Happy New Year!

January 6, 2021

As we cycle from the Winter Solstice toward the Spring Equinox, we welcome the expanding daylight hours and warming temperatures. In the Pueblos, the year starts with celebration as appointed and elected tribal leaders are announced. Once a governor is chosen or selected, canes are blessed and ceremonially handed to the new governor. On January 6^th, King’s Day, most Pueblos would have dances – buffalo, deer, and eagle – open to the public to honor tribal officials.

The office of Pueblo governor was introduced by the Spaniards and is incorporated into the tribal governmental institution. Pueblo governments consist of the Governor, Lt. Governor(s), fiscales, and sheriffs. Some Pueblos like Acoma, Cochiti, and Jemez, officials are appointed by religious leaders. Others, like Isleta, Laguna, or Ohkay Owingeh have an election every two years.

Pueblo Canes

The Governors’ canes are symbols of justice and leadership. There are two canes from Spain. The first came from King Phillip given in about 1620. An engraved cross at the head of the cane indicated the blessing of the Catholic church. The bearer had the support of the Spanish Crown. A second was presented by King Juan Carlos during his visit to New Mexico in September of 1987. When Mexico won independence from Spain, a cane was presented to the Pueblos in 1821, which mirrored the first Spanish cane’s authority.

President Lincoln was the first United States President to acknowledge the sovereignty of the nineteen New Mexico Pueblos. Lincoln gave nineteen silver-crowned canes to each of the Pueblos. Each was inscribed with the name of the Pueblo, the year 1863, and “A. Lincoln.”

In 1980, a third cane was presented to the governors by New Mexico Governor Bruce King. On January 7, 1992, a descendant of Christopher Columbus with the same name, gave the Pueblos another cane. Taos Pueblo was given a cane by President Nixon in 1970 when the Blue Lake was returned to the Pueblo.

As referenced in the video included, the canes symbolize the sovereignty of the Pueblo people and the authority of their tribal governments. The nineteen Pueblos are the only tribal nations in the United States to have such a recognition.

At the 2013 Mid-Year Conference, the National Congress of American Indians passed the resolution: Support for the Pueblos of New Mexico Honoring Celebration of 150 Years of the Lincoln Canes.

Tribal Sovereignty

Tribal sovereignty is a tribe’s inherent right to self-govern their people and territory, and to self-determine their futures. From time immemorial, before the arrival of Europeans to this land, tribal nations have been sovereign. Federal permission is not necessary for a tribal government to regulate conduct in their jurisdiction according to their own laws and principles and to adjudicate regulatory disputes in their own forums.

Self-government is essential for tribal communities to continue to protect their unique cultures and identities. Federal support for tribal self-determination and federal-tribal consultation and cooperation allows tribal governments to determine what their priorities are – jobs, education, crime, healthcare, food supply, land and water management, and so on – and how best to meet those needs.

Albuquerque Becomes First City in America to Recognize Tribal Sovereignty by Establishing Government-to-Government Relations
In March 2019, Albuquerque became the first city in America to recognize tribal sovereignty. Here, Mayor Tim Keller, Councilor Ken Sanchez, who sponsored the bill, and Tribal leaders signed the first-of-its-kind bill into law.

“The ordinance recognizes tribal sovereignty and self-determination for tribal governments and requires the City to establish a government-to-government relationship between Albuquerque and the surrounding Pueblos and tribes. It also mandates the board to regularly consult with tribal governments on actions that affect federally recognized tribal governments and to assess the impact of City programs on tribal communities.”

Books

Keeping Promises: What is Sovereignty and Other Questions About Indian Country
Written by Betty Reid (Navajo) and Ben Winton (Pascua Yaqui Aztec, Crow)
Learn how land, ceremony, tradition, history, law, and politics intersect to define tribal sovereignty. Keeping Promises describes the complex but important relationship between Indian tribes and the U.S. government. It describes the relationship between the nations and states, local government, and other tribal governments.

Keeping Promises concisely and simply answers questions about law enforcement, Indian gaming, reservation boundaries, and other subjects. Most important, it helps us understand how Indians define themselves, their tribes, and their sovereignty.

The 500 Years of Resistance Comic Book
Written by Gord Hill (Kwakwaka‘wakw)
A powerful and historically accurate graphic portrayal of Indigenous peoples’ resistance to the European colonization of the Americas, beginning with the Spanish invasion under Christopher Columbus and ending with the Six Nations land reclamation in Ontario in 2006.

With strong, plain language and evocative illustrations, The 500 Years of Resistance Comic Book documents the fighting spirit and ongoing resistance of Indigenous peoples through five hundred years of genocide, massacres, torture, rape, displacement, and assimilation: a necessary antidote to the conventional history of the Americas. Includes an introduction by activist Ward Churchill, leader of the American Indian Movement in Colorado and a prolific writer on Indigenous resistance issues.

Pueblo Sovereignty: Indian Land and Water in New Mexico and Texas
by Malcolm Ebright and Rick Hendricks
Over five centuries of foreign rule—by Spain, Mexico, and the United States—Native American pueblos have confronted attacks on their sovereignty and encroachments on their land and water rights. How five New Mexico and Texas pueblos did this, in some cases multiple times, forms the history of cultural resilience and tenacity chronicled in Pueblo Sovereignty.

