Jemez Historic Site honors Pueblo Independence Day

Celebrate Pueblo Independence Day at Jemez Historic Site on Sunday, Aug. 11.

The celebration begins at 7 a.m. with a 13-mile run from the plaza in Jemez Pueblo up New Mexico Highway 4 to the Jemez Historic Site.

Beginning at 10 a.m., visitors will have the opportunity to see traditional pueblo-style dances, and tour Gisewa Pueblo, an ancestral site of the present-day Jemez Pueblo and San José de los Jémez Mission. The event also includes Native arts, crafts and food vendors through 4 p.m.

“The celebration of Pueblo Independence Day at Jemez Historic Site is our most important event of the year because it brings together the people of Jemez (Walatowa) Pueblo and the public to commemorate the resistance and resilience of the Indigenous peoples of New Mexico,” said Katrina Gallegos, regional site manager for Coronado and Jemez historic sites. “It also helps us educate the public about one of the most significant events in New Mexico’s complex history.”

Pueblo Independence Day commemorates the anniversary of the Pueblo Revolt on Aug. 10, 1680. On that day, pueblo people joined one another in rebelling against Spanish colonizers. The revolt was organized and led by Po’Pay, a leader from Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo. Runners were sent to each pueblo with a knotted cord, with each knot representing one day. The morning run symbolizes those efforts made by runners more than three centuries ago. When the last knot was unraveled, it was time for the uprising to begin.

The Pueblo Revolt, which was the only successful revolt by Indigenous peoples in the Americas against a colonizing power, forced the Spanish out of present-day New Mexico south to what is now El Paso. The pueblo people maintained their independence for the next twelve years until the Spanish returned and reestablished a permanent presence in the region in 1692.

Jemez Historic Site includes the stone remnants of the 700-year-old Gisewa village, which was built in the narrow San Diego Canyon by the ancestors of the present-day people of Jemez Pueblo (Walatowa). The name Gisewa refers to the natural hot springs in the area. The site also includes the ruins of the San José de los Jémez Church, a Spanish-built Catholic mission dating to 1621-22. The mission was short-lived, and, in time, the people left the site and moved to the current location of Jemez Pueblo. The museum contains exhibitions that tell the story of the site through the words of the Jemez people, and a 1,400-foot interpretive trail winds through the outdoor ruins.