BLUFF,
San Juan County — A Southern Utah town will burn a 16-foot effigy of a mammoth
Friday to celebrate the winter solstice and draw attention to the historical
significance of the area.
The
town is relying on the wooden mammoth to hopefully catch the attention of
researchers. The effigy, built to scale, was built over the course of three
weeks by Pachak and Bluff residents, using only sticks and two support poles.
The
8 p.m. ceremony will include drumming, and Gulliford said the effigy won't be
set on fire with just matches.
"What's
really gonna be fun is they're gonna set it on fire with primitive Native
American technology, meaning they're either going to use bows and arrows or
they're going to use atlatl spears," Gulliford said. "It'll be fun to
see if they can even hit the thing with a flaming atlatl dart."
The
mammoth is meant to represent the discovery of mammoth petroglyphs near Bluff,
a town of a few hundred people located on the San Juan River. Rock expert and
local artist Joe Pachak first discovered the petroglyphs in 1987, but they have
been a source of controversy ever since.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment
You only need to enter your comment once! Comments will appear once they have been moderated. This is so as to stop the would-be comedian who has been spamming the comments here with inane and often offensive remarks. You know who you are!