Sunset Crossing of the Shalako

During the Shalako, the Zuni Pueblo winter solstice ceremony, the six messengers to the gods, each representing one of the cosmic directions (north, south, east, west, up, and down) gather outside the village at sunset and prepare to be led into Zuni Pueblo by a group of attendants. The Shalako messengers are tall, beaked spirits who carry prayers of the Zuni residents to the gods throughout the year. Helen Greene Blumenschein likely attended the ceremony at multiple times throughout her life, although attendance at present is by invitation only. Depictions of the Shalako are generally forbidden, so it is likely Blumenschein completed this painting from memory.