An afternoon trip to the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center

What a fun afternoon...we went to the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center here in Albuquerque they represent 19 Pueblos most of which are in New Mexico. This is such a huge part of our local culture here and it is easy to forget that their way of life is still alive and not just a part of the past.

Added after I re-read this passage above....here I say it is a huge part of our lives but easy to forget...easy because the Pueblos where families live are not in the City but oftentimes you can go to places and easily hear 3 different languages being spoken by one family one of which will be a Pueblo Indian language. I think we forget because they are people, just people who live and work in the same places as the rest of us-they just have a history with the local land. Feast days, Pow wows and local celebrations or presentations (like the one we saw) are just reminders of this history past and present. But in New Mexico all you have to do is drive for 10 minutes in one direction and you will be reminded of the open spaces, the beautiful vistas, the age of New Mexico both it's landscapes and it's peoples.

We got to stay long enough to see some dancers-now they were not from a local Pueblo but from another tribe and were just dancing this particular day....isn't their dress amazing? The eagle feather warbonnet is just beautiful...

This kid was so cute, his mom made his entire outfit and the headdress is made from porcupine fur...they were laughing because I told the girls not to be scared that he was a kid like them and would not bite them, maybe, and then the giggles started

I had to ask the girls to get close to this dancer to fit in my camera phone frame but they were a little freaked out by his outfit-turns out he was just another person lol or at least that is what the girls told me afterwards

There was also this great kid hoop dancer who was amazing but alas I could not get a good shot of him....

all those designs and clothes are just so inspiring for sewing

couple of clowns messing with my cell phone....and notice the pics are all fabulous cell photo quality...turns out I was using crappy old rechargeable batteries in my camera and it did not work when I went to turn it on...SIGH

And FYI if you do go to the cultural center you can take pictures but you can NOT video the dances themselves-there are a lot of cultural rules and etiquette also associated with visiting the Pueblos themselves