The authors trace the complex tangle of conflicting jurisdictions and laws these pueblos faced when defending their extremely limited land and water resources. The communities often met such challenges in court and, sometimes, as in the case of Tesuque Pueblo in 1922, took matters into their own hands. Ebright and Hendricks describe how—at times aided by appointed Spanish officials, private lawyers, priests, and Indian agents—each pueblo resisted various non-Indian, institutional, and legal pressures; and how each suffered defeat in the Court of Private Land Claims and the Pueblo Lands Board, only to assert its sovereignty again and again.

Their stories, documented here in extraordinary detail, are critical to a complete understanding of the history of the Pueblos and of the American Southwest.

Teaching Resources

IndigNM
Our project aims to provide resources and Indigenous perspectives that will inspire inquiry and debate on the complexity of New Mexico history. We have identified various types of resources that align with a framework to provide counter-narratives in NM History for curriculum, instruction, and policy in high school social studies.

We have created this website to provide easy access to high school social studies educators everywhere. We aim to provide a resource for the public that speaks to the criticality of knowing the history of New Mexico from Indigenous perspectives.

In doing this, our goal is to fill in the gap of perspectives regarding New Mexico’s Indigenous Peoples and how it has evolved and changed over time.

Topics: Cultural Expressions, Identity, Language, Persecution, and Urbanization. Includes resource list.

Using Primary Source Documents to Understand Tribal Sovereignty – Montana Office of Public Instruction
An Indian Education for all lesson plan. American History, Government, and English Language Arts. Middle and Secondary Level with Montana Common Core Anchor Standards. Created by JoLena Hinchman and Katie Hurin.

The 2015 Advocacy Institute Units were created by and have been implemented successfully by teachers in Montana public schools.

Fun Stuff

Stories by the Fireside

The last in the series has the “Pueblo Cane Story” told by Laura Jagles (Tesuque Pueblo).

Library Shelfie Day – January 27
Created by the New York Public Library in 2014 to celebrate books. Libraries have grown from a place of housing and borrowing books to places of study, storytelling, arts and crafts, computer and printer services, and accessing information online, in databases, and digital libraries.

Open hours for public libraries vary. Some are closed. However, book lovers can still post a selfie of a shelfie to social media of you and your bookshelves. #LibraryShelfie #Shelfie

References

City of Albuquerque. (2019, March 12). Albuquerque becomes first city in America to recognize tribal sovereignty by establishing government-to-government relations. [Press release]. https://www.cabq.gov/mayor/news/albuquerque-becomes-first-city-in-america-to-recognize-tribal-sovereignty-by-establishing-government-to-government-relations    

Ebright, M. & Hendricks, R. (2019). Pueblo sovereignty: Indian land and water in New Mexico and Texas. University of Oklahoma Press.

National Congress of American Indians. (n.d.) Tribal governance. https://www.ncai.org/policy-issues/tribal-governance

Native American Financial Services Association. (n.d.) Historical Tribal Sovereignty & Relations. https://nativefinance.org/historical-sovereignty-relations/

Pierce, P.A. & Durrie, N. (2012). Canes of power. Silver Bullet Productions.

Sando, J. S. (1992). Pueblo nations: Eight centuries of Pueblo Indian history. Clear Light.

SantaFe.com. (2020) Treasured Lincoln canes – A living spirit of New Mexico’s tribes. https://santafe.com/treasured-lincoln-canes-a-living-spirit-of-new-mexicos-tribes/

*The term Indigenous is used broadly to include those labeled Native American, American Indian, Alaska Native, Hawaiian, First Nations, Aboriginal, and others like the Sami (Finland) and Ainu (Japan). Native American and American Indian are used interchangeably in this blog.

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About the Author

Jonna C. Paden, Librarian and Archivist at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center (IPCC) Library and Archives, is a tribally enrolled member of Acoma Pueblo.

As part of the Circle of Learning cohort, she holds a Masters in Library and Information Science from San José State University where she focused on the career pathway of Archives and Records Management. She is also the archivist for the New Mexico Library Association (NMLA) and previous(2020) and current Chair for the NMLA Native American Libraries – Special Interest Group. (NALSIG)

Storytelling & Storytellers

In many cultures, with short days and long nights, winter is the time of stories. Traditional tales provide entertainment on long winter nights, but were important for the lessons they teach and Indigenous knowledge they impart. Centuries-old oral stories teach cultural customs, values, history, relationships, rituals, and ways of life. Narratives have cultural context specific to a locale and community. Storytelling can be song, dance, and reenactments. Stories include non-spoken communication such as petroglyphs and artistic mediums: pottery, paintings, sand art, body painting, carving, and weaving. Modern storytelling can take the form of comics, graphic novels, and video games.

Certain stories are only told during certain parts of the year. Joseph Bruchac (Nulhegan Abenaki storyteller and writer) says “a good story is so powerful that everything wants to listen to it, including the snakes who are awake in the summer time. So, if you don’t want snakes in your house, you don’t tell these traditional stories when the days are long.”

