Tagua nut is also called "Earth ivory" and is a completely sustainable "crop" from the Tagua Palm. There are tribes in South America who carve and paint their carvings (long lost ancestors of the Zuni?) but Gale Lucio uses tagua nut to make his chubby little bison. The feel and look is very, very similar to fossil ivory and Gales adds a bit of color with turquoise horns and eyes.

We not only love Gale's style of carving, we particularly love his choice in carving materials! Go GREEN - buy TAGUA! Initialled on the bottom.

BUFFALO: The American Bison is usually associated with the Great Plains -- and the People who called it home. But bison once roamed as far south as northern Mexico and as far west as Arizona. The Zuni have a buffalo dance and hunted the bison when it was passing through Zuni lands. The buffalo is not a traditional animal when it comes to carved fetishes but all game animals are carved to ensure the Shiwi had enough to eat. So, in that context, the buffalo would be associated with blessings and plenty. It is likely, too, that the Shiwi carved bison fetishes for trade with tribes that lived to the north and who regularly hunted buffalo.

Click here to hear "buffalo" in Shiwi, - the Zuni Language.