Jewelry expression

Zuni Pueblo-made necklace and inlay earring
Photo by Venaya Yazzie
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2017

Happy International Women's Day!

I am happy to have been born a female. Gender roles in my tribal cultural ways are very important. Much of what my desert people believe is rooted in the spiritual way of life - its an intangible way of belief and we have our roles as cultural people: male and female.

Much of what I am seeing in today's American culture seems to be working on 'blurring the lines' of what is male and female, but that is not the ways of my Navajo and Pueblo people. One concept of my culture that is outstanding though and that shares expression by both male and female individuals is that of southwest cultural adornment.

This image I share consists of a Zuni Pueblo-made necklace and inlay earrings. I love to wear this combination together. Both are primarily made up of shell product, that is mother-of-pearl shell.  I wore this today in recognition of the ways in which my desert matriarch 'adorn' themselves on a daily basis.

Blessings.