On Saturday, May 25 and Sunday, May 26, the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff presented its 23rd Annual Zuni Festival of Arts and Culture. This year’s festival showcased four cultural interpreters who shared how they perpetuate traditional Zuni identity. They talked on the Zuni history of emergence and migration, reclaiming Zuni farming knowledge, bringing balance to the land in this time of climate change, and the complex history of Zuni art.
Artists, performers, and educators traveled from Zuni, New Mexico to share their arts, talents, and culture at this event. Visitors enjoyed traditional Zuni dances, music from the Zuni Pueblo Band, and meeting and
buying directly from Zuni artists. This event is created in partnership with the A:shiwi A:wan Museum and Heritage Center, which will bring historic archival films of Zuni life for visitors and Zuni people, alike, to
view.
I have attached a picture of the pottery dancers. They were amazing. And they were all related! Mom and daughter (with no pots on heads) sang and drummed. The other three ladies (cousins and nieces) with the pots on their heads, danced, spun in circles and were amazing. And check out all the turquoise on these ladies! WOW!! Oh, and those smiles....they are genuine! They were laughing and joking around. They were having the best time and were so happy to be at the festival and grateful to be able to share their culture with all of us. They had all of us smiling and laughing. It was like being in a room of ko
There was also a "family dance" and the entire family danced....Little ones from age 4 up to young adults AND dad doing the drumming. Especially inspirational was the Eagle Dance. Two men with huge feathered wings attached to their arms danced. They looked like they were floating. It was beautiful to watch and their energy was amazing. It seemed like the more they danced, the more energy they got! There will be two more festivals. July and August: celebrating Hopi and Navajo.