994); author, historian, and educator Joe Sando (1923–), who wrote several books about the Pueblo people; and legendary runner Tyila (Pablo Gachupin).

Isaacs, Judith Ann. Jemez Valley Cookbook: The Food, the People, the Land. Jemez Pueblo, NM: Butterfly & Bear Press, 1997.

Kavasch, E. Barrie. The Medicine Wheel Garden: Creating Sacred Space for Healing, Celebration, and Tranquillity. New York: Bantam, 2002.

Keegan, Marcia, and Regis Pecos. Pueblo People: Ancient Traditions, Modern Lives. Santa Fe, NM: Clear Light Publishers, 1999.

Mails, Thomas E. Dancing in the Paths of the Ancestors: The Culture, Crafts, and Ceremonies of the Hopi, Zuni, Acoma, Laguna, and Rio Grande Pueblo Indians of Yesterday. Berlin: Marlowe & Company, 1999.

Peaster, Lillian. Pueblo Pottery Families: Acoma, Cochiti, Hopi, Isleta, Jemez, Laguna, Nambe, Picuris, Pojoaque, San Ildefonso, San Juan, Santa Clara, Santo Domingo, Taos, Tesuque, Zia, Zuni. Lancaster, PA: Schiffer Publishing, 2003.

“Pueblo Tribes, Eastern.” American Indians. Vol. 2. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Salem Press, 1995.

Roberts, David. The Pueblo Revolt: The Secret Rebellion that Drove the Spaniards Out of the Southwest. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2005.

Sando, Joe S. Life of Paa Peh: Reflections of a Pueblo Indian Elder. Ithaca, NY: Clear Light Books, 2007.

Sando, Joe S. Nee Hemish: A History of Jemez Pueblo. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1982.

Scully, Vincent. Pueblo-Mountain, Village, Dance. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989.

Wallace, Susan E. The Land of the Pueblos. Santa Fe, NM: Sunstone Press, 2006.

“Jemez Pueblo.” ClayHound Web. (accessed August 11, 2007).

“Jemez Pueblo.” New Mexico Magazine. (accessed on August 11, 2007).

“Jemez Pueblo: Photos.” New Mexico Entertainment. (accessed on August 11, 2007).

Ned Blackhawk, Associate Professor, Department of History, American Indian Studies Program, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Laurie Edwards

Laurie Edwards