The two premier celebrations of Native Americans in the Southwest bring thousands of people to Gallup and Santa Fe during August of every year. The two events run back to back; both are wonderful and entirely different. The Gallup Inter-tribal Indian Ceremonial ended on Sunday, and I want to share a little about it with you.
The Ceremonial features a full plate of traditional Native American events with tribes from across the country participating. They have two parades in town, one on Thursday night and a two-hour parade on Saturday. The rest of the Ceremonial, including dances, pow-wows, rodeo events, art exhibits, food booths, and more, take place at the Red Rocks Ceremonial Grounds, where dancers and rodeo contestants perform against the red sandstone formations around the arenas.
Watching the dancers, young and old, from tribes around North America prepare for the grand entry is inspiring. The pride in what they do and the fabulous outfits they have spent hundreds of hours creating are inspiring! Another awe-inspiring ceremonial dance is called Voladores or Flying Men. It is performed in Mexico and parts of Central America and dates back to the Aztecs. In this fertility ritual, five men climb a 90-foot pole planted in the earth. The pole is only eleven inches wide. One man stands atop the pole, playing a flute with a small drum attached as an invocation. Following this, the other four men throw themselves off the small platforms where they are seated with ropes tied around their waists and circle the pole as the topes unwind. It's worth seeing!
Native Americans and people from around the world attend. Artists can enter their own works in the judging competition, or traders, dealers, or individuals can enter them. Ribbons and checks go to the artists. The artwork is taken to Gallup the week before the Ceremonial opens and displayed in the Exhibit Hall, where they are judged and prizes are awarded. One of my favorite things is to look at ribbons from previous Ceremonials to see who the judges were. Some real legends in Native American art and trading sign these ribbons. Sometimes I find my dad's signature!
The rodeo events are top-notch. The All-Indian Rodeo Cowboy Association has been a top-notch circuit for many years.
The art on display inside is wonderful. It includes everything from the efforts of young people to well-established and famous artists. All the work in the hall is available for purchase. This year, the Ceremonial had record sales.
Alice Begay Weaving
It's a good system for judging rugs because very few weavers can afford to weave a piece and then hold it until the Ceremonial to enter it. What we, and many other traders, do when we buy weavings that we think are good enough to take to the Ceremonial is store them in the vault and save them until the show in August. The only rule is that they must have been made since the last Ceremonial.
This year, we had a great selection to take to Gallup. Burnham weavers Alice Begay, Helen Begay, and Laverne Barber were awarded Blue ribbons in different classes, and Alice also received a second-place ribbon. Victoria Keonie won a blue ribbon in her class and a Best of Category award. Anthony Tallboy won the blue ribbon for a large storm Pattern for the second year in a row.
Anthony Tallboy Weaving
I did not tell any of the weavers that we were entering their rugs this year, so when I texted them photos of their pieces displayed on the walls with their ribbons, there were a lot of surprised and happy replies. What is fun is being at the Ceremonial when it opens the first day and seeing artists walking through to see how they did. Seeing a young person standing in front of the Juvenile Section and realizing their painting has a ribbon on it is worth the whole trip. And it is true with older artists as well.
There is a lot of pride in a ribbon from the Gallup Ceremonial.
