About an hour and 10 minutes west of Albuquerque on I40 sits the Acoma Pueblo and Sky City. Just northeast, sits a sheer-walled flat-topped majestic mesa called Katzimo by the local tribes. In Spanish it was known as Mesa Encantada, the Enchanted Mesa. The Keres people once lived on the summit, according to the Acoma, and they used a natural rock ladder in order to scale the cliffs from their croplands below. Legend says that while the tribe was all at work in the fields at the foot of the mesa, a terrible storm blew in and enveloped the mountain. 3 women who were too ill to work were trapped on the mountain island when the storm destroyed the ladder along with the entire face of the mountain, leaving no way for the Keres to reach the stranded women. The women eventually died of thirst, and their spirits are said to wander the mesa top of Katzimo to this day. The tribe moved their pueblo to a nearby mesa, and became the Acoma.
Other Acoma legends tell of Coyote's attempts to scale Katzimo. At first, he is tricked by the Bluebirds, who give him feathers to fly to the crest, but then take them back, leaving him stranded with no choice but to fall to the rocks below. Eventually he recovers and talks some pigeons into loaning him more feathers. Once at the top of Enchanted Mesa, Coyote's language proves to be too scandalous for the pigeons, who take back their feathers and strand Coyote once again. Coyote's cries are heard by Spider, who offers to lower Coyote to the bottom on one condition. If Coyote looks up while being lowered, the deal is off and Spider will drop him. Coyote agrees, but his curiosity gets the better of him along the way, and just like in the cartoons, Coyote is dropped off the cliff again.
I doubt the practice still persists, but at one time Acoma boys were sent up the mesa blindfolded as a rite. When the boy was completing their initiation into the sacred mysteries of the kiva, the last step required the trip to the summit carrying a jar of water to propitiate the spirits of the Mesa. It was said that when blindfolded, the boys could climb where a sighted person could not; once completed the initant became a full-privileged man of the tribe.
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