Celebrating Pueblo Feast Days

Feast days are a time to gather and celebrate Pueblo culture and community. These days celebrate specific saints in Catholicism, including each Pueblo’s patron saint. Feast days are also heavily influenced by Pueblo religious practices. They include traditional Pueblo dances, music and food, giving Pueblo community members a chance to reconnect with their ancestral traditions, as well as with family and friends. 

Feast days are often open to the public, with Pueblos welcoming visitors to share in their celebrations and traditions. Visitors who are interested in attending should contact the Pueblo that they want to visit at least two days in advance to confirm that it will be open to guests during the feast day. Guests are also expected to observe feast day etiquette and be respectful of the living community that they are visiting.

Certain community members open their homes to visitors, continuing the tradition of sharing food and hospitality with others. Visitors should enter as they would any other home, by invitation only. While it is courteous to accept an invitation to eat, guests should not linger at the table, since the host will likely want to serve many other guests throughout the day. Guests should thank their host, but payments or tips are not appropriate.

Sharing food, hospitality, and culture is an important part of feast days. These practices honor longstanding Pueblo traditions while celebrating and connecting the communities that continue them. Community members who participate in these traditions ensure that they will continue for generations to come.