Isleta Pueblo, New Mexico
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Isleta Pueblo
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Ruins at Isleta Pueblo
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| Location: | U.S. 85, Isleta, New Mexico |
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| Coordinates: | 34°54′31″N 106°41′30″W / 34.90861°N 106.69167°WCoordinates: 34°54′31″N 106°41′30″W / 34.90861°N 106.69167°W |
| Area: | 155 acres (63 ha) |
| Built: | 1613 |
| Architectural style: | Pueblo Style |
| Governing body: | Governor, Tribal Council |
| NRHP Reference#: | 75001162[1] |
| Added to NRHP: | September 5, 1975 |
Isleta Pueblo is an unincorporated Tanoan pueblo in Bernalillo County, New Mexico, United States, originally established around the 14th century.
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[edit] Overview
The population of Isleta Pueblo consists of mostly the Southern Tiwa ethnic group (Spanish: Tigua[2]) who speak Isletan Tiwa, a variety of the Southern Tiwa language (of the Tanoan family). The other variety of Southern Tiwa is spoken at Sandia Pueblo.
Isleta Pueblo is located in the Rio Grande Valley, 13 miles (21 km) south of Albuquerque. It is east of and adjacent to the main section of Laguna Pueblo (a Keresan group).
Culturally, Pueblo groups have been divided into two group classes, a Western Pueblo group and an Eastern Pueblo group.[3] Isleta Pueblo in this view is an Eastern Pueblo.
Isleta Pueblo's casino is served by the New Mexico Rail Runner Express, a commuter line from Belen to Santa Fe, at Isleta Pueblo station.
[edit] Social organization
Isleta (as well as Sandia) have matrilineal non-exogamous corn groups which are connected with directions and colors, a moiety system (one moiety connected with the winter, the other with the summer), a kiva system. The people have their own dialect of language called Isletan.
Kachina cults are also found in Isleta, but this being more characteristic of Western Pueblos may have been introduced by Laguna people in more recent times.
In an interesting article published in The Santa Fé Magazine on June,1913, Rev. Anton Docher describes the early 20th century's life in the Pueblo,[4] and notably the administration of the Pueblo fully recognized by the United States Government: "A Cacique appointed for life, has the supreme power over his subjects". A governor is elected yearly by the people with two assistants, and occasionally a grand council meets. The governor is the judge in civil cases only (crimes are turned over to the district courts). A war captain and other officials have charge of the various celebrations and dances, such as the "dance of the kings" in January, the "tortoise dance" in February...
[edit] History
The name Isleta is Spanish for "little island". The native name of the pueblo is "Shiewhibak" meaning "a knife laid on the ground to play whib (a native footrace)".[5] The Spanish Mission of San Agustín de la Isleta was built in the pueblo in 1612 by Spanish Catholic Franciscans. During the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, many of the pueblo people fled to Hopi settlements in Arizona, while others followed the Spanish retreat south to El Paso del Norte (present-day El Paso, Texas. After the rebellion, the Isleta people returned to the Pueblo, many with Hopi spouses. Later in the 1800s, friction with members of Laguna Pueblo and Acoma Pueblo, who had joined the Isleta community, led to the establishment of the satellite settlement of Oraibi. Today, as well as the main pueblo, Isleta includes the small communities of Oraibi and Chicale.
On October 21, 1887,the Father Anton Docher went in New Mexico where he was ordered as a priest in the Cathedral of Santa Fé.[6] After three years in Santa Fé and one year spent in Taos, he arrived in Isleta December 28, 1891.There , he met his long term friends Adolph Bandelier[7] and Charles Fletcher Lummis.[8]At this time Pablo Abeita (no relation to Diego or Louise Abeita) was governor of Isleta. Anton Docher served for 34 years in the historic St. Agustin Mission Church (one of the oldest in the country, built in 1612),until 1928 when he died. He is buried with the Padre Padilla near the altar of the church in Isleta.
On October 26, 1919, the King of Belgium Albert I together with the Queen Elisabeth of Bavaria and Prince Léopold,during their official visit to the United States of America, journeyed to Isleta , the King decorated of the Order of Léopold Pablo Abeita and father Anton Docher[9], which offers him a turquoise cross mounted in silver made by the Isletans.[10] 10 000 persons journeyed to Isleta for the occasion.
Today, the pueblo operates the Isleta Eagle Golf Course and Isleta Lakes Recreational Complex.
[edit] Cultural references
Isleta is mentioned in Willa Cather's 1927 novel Death Comes for the Archbishop, Book Three Chapter 1. The houses are described as white inside and outside.
Isleta during the early 1900 is also abundantly described in the biography of Anton Docher: "The Padre of Isleta The Story of Father Anton Docher" by Julia M. Keleher and Elsie Ruth Chant (1940–2009).
[edit] Notes
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2009-03-13. http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov/natreg/docs/All_Data.html.
- ^ Note that Spanish Tigua only referred to the Southern Tiwa and not the larger Tiwa grouping including the Northern Tiwa ethnic groups Taos and Picuris.
- ^ Another view groups the pueblos in three cultural groups: Western, Eastern, and Keresan (or Central).
- ^ Anton Docher. The Quaint Indian Pueblo of Isleta.The Santa Fé Magazine,1913,vol.7,n°7,p.29-32.
- ^ Frances Densmore. Music of Acoma, Isleta, Cochiti, and Zuñi Pueblos.Washington : U.S. G.P.O., 1957, p.1.
- ^ Anton Docher. The Quaint Indian Pueblo of Isleta.The Santa Fé Magazine,1913,vol.7,n°7,p.29.
- ^ Keleher and Chant. The Padre of Isleta. Sunstone Press, 2009, p. 41.
- ^ Keleher and Chant. The Padre of Isleta. Sunstone Press, 2009, p.88 .
- ^ Keleher and Chant. The Padre of Isleta. Sunstone Press, 2009, p. 94.
- ^ W.A.Keleher.The Indian sentinel.1920,vol.2. p.23-24
[edit] External links
- Isleta Pueblo website
- Isleta Pueblo info
- Isleta Pueblo on New Mexico Tourism Dept. website
- "Isleta Pueblo". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913. http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Catholic_Encyclopedia_(1913)/Isleta_Pueblo.
- Julia M. Keleher and Elsie Ruth Chant, The Padre of Isleta: The Story of Father Anton Docher, Sunstone press Publishing, 2009. [ for more information ]
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