Helen Cordero (Cochiti Pueblo) is a renowned artist of storyteller figurines. A traditional seated female figure form holding a child became known as the “Singing Mother.” Cordero attempted to make this figurine and kept seeing her paternal grandfather, Santiago Quintana. “That one, he was a really good storyteller, and there were always lots of us grandchildren around him.” She shaped a male figurine and placed numerous children on him; she called him Storyteller. Her innovative figurines won her awards and have been exhibited across the United States and Canada. A segment of ¡Colores! on PBS features an introduction to Cordero.

BOOK: Old Father Storyteller
Written and illustrated by Pablita Velarde (Santa Clara Pueblo)
Six traditional stories with paintings by Pablita.

Carol Lucero Gachupin: Telling a Story of Walatowa Storytellers

Inspired by memories of her grandfather telling stories around the fire and dinner table, Carol specializes in storyteller figures made from hand-gathered clay and natural pigments.

• Commissioned by Missouri State University Museum of Anthropology in 2017 to create a large storyteller for permanent exhibit
• Best of Show, San Juan Bautista Fine Arts and Quality Crafts Festival, 1996
• 1st Place, Southwest Indian Art Fair, Arizona Museum, 1996
• 2nd Place, New Mexico State Fair, 2002

Nobel Prize Day

December 10: observed annually as Nobel Prize Day. In 1992, Rigoberta Menchú (K’iche’ Mayan), a human rights activist from Guatemala, received the Nobel Peace Prize for her advocacy and social justice work for Indigenous peoples in Latin America. She advocated for the rights of Indigenous people during and after the Guatemalan Civil War (1960-1996) and promoted Indigenous rights internationally. Menchú was the first K’iche’ woman to run for President of Guatemala in 2007 and 2011 as a candidate for Winaq, the first Indigenous-led political party she founded.

Teaching Resources

The Indian Pueblo Cultural Center’s Indigenous Wisdom Curriculum provides New Mexico K-12 educators with unit plans to serve as a counter-narrative to the NM history currently presented to students. Created by Trisha Moquino (Cochiti, Ohkay Owingeh, and Kewa Pueblos), a K-1 unit titled Science through Story: Pueblo Creation Story: Our Awe Inspiring Cosmos was inspired by the children’s story, Coyote and the Sky: How the Sun, Moon, and Stars Began. “This unit includes a creation story retold and written by a Santa Ana Pueblo author to remind us of the beauty of Pueblo culture and the universe we live in. This unit connects to the core values of love and respect for our universe and provides a foundation for understanding how maintaining balance in our environment is a critical need in today’s world.”

Winter Solstice

December 21, 2020 – Also known as midwinter, the winter solstice is the day of shortest daylight and longest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. The term “solstice” comes from the Latin words sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still). During the solstice, the angle between the Sun’s rays and the plane of the Earth’s equator (called declination) appears to stand still. For those in the Southern Hemisphere, it marks the summer solstice.

All across the world, cultures have feasted and celebrated this day. The sun has been observed and tracked as it “traveled” across the sky. Architectural structures like Stonehenge and the Cahokia Woodhenge in modern day Collinsville, Illinois appear to align to the movement of the sun. These structures were likely calendars that had been built over a period of 200 years (A.D. 900-1100). The Chaco Astronomy Book documents the research of the “Sun Dagger” at Fajada Butte in Chaco Canyon.

Fun Stuff

Stories by the Fireside
Each Saturday in December, join the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center for storytelling by the fireside. Our first event on December 5^th featured Emmett “Shkeme” Garcia (Santa Ana Pueblo), children’s author of Sister Rabbit’s Tricks and Coyote and the Sky: How the Sun, Moon, and Stars Began. There is also be a special acoustic performance by Shkeme, John L. Williams (Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux) and Native Roots. New stories will be posted to the page every Saturday in December.

Christmas Books by Native Authors

The Christmas Coat
Written by Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve (Rosebud Sioux)
A picture book based on an event from the author’s childhood.
Winner of the 2012 American Indian Library Association (AILA) Youth Literature Award

Circle of Wonder: A Native-American Christmas Story
Written and illustrated by N. Scott Momaday (Kiowa)
“Circle of Wonder centers upon a world that is so dear to me as to be engraved on my memory forever. I was a boy of twelve when my parents and I moved to Jemez Pueblo, New Mexico in 1946. … My first Christmas there was beyond my imagining. … This is the moment of the story of Tolo and the circle of wonder. It was, in the long life of the world, a moment of joy and exaltation and deep belief. It was the moment of Christmas and of a spirit that transcends time.” – N. Scott Momaday

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About the Author

Jonna C. Paden, Librarian and Archivist at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center (IPCC) Library and Archives, is a tribally enrolled member of Acoma Pueblo.

As part of the Circle of Learning cohort, she holds a Masters in Library and Information Science from San José State University where she focused on the career pathway of Archives and Records Management. She is also the archivist for the New Mexico Library Association (NMLA) and the 2019-20 chairwoman for the NMLA Native American Libraries – Special Interest Group. (NALSIG)