While we know our northern friends may not feel it, in the South, Spring is
here. So we thought we'd share a few of our gardening sites appropriate
for this time of the year. Along with gardening, there's grilling, and getting
ready to diet so that you can fit back into that bathing suit this summer!
Jemez
(from Hä'-mish, or
Hae'-mish, the Keresan name of the pueblo.—Bandelier). A
village on the north bank of Jemez River, about 20 miles north
west of Bernalillo, New Mexico. According to tradition the Jemez
had their origin in the north, at a lagoon called Uabunatota
(apparently identical with the Shipapulima and Cibobe of other
Pueblo tribes), whence they slowly drifted into the valleys of
the upper tributaries of the Rio Jemez, the Guadalupe and San
Diego, where they resided in a number of villages, and finally
into the sandy valley of the Jemez proper, which they now
occupy, their habitat being bounded on the south by the range of
the west division of the Rio Grande
Keresan tribes, the Sia and
Santa Ana. Castañeda, the
chronicler of Coronado's expedition of 1541, speaks of 7 pueblos
of the Jemez tribe in addition to 3 others in the province of
Aguas Calientes, identified by Simpson with the Jemez Hot
Springs region. Espejo in 1583 also mentions that 7 villages
were occupied by the Jemez, while its 1598 Oñate
heard of 11 but saw only 8. In the opinion of Bandelier it is
probable that 10 pueblos were inhabited by the tribe in the
early part of the 16th century.
Following is a list of the pueblos
formerly occupied by the Jemez people so far as known. The names
include those given by Oñate,
which may be identical with some of the others: Arnushungkwa,
Anyukwinu, Astialakwa, Bulitzequa, Catroo, Ceca, Guatitruti,
Guayoguia, Gyusiwa, Hanakwa, Kiashita, Kiatsukwa, Mecastria,
Nokyuntseleta, Nonyishagi, Ostyalakwa, Patoqua, Pebulikwa,
Pekwiligii, Potre, Seshiuqua, Setoqua, Towakwa, Trea,
Tyajuindena, Tyasoliwa, Uahatzaa, Wabakwa, Yjar, Zolatungzezhii.
Doubtless the reason for the division of the tribe into
so many lesser village communities instead of aggregating in a
single pueblo for defense against the persistent aggressiveness
of the Navaho, according to Bandelier, was the fact that
cultivable areas in the sandy valley of the Jemez and its lower
tributaries are small and at somewhat considerable distances
from one another; but another and perhaps even more significant
reason was that the
Navaho were apparently not troublesome to the Pueblos at the
time of the Spanish conquest. On the establishment of Spanish
missions in this section and the introduction of improved
methods of utilizing the water for irrigation, however, the
Jemez were induced to abandon their pueblos one by one, until
about the year 1622 they became consolidated into the two
settlements of Gyusiwa and probably Astialakwa, mainly through
the efforts of Fray Martin de Arvide. These pueblos are supposed
to have been the seats of the missions of San Diego and San
Joseph, respectively, and both contained chapels probably from
1618. Astialakwa was permanently abandoned prior to the Pueblo
revolt of 1680, but in the meantime another pueblo (probably
Patoqua) seems to have been established, which became the
mission of San Juan de los Jemez. About the middle of the 17th
century the Jemez conspired with the Navaho against the
Spaniards, but the outbreak plotted was repressed by the hanging
of 29 of the Jemez. A few years later the Jemez were again
confederated with the Navaho and some Tigua against: the
Spaniards, but the contemplated rebellion was again quelled, the
Navaho soon resuming their hostility toward to village dwellers.
In the revolt of Pueblos in Aug., 1680, the Jemez took a
prominent part. They murdered the missionary at Gyusiwa (San
Diego de Jemez), but the missionary at San Juan de los Jemez,
with the alcalde mayor and three soldiers, succeeded in
escaping. In 1681, when Gov. Otermin attempted to regain
possession of New Mexico, the Jemez retreated to the mesas, but
returned to their village on the evacuation of the region by the
Spaniards. Here they probably remained until 1688, when Cruzate
appeared, causing them to flee again to the heights. When Vargas
came in 1692 the Jemez were found on the mesa in a large pueblo,
but they were induced to descend and to promise the Spaniards
their support. The Jemez, however, tailed to keep their word,
but waged war during 1693 and 1694 against their Keresan
neighbors on account of their fidelity to the Spaniards. Vargas
returned to the Jemez in 1693, when they reiterated their false
promises. In July, 1694, he again went to Jemez with 120
Spaniards and some allies from Santa Ana and Sia. The mesa was
stormed, and after a desperate engagement, in which 84 natives
were killed, the pueblo was captured. In the month following,
Vargas (after destroying this village, another on a mesa some
distance below, and one built by their Santo Domingo allies 3
leagues north.) returned to Santa Fe with 361 prisoners and a
large quantity of stores. From this time the only then existing
pueblo of the Jemez reoccupied was San Diego, or Gyusiwa, which
was inhabited until 1696, when the second revolt occurred, the
Indians killing their missionary and again fleeing to the mesas,
where they constructed temporary shelters. Here they were joined
by some Navaho, Zuñi, and
Acoma allies, and made hostile demonstrations toward the Sia,
Santa Ana, and San Felipe people, but in June of the year
mentioned they were repulsed by a small detachment of Spaniards
from Bernalillo and Sia with a loss of 30 men, 8 of whom were
Aconra. The defeated Jemez this time fled to the Navaho country,
where they remained several years, filially returning to their
former home and constructing the present village, called by them
Walatoa, "Village of the Bear.'' In 1728, 108 oft he inhabitants
died of pestilence. In 1782 Jemez was made a visita of the
mission of Sia.
The Jemez clans are: Waha (Cloud),
Seh ( Eagle), Son ( Badger), Daahl ( Earth), Kyiahl (Crow), Pe
(Sun), Kyunu (Corn), Sungki (Turquoise), Weha (Calabash), Yang
(Coyote), Kin (Pine).
The population of the tribe in 1890 was 428; in 1904,
498, including a score of descendants of the remnant of the
Pecos, who left their old home on the upper Rio Pecos in 1838 to
join their kindred.
