Native American Religion

 

 

 

The Pueblo Revolt was a result of the desire of Hernan Cortez and his band of four hundred soilders to raid the valley of Mexico for its gold, slaves, and the opportunity to "spread salvation" . Within the first hours of interaction between the villagers of the Pueblo and "the horsemen armed with muskets", did the soilders attack the villagers, after their "indiscriminate use of force and demands for blankets, corn, and sexual use of Indian women without socially prescribed gift giving." (Niezen 17) This of course caused the natives to go into defense mode against enemies they saw as "unusual katsina, spiritual ancestors who controlled village prosperity. " (16) This defense was in vain of course, as the Spanish technological power was too much to handle.

 

Furthermore, once the Spainiards and Franciscans became established throughout the land, the need for conversion, at least for the Franciscans, was important because of how easily the natives seemed "readily to give themselves over to satanism and their crowded calendar of religious activities" (19). A certain number of villagers did end up converting to Christianity, but "in the pueblos that lay beyond the immediate reach of the Franciscans, those who were unwilling to give up their traditional influences and practices, 'the medicine men', held sway, supported the native political and military leadership, maintaining healing practices and observance of the ritual calendar..." (22). Because of this, the Spanish "were frustrated with the Indians' continued observance of their rituals, finding it nearly impossible to replace local expressions of "satanism" with Christianity" (22).

 

Finally, after 80 years of "Spanish exploitation, military assaults on native ceremony and belief, and frustration over fruitless efforts to seek redress, Pope began to meet with Tewa and Northern Tiwa war chiefs to find a solution" (23). Soon, as more people began to attend these secret meetings, they started to work out a plan to evict the Spaniards. Only when the Spaniards were low on ammunition, weapons, and horses did the revolt take place. It started in the Tewa region and spread to all the Pueblos. All in all, the revolt was successful in that it lead to a period of 12 years that the Pueblos were free of Spanish domination.