Chapter 3 The Indians of New Mexico Pueblo, Navajo, Apaches

Pueblo People They lived in villages called pueblos (Spanish word for towns), and shared similar beliefs, customs, skills, and arts. Language differences among the Pueblo peoples was important because it tends to divide the pueblos, making communication difficult, and has led Pueblo groups to regard themselves as distinct and separate.

WRITE THIS DOWN! The Spanish word pueblo meaning “town” was given to the Indian villages of NM. Pueblo Indians lived in villages and did not share a common language. Different languages has divided the Pueblo peoples for centuries.

Pueblo People The pueblos were stretched from Socorro to Taos in the Rio Grande area and westward to Acoma and Zuni and into Arizona where the Hopis lived in the 1500s. Pueblo houses were from two to five stories high and were terraced. They looked like giant stairways. Houses were made of adobe- mixture of soil, water, sand, and clay.

WRITE THIS DOWN! Adobe is a building material made by mixing soil and water. Most pueblos have no doors or windows at ground level for defense.

Section II: Pueblo Culture Religion was at the center of Pueblo life. Pueblo peoples believed that spiritual forces controlled the day-to-day world in which they lived. Pueblo people were polytheistic – recognized many gods. Kachinas- messengers of Pueblo gods.

WRITE THIS DOWN! Religion was the central part of Pueblo life. Kachinas was the name given to the messengers of the Pueblo gods who were central to the Pueblo religion.

The Pueblo Indians of the Rio Grande Valley practiced irrigation farming. The western Pueblo Indians practiced dry farming and crop rotation. Corn was the main crop but beans and squash was grown as well. Indians added to their food supply by hunting game and the women gathered wild food.

WRITE THIS DOWN! Corn was the main crop grown by the Pueblo Indians.

Section II: Cont……. Western Pueblo peoples traced their blood relationships through their mothers. (matrilineal society) Groups of blood relatives are called clans. Clans were the most important social unit. Eastern Pueblos traced their bloodline through their fathers. (patrilineal society) Clans were not as important among eastern Pueblo peoples.

WRITE THE DOWN! A matrilineal society traces its ancestral descent through the female line.

Section III: The arrival of the Navajo and Apaches. The way of life of the early non-Pueblo peoples of New Mexico is described as nomadic because they all spent at least part of the year on the move. The Navajos and Apaches related to one another in one way and that was by a common language background—Athabaskan. Experts are unsure when the Athabaskan people arrived in the Southwest. Some believe it was the 1200s. Others believed the 1500s, just before the Spaniards arrived

WRITE THIS DOWN! Non-Pueblo Indians of New Mexico were to some degree nomadic. Navajos and the Apaches are related to one another by language.

Section IV: The Navajos Navajos make their living through hunting, gathering, and raiding settlements. They also traded with the Pueblos for corn and cloth. The Navajos became more settled people by building hogans (houses) to live part of the year. They did some farming.

WRITE THIS DOWN! Navajos borrowed many ideas from the Pueblo peoples. Navajos lived in hogans.

Section IV: Cont……. Religious rites were central to all the Navajos did, including curing ceremonies for the sick and rites for sending men off to war. In charge of the Navajo religious rites was the Shaman, a Navajo medicine man. Navajos expressed their concern for the dead by burying the dead quickly. They feared the spirit of the dead person could return to visit the living. Today the Navajos are the largest Indian tribe with the largest reservation in the U.S.

WRITE THIS DOWN! Navajo sand painting is most used with a curing ceremony. The Navajos reservation is today the largest in the United States. Navajos are the largest Indian group in the United States today.

Section V: The Apaches Both groups call themselves “Dine`”, meaning “the People”. Apache and Navajo religion was similar because both believed in supernatural beings had a special concern for the dead had rites to go along with all that went on in their lives. Curing ceremonies (sand painting)

WRITE THIS DOWN! The Navajo and Apache term “dine` ”means “The People.” The Navajo farmed and herded while the Apache hunted and gathered.

Section V: Cont….. Apaches of New Mexico made their living by hunting and gathering. The Mescalero Apaches ate mescal, which is an agave plant, and lived in tipis, cone-shaped tents of animal skin. The Jicarilla Apaches took up farming in the Northeast and lived in tipis. The Chiricahuas lived in wickiups, huts built around oval shaped frames. The Spaniards called them Gila Apaches.

WRITE THIS DOWN! Most Apaches in New Mexico made their living by hunting and gathering. Mescalero Apaches lived in southern New Mexico and ate agave plant. Jicarilla Apaches lived as hunter-gatherers in northeastern New Mexico. Chiricahua Apaches lived in southwestern New Mexico and were called Gila Apaches by the Spaniards.