Ohkay Owingeh (
Tewa: Ohkwee Ówîngeh ),
known by its Spanish name as San Juan de los Caballeros from 1589 to 2005, is a
pueblo
In the Southwestern United States, Pueblo (capitalized) refers to the Native tribes of Puebloans having fixed-location communities with permanent buildings which also are called pueblos (lowercased). The Spanish explorers of northern New Spain ...
and
census-designated place
A census-designated place (CDP) is a concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only.
CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counterparts of incorporated places, suc ...
(CDP) in
Rio Arriba County
Rio Arriba County is a county in the U.S. state of New Mexico. As of the 2010 census, the population was 40,246. Its county seat is Tierra Amarilla. Its northern border is the Colorado state line.
Rio Arriba County comprises the Española ...
,
New Mexico
)
, population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano)
, seat = Santa Fe, New Mexico, Santa Fe
, LargestCity = Albuquerque, New Mexico, Albuquerque
, LargestMetro = Albuquerque metropolitan area, Tiguex
, Offi ...
. Ohkay Owingeh is also a
federally recognized tribe
This is a list of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States of America. There are also federally recognized Alaska Native tribes. , 574 Indian tribes were legally recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) of the Unite ...
of
Pueblo people
The Puebloans or Pueblo peoples, are Native Americans in the Southwestern United States who share common agricultural, material, and religious practices. Currently 100 pueblos are actively inhabited, among which Taos, San Ildefonso, Acoma, Z ...
inhabiting the town.
Name
Ohkay Owingeh was previously known as San Juan Pueblo until returning to its pre-Spanish name in November 2005.
The
Tewa name of the pueblo means "place of the strong people".
Ohkay Owingeh has the
ZIP code 87566 and the
U.S. Postal Service prefers that name for addressing mail, but accepts the alternative name San Juan Pueblo.
The community was also formally known as the San Juan Indian Reservation.
Geography
Its elevation is and it is located at . One of its boundaries is contiguous with
Española, about north of
Santa Fe.
History
The pueblo was founded around 1200 AD during the
Pueblo III Era. By tradition, the
Tewa people
The Tewa are a linguistic group of Pueblo Native Americans who speak the Tewa language and share the Pueblo culture. Their homelands are on or near the Rio Grande in New Mexico north of Santa Fe. They comprise the following communities:
* ...
moved here from the north, perhaps from the
San Luis Valley
The San Luis Valley is a region in south-central Colorado with a small portion overlapping into New Mexico. The valley is approximately long and wide, extending from the Continental Divide on the northwest rim into New Mexico on the south. It c ...
of southern
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the ...
, part of a great migration spanning into the
Pueblo IV Era
The Pueblo IV Period (AD 1350 to AD 1600) was the fourth period of ancient pueblo life in the American Southwest. At the end of prior Pueblo III Period, Ancestral Puebloans living in the Colorado and Utah regions abandoned their settlements a ...
.
Spanish colonial capital
In March 1598,
conquistador
Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (, ; meaning 'conquerors') were the explorer-soldiers of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires of the 15th and 16th centuries. During the Age of Discovery, conquistadors sailed beyond Europe to the Americas, ...
Oñate traveled from north central Mexico, accompanied by a caravan of Catholic missionaries, a thousand soldiers, colonists, and
Tlaxcala
Tlaxcala (; , ; from nah, Tlaxcallān ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tlaxcala ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Tlaxcala), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. It is ...
n Mexican Indians. The expedition included cattle, sheep, goats, oxen, and horses, and arrived at ''Yungeh''—place of the mockingbird—in present-day Ohkay Owingeh on July 11, 1598.
The people who met him that day, it is written, were hospitable and offered ''Yuque Yunque'' pueblo as guest quarters to Oñate and his party.
On July 12, 1598, he baptized and renamed ''Caypa'' pueblo (present-day Ohkay Owingeh) ''San Juan de los Caballeros'', after his
patron saint
A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...
John the Baptist
John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...
. San Juan de los Caballeros became the first capital of the
New Spain
New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( es, Virreinato de Nueva España, ), or Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain during the Spanish colonization of the A ...
colony of
Santa Fe de Nuevo Méjico. In local history, it is said the event united the two fragmented families of Caypa and Yuque Yunque. Since their arrival from earlier homelands in the northwest, the two pueblos had been divided by the river, split until the expedition party's arrival. When the community offered Yuque Yunque pueblo on the west bank to Oñate, the two fragmented pueblos were made whole again at Caypa. The Spanish capital would be moved in 1610 to
La Villa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de Asís.
