Today we had an hour drive to the Zuni reservation. We have friends who are Zuni and live there. We are staying with them. My mum met them when she worked here. 25 years ago, she worked for the Zuni Archaeology Program on an archeological excavation. Joe and Rose Zunie are the friends we are staying with. They have a granddaughter, Hunny, who I am having lots of fun with. We dance around town, I give her piggyback rides, and we have fun.
Since we had been driving the whole day
when we arrived, momma asked if there was a walk we could do. Rose said yes, there was, so Georgie, Momma, Daddy, Hunny, Hunny’s mum Rose and I went for a hike. On the walk I learned that the Stink Bug represents Thunder and Lightening, so the Zuni don’t are careful not to kill them. Also, it is bad luck to kill ants, if you do, then some will bite you later. The Zuni landscape is covered in sparse brown-yellow bushes and grasses. The dry dirt, or dust, is a bright red, like that of
The mesa we were hiking around the base of was Dowa Yalane (meaning 
In their creation stories the Zuni say that there was a great flood and to take refuge from the rising waters, they climbed Dowa Yalane. The rain kept on falling and to make the rain stop, a brother and sister sacrificed themselves so that their people could return to the bottom of the mesa. The rain stopped, and the brother and sister got turned to stone as a memorial of their sacrifice. You can see them there today, two tall buttes at the edge of Dowa Yalane.
It is a hot dry mosaic of grasses and shrubby trees. So we got the hot dry animals too. I, luckily, saw no tarantulas, but I knew they were out there because Georgie saw a dead one. What is did see were Rattle Snakes. The first just slithered away a quickly as possible without rattling. The second stayed around long enough to shake it’s tale at us and hiss angrily. I was about to take a step when it sounded as if a field of crickets was going off beside me. I looked around, confuses because there were no insects. Then I looked down. And sure enough, there was a very angry snake with a black bit shakeing at it’s end. I backed away quickly.
This was Joe’s birthday. Momma made a chocolate zucchini cake, which was sumptuous. Two days until my birthday!
One day until my birthday! I will be 15 tomorrow, on the first! This morning Daddy and I
went into Hunny’s classroom and played violin. We are making a pattern of playing in classrooms all over the world. It is certainly easier to explain how a violin works in English. In
After that, Thallia (Hunny’s mum) gave us a tour
of the old part of Zuni village. All the houses are made of brick and have flat roofs. The houses are arranged around a square, sand courtyard/plaza with an opening to the west (where Zuni heaven is). This plaza is where all the dances take place, except Shalako The kachinas (spirits or messengers of the gods) dance the Rain Dances here to ensure that the rains come and the crops grow. The Zuni believe that they dance to save everyone– to make the world right. For this reason, anyone can come and view these dances, but outsiders have to stay on the flat roofs a bit separated from the kachinas and their attendents. The Zuni can watch from the ground. My Mom says it’s mostly Zuni grandma’s that sit down on the plaza.
Shalako is the Zuni New Year. It refers to the event (which last a week, but takes a year to prepare for) as
well as the name of the kachina. The Shalakos and their attendants dance in one of six Shalako Houses -- houses built each year by a kiva member to house the Shalako, its attendants, and the hundreds of Zunis and outsiders who come to see them dance all night. We saw drawings of the Shalako and attendants in the Zuni school and in the galleries.
Pinon pine nuts were a staple for the Zuni people. Before we had arrived, Rose and Joe had been out harvesting them. Bu since there where four extra people eating the nuts, they were almost out by our last evening. So we all piled in to their truck and drove to the high elevation pine forests. Unfortunately, all the cones were either empty of nuts, or still closed. We left after an hour of picking with only about 20 nuts.
