March 22, 2011
At MNA’s four weekend-long annual festivals, explore the rich heritage of northern Arizona and the Four Corners region. Meet Native artists, performers, ethnobotanists, and cultural interpreters. Enjoy stories, dances, and songs, and attend Heritage Insight programs to learn more about the Colorado Plateau.
21st Annual Zuni Festival of Arts and Culture • Saturday and Sunday, May 28 and 29
Journey to the Center Place
Members’ Preview and Awards Presentation • Friday, May 27
The A:shiwi or Zuni people, share Zuni language, lifeways, traditional music, and dances. Artists, performers and educators travel from Zuni, New Mexico, an integral part of the cultural landscape of the Colorado Plateau, to share their art and culture. Enjoy the Nawetsa Family Dancers who perform traditional Zuni dances, and music from the Zuni Pueblo Band. See MNA’s newest exhibit A:shiwi A:wan Ulohnanne—The Zuni World, and learn about the importance of art and cultural place-names in the perpetuation of traditional identity. Meet and buy directly from Zuni artists. This event is created in partnership with the A:shiwi A:wan Museum and Heritage Center in Zuni, New Mexico.
78th Annual Hopi Festival of Arts and Culture • Saturday and Sunday, July 2 and 3
The Oldest Hopi Show in the World
Members’ Preview and Awards Presentation • Friday, July 1
A Fourth of July tradition since the 1930s, award-winning Hopi artists from the twelve Hopi villages bring the mesas to Flagstaff. The unique work of carvers, painters, jewelers, potters, quilters, and basket and textile weavers fill the more than 65 artists’ booths. Enjoy cultural presentations, storytelling, music, and dances that fill the Museum grounds during the Fourth of July weekend. Taste Hopi bread and piki baked outside in ovens. Watch Hopi pottery being shaped, painted, and traditionally fired. Walk the Museum’s Rio de Flag Nature Trail with a Hopi medicine woman. Learn about Hopi clans and clan migration, and how the tribe is working to preserve language and agricultural traditions.
62nd Annual Navajo Festival of Arts and Culture • Saturday and Sunday, August 6 and 7
A Walk in Beauty
Members’ Preview and Awards Presentation • Friday, August 5
Weavers and potters work side by side with jewelers and filmmakers during this colorful and exciting summer festival. More than 100 of the finest Diné artists display and demonstrate their innovative expressions of traditional art forms. Meet award winning painters and renowned weavers. Enjoy hoop and social dances, and traditional and modern Native music with the Pollen Trail Dancers and Blackfire. Learn from cultural experts about customs and practices families are using to keep traditions strong. Explore the tribe’s intricate language with a Navajo linguist, and come to understand many ancient legends and traditions. Hike with a Navajo ethnobotanist and learn the Diné uses of local plant life.
8th Annual Celebraciones de la Gente • Saturday and Sunday, October 29 and 30
A Lively Celebration of the Day of the Dead
Members Preview and Lighting of Altars • Friday, October 28
The Museum comes to life for Dia de los Muertos or Day of the Dead, an ancient Mesoamerican holiday held throughout Mexico, Latin America, and the Southwest. More than a dozen Flagstaff families create ofrendas (altars) to display in the Museum’s courtyard. Learn about Day of the Dead traditions and the role of Hispanics in northern Arizona’s history. Enjoy mariachi music, arts, and storytelling. Learn about migration and the blending of cultural traditions. A celebration of all people of Latino and Hispanic origin, this festival is a colorful and vibrant expression of community. It is created in partnership with Nuestras Raices, an organization of Flagstaff Hispanic pioneers.