Manta

This garment extends a millennia-old Puebloan artistic practice of weaving cotton to create wider-than-long wearing blankets. Here, embroidered sections of vibrant wool run across the top and bottom borders. Medallions on the lower section depict butterflies and rainclouds—imagery central to the annual cycles of Pueblo religious performances. A dancer likely wore this garment as a shoulder covering or a kilt. Today, dancers on the Hopi mesas in Arizona and other Pueblo communities in New Mexico continue to make and use similar textiles.