Culture
Pueblo prayer included substances as well as words; one common prayer material was ground-up maize—white cornmeal. Thus a man might bless his son, or some land, or the town by sprinkling a handful of meal as he uttered a blessing. Once, after the 1692 re-conquest, the Spanish were prevented from entering a town when they were met by a handful of men who uttered imprecations and cast a single pinch of a sacred substance.
The Puebloans employed prayer sticks, which were colorfully decorated with beads, fur, and feathers; these prayer sticks (or talking sticks) were also used by other nations.
By the 13th century, Puebloans used turkey feather blankets for warmth. Cloth and weaving were known to the Puebloans before the conquest, but it is not known whether they knew of weaving before or after the Aztecs. But since clothing was expensive, they did not always dress completely until after the conquest, and breechcloths were not uncommon.
Corn was a staple food for the Pueblo people. They were what was called "dry farmers". Because there was not a lot of water in New Mexico, they farmed using as little water as possible, which restricted what they could grow. Because of this, they mainly would farm many types of corn, beans and squash. They would use pottery to hold their food and water. (See also: Agriculture in the prehistoric Southwest)
Read more about this topic: Puebloan Peoples
Famous quotes containing the word culture:
“Anthropologists have found that around the world whatever is considered “men’s work” is almost universally given higher status than “women’s work.” If in one culture it is men who build houses and women who make baskets, then that culture will see house-building as more important. In another culture, perhaps right next door, the reverse may be true, and basket- weaving will have higher social status than house-building.”
—Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen. Excerpted from, Gender Grace: Love, Work, and Parenting in a Changing World (1990)
“... good and evil appear to be joined in every culture at the spine.”
—Flannery O’Connor (1925–1964)