New Mexico & Arizona Badlands
After visiting the Little Colorado River gorge and the Grand Canyon's South Rim, we found that we still had 7 free days before the rafting trip's start. Since Andy hadn't visited New Mexico's fantastic western badlands, we headed east and explored the Bisti and Valley of Dreams badlands for a few days, and also visited the nearby impressive Chaco Canyon ancient ruins. We then decided to head back west to more badlands outside Winslow, AZ (aka the Arizona Painted Hills) .
On the way to Winslow, we saw an I-40 exit sign for the Zuni Pueblo and impulsively decided to detour about 40 miles to check it out. We stopped at the visitor center and found a group of Phoenix area amateur archaeologists heading out on a guided tour and we joined them. The tour's highlight was a visit to the old Mission Church that is now owned by the Zuni and used as a tribal ceremonial center. Instead of Catholic religious images on the building's interior walls, they have painted large murals depicting the 8 ceremonial Zuni dances central to their culture, marking the 4 seasons and their transitions. It was incredibly interesting (& involved). As the tour was winding down, we learned that this year's dance marking the Spring-to-Summer transition was occurring that very evening in the pueblo's plaza. And we were welcome to stand in the background and watch. So a little later we stood on the roof of a plaza building and watched 5 unbelievably beautiful and involved dances. It turned out that there were only about a dozen non-Zuni spectators in the entire large crowd! Each dance was performed by about 150 male and female dancers in full Zuni regalia – masks, feathered headdresses, elaborately beaded clothing, jingling moccasins & skirts, body paint, feathers (women) or weapons (men) in hand, etc. There was a chanter and/or drummer providing timing for each dance's elaborate movements. For example, one dance consisted of four concentric rings of dancers, each ring revolving in an opposite direction. And each ring had one of its dancers, one at a time, spin while dancing in that ring's revolving movement. When a dancer finished their solo rotation, the next dancer in each ring would rotate in that ring. Spellbinding and indelibly imprinted in my memory...and that's a good thing since photos, videos, or audio recordings of Zuni cultural celebrations are strictly prohibited. So, even though they are highlights of the month's experiences, I have no photos of the dances or of the church's interior.
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