Origin Story According to Acoma lore, the Pueblo’s roots trace back to a group of wanderers who were told by the gods to go south in search of refuge. Eventually, they found themselves in a glorious valley, looking up at picturesque sandstone bluffs. And that’s where they settled in 1150 A.D., building their village at the top of the area’s tallest mesa. They called it Acoma, meaning “a place prepared,” according to a popular interpretation. At 365 feet, its isolation provided the perfect defensive position against neighboring tribes, wildlife, and other 12thcentury dangers. Aside from the majestic setting, the village was and still is simple by architectural standards. The adobe brick homes are set up mostly in three rows of interconnecting three-story buildings. Each level connects via ladders, creating a confusing maze of residences that serve as the only way to enter the buildings. The only way up: a hand-carved staircase cut into the sandstone nearly 1,000 years ago. The village was perfect for a while as the Acoma people lived a peaceful life of solitude, farming corn, beans, squash, turkeys, and tobacco; hunting for antelope, deer, and rabbits; and gathering seeds, berries, nuts, and more. And that’s the way it stayed until the mid-16th century.
That chance meeting changed the Acoma. They learned new farming techniques from the Spanish and maintained a mutually advantageous relationship for a few decades. It didn’t last long. By 1598, the relationship with the Spaniards soured when the Acoma learned that a conquistador named Juan de Oñate declared his intent to colonize the Acoma land. In an effort to defend their homeland, the Acoma ambushed a group of Oñate’s men, killing 11 in the process. The fiasco didn’t end there. Oñate took revenge in grand fashion, attacking the Acoma with an army in a fierce threeday battle known as the Acoma Massacre, in which the Spanish all but destroyed the Acoma Pueblo and killed more than 600 people. After the pueblo surrendered, the nearly 500 survivors were put on trial, found guilty, and sentenced by Oñate to extreme punishments. Men and women between the ages of 12 and 25 got 20 years of slavery. Men over the age of 25 received forcible amputation of one foot. The pueblo’s boys and girls were put into the custodianship of various Catholic priests. By 1606, Oñate resigned from his post and was convicted of cruelty to natives and other colonists. He was banished from New Mexico. Unfortunately, getting rid of Oñate didn’t bring much peace to the Acoma people.
Troubled Relationships The first time the Acoma Pueblo had contact with the outside world was when Spanish explorers led by Francisco Vázquez de Coronado stumbled across the tiny outpost while heading north from Central America around 1540.
Introducing Catholicism By the early 1600s, the Acoma began rebuilding the pueblo but remained under Spanish rule. That meant Catholic missionaries were spreading to the area, and, in an attempt to convert the Indians, Acoma traditions were
136
J U LY 2 017
PHOTOGRAPHY: (PREVIOUS SPREAD) LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, (THIS PAGE) COURTESY SKY CITY CULTURAL CENTER & HAAK’U MUSEUM
A modern-day view of Acoma Pueblo village and mission church from the east.