Day 27- Tigua Reservation

I apologize for the delayed blogging. I’ve been too lazy, too tired, or too busy to blog. But I am about to make up for the past 5 days because A LOT has happened and it has been one of the most memorable weeks in El Paso thus far.

So let me begin with last Saturday. The girls and I attended the Cultural Arts Market at Ysleta Mission, which is a church on the Tigua Reservation. The Tigua are the only Pueblo Indians in the state of Texas and I got to see a little bit of their ways. I was beyond excited, especially because I am going through a phase in my life where Native American history is something I want to become really familiar with since at some point I want to work with Indians, medically. But until that happens, knowing about this history, their values, their culture and their present situation is vital, which is why reading about it necessary. Simply stepping foot the Tigua’s independent territory was something I have always wanted to do. Just standing on land that belongs to these Pueblo Indians holds a significant meaning because it is theirs.

As we entered the Cultural Arts Market, we saw booths all lined up selling various objects, jewelry, food, and clothing. I made sure to stop by every booth, even though I may have known from the very beginning that I had no intention of purchasing anything from that spot. It’s important to see everything. The very first booth had bags, but not just any kind of bags. The bottom half of the bags were made from turtle bellies. The buttons made from deer horns and the overall cloth made from cow hide. The woman behind the booth stated “A real Native American doesn’t let anything go to waste.” I just smiled and continued to touch the bag that was created out of three different animals, thinking to myself that I have heard that before, several times.

I continued my walk through the booths and really only wanted one thing: a turquoise ring. The belief is that turquoise would bring rest to the dead and since the stone is a mixture of the colors green (embodying the earth) and blue (embodying the sky), turquoise would attract good spirits. I honestly had no idea until after I had bought two of them, one green and one blue. My shopping for that day was complete and I was content.

A little while after, there were performances by children and adolescents, 2 girls and 2 boys. They wore tribal attire and danced to their tribal music, the live drum beats that the drummer created. After a couple of dances with the four performers, one boy did a solo performance. He did the Eagle Dance. His attire even made him appear as an eagle. As the master of the sky, the eagle is considered a carrier of prayers. “Many Indian Nations honor this bird as possessing courage, wisdom, and a special connection to the creator.” Last semester I had done a 45 minute presentation on a Native American poet, Joy Harjo and the poem that I had used to describe her and her ideals was called “Eagle Poem.” I felt as if I had some sort of reference, connection and even tie to the performance because of my previous readings and research that at that moment while the dancer was performing the Eagle Dance, my heart was just really happy.

Once the performers were finished dancing, the host called everyone to come and join them. And so naturally, the ladies and I joined them. We all held hands and moved around in a circle (with a specific type of footwork, but honestly I was just trying my hardest to not fall). We raised our hands as we moved in a circular motion to the beat of the drums. I could not help but smile my whole way.

After we left the Cultural Arts Market, we wondered around the Tigua community to see what else was around. The only thing we came upon was a casino called Speaking Rock which is apparently very well known in El Paso. We also saw the houses of the Tiguas that had a mixture of modern and pueblo looking style appearances. It was soon time to search for a bus stop since a couple of drops of rain warned us. And so we went back home, me- tired and oh so happy.