Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo Fall Buffalo Dance [SOLD]

Animal dances at New Mexico Pueblos are performed in the fall and winter as a celebration of thanksgiving for bountiful game. Often, Deer, Antelope, Rams and Buffalo are seen in the same dance. The hunter takes on the spirit of the animal he has hunted during the year. He thanks the spirit of that animal, and he asks for good luck for next year's hunting.

Padilla has presented two male and two female Buffalo dancers. The females are beautifully outfitted in traditional pueblo clothing. The hair pieces represent a squash blossom on one side and elaborate colorful feathers extending to the other side. They wear beautifully embroidered skirts and white rain sashes.

The male dancers each wear a buffalo head piece with equally elaborate feathers hanging down the back. Their skirts are adorned with a water serpent and tin cones hanging down from the bottom. In their right hands they carry a gourd rattle and in the left a buffalo lightning stick.

The painting was executed in 1985. It is signed Oyegi Pin and dated in lower right. It is double matted and framed with a simple metal frame. It is in original excellent condition.