^{This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website}

San Ildefonso Pueblo-Tewa Nation - New Mexico (U.S.)

Native American

image by Donald Healy, 31 January 2008

The band
The flag

See also:

The Band

map image by Peter Orenski based on input from Don Healy

San Ildefonso Pueblo-Tewa Nation - New Mexico

Jewelry of silver and turquoise, pottery of reds and black and other natural shades - these are the two things that come to mind when one thinks of the artwork of the Southwest. These are also the things that inspire the symbols of the Pueblo of San Ildefonso.

Located approximately twenty miles northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico the Pueblo of San Idelfonso is home to about 600 members of the Tewa speaking Pueblo Indians making it one of the smaller Pueblos in population. San Ildefonso does have a great wealth of artistic heritage, its pottery is some of the finest Native pottery coming out of the region. Several noted modern potters have emerged for San Ildefonso.

The Flag

The seal of the pueblo is basically a bird done in the distinctive artistic style of the Tewa and comprised of four main colors found in the arts of New Mexico. Turquoise is used on the legs and lower body of the figure. A deep reddish rust color of the clays found in the area is used to color the head and wings. Black and white make up the tail feathers, the end of the wing and the eye. The artistic style of the bird recalls the designs found on the pottery and jewelry produced by the people of San Ildefonso.

The bird rests on a white disc that bears the name "San Ildefonso Pueblo" in turquoise arcing across the top of the disc and TEWA in black below it. The white disc is enclosed by a silver-gray ring bearing the phrase "Where the Water Cuts Through" in English at the bottom and Tewa at the top where it reads "Po-Wok-Ge-Oweenge". This lettering is in the same reddish rust color as the bird's head.

When used on the pueblo's flag, the seal rests on a field of silver-gray. One can see the silver jewelry bedecked with stones of turquoise, black onyx, white quartz and red coral in the overall look of the flag. It is a graphic tribute to hundreds of years of artistic talent found in a small pueblo just up the road from Santa Fe.

© Donald Healy 2008
information provided by Peter Orenski, 31 January 2008