Cultural Unity

Like Americans gather for Thanksgiving, or flock to Time Square in New York or watch on television to mark New Year’s Eve each year, it is very likely that the Anasazi also had annual observances to note the passage of time and the approach of the future. Other cultures around their world continue to observe their own annual ceremonies based on the solar clock that measures our planet’s 365 passage around the sun each year.

The symbolic Anasazi roads, the incredible engineering feat of Pueblo Bonito with its lack of sufficient kitchens, and the abundance of kivas so people could gather in large groups, all points to the possibility that it was the central ceremonial center for the Anasazi.

Chaco Canyon held the clock of time, and the equivalent of the world’s greatest cathedrals, mosques, or temples. It may therefore be  where the Anasazi gathered to revere their sacred ways and to celebrate the coming season’s promise of strong and fruitful life.

We can still see today the physical evidence that provides insight into the political and religious practices of these First Americans.