So today I went to Feast Day at
Tesuque Pueblo, where I got stuffed like a goose and had to roll my way out of there. This particular feast was the November 12 Feast of San Diego, and I went there to meet my old friend
John Pen La Farge, author of "Turn Left at the Sleeping Dog." I was running late so I just wandered around the church on the Plaza until I ran into someone I knew - David, a local videographer and skateboarder. He pointed me in the direction of a house where his mom
Tammy Rahr, the beader, was seated with a cast of a dozen people - eating. That's what people do at feast day, they eat, and soon, I was eating too.
No sooner had I finished than I was invited to another house, and then another. Six houses in all I ate something at each one, and then I settled in a chair to watch what we were obstensibly there for - the deer dancers.
Ever seen Deer Dancers dance? They stoop across the Plaza on these little half canes to the sound of a slow and steady drum beat. Something about watching them made me feel really rooted to this place, really proud to live here even though this is only my culture by extension, only my culture because I bother to show up, eat my fill, and watch the Deer Dancers dance.
