The Fourth of July at Taos Pueblo

Finally, I'm up to July 4th!

I spent the Fourth of July at the Taos Pueblo north of town. O'Keeffe drew and painted here in 1929 when she stayed at Mabel Dodge Luhan's house.

Doorway at Taos Pueblo, Fourth of July, 2007

A quote from their Tribal Manifesto says: "We have lived upon this land since days beyond history's record, far past any living memory, deep into the time of legend. The story of my people and the story of this place are one single story. No man can think of us without thinking of this place. We are always joined together."

The pueblo is divided in two by Red Willow Creek, the same creek that is known as the Rio Pueblo de Taos. I didn't know this the day before when I was at the Hacienda Martinez and collected water from the river. This river is used as the source of drinking water for the pueblo. Outsiders are told not to wade in the river or drink from it. The river flows down from Blue Lake which is sacred to the people of Taos Pueblo. There are benches at various spots along the river bank where I sat and enjoyed the sound of the water rushing past.

One of the first structures that I came to is the St. Jerome Church. It was built in 1850. It is a lovely adobe building and is a a registered National Historic Landmark.

Alone and over to the side, the original St. Jerome Church is a much sadder place. It was originally built in 1619. It was destroyed in the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 when the indigenous people threw the Spanish out of New Mexico. Unfortunately for people of Taos Pueblo, the Spanish returned in 1692, reconquered the area and rebuilt the church.


It stood until 1847 when the U. S. Army attacked Taos Pueblo. They believed that the Taos Indians had taken part in the murder of Taos Governor Charles Bent. Although the people of the Pueblo had nothing to do with it they came under attack. They sought sanctuary inside the church. The church, along with the people, inside were destroyed. Today the bell tower from the original church is still standing, slowly deteriorating, as a reminder. The courtyard surrounding the original church is now a burial ground. Here again the people of Taos do not allow outsiders to cross over the walls into the church grounds.
The pueblo, as I said before, is divided into two parts, the North House and the South House, by Red Willow Creek. The North House, Hlaumma, is five stories tall at its tallest. The South House, Hlaukwima, is four stories tall at its tallest. Both structures are still inhabited. Homes are passed down through families and each family is responsible for maintaining its own home which includes plastering with adobe, repairing the roof and maintaining the woodwork.

The entire pueblo is the home of the pueblo people. It should be treated with the same respect that anyone would want their own home treated. Some homes were open with signs indicating that they were shops.

I stopped at one home where a woman and her fifteen year old daughter were selling hotdogs and sodas as a means to raise money for the girl's tuition to the Chamisa School in Taos. It was an incredibly windy day and it felt great to find shelter from the blowing dust. They invited me to sit down and eat inside out of the wind. I was glad for the invitation. While we were talking the girl went outside several times to check when tourists started climbing up to the families second story appointment.

We spoke for awhile about schools and teaching. The Taos Pueblo Day School is for native students from Headstart through eighth grade.

The Taos people speak an unwritten Tiwa language. We discussed the merits of written language versus an oral tradition. In some ways it seems that the oral tradition holds the community together in a way that a written language doesn't. A written language allows anyone willing to learn it to know, or at least think they know, the culture that the language comes from.

I came away with the image of the people of Taos Pueblo as open and friendly, and at the same time righteously wary. With the story of the St. Jerome Church as a reminder and the droves of tourists who would cheerfully climb all over everything in sight like some sort of two-legged locusts, I'm surprised they allow outsiders in at all.