The Pueblo Moccasin Makers

Aaron Cajero began making traditional, Pueblo style moccasins while growing up at Jemez Pueblo, which lies in the foothills of the Jemez Mountains northwest of Albuquerque. He was in the seventh grade at the time. Today, his moccasins are worn by hundreds of ceremonial dancers on Pueblo plazas throughout New Mexico, and he usually has a backlog of orders which can take up to six months to fill.
 

Part of the delay in filling moccasin orders is due to his multifaceted life: Cajero is also a hunting guide, a potter, a traditional bow maker, and a teacher at the Jemez elementary school, where he teaches physical education along with history, language, and traditional Pueblo culture. His cultural studies range from the Pueblos' historical forms of government to moccasin-making and spiritual practices. Cajero knows much of this curriculum personally, having served as his tribe's lieutenant governor three times, and as its overseer of traditional religious practices.
 

Before starting a new pair of moccasins, Cajero first traces the dancer's feet on heavy paper, measures foot height, and notes any unusual physical features. He then cuts into a thick piece of cowhide, creating a shape that's slightly larger than his paper outline. After soaking the new sole in water to soften it, he turns up the outer edge -- a extremely difficult task that has left Cajero with very strong hands.
 

For the moccasins' upper wraps, which must be soft and pliable, Cajero prefers to use fine-grade deer or elk hide. Getting quality supplies can be tough, so Cajero sometimes makes his own leather from the hides of deer or elk he hunts himself, or buys from other Pueblo hunters. He prefers a thick hide so that the moccasins hold up over time. Even for the moccasin tops, if the leather is too thin it sags, creating bulges where the wraps overlap. It needs to look nice and smooth.
 

To stitch the uppers to the sole, Cajero typically uses clear fishing line, because it's lightweight, transparent, and relatively easy to work with. For a moccasin that is entirely authentic, however, he uses elk sinew, which must be kept wet during the stitching. Sinew is more difficult than a nylon line to thread through the leather's holes, which he punches with a tool he made himself by embedding a heavy needle into a wooden handle. Cajero has found that sinew makes a tighter stitch, because it tightens itself as it dries, but it takes more time.
 

This means that a pair of moccasins -- when made with sinew, and leather that Cajero has tanned himself -- runs about $1,000, more than twice the price of a standard pair. It costs more to do it all the old way, but it is well worth it for many traditional dancers.