The 47th Annual Indian Market in Phoenix showcased fine art, performances, demonstrations, and Native American cuisine. The open-air market was hosted at the newly reopened S’edav Va’aki Museum, formerly the Pueblo Grande Museum and a City of Phoenix Parks and Recreation Department facility. The event deepened my education and appreciation of Native American art, stories, and traditions.

S’edav Va’aki is a traditional cultural place and ancient village site. It continues to be important to the O’odham and other affiliated tribes who remember it in their oral history and song culture. One of the most prominent features on the museum grounds is the platform mound, initially constructed about 900 years ago. It resembles the Bright Ancient House, identified in song, which exists somewhere far to the east. Only a few platform mound sites remain; even fewer are open to the public.

Replica pithouses on the grounds, the earliest homes at Pueblo Grande, were informative into how the local indigenous people lived from AD 450. The houses were built in shallow pits and their wood frame was covered with adobe mud. These were one-room homes arranged around a shared courtyard with a low entryway and a small door, probably for security.

Phoenix Indian Market Artists

Indian Market is family-friendly, with free admission for children 12 and under. General admission to the Indian Market is included with admission to the museum. I especially enjoyed traditional tribal performances, demonstrations, and a variety of Native foods.

Over 100 vendors presented their art in the KI:HIM (O’odham word for village) area. Some came from as far away as Canyon De Chelly, Arizona, and Pueblos in New Mexico; many were locals. All items sold at the Market must comply with The Indian Arts and Crafts Act (IACA) of 1990, ensuring authenticity and quality.

The vendors were easy to talk to and eager to share stories about their artworks.

From the Pueblo of Acoma in New Mexico, Sharon Miller shared a booth with her husband and daughter, all artists. The family’s artwork always includes eight animals representing the four seasons and the four directions. Turtles represent long life; butterflies represent beauty. The tape-wrapped sewing needle Sharon initially used to scratch designs into her small pottery pieces was transformed by her husband into a more functional tool by a simple cast-off Bic pen with the needle replacing the ink cartridge.

Since I began studying pottery making recently, I appreciate how the artists craft their pots. Cory Paul Hubbard, a Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community member, demonstrated how easy it is to make a simple pinch bowl. This hands-on experience inspired me to create pinch bowls on my own.

Emily Malone, a Navajo weaver from Chinle, Arizona, always includes her signature feather at the bottom of every one of her pieces–from table mats to wall hangings and rugs. The larger works take months to complete.

Nicole L. Carlos from the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community specializes in Hulu gum shell etching. After using a brush to apply lacquer in a design on the shell, Nicole places it in an acid bath and watches carefully for up to seven hours to be sure the acid doesn’t eat a hole through the shell.

Lawrence Melendez (Hopi), a carver who once owned Arizona Indian Arts in Winslow, tasted the pigment he used on his carvings to show me how safe they are–an important feature for young children playing with his carved dolls. These are teaching toys. They instruct children, over and over and over, in oral history with carvings and effigies. For example, a doll holding hands on its stomach is called a “bellyache stomach,” teaching kids about their own stomach aches.

Melendez learned this craft from his uncle 35 years ago, sharing with me the importance of being an uncle. Native American societies are generally communal, child-rearing being a shared responsibility. Uncles exemplify the values of mutual care, respect for elders, and interconnectedness central to Native traditions.

Uncles act as supporting father figures and teach nieces and nephews traditional knowledge, skills, stories, and spiritual practices. They are deeply trusted figures; the maternal uncle can be more influential than the biological father in the upbringing of children, with emphasis representing the interest of the mother’s clan.

A section of the Market dedicated to artists under 18-years-old showed how creative traditions regenerate themselves through the generations.

Koda Sekakuku (Hopi), a 14-year-old hiding behind bushy dark hair and glasses, was intently working on beaded jewelry. I asked him when he started making jewelry. He told me at seven. He has already been an artist for half of his life. His family, with Sekakuku Creations, has been in the trade for decades. He joined to start earning his own money, creating lovely, beaded jewelry in his own booth at various Markets his family attends.

Storytelling Through Dance

As a writer communicating through the written word, I am fascinated with Native American oral storytelling traditions. Tribes did not have written languages prior to European contact, handing down details of creation and survival through the spoken word and dance.

The Jingle Dress Dance

The origin of the Jingle Dress Dance goes back to a little girl named Maggie White who was very ill. Her grandparents took her to Native and non-Native doctors, but none could cure her. One night, her grandfather had a dream. It was a dream for dancing and the dress of teardrops. In it, she was happy and healthy.

The following day, he asked the grandmothers to make Maggie this special dress. They put it on her, and she danced around the arbor four times. The first, she was held; the second, she was assisted; the third, she could walk; the fourth, she could dance.

The Jingle Dress Dance is also known as the Healing Dress Dance.

The Hoop Dance

The hoop dance is another way of healing. This intertribal dance is shared at powwows and social gatherings.

Using hoops to create shapes like eagles, plants, flowers, and insects, dancers honor the creatures and Mother Earth.

The Men’s Grass Dance

The Men’s Grass Dance originated in the Northern Plains where long prairie grass grows over five feet tall. Historically, to set up their teepees, tribal members would have to push all the grass down. All the young men were invited to perform a dance to achieve this, looking for sticks, stones, or snake pits, dancing to ensure the safety of elders and children.

Grass dancers are still honored at powwows and they are the first dancers to perform, oftentimes before the grand entry, blessing the dance arena for those coming behind them.