Yesterday a few of us headed up to Chaco Culture National Historical Park to celebrate the summer solstice and to see and film dancers from Zuni Pueblo. Since 2001, the park and the Friends of Native Cultures have been organizing the appearance of native dancers each solstice. Chaco is considered an ancestral homeland for the Pueblo people, so the events surrounding solstice at the park are quite powerful.
Last year, we took pictures and met dancers from Hopi. Three years ago, we photographed the Tewa Dancers From the North for the Traditions of the Sun project with NPS and NASA. This year the Fernando Cellicion Traditional Zuni Dancers performed in the plaza of the great house of Pueblo Bonito. We saw three dances, the Turkey Dance, the Pottery Dance, and the Buffalo Dance–which the photographs below show.
We have many photographs of all three dances we’re still sorting through them. Myself or Emily will post more over the next few days.
Thank you for the photos. I was inspired by the sun dagger at Fejada Butte near or in Chaco Canyon, to paint a sunlight-colored stripe on my sidewalk showing the path of the sun shining between my house and the house next door. It’s a narrow gap of about 2-3 inches and the sun can shine through only at this time of year. On June 21 it makes its clearest path at 4:27 p.m. and we gather on the sidewalk to burn sage and honor our relationship to the cycle of the year.