TIMELESS TAOS PUEBLO

It’s the land of the enchanted mesa, of crackling cedar logs in kiva fireplaces, of clouds billowing in across the plain, of the smoke of house fires from the pueblo rooftops. Surrounded by the pine-lined Sangre de Cristo Mountains, the 95,000-acre Taos Pueblo is said to be the oldest continuously inhabited community in the United States. For over 1,000 years the Tiwa Pueblo people have called this land home. The tribe traces its origins to the sacred Blue Lake, high in the mountains above the Pueblo.

For the Indians of Taos Pueblo, life has been a continuing struggle against external forces which have come into Taos. Taos Pueblo was agrarian, and was raided by nomadic Indians such as the Navajos and Apaches. Later, Spanish Conquistadores and settlers, French traders and trappers, and finally, American settlers exerted their influence on the tribe. The people of Taos Pueblo have miraculously survived all outside influences and have still retained their individuality. They live without electricity or running water, performing the same tasks in the same manner as their ancestors have for the more than 1000 years of the Pueblo's existence. Men herd sheep and women remove loaves of flat bread from open hearths. The Indians of Taos Pueblo remain keenly independent of spirit and mind. They continue to speak Tiwa, which is still an unwritten language, and strive to maintain a balance between their traditional way of life and the modern world.

If you go - Visitors are welcome to the Pueblo, located in the shadow of the sacred mountain, but they must observe its rules and respect the customs of the native people.