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Bound to the Mountain: Elders of the Sandia People Break Centuries of Silence Defend Their Sacred Mountain
| Article
# : |
10110 |
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Section : |
CULTURE
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| Issue
Date : |
4 / 1993 |
3,960 Words |
| Author
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James Burbank
James Burbank is a freelance writer based in Albuquerque. |
Once, long sago, in the time before there was a time, there was a black lake for to the north. Beneath its forbidding waters everyone lived in an underworld, all the gods, all the birds, all the animals, and all those that walk on two legs. All the animals and people and birds could talk to one another, because this was a sacred time and no one ever died.
Maybe the sun shone at night in this place like a pale moon, and it was hard to see because when the sun went down in the west, it went beneath this lake. That place was called Sipofene, Lake of the Dead. It was dark, dark, dark. The world rested on top of it. Some people say that there were other worlds beneath this one--the white world on the bottom, the red world, the blue world, and the yellow world. But I say this was Not Even Anywhere Lake, because things had not formed yet; things had not become hard. The world was still unripe, and a mist covered everything up above.
There was a lot of confusion down there, because everything was so dark. There were two Mother, Who watched over summer and winter. The ground was getting ready, things were prepared. The Mothers chose someone to go out and explore, to see if things were okay. Some people say that the Mothers chose the Twin War Gods to go out in every direction and explore. But this is not the way it was. The Mothers chose the Towa (persons), those who watch over the world. They went out to all the four directions, but they found only mist. "The world is not ready," they said.
Some people tell that there was a basket with four seeds. One of the seeds grew into fir tree. In the other basket there were animals made of clay. They had no eyes because it was dark down there, so they always slept. They made a badger from the animal images and told him to dig a hole above to let everyone out. They made a locust cement the opening. But really there were no baskets. The baskets were just made up. Somebody else said there was only one Mother named Beautiful Corn who told Arrow Boy to price a hole through the earth. The hole was too small, so she asked Badger to dig it out. That's what they say. But in truth there were two Mothers. There was a fir tree, too. The Towa climbed it and brought everybody up here. And that's the way it was.
"The Time Before Time"--a Sandia emergence story, as told to the author by Sandia elders.
A history of betrayal
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