The Zia Pueblo

The term "pueblo" means village in Spanish. For Native Americans it has been
applied to those villages that have one special type of architecture, the multi-family,
multi-story structures employed by various tribes in the southwestern United States. Six
main nations are grouped under the term "Pueblo Indians", the Hopi of Arizona, the Zuni
of the New Mexico-Arizona border regions and the four tribes that stretch up and down
the banks of the Rio Grande River in New Mexico - the Tiwa, the Tewa, the Towa and
the Keres (ENAT, 206-209).

The Pueblo of Zia is part of the Keres Nation. This pueblo has been occupied
continuously since about 1250 A. D. ("Welcome to the Pueblo of Zia", Pueblo of Zia,
udated pamphlet). The current boundaries of the Pueblo of Zia Reservation comprise
about 190 square miles or 117,000 acres (AID, 42) situated approximately 35 miles
northwest of Albuquerque, New Mexico .

It is this pueblo that has supplied New Mexico with its very recognizable
symbol, the Zia Sun symbol.

Dr. Harry Mera, a physician and anthropologist at the Museum of Anthropology
in Santa Fe was inspired by a pot that was on display in the museum (Leslie Linthicum,
"Native Sun", article from unknown magazine, undated). That pot, made by an
anonymous Zia potter in the late 1800s featured a circle of white ringed in red andfrom
each of the four prime directions three rays emanated from it. In the center were two
triangular eyes and a rectangular mouth in black. From this pot, Dr, Mera came up with
the red ring with four rays that marks the paramount symbol of New Mexico today. In
1925, the state of New Mexico adopted Dr. Mera's burgundy sun on a field of gold as the
new state flag of New Mexico. Today, the burgundy appears as bright red, but only that
slight color change differs from Dr. Mera'sdesign.

To the Zia people, the sun symbol is an ancient design. It reflects tribal
philosophy with its wealth of pantheistic spiritualism teaching the basic harmony of all
things in the universe ("The Zia Sun Symbol", State of New Mexico, udated, pamphlet).
To the Zia, four is a sacred number, as it is with many other Native American peoples. It
recalls the four directions, the four seasons, the sunrise, noon, evening and night phases
of the day and the four stages of life - childhood, youth, adulthood and old age. Four
personifies the number most often used by the "Giver of all Good Gifts". The Zia also
believe that man has four sacred obligations - to develop a strong body, a clear mind, a
pure spirit and a devotion to the well being of his people. . All of this is reflected in the
symbol chosen to represent New Mexico.

To celebrate their link with the prime symbol of the state in which they live, the
Zia have adopted a white flag bearing the red Zia sun symbol exactly as it appears on the
New Mexico state flag (Stanley Pino, Governor, Pueblo of Zia, letter dated March 21,
1995). Above the Zia sun is the black inscription "Pueblo of Zia". Surrounding the
entire flag is a black border (sample drawing of the flag provided by the Office of the
Governor, Pueblo of Zia). The combination of red, white and black harken back to the
anonymously made pot in the Santa Fe museum.

It ties the Zia people through their pottery to a very popular design that goes well
beyond the almost 700 residents of Zia (AID, 42). It brings their history, their culture and
their traditions into a modern design in a modern state that overlays a culture nearly
1,000 year old.

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