Popé
Popé or Po'pay (; c. 1630 – c. 1692) was a Tewa religious leader from Ohkay Owingeh (renamed San Juan Pueblo by the Spanish during the colonial period), who led the Pueblo Revolt in 1680 against Spanish colonial rule. In the first successfu ...
was a local man who rose to be one of the most regarded leaders of American Indian history. He would play a major role in the Pueblo revolt in 1680.
Modern era
Ohkay Owingeh is the headquarters of the
Eight Northern Indian Pueblos Council, and the
pueblo people
The Puebloans or Pueblo peoples, are Native Americans in the Southwestern United States who share common agricultural, material, and religious practices. Currently 100 pueblos are actively inhabited, among which Taos, San Ildefonso, Acoma, Z ...
are from the Tewa ethnic group of American Indians. It is one of the largest Tewa-speaking pueblos.
[
]
"Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo"
''New Mexico, Land of Enchantment''.
New Mexico Tourism Department.
Retrieved March 15, 2014.
The annual Pueblo Feast Day is June 24.
For all pueblos, the actual feast day includes a Catholic mass that is held in the morning. Because of historical relations with the Catholic Church, all pueblos have a church located near the center of the village. Most Pueblo people practice aspects of both the Catholic religion and Pueblo belief systems. The tribe owns the Ohkay Casino and the Oke-Oweenge Crafts Cooperative, which showcases redware pottery, weaving, painting, and other artwork from the eight northern pueblos.
[
]
Demographics
, 1,480 people were estimated to be living in the CDP, with 6,690 in the surrounding Census County Division. The 2010 census found that 1,522 people in the U.S. described themselves as exclusively Ohkay Owingeh and 1,770 as Ohkay Owingeh exclusively or in combination with another group.
Education
It is in the Española Public Schools
Española Public School District #55 (EPSD) or Española Public Schools (EPS) is a school district based in Española, New Mexico, USA. It includes sections of Rio Arriba County and Santa Fe County.
In the year 2000 the district had a total of ...
district. The comprehensive public high school is Española Valley High School
Española Valley High School (EVHS) is a Title-1 public senior high school of the Española Public Schools District, located in Española, New Mexico. Nearly 3/4 of the student body is made up of Hispanic students.
The school is located with ...
.
Notable natives
* Emiliano Abeyta, painter
* Juan B. Aquino, painter
* Lorencita Atencio, painter and textile artist
* Rose Gonzales, potter
* Evelina Zuni Lucero, writer
* Esther Martinez, linguist and storyteller
* Popé
Popé or Po'pay (; c. 1630 – c. 1692) was a Tewa religious leader from Ohkay Owingeh (renamed San Juan Pueblo by the Spanish during the colonial period), who led the Pueblo Revolt in 1680 against Spanish colonial rule. In the first successfu ...
, Tewa leader of the Pueblo Revolt of 1680
The Pueblo Revolt of 1680, also known as Popé's Rebellion or Popay's Rebellion, was an uprising of most of the indigenous Pueblo people against the Spanish colonizers in the province of Santa Fe de Nuevo México, larger than present-day New Mexic ...
* Alfonso Ortiz, professor and cultural anthropologist
* Leonidas Tapia, potter
Gallery
File:Ohkay Owingeh0.jpg, Dancers at Ohkay Owingeh, May 2005
File:Ohkay Owingeh1.jpg, Buffalo Dance
File:Ohkay Owingeh2.jpg, Statue of Popé
Popé or Po'pay (; c. 1630 – c. 1692) was a Tewa religious leader from Ohkay Owingeh (renamed San Juan Pueblo by the Spanish during the colonial period), who led the Pueblo Revolt in 1680 against Spanish colonial rule. In the first successfu ...
, Ohkay Owingeh, May 2005
File:Los Matachines de Ohkay Owingeh.jpg, Los Matachines de Ohkay Owingeh, Christmas 2012
File:CEX D392 The Tewa pueblo of Ohke or, San Juan.jpg, Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo in 1896
See also
*
* Ohkay Owingeh Airport
References
Joe Garcia, Pueblo leader, ready to take on NCAI
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
https://www.indianz.com/News/2005/011282.asp
External links
Ohkay Owingeh Dept. of Education
History of Ohkay Owingeh
Los Matachines at Ohkay Owingeh
photo gallery
Indian Pueblo Cultural Center
at National Park Service
The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational properti ...
San Juan pottery
photo gallery
{{authority control
American Indian reservations in New Mexico
Federally recognized tribes in the United States
Geography of Rio Arriba County, New Mexico
Native American tribes in New Mexico
Pueblo great houses
Tewa
Unincorporated communities in New Mexico
Northern Rio Grande National Heritage Area
Unincorporated communities in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico
Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in New Mexico
National Register of Historic Places in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico
Pueblos on the National Register of Historic Places in New Mexico