Visits to Sacred Sites

Articles and Photography from the Santa Fe Sun-News

By Donald Panther-Yates

CD-ROM in Adobe pdf format

These articles with their accompanying photographs were published in the Sun-News over the years from 2004 to 2007. They began when my wife and I moved to Santa Fe in September 2004—unintentionally, I should add, because we originally had our sights set on Phoenix. When we got to Clines Corner in the U-Haul truck we veered off the highway to visit the City of the Holy Faith and simply stayed.

The definition of “sacred site” is a rather loose one. As an American Indian, I regarded every site inhabited by my people as sacred, consecrated by the sheer fact that indigenous tribes had lived there. This was especially the case in the Southwest with its fantastic ruins, admired all over the world as high points of Native North American civilization. I went to pay homage to the ancestors.

There are too many people to thank for the opportunity to visit these places and make this record available to the reader. My chief thanks go to Skip Whitson, publisher of the Sun-News, who printed the pieces, and to Orlando Vigil, who took me to La Bajada and served as a constant source of local information for all the following excursions. I cannot adequately express my appreciation towards all the correspondents and experts who verified historical and linguistic interpretations. To my wife, Teresa Panther-Yates, I am also most grateful.

The Author

Chapters
Petroglyph National Monument
Shadows of Chaco Canyon
Quetzalcoatl’s Cave
Coatis on La Bajada
Hopi
Abiquiu
Hidden Mountain
Diablo Canyon
Pecos Pueblo
Mesa Verde
Inscription Rock
Doorway to Mimbres
Sky City
Fossil Corn at Jémez
Nava Adé
Sandia
Witches and Angels at Taos
Mount Wheeler
Chimayo
Jemez Springs
Tent Rocks
Hovenweep
Aztec Ruins
City of the Holy Faith

Visits to Sacred Sites Sample Pages

Also by Donald N. Yates
The Eighth Arrow
Los Lunas Mystery Stone
When Scotland Was Jewish (with Elizabeth C. Hirschman)

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