UPDATED August 1st
New additions in the Santa Fe Zuni+ fetish, Katsina, Buckles and Bolos, Earrings and Pin/pendant galleries
TONIGHT IN TUCSON !
A little history;
In the winter of 1612 - 1613 the little known Spanish conquistador and explorer and bon vivant Francisco de la Renta (brother of Oscar), left Mexico City bound for La Ciudad de Los Angeles, which he wanted to see before the tourists ruined it.
While gathering his expedition together, he heard unsettling tales of the treacherous ice flows on the Rio Santa Cruz. Natives along the way warned him repeatedly and his dread grew ever deeper as a tiny expedition drew ever closer. Indeed, at what is now the turn off for Green Valley, 10 soldiers, two Mixtec Indian chaperones and a mule made a U-turn across the median and got into the southbound lane back to Mexico City.
Imagine his relief when upon reaching the fabled crossing he found that the ice had melted !After crossing the a’aki (Tohono O’odham for river) his main camp at Al Chuck son (what is now known as the base of A mountain), on an embankment near an arroyo (Spanish for a’aki) and offered prayerful thanks for their safe deliverance.
After that they held a glorious party (English for fiesta). (They had such a noisy fiesta that the Tohono O’odham later decided to close A mountain at 10 PM each night.)
It was such a fine fiesta that they decreed (fancy for ‘decided’) that each year in Xopool Maxad Exabig (Tohono O’odham for August or short planting season) their descendants would gather to celebrate the occasion. Unfortunately, everyone was in San Diego the next year setting up to first of a chain of fast food Mexican restaurants so no one got together.
And so it went year after year after year after year until 1980 when Bahti Indian Arts revived it with the First Annual Traditional Sonoran Spring Thaw Fiesta. But then another lapse - of 46 years but
yes amigos it is back! and you are being invited to the
Second First Annual Traditional Sonoran Spring Thaw Fiesta
The event will heat up after the day begins to cool off, running from around 7 PM to about 9 PM maybe even longer. There will be refreshments, live waila music and lots of good times and it will be held come jego or juhki (Tohono O’odham for dust storm or rain) so grab your wonami (Tohono O’odham for sombrero which is Spanish for hat) and come join the fiesta!
