Zuni from the Spanish, is the name of both a people and a pueblo. This Pueblo’s original name was Ashiwi, which might have meant "the flesh."
Location Zuni consisted of six pueblos along the north bank of the upper Zuni River, in western New Mexico, at least 800 years ago. It is presently in the same location.
Population In 1990, 7,073 Indians lived at Zuni. Perhaps as many as 20,000 lived there in 1500.
Language Zuni is a language unlike that spoken at other pueblos. Scientists speculate as to a possible link to the Penutian language family.
Historical Information
History Zunis and their ancestors, the Mogollon and the Anasazi, and perhaps Mexican Indians as well have lived in the Southwest for well over 2,000 years. By the eleventh century, the "village of the great kiva," near Zuni, had been built. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries a large number of villages existed in the Zuni Valley. By 1650 the number of Zuni villages had shrunk to six.
Zuni was probably the first native North American village visited by Spaniards, who had heard tales of great wealth in the "Kingdom of Cibola." In 1539, Estavinico, a black man in the advance guard of Fray Marcos de Niza’s party, visited Zuni. He was killed as a spy, and his group quickly retreated. The following year, Francisco Vasquez de Coronado visited the pueblos, ranging all the way to present-day Kansas in search of the mythical Cibola. The Zunis resisted his demands and fled to a nearby mesa top. Other Spanish came in Coronado’s wake. The first mission was established at Hawikuh in 1629. In 1632, Zunis attacked and killed a number of missionaries, but the Spanish built a new mission, Halona, in 1643.
Zuni participated in the Pueblo revolt of 1680. Their main grievances were being forced to supply the Spanish with corn, women, and labor and being punished harshly for practicing their religion. At that time the Zunis lived in three of the original six pueblos. They fled to escape the Spanish, and in 1693 returned to the village at Halona on the Zuni River. A new church was built there, but shortly abandoned, the Zunis preferring their own religion to Christianity. The ancient site of Halona is now modern Zuni.
Left on their own by the Spanish, Zuni was open to raids from Apaches, Navajos, and Plains tribes. Zuni was still self-sufficient as of 1850, although it was on important trade routes and was increasingly raided by both Indians and Anglos. The U.S. government officially recognized a Zuni reservation in 1877, although one far too small to support traditional agriculture. Three outlying summer villages established in the early nineteenth century became permanent in the 1880s, and a fourth such village was established in 1912 or 1914. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the Zuni economy shifted from agriculture to sheep and cattle herding. With the decline of warfare, their Bow society turned to warfare against supposed Zuni witches. The Bureau of Indian Affairs soon called in troops to suppress witchcraft trials, destroying the power of the Bow priests and the entire traditional government.
The opposition of tribal members as well as the failure of the government’s Black Rock Reservation and Dam combined to block implementation of the allotment process at Zuni. Erosion of arable land has been a considerable problem, especially since the debacle of counterproductive, government-mandated canal irrigation projects in the early twentieth century. By the 1930s, the government was promoting livestock as an alternative to agriculture. After World War II, the continuing shift in political power from priests to politicians led to the growth of political parties and the increased importance of the tribal council.
Religion Religion, including membership in religious and ceremonial organizations, was at the core of Zuni existence. The sun priest was highly revered: In charge of solstice ceremonies as well as the calendar, he was held responsible for the community’s welfare. The Zuni recognized six points of orientation, which corresponded to the cardinal directions as well as mythological events. Each had its own color, position, kiva group, medicine societies and priesthoods, and ceremonies. Kivas were rectangular and above ground.
Katsinas, or benevolent guardian spirits, played a key part in Zuni religion. Katsinas represented the rain gods as well as Zuni ancestors. All boys between the ages of 11 and 14 underwent initiation into the katsina cult. At death, one was said to join the katsinas, especially if one was closely associated with the cult. Both men and women could join the curing cult of the beast gods. Its focus was animals of prey who lived in the east.
The Zuni new year began at the winter solstice. A 20-day period during this time was known as Itiwana, or cleansing and preparing the village for the new year. Winter dances took place from February through April. Summer dances began at the solstice and lasted into September, concluding with the fertility ritual called Olowishkia. In late November or early December the Zunis celebrated Shalako, a reenactment by katsina priests of the creation and migration of the Zuni people. The people built six to eight Shalako houses and attended the Shalako katsinas—giant-sized messengers of the rain gods. This festival was accompanied by spectacular dancing and closed the Zuni year. Molawai, or the ritual dramatization of the loss and recovery of corn maidens, immediately followed Shalako.
Government Ruled by heads of various priesthoods and societies, Zuni was a theocracy. Bow priests enforced the rules from at least the seventeenth century on. A tribal council played a minor role in the nineteenth century but a more powerful one in the twentieth century. Zuni accepted the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) and an elected tribal council in 1934 (they ratified a constitution in 1970).
