GUIDE TO NATIVE AMERICAN FEASTS, CEREMONIALS, POW WOWS

Are you planning a trip out west?  The tribes and pueblos of New Mexico welcome non-tribal visitors to some Feasts and Ceremonials throughout the year.  It is a glimpse into cultures of great dignity and beauty, delicious traditional foods, enormously varied jewelry, arts and crafts and ancient religious rites. 


These events have fascinated outsiders for over 100 years, and a large and prosperous tourist industry supports Native American silversmiths and artists.  Some events, like the annual Navajo Intertribal Indian Ceremonial ,  Navajo Nation Fair, Eight Northern Indian Pueblo Arts & Crafts Show, Navajo Rodeos , and Pow Wows, are organized, in part, as a bridge between cultures. 


No special knowledge or permission are needed to attend and visitors from all over the world have the chance to feel at home in the midst of Native American beauty.


Other special events, such as the Pueblo Feasts, Dances & Ceremonies , and Saint's Days are primarily community events, with sacred dances that serve religious and cultural traditions.  Visitors are welcome, and jewlery, arts and crafts are sold, but they are secondary to the rites centered in the plazas, at the heart of the pueblos.  They deserve, and require, extra courtesy and respect from outside visitors.

When attending these events, you will want to conduct yourself so as to be a welcome guest.  Being a good guest means observing traditional courtesies and following tribal rules and guidelines.  These guidelines from the Pueblo Cultural Center will help:

• Treat residents with courtesy (as you would like to be treated), respect their ways, and observe the posted restrictions they have put in place to preserve the beauty and uniqueness of their land and people.
• While attending dances, please watch and listen in silence. Each dance is a prayer, and requires concentration.
  Please do not talk to the dancers, walk on the dance plaza, or applaud once a dance is over.
• Do not bring alcohol or drugs to the pueblo.
• Drive slowly. The pueblo is the residential area of their people. Please drive with care.
• Respect the privacy of the pueblo residents and their homes, and the sanctity of their community.
• Always ask permission before photographing residents of the pueblo.
• Do not litter.
  

Traveling through New Mexico and the Southwest is a thrilling experience.  There are beautiful mesas, rolling grasslands, distant blue mountain ranges, clean invigorating air, a giant sky and ancient cultures who welcome visitors from all over the world.  You can take some of this beauty home with you.  Native American jewelry , pottery
                                                                                                   
 dream catchers & shields , kachinas & fetishes , art , and crafts are lovely to own, and have become more collectible in recent years.   You can take advantage of the warmth and welcome of Native American Pueblos & Tribes and enrich your life with a visit to the land of the Anasazi.