I grew up going to the Erna Fergusson library in Albuquerque, knowing she was an important historical figure to New Mexico, but I thought her great work was her New Mexican food cook book. My dad used to cook her recipes and they are fabulous. However, I never realized she was a tour guide through the pueblos of New Mexico, and her even greater work is Dancing Gods: Indian Ceremonials of New Mexico and Arizona.

I used Dancing Gods extensively to create the ceremonies in A Sunset Finish.  Each tribe has different dances and different costumes, but there were also many similarities that I culled from for my story. Her writing style is poetic and made what could’ve been a very technical book an enjoyable read. Perhaps my favorite chapters were about the rain ceremonies. In one chapter, she talks about the rainbow and forming clouds before the dance. In another chapter, she talks to a man who’d been away to college and was back to participate in the rain ceremony. They had a very enlightening discussion about how he puts together his knowledge from school with the religion he believes in.

The snapshots into pueblos are from the middle of the twentieth century, and I wish she were alive to do another book now that looks at all the changes that have happened since then. She noted in her book that the Sandia Pueblo (the one closest to me) had been devastated and was just a tiny community. Now they own one of the most successful casinos in New Mexico.

On writing forums I see a few people writing novels with Native American folklore. If you’re writing one that takes place in the Southwest, you have to be sure to read Dancing Gods. The current edition has a forward by Tony Hillerman, who was a famous author from New Mexico.

And Now for the Over 50 Likes Giveaway!

Folklore has always been important to me from the time I was in elementary school. Please post below what culture’s folklore you are most interested in seeing in more fiction. The first five people who post will receive my e-book A Sunset Finish.