During the eighteenth century, a parallel, secular government developed at Zuni to handle mundane problems. Based on the Spanish model, it was appointed by and responsible to the religious leaders. Offices included a governor, two lieutenant governors, a sheriff, and fiscales (church assistants). These officers acted as liaisons between the pueblo and the outside world and kept order within the pueblo. Metal-topped canes with a Spanish cross served as symbols of authority. Through the years, these were augmented by more Spanish canes, Mexican canes, and then canes given by President Lincoln to reward the pueblo for its neutrality in the Civil War.
Customs Zuni was divided into two groups, people of the north (also characterized as winter or rain) and people of the south (also characterized as summer or sun). Matrilineal clans affected ceremonial roles and certain behaviors. In general, however, ritual activity went through the father’s family, and economic activity went through the mother’s. There were also a number of secret cults and societies, some highly complex, each responsible for certain ceremonies. Zunis traditionally cremated their dead. In modern times the dead are buried, with their possessions burned or buried after four days, following a ceremony that includes prayer sticks and cornmeal. With the exception of certain clan and family taboos, marriage was a matter between the two people involved and was traditionally preceded by a trial period of cohabitation. Divorce was simple and easy.
Dwellings Like other Pueblo Indians, Zunis lived in multistoried houses (pueblos). Men built the structures of stone and plaster, not the adobe bricks used in the pueblos to the east. Ladders led to the upper stories. Floors were of packed adobe and roofs of willow boughs, brush, and packed earth. Women kept the outsides whitewashed. Tiny windows and outside beehive ovens were introduced in the sixteenth century.
Diet Farming was the chief Zuni mode of subsistence. Men grew at least six varieties of corn plus beans, squash, and cotton. The Spanish introduced crops such as wheat, chilies, oats, and peaches. Zunis used dams and sage windbreaks for irrigation. Corn was dried, ground into flour or meal, and served as mush or baked into breads. Food was also obtained by hunting (deer, antelope, and rabbits), fishing, and gathering wild plants (women were the gatherers, and they also kept small garden plots).
Key Technology Zunis used dams and sage windbreaks for irrigation.
Trade The Zuni traded in pottery, baskets, textiles, and shell and turquoise ornaments, among other items.
Notable Arts Traditional arts included pottery, weaving, and basketry (of willow and yucca leaves). In the 1830s they added brass and copper jewelry, which was in turn replaced around 1870 by silver (a skill learned from the Navajo). The Zuni began using turquoise around 1890.
Transportation Women made baskets to transport goods.
Dress Men wove cotton into ceremonial costumes and clothing. Women wore one-piece black cotton dresses, belted at the waist. Both wore moccasins and deerskin leggings.
War and Weapons Zunis who killed an enemy could join the Bow priesthood, which served as an important part of the religious hierarchy. The warrior society has deteriorated in recent years.
Contemporary Information
Government/Reservations Zuni is located at the ancient site of the old village of Halona, in McKinley and Valencia Counties, New Mexico. A continuation of the 1689 Spanish land grant, the main reservation was established in 1877. Three other tracts were added later. Despite the return of their most sacred site, Katsina Village, in 1984, the reservation’s 636 square miles is less than 3 percent of the tribe’s original holdings. Most tribal members live on the reservation.
Zunis elect their own governors and tribal councils, yet the religious leaders remain powerful. Tribal officers’ terms begin during the first week of January and last for two years. Since 1970 the Zunis have controlled their own reservation.
Economy The most important economic activities on Zuni Pueblo are tribal employment and silver and turquoise jewelry manufacture, begun in earnest in the 1920s. People also make pottery, weavings, and baskets. Some Zunis still farm and raise livestock, although by 1900 the tribe had lost 80 percent of its land base to Anglo settlers. Zuni Cultural Resources Enterprise provides local archaeological services, and several individuals have established small businesses. There is also work off-reservation, particularly in Gallup, the nearest city. The tribe received $50 million in land claims settlements in 1990. Various water rights cases remain ongoing, as does planning for economic development.
Legal Status Zuni Pueblo is a federally recognized tribal entity.
Daily Life Most Zunis live in the old pueblo, which has been rebuilt as single-story houses. There are also almost 1,000 houses in nearby settlements. Modern and traditional associations, such as the Lions Club, American Legion, clans, kiva groups, priesthoods and medicine societies, school boards, and cattle, farm, and irrigation associations all coexist at Zuni. The result is a modern but close and cohesive community in which heritage remains vital. Much of the traditional religion, customs, social structure, and language remains intact.
Like other Pueblo Indians, Zunis lived in multistoried pueblos. As shown in this photograph, ladders led to the upper stories, as there were no stairs inside. Tiny windows and outside beehive ovens were introduced in the sixteenth century.
Radio stations broadcast programs in Zuni. Zunis control their educational system (they received a school district in 1980), in which native language and culture figures prominently. The tribe also provides basic social services. Shalako, celebrating in late fall the connections between modern Zunis and the spirits of their ancestors, remains a major ceremony. Races are still held between clans and ceremonial groups. An arts and crafts fair is held in mid-May.
