Sacred drum returns to its Texas home

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The Netherlands has returned the sacred Winter Drum and six other culturally significant items to the Native American tribe, Ysleta del Sur Pueblo.

Seven leaders from the Pueblo travelled from El Paso (Texas) to take possession of the revered objects at the Wereldmuseum in Leiden on March 20, 142 years after they were acquired by Dutch anthropologist and collector Herman Ten Kate Jr.

Also present were officials from the Netherlands government and representatives from the US embassy in The Hague as the Winter Drum, regarded as the Pueblo’s most important spiritual icon, was officially returned to the tribe.

The 350-year-old drum carved from the same wood as its Summer Drum counterpart, which the tribe still owns, was not on public view but covered by a blanket.

Drum is no longer silent
David Granillo, one of the Pueblo delegation, told the Dutch media that the drum was no longer silent.

“Yesterday, we got to have a little ceremony. He sounded well, considering he has been gone so long.”

A smaller drum with a drumstick, part of a headdress, a shield, rattles and moccasins were also returned to the Pueblo who presented the Wereldmuseum with pottery, traditional Native American blankets and a painting.

The tribe first requested the return of the Winter Drum 60 years ago and Dr Wayne Modest, Content director at the Wereldmuseum which has branches in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Leiden, said the institution was looking to the future by granting a request that was first made decades ago.

Obtained via bribery and coercion
“Herman Ten Kate Jr thought nothing of using bribery and coercion,” added Lilian Gonçalves-Ho Kang You, chairwoman of the museum’s Colonial Collections committee. The person who had sold the sacred objects was not entitled to give them away and after the community protested, he later admitted regretting the transaction.

The Ysleta del Sur Pueblo is a US federally-recognised Native American tribe and sovereign nation. The community, also known as Tigua, left their Quarai Pueblo (New Mexico) homeland owing to drought in 1682. They sought refuge in Isleta Pueblo where they were captured by the Spanish during the 1680 Pueblo Revolt.

Forced to walk south for more than 400 miles (644 kilometres), the Tigua settled and built the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo in Texas, constructing an irrigation system that sustained a thriving agricultural-based community.

https://euroweeklynews.com/2025/03/23/s ... exas-home/