San Juan (people)

Location of the San Juan pueblos, neighboring pueblos, and reservations in New Mexico

The residents of San Juan (Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo) are Pueblo Indians and speak Tewa , a language from the Kiowa-Tano language family . San Juan is the Spanish name for Saint John . The Spaniards named their missions after saints of the Catholic Church . The Indian proper name is Oke , but its meaning is unknown. The pueblo is located in the southwest of the USA , at the confluence of the Rio Grande and Chama Rivers in northern New Mexico . San Juan is the largest of the Tewa-speaking pueblos and has been continuously inhabited since 1300 AD.

history

In 1598, Juan de Oñate established the first capital of New Mexico in this pueblo. The following year the Spaniards moved their headquarters to the other side of the river in the village of Yunqueyunque (village on the ravine) . The residents of Yunqueyunque left their pueblo to the Spanish and moved to San Juan. The Spanish were so impressed by the hospitality of San Juan that they named the pueblo San Juan de los Caballeros .

The initial period of goodwill soon turned into a state of discontent and hostility when the Indians experienced the harshness of Spanish laws. The suppression of the indigenous religion culminated in 1675 with the conviction of 47 Indian leaders from several pueblos who were accused of witchcraft and flogged. Among them was Popé , a medicine man from San Juan who later planned, organized and carried out the Pueblo uprising of 1680 and in the course of which the Spanish colonists were expelled from the valley of the Rio Grande. This was the only time the pueblos had united to achieve a common goal.

Afterward, Pope tried to rid the country of Spanish influence and return the pueblos to the old way of life, but his methods became so tyrannical that he soon lost popular support. The Indians returned to the earlier village authorities and the idea of ​​intertribal cooperation was lost. This lack of unity helped Diego de Vargas to retake New Mexico.

Way of life and culture

Today San Juan is in a transition situation and has many internal problems to resolve. Half of the population has left the pueblo to look for work in the urban centers. Those who stayed at home work as farmers or find part-time or seasonal jobs on the farms. There are almost no job prospects for educated young people in the pueblo; nor do they have the right to vote in village affairs because the secular functionaries are appointed and not elected by the religious leaders. This results in little support from the appointed officials in the village.

Despite these tensions, there is an increasing number of ceremonial activities of the pueblo and some rituals have been revived. There has also been a renaissance in the arts and crafts in San Juan; wood-carved dance figures, embroidery and baskets are now being made, along with a growing number of pottery. In 2000 the US census showed 226 residents in the approximately 50 km² reservation .

literature

• William C. Sturtevant (Ed.): Handbook of North American Indians , Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington DC
  • Alfonso Ortiz (Ed.): Southwest Vol. 9, 1979 ISBN 0-16-004577-0
  • Alfonso Ortiz (Ed.): Southwest Vol. 10, 1983 ISBN 0-16-004579-7
• Tom Bathi: Southwestern Indian Tribes , KC Publications, Las Vegas 1995

See also

• List of North American Indian tribes

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Tom Bathi: Southwestern Indian Tribes. Page 16. KC Publications, Las Vegas, 1997 ISBN 0-916122-01-8