esidential area <strong>of</strong> 114 family units, says more. The pueblo-style houses are set in green yards with flowers and shrubs, and each has a carport shading a car or pickup. Glancing at <strong>the</strong>m, I could assume that tribal mores are a thing <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> past, but I would be wrong. On June 13, <strong>the</strong> Tiguas still honor <strong>the</strong>ir patron saint, San Antonio, with ancient ceremonial dances in front <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir church. They have retained <strong>the</strong>ir tribal political and religious formats, revere <strong>the</strong> land and its animals and still bake <strong>the</strong>ir bread in outdoor adobe ovens. They respect local herbs for <strong>the</strong>ir curative powers and desert plant life as nourishing food. In a small, windowless building called <strong>the</strong> tuhla, <strong>the</strong> tribal elders (<strong>the</strong> cacique, war chief, captains and mayordomos) still preserve <strong>the</strong>ir sacred objects—buffalo masks, ceremonial canes and <strong>the</strong> tribal drum. Tradition insists that <strong>the</strong> drum came south with <strong>the</strong> original people. It is around this drum that most <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> tribe's vitality still seems to revolve. Before important decisions are made, <strong>the</strong> elders "talk to <strong>the</strong> drum." Beating a slow, steady rhythm, whispering into a hole in its side, listening with ears attuned to insights far beyond words, <strong>the</strong> elders learn <strong>the</strong> long, mythic truths that function beyond everyday facts and figures. Talking with Tiguas, I am assured <strong>the</strong>y firmly intend for <strong>the</strong>ir culture to live. To do that, <strong>the</strong> people have always 48 November, 1981 Right: Master potter Alex Ramirez uses local red clay. Below: The use <strong>of</strong> traditional motifs in <strong>the</strong>ir pottery has helped revitalize Tigua tribal pride. had to reaffirm that conviction. In spite <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> fact that King Charles V <strong>of</strong> Spain granted <strong>the</strong> Tiguas clear title to 36 square miles <strong>of</strong> land and river in 1751, <strong>the</strong>ir hold became tenuous as non- Indian, Mexican farmers plowed closer and closer, becoming increasingly greedy for easy access to <strong>the</strong> river and irrigation. In my judgment, <strong>the</strong> most significant explanation for <strong>the</strong> Tiguas' new lease on life is <strong>the</strong>ir still-abiding conviction that <strong>the</strong>y will preserve and pass on to <strong>the</strong>ir children <strong>the</strong> heritage <strong>the</strong>ir forebears passed on to <strong>the</strong>m. When Texas became an American state in 1845, <strong>the</strong> Tiguas's problem became more complicated. Texas entered <strong>the</strong> Union on a footing equal "with <strong>the</strong> original states in all respects whatsoever." Texas adopted <strong>the</strong> 13 original states' hands-<strong>of</strong>f unconcern for <strong>the</strong>ir Indians, and ignored all her aboriginal peoples. In 1852, <strong>the</strong> state did recognize <strong>the</strong> Spanish crown's Ysleta Land Grant as valid title to <strong>the</strong> now-American portion <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Tiguas' original acreage. But even this proved largely meaningless as American towns grew up around it, leaving <strong>the</strong> Indians to till <strong>the</strong>ir shrinking fields, to hunt surreptitiously for rabbits and o<strong>the</strong>r small game on desert land that had always been <strong>the</strong>irs—despite what o<strong>the</strong>r folks said. In 1872, Ysleta del Sur, by <strong>the</strong>n an ethnic mixture <strong>of</strong> Anglo, Mexican and Indian peoples, became an incorporated town—without <strong>the</strong> Tiguas' being consulted—and, as such, free to dispose <strong>of</strong> its public lands as it saw fit. When <strong>the</strong> town was <strong>of</strong>ficially dissolved three years later, it had sold <strong>of</strong>f or politically given away almost all <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Tiguas' crown grant. The Indians were left with nothing but cloudy titles to <strong>the</strong>ir adobe hovels—one-half square mile <strong>of</strong> Indian land—and bitter resentment. Ano<strong>the</strong>r blow fell in 1955 when El Paso, Texas annexed <strong>the</strong> Ysleta area, and <strong>the</strong> Indians suddenly became subject to property taxes amounting to over $100 per family per year, at a time when <strong>the</strong> average Tigua family annual income was under $400. Since <strong>the</strong>n, <strong>the</strong> picture has vastly improved. The Tiguas give credit to an Anglo, El Paso attorney, named Tom Diamond. It was Diamond's personal feel for <strong>the</strong> tribe and his skill in <strong>the</strong> courtroom that brought <strong>the</strong> Tiguas to Continued on page 51
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