Who are the Pueblo Indians ?

The Pueblo Indians are a group of many separate Native American tribes living in central to northern New Mexico today. Their ancestors were the ancient Cliff Dwellers and impressive designers of major stone Pueblos who have left behind magnificent stone cities and villages on the plateaus and in the rugged sandstone cliffs of the Four Corners region of New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and Utah. Many of the mythologies, ceremonies and cultural values of today's Pueblo Indians are direct descendants of the ancient Anasazi and Cliff Dwellers, carrying on into the 21st century a unique world view and peaceful way of life celebrated for generations.
The Pueblo landscape is made up of arid lands, meandering rivers, tall mesas and buttes, native corn and squash, turquoise jewelry, woven blankets and beautiful fired earthen clay pottery. They have shared this corner of the world after a long migration many, many years ago. The peoples there today are called the Hopi, Santa Clara, San Idelfonso, Taos, Acoma, and live among other tribes sharing a similar reverence for their sacred land and ways of life.
The story we have chosen for The Eagle Expedition has been gathered from a group of stories illustrated and published by one of the most famous Native American Indian Woman Artists of this century, Pablita Velarde. In hoe book, Old Father the Storyteller, she shares a collection of stories from her native Santa Clara Pueblo, and provides paintings to illustrate their lessons. Old Father was published by Dale Stuart King in 1960. The story we have selected is an excerpt from a longer story, and we call it The Journey Home.

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