Taos Pueblo Off The Beaten Path

Many merchant booths surrounded the dance area selling jewelry, food, pottery and other crafts. However, the hottest selling items were from the T shirt booths which sported two popular shirts. One showed a sillouette of an Indian brave on a horse and the shirt read "Home Land Security, Fighting Terrorism Since 1492. " The other read "Native Americans Discovered Christopher Columbus Lost at Sea in 1492"

I was quite surprised that the opening ceremony was more like an American Legion event. There was the presentation of the colors ( American Flag) and many speeches about veterans who had served in the United States Armed Forces.

Not all of the Native Americans here were from the Taos tribe. Several of the ones that were, however, speak a language called Tiwa.

These young dancers waited patiently in the sun for their turn to enter the huge circle surrounded by the spectators.

I would guess that there must have been over 200 participants in native dress that were involved in this event.

I was very pleased to see that the children were learning the dances to carry on the culture of the various tribes.