Rio Grande Pueblo Ceremonial & Winter Solstice Dances

with Dr. Martha Yates

December 10, 2026 4 PM CT

 

Winter Solstice is the time when the seeds and earth are resting and the shortest day passes into the longer. Each day the Pueblo people with their dances express gratitude to the earth and thanks to the ancestors, as well as to the creatures we depend upon for our lives. The Deer, Buffalo, Eagle, Turtle, and Matachines are among the ceremonial dances held over these days of the Winter Solstice that will be discussed in this talk.

 

Martha Yates served as a District Archeologist on the Santa Fe National Forest, Santa Fe, New Mexico for many years and has taught at UCLA, the University of California Santa Barbara, and the University of Vermont. She guides archaeological trips through the southwest for national and local organizations, which include the Sierra Club, Santa Fe Community College, Ghost Ranch, and the Universities of New Mexico and Utah. Her PhD is from UCLA in Greek Classics, where she studied Bronze age and Minoan archaeology. She has led several archeology tours for the Doel Reed Center.