On Monday 13th of October 2025, the Indigenous People's Day, Santa Fe welcomed the Third annual Honouring Native Nations POW WOW, with a huge presence of participants: drummers, singers and dancers representing a wide band of tribes, and hundreds of attendees.
Organised by the Santa Fe Indigenous Center, this event, which symbolised an opportunity for unity, celebration and reconnection, after three successful editions held in the National Historic Landmark of the Santa Fe Plaza, has now become a Tradition for the State Capital of New Mexico.
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| One moment of the Intertribal Dance Circle at the Santa Fe Plaza |
Taking part of this Pow Wow (my first Pow Wow) has been a great achievement for me personally. This event is the main reason I had chosen to be in Santa Fe around that time, to begin with. So, this date was signed on my agenda since long before, and I was looking forward to it. The day finally came: Monday 13th of October. But that morning the sky was not promising well... Till the last minute, I was uncertain about the weather. From the forecasts, and also looking at the threatening clouds, it apparently seemed that it could be raining all day long, or so...
Nevertheless, around midday, I felt compelled to get dressed and go anyway, so I simply went: I came out of my door and walked fiercely from Gomez Road to the Santa Fe Plaza, in spite of the clouds getting greyer and the forecasts getting worse. The atmosphere was electrifying like when a great feast is about to happen and everyone gets excited and the sounds from far distances start to be heard in the air.
When I arrived to the Plaza, I started to listen to the voice of the Master of Ceremonies amplified by the speakers and echoed by other voices, and I started to see all kinds of people gathered there, plus other people arriving from all directions. Native men, women, teenagers and children were wearing their majestic regalia. I was speechless.
I perceived the tingling sensation of a solemn celebration going on, while suddenly a ray of sun pierced the clouds and the sunlight began to shine brightly over the Plaza!
Just in that moment, everything changed: the first drum beats broke the silence and Pow Wow officially opened up. In matter of instants, the energy shifted and I was propelled into another dimension.
I completely immersed myself in the spirit of the drummers, the singers and the dancers. I was surrounded by the potent force of the tribes, I could enjoy their chanting, fill myself with the notes and colours of their beautiful creative expressions and even dance among them when the circle of dance opened up to the intertribal dances.
I surrendered to all emotions: tears rolled along my cheeks while I was listening to the songs, big smiles illuminated my face when I could join the circle of the dancers...
All what I wanted was to be there!!!
Click on this link to go to the article published by journalist Cormac Dodd on the "Santa Fe New Mexican":
Click on the following link to watch the YouTube video
by the "Santa Fe New Mexican":
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| A FATHER WITH HIS CHILDREN, DRESSED UP WITH THEIR REGALIA |
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| DANCER WAITING TO ENTER THE PLAZA |
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| Moment of the Grand Entry & Parade of Nations at the Honoring Native Nations Powwow in Santa Fe |
As Indigenous groups in years past pushed against the celebration of controversial explorer Christopher Columbus, who brought genocide, enslavement and colonization to Native communities in the Americas, New Mexico officially designated the second Monday of October as Indigenous Peoples Day in 2019.
At least four drum groups assembled themselves in a circle around the base of the Soldiers’ Monument, all that remains of what was long a 33-foot-tall obelisk honoring Civil War Union soldiers. The monument, a source of controversy for decades due to an inscription also dedicating it to soldiers who died in battle with “savage Indians,” was toppled on Indigenous Peoples Day in 2020.
Click on following link to see a clip of the drummers
belonging to the group "Southern Slam Singers" from Zia Pueblo:
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| A dancer's family members tie up elements of his regalia ahead of a dance |
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| One of the dancers in his unique colourful regalia |
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| Adrian Tsosie, who is Diné, Zia, Jemez, Pecos, Hopi and Comanche, holds up his 4-month-old son, Nakoa Tsosie, and carries him around the Plaza for the Honoring Native Nations Powwow |
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| A Native elder proudly showing up with his magnificent regalia recalling the symbolism of the Turkey Spirit Animal |
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One of the youngest and most talented dancers at the Pow Wow |
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| Myron Burger / Black Bear, a member of Shuswap Nation in Canada and a resident of Santa Fe |
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| Myron Burger / Black Bear photograohed by a local reporter |
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| Myron Burger / Black Bear moving in circle among other dancers |
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| Each performed dance features very involving rhythms, astonishing regalia and a huge display of energy  |
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| An elder woman sitting in front of the sign with the rules of the Pow Wow Etiquette |
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| A beautiful Native woman posing for me to portray her |
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| THE PRESENCE OF THE CHILDREN AND THE TEENAGERS WAS VERY SIGNIFICANT IN THIS POW WOW: A REMARKABLE SIGN OF CONFIRMATION THAT THE NATIVE TRADITIONS ARE GOING TO BE CARRIED ON INTO THE FUTURE |
Click on the following link to see a clip of the dance of the warriors:
I remained there till later on, totally engaged, the afternoon seemed to last forever, and I jumped to join the circle of the dancers whenever the Master of Ceremonies announced that whoever so desired could participate to the inter-tribal dances...! I ended up hand in hand with Native artists who invited me to follow them and I surrendered to that wave of celebration, becoming part of it! The sun was almost setting when the clouds, that for some hours had almost disappeared, eventually started to reunite again on the Santa Fe sky. At a certain point I felt it was time for me to leave: I innerly said "goodbye" to the Plaza and to the beautiful people animating it, I headed towards my rented casita in Gomez Road, walking down the streets on an enthusiastic rush of gratitude and love, and arrived 'home' just on time before the first drops of rain started to fall... I continued to stay connected with that sense of sacred community that had pervaded me, and to think about those magnificent Native artists who surely were keeping on performing until they could, maybe even to the point to get wet from the rain... Their endurance and fierceness, their way of being humble and noble at the same time, their awareness of their unicity and their openness to include into their ancestral rituals even strangers (even me!), in a sort of a new enhanced spiritual dimension encompassing the ones who intend to reach out with respect: all of that hit me profoundly and has left a deep impact in me.
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| ME, REJOYCING AFTER THE DANCES |
My personal wish is to have again the chance to part of some other Pow Wow as soon as possible, to keep on celebrating the Native Nations together with their drummers, singers and dancers, sustaining their performances and their willingness to show their beauty, their culture and their tradition to the world.
