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Special Event
Event
Cultural Demonstration: Flint Knapping with Dave Chavarria
This event has already occurred. This page is provided for reference only.
Fee:
Free.Repeating Event
Days:
Every day
Dates:
October 07, 2024 to October 08, 2024
Time:
2:00 PM
Duration:
1 hour
Type of Event
Cultural/Craft Demonstration
Exhibition/Show
Talk
Description
Join us at Valles Caldera National Preserve's Ranger Station on Monday, October 7, and Tuesday, October 8, for a flint knapping demonstration by Dave Chavarria at 2:00 pm!
Dave Chavarria is a beading and flint knapping artist from the Pueblo of Santa Clara, New Mexico. As a young boy, Dave would hunt arrowheads outside his family home in Santa Clara. He always wanted to learn how to make them, but no one in the village knew how — it was, in many ways, a lost art in his community. Years later, Dave struck up a conversation with someone at work while waiting in line in the cafeteria one day. The conversation evolved to the two men talking about flint knapping, which eventually led to Dave finally learning the craft. Today, Dave hand carves knives out of mahogany, obsidian, and other materials found in the southwest near Santa Clara. He also creates deerskin sheaths and pouches with intricately beaded designs. The smaller pouches (neck pouches) can take up to 6 hours each to make, and they are traditionally used to carry tobacco, medicine, or items used for protection. The larger pouches are called Strike a Light Bags. Plains Indians would carry paraphernalia in the strike a light bags to carry their flints, pipes, and other items they’d need to start a fire or light a pipe.
For the full schedule of events for Valles Caldera Fall Fiesta, check out https://www.nps.gov/vall/planyourvisit/fall-fiesta.htm.
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