Know What The New Mexico State Emblem Means?

The New Mexico state emblem is one of the most instantly recognizable state emblems and it has a special meaning. It was also straight up highjacked from Native Americans.

The New Mexico state emblem represents several different things and was a sacred symbol of the Zia Pueblo. It was "appropriated" for use on the state flag in the 1920's.

The theft of the design began with the theft of a pot.

An anthropologist from Kentucky named James Stevenson was studying Native Americans in NM for the Bureau of American Ethnology. As he studied the Zia, he earned their friendship and trust. Which they would soon regret.

They invited Stevenson to sacred rituals during which he saw the Zia symbol on a pot. He asked to buy the pot and when the Zia declined, he stole it. Nice.

What Does The Zia Symbol Mean?

The Zia valued their relationship with the universe very highly as well as the number 4 which is why 4 is so prevalent in the Zia symbol. It's 4 series of 4 lines around a circle, with each line representing the 4 phases of 4 aspects of life. Here's the deal:

The Zia sun symbol represent the four cardinal directions, the four seasons of the year, the four period of each day (morning, noon, evening, and night), and the four seasons of life (childhood, youth, middle age, and old age). The center of the sun symbol stands for life itself - ip-watch.org

READ MORE: Most Feared Tribes In Teas And New Mexico

It also represents the 4 things people should aspire to have - a strong body, a clear mind, a pure spirit, and a devotion to the welfare of others.

How Was The Symbol Stolen?

After Stevenson stole the pot with the symbol on it, it wound up in a private collection where another anthropologist, Harry Mera, saw it. In the mid 1920's, a contest was held to design a state flag for New Mexico. Mera remembered the design and entered it into the contest.

Mera's entry was chosen and the state now had a flag; albeit one with a stolen emblem on it. The pot was eventually, in 2000, returned to the Zia and the design officially recognized as theirs.

This happened before Native Americans had the right to vote so their complaints went ignored. The symbol became so widely used, it was declared "public domain" which allowed anyone to use it for pretty much anything and gave the Zia nothing.

As this article notes, anything you buy with the symbol on it is basically copyright infringement. If you want to flaunt the symbol with a clear conscious, the Zia Pueblo has a website where they sell it on lots of things using some of the proceeds to fund scholarships.