Resilience and culture at Jemez Historic Site, remembering the Pueblo Revolt of 1680
Sate Agency Press Release – From the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs
August 4th, 2025
Jemez, NM – New Mexico Historic Sites celebrates the annual Pueblo Independence Day at Jemez Historic Site on Sunday, Aug. 10, 2025. The celebration begins at 7:00 a.m. with a 13-mile run from the plaza in Jemez Pueblo up Highway 4 to Jemez Historic Site.
From 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., visitors will have the opportunity to see traditional Pueblo-style dances, purchase Native arts and crafts, support food vendors and tour Gisewa Pueblo, an ancestral site of the present-day Jemez Pueblo.
“We celebrate this very important and complicated time in history with a demonstration of different ways our cultures have persevered,” said Marlon Magdalena (Jemez), Instructional Coordinator Supervisor at Jemez Historic Site.
Pueblo Independence Day commemorates the anniversary of the Pueblo Revolt on August 10, 1680. On that day, Pueblo people joined one another in rebelling against Spanish colonizers.
The revolt was organized and led by Po’Pay, a leader from Ohkay Owingeh.
Runners were sent to each pueblo with a knotted cord, with each knot representing one day, and when the final knot was unraveled it was time for the uprising to begin. The morning run symbolizes those efforts made by Indigenous runners more than three centuries ago.
The Pueblo Revolt, which was the only successful revolt by Indigenous peoples in the Americas against a colonizing power, forced the Spanish out of present-day New Mexico south to what is now El Paso, Texas.
The Pueblo people maintained their independence for the next twelve years until the Spanish returned and reestablished a permanent presence in the region in 1692.
Today, Pueblo Independence Day is an important occasion to celebrate the Pueblo people’s cultural traditions, lands, languages, religions, and sovereignty.
Join New Mexico Historic Sites in honoring this important day in history.
Pueblo Independence Day is included with admission of $7 for adults and free to children 16 and younger, Tribal members, NM disabled veterans, NM foster families, and members of Museum of New Mexico Foundation and Friends of Coronado and Jemez Historic Sites. Pre-purchase admission online at my.nmculture.org/44488/45867.
About Jemez Historic Site
Jemez Historic Site includes the stone remnants of the 700-year-old Gisewa village, which was built in the narrow San Diego Canyon by the ancestors of the present-day people of Jemez Pueblo (Walatowa). The name Gisewa refers to the natural hot springs in the area. The site also includes the ruins of the San José de los Jémez Church, a Catholic mission dating back to 1621-22. The mission was short-lived, and, in time, the people left the site and moved to the current location of Jemez Pueblo. The museum contains exhibitions that tell the story of the site through the words of the Jemez people, and a 1,400-foot interpretive trail winds through the outdoor ruins. Learn more at nmhistoricsites.org/jemez.