Lake of the Dead

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According to the Zuni migration story, as the Zuni migrated in search of the Middle Place, conceptually understood to be the center of the world and what today is known as Halona:Itiwana, or the Zuni Pueblo, the people split into several groups. One group followed the Little Colorado River south, and near to where it joins the Zuni River running west out of what today is New Mexico, they found the Lake of the Dead, or in Zuni Koluwala:wa. Underneath its waters lay a village where the Zuni kachina, or ancestor spirits, live. The Zuni believe that after they die, they return to the lake to join their ancestors.

Kothluwalawa is also referred to as the Dance Hall of the Dead.

Photo Credit: 

 
"Zuni Salt Lake, Catron County, New Mexico," photograph by unknwon. Colorado College.

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