Pueblo Chrismtas by Robert Mirabal
Museum of Indian Arts and Culture/
Laboratory of Anthropology
Winter Traditions will be celebrated at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, on Sunday, December 6, 2009 from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. The event is free.
Robert Mirabal (Taos Pueblo) will perform his newest seasonal piece Pueblo Christmas, there will be storytelling and book signing by Jonathan Warm Day (Taos Pueblo), a dance performance by Daryl Sakeva (Hopi), and family, hands-on Christmas activities, and refreshments.
Winter Traditions at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture will recall Christmas Eve at Taos Pueblo, where the smoke of bonfires turns the dusky sky black as embers shoot up to mix with starlight. Gunfire echoes in the frigid air and when the church doors open we hear the traditional hymns sung in Spanish and in English, accompanied by a violin and native drum.
On this night, nowhere in America do Native American, Hispanic, and Anglo cultures so freely mingle to share the spiritually of the season—creating a palpable sense of unity and hope.
Growing up at Taos Pueblo, Mirabal celebrated the holidays in all his family’s indigenous ways and with Christian traditions. “I am the product of that swirl of smoke and dogmas from more than one culture,” he says. “Our Native religion is based on a 24/7, 365-day spiritual concept. We’re a completely Nature-based culture—but then on the corner of the Pueblo there’s a Catholic Church. For many Americans, Christmas is one of the few times they become conscious of their spiritually and it feels appropriate for me to find something that connects with them at this special time.”
Jonathan Warm Day, also raised at Taos Pueblo, (whose work is on view in MIAC’s current exhibition, Native American Picture Books of Change, closing January 3, 2010) said, “In my work… I hope to help preserve a record of the traditional life of our people and to educate those who know little of us, desiring that increased knowledge and understanding will help all of us to live better with one another and with the natural world.”
For more information about this free event the public may call 505-476-1269 or visit www.indianartsandculture.org.
Media Contact
Joyce Begay-Foss, Director of Education
MIAC
505-476-1272
Photo:
http://www.prlog.org/
