DCA News:

Jemez Historic Site (JHS) will host the annual commemoration of Pueblo Independence Day Sunday, Aug. 13.

Visitors will be able to watch dancers from Jemez Pueblo, tour the ancestral village of Giusewa Pueblo and San José de los Jemez mission, shop arts and crafts from local vendors, and grab a bite to eat. Adrian Wall, a popular local musician, will be performing throughout the day, as will dancers from Jemez Pueblo.  

The day begins at 7 a.m. with a 13-mile run. The Pueblo Revolt of 1680 was catalyzed by runners sent to all the pueblos, and to reflect that history, a group of runners tackles the stretch from Jemez Pueblo to JHS along Highway 4 every year. The runners who complete the 13 miles will receive a blessing inside Giusewa Pueblo’s reconstructed kiva, which is on the grounds of JHS. 

Pueblo Independence Day honors the events of Aug. 10, 1680, the day the Pueblo people united to drive the Spanish from their homelands. By that time, the Pueblo people had endured nearly 100 years of colonization, turmoil, and the loss of cultural traditions.

Po’Pay, a holy man from Ohkay Owingeh, organized the revolt: he sent runners to each of the pueblos with a knotted cord. Each knot represented a day. When the last knot was untied, the day of uprising had come. The revolt was successful, forcing the Spanish to modern-day El Paso, Texas, and the Pueblo peoples won their independence. The revolt was successful, though the Spanish ultimately returned in 1692. 

Pueblo Independence Day is an important occasion to celebrate the Pueblo peoples’ cultural traditions, lands, languages, religions and sovereignty.