Proposed Historical Origins of the Tablita Dance of the Rio Grande Pueblos

Summary

The Tablita Dance, commonly known as the Corn Dance, is a well-known event among the Rio Grande Pueblos where, in connection with saint’s days, it is performed during the growing season. The corn dance may occur at other times as well, but without a linkage to the village patron saint. A number of diverse factors, however, indicate that this dance as known today is a post-Hispanic aspect of Pueblo ceremonialism. In addition to the dance’s obvious link to the Catholic patron saint of each Pueblo, is the bannered standard of proposed native Mexican origin, and finally the absence in prehispanic Pueblo art for the distinctive iconography of this dance. In this paper I explore this proposal with the supporting evidence from Aztec codices, Spanish documents, and prehispanic Pueblo rock art and kiva murals to suggest that in origin, this ritual occasion is more complex than a simple synthesis of homage to a patron saint tacked on to a preexisting ancient indigenous ceremony.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 20433