article
Zuni sacred theater
American Indian quarterly • 7 (3) • Published In 1983 • Pages: 93-110
By: Tedlock, Barbara.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
Annually the inhabitants of Zuni Pueblo participate in a series of dramatic ceremonial performances, some of which are public and others secret. These ceremonies, or as Tedlock calls them 'dramatic theatrical performances', both celebrate and help to unite the social, economic, political and religious aspects of the community by the manipulation of a set of symbols rather than a set of explicit beliefs encoded in religious doctrines or creeds (p. 93). In this article the author describes in detail how these symbols operate in the general course of Zuni ceremonial performances. The document includes a wealth of information on participating groups (<native>kiva</native> groups and curing societies), the determination of the proper time for the ceremonies(based on celestial observations), and the description of the ceremonial garb, paraphernalia, and masks of the performers. Special emphasis in this work is placed on the <native>Shalako</native> ceremony and feast held in late November or early December.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Organized ceremonial
- Prayers and sacrifices
- Priesthood
- Ethnometeorology
- Sacred objects and places
- Dance
- Sodalities
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Zuni
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2009
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- North America
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Southwest and Basin
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- article
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Ethnologist
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- John Beierle; 2007
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1969
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- not specified
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Zuni Pueblo, New Mexico, United States
- NotesAdditional notes
- by Barbara Tedlock
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 109-110)
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 74647596
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Zuni Indians