Quarai Pueblo and Mission, Torrence County
Population: 600
Location: 53,779 acres in Sandoval County, south of Santa Fe
Language: Eastern Keres
Early Societal Structure: Agrarian, Exogamous, Matrilineal clans, Ritual patrimoieties, Dual kivas
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The people of Ysleta del Sur say they were originally the Tigua. Tigua is another word used for Tiwa. They are also called Quarai after the Pueblo the called him.
The Quarai were a Tiguex (Southern Tiwa) Pueblo. They were one of several bands of Tiwa speakers that populated the Salinas basin when Spanish colonizers first arrived in the late 16th century. The Spanish called them the "Cuarac.”
They are thought to have arrived the same times as most of the other Pueblos - 1300 AD.
By the early 17th century the large pueblo compound had been built. The Quarai received the Spaniards in 1626 and allowed them to build a Mission.
The Quarai were experiencing increased attacks by Apaches. Then, when a severe drought happened in the late 1660s/early 1670s, the people of Quarai Pueblo left theor home. Their relatives at Isleta Pueblo took them in. They did not stay long, though. Isleta did not participate in the Pueblo Revolt. As the Spanish were fleeing the besieged villages to the North, Isleta let them in. Some stories say that the Quarai fled south with the Spanish while the people of Isleta fled to stay with the Hopi (and returned after things had calmed down.) The people at Ysleta del Sur say the Spanish captured them during the revolt and forced them to march the 400 miles to what is now El Paso.
The people of Quarai settled in El Paso. They are now the federally recognized Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo. Most members speak Spanish. Many are learning English. And the Tribe wants to bring back their orginal language og Southern Tewa.
