November 30

The Shalako Ceremony is one of the most significant religious ceremonies for the Zuñi people and occurs near the winter solstice as the ceremonial year draws to a close. Those participating in it begin their preparations for it months in advance. In his 1973 Navajo detective novel DANCE HALL OF THE DEAD, Tony Hillerman selects a chapter heading that is a date late in November, signaling to the reader the imminence of the approaching dances and feasts of the Shalako ceremony.

The Shalako festival, on or about December 1, is a remarkable sacred drama, enacted in the open for the double purpose of invoking the divine blessing upon certain newly-built houses, and of rendering thanks to the gods for the harvests of the year.