Indians of the Mesa Verde

by Don Watson

The men spend most of their time in the kivas while the women and children gather around the fires in the courtyards. The turkeys roost in the back of the cave at night and come out in the daytime to wander about the courts and roof-tops and fight with the dogs for scraps of food that are thrown to them. During periods when there is deep snow in the canyon, the turkeys are fed small amounts of the precious corn but in late winter they grow thin and bedraggled. When they are not roaming about the city searching for food they sit in quiet rows on the housetops, feathers fluffed against the cold. The turkeys are highly prized, both for their meat and for their feathers, but they lead a miserable existence. They do not thrive in the cold shadowy cave and the flocks usually are not large. Not only are they tormented by children and dogs but regularly they suffer the indignity of having their feathers plucked for use in ceremonies and in the manufacture of feather blankets.

As the end of winter draws near the food becomes more monotonous. Many of the tastier foods are gone: the supplies of pinon nuts, dried fruits, roots, squash and dried berries are completely exhausted. Now each meal consists of meat, corn bread and beans. Sometimes the meat is fresh but usually it is meat that was dried last fall. This meat is as hard as rawhide and must be pounded with stones and thoroughly cooked before it can be eaten. In order to gain variety the women bake the corn bread in every possible way and corn meal, meat and beans are combined in numerous forms. Still the food is monotonous and everyone longs for something green.

In February the snows become heavy and wet and in the latter part of the month there is rain. Even though the rain does not come into the cave everything becomes damp. The days are getting warmer now and as a result a foul odor hangs over the city.

At any time of the year a strong odor of decaying animal and vegetable matter and human offal fills the cave. Out in front is the great trash pile and in the rear is the trash room where the turkeys roost and where some of the dead are buried. In addition to this, the people have no idea of personal sanitation. In the warmer seasons they usually step outside the cave but in the winter they merely step back into the turkey roost or out on the front terraces.

Because of this there is always a heavy odor about the city. In the summer it is not so bad for the women often sweep out the houses and courts and throw the trash out in front of the cave where the hot sun drys out the waste materials. In the winter there is less of this cleaning and the trash and filth accumulate. The dampness in the air causes mould and mustiness and when the warm wet days of late winter come the air is foul with the odor of decaying matter.

The people do not notice this odor. Their first breath of life was like that and they merely think it is the way air smells.

As the end of winter draws near the cold grows less intense. There are still occasional snowstorms but they are warm and wet and melt rapidly. The mesas are soggy with mud and small streams of water trickle over the cliffs as the snow disappears. The air is warm and balmy: during the middle of the day it is often hot. Grass turns green in the sheltered spots and the buds on the shrubs begin to swell. Chipmunks and squirrels come out of hibernation to greet the spring.

The people of Cliff Palace have been noting all of these signs and there is a stir of activity in the city as they throw off the cloak of winter. It was this promise of spring that helped them through. Sometimes they have been cold and there has been sickness and death. At times there has been a heavy pall of sadness over the city. Now all that is over for spring is in the air.

The people are happy and smiling as they bustle about preparing for the work that is ahead. The men think of their farms, the women think of making pottery, repairing and building houses, and arranging marriages. The children, turkeys and dogs think of nothing: they merely dash out of the shadowy cave into the warm spring sunshine.

Our year with the people of Cliff Palace has ended. Spring, summer, autumn and winter have passed. Now spring has arrived to start the eternal cycle all over again.