Meet the Jumano Nation at Marfa Lights Festival

Harley Flores, Jumano Youth Mentor; Elizabeth Flores, Jumano Council and Living History Coordinator; and Jo Ann Betancourt, Jumano Tribal Chair attend the annual Marfa Lights Festival to meet the public at the Big Bend Conservation booth. Photo: Sarah M. Vasquez

Marfa, Texas is the traditional, ancestral, unceded territory of the Jumano Nation, Lipan Apache, and Mescalero Apache past and present. Big Bend Conservation Alliance honors with gratitude the land itself and the people who have stewarded it throughout the generations.

Big Bend Conservation Alliance in partnership with Jumano Nation of Texas attend the annual Marfa Lights Festival to facilitate dialogue about Jumano history, culture, and family connections. Meet members of the Jumano Nation at the Marfa Lights Festival held over Labor Day weekend each year.

The late Dr. Charles Kelley, the preeminent archaeologist on the Jumanos, always stated that to see the Jumanos, "Go to West Texas and Big Bend and look up people with last names like Acosta, Lujan, Carrasco, Levario, Bustamante, Zubiate, Hernandez, Mendoza, Muniz, Ramirez, to see the descendants."

As part of the festival, a poster of Jumano family names will be used as a way to spark curiosity among attendees about possible connections. Jumano family names—Acosta, Aguilar, Carrasco, Hernandes, Lopez, Lujan, Mendes, Morales, Ortiz, Pena, Portillo—are also important family names of Marfans. Names are used as a simple entry point helping us break down barriers to facilitate connection and begin conversations about Indigenous history and culture of the region.

Between 1500 and 1700 the name Jumanos was used to identify at least three distinct peoples of the Southwest and South Plains. The Jumano were a distinct nation occupying the Trans-Pecos, mentioned by name in Spanish documents beginning in 1583 and continuing until around 1750.  The written record shows that they were mobile hunter-gatherers who frequently moved and often traveled great distances. Their movements and dynamic relationships reflect efforts to persist as a unique group despite Spanish colonization.  

The Jumano disappeared from the historical record around 1750, as a distinct tribal band. In 2016, the Jumano Nation of Texas Council was established with the purpose to seek recognition by the United States. In 2019, the Texas House of Representatives adopted House Resolution 1565, which recognized the historical and cultural contributions of the Jumano Indian Nation to the history of the State of Texas.

Press

Big Bend Sentinel, “Marfa Lights Festival sees greater involvement with Jumano Nation, return to its roots with melodrama play performance” by Mary Cantrell. September 7, 2022.

Meet the Jumano Nation at Marfa Lights Festival is generously supported by a grant from Humanities Texas.