To grasp how unusual it is to find a kiva in a Spanish mission convento, you first need to understand what a kiva actually is. A kiva is typically a circular underground structure that serves as a religious space for Puebloan people. However, that’s just scratching the surface. A kiva wasn’t solely for ceremonies; it also functioned as a place for teaching kids, storing items, holding meetings, sharing stories, and even weaving. In essence, a kiva acted like a community center for the Puebloans. Of course, it was also the site for their religious rituals. So, why was a kiva constructed within the Abó Mission's convento?
Unfortunately, we don’t have a clear answer. What we do know is that this kiva was built around the same time as the Abó church and convento, between 1623 and 1628. It’s possible that it played a role in the early efforts to convert the Puebloans to Christianity. This might indicate that the interactions between the two cultures were more intricate than we realize today.
To make things even more complicated, archaeological findings show that after renovations began at the Abó Mission in 1640, the kiva was filled in and turned into a dumping ground for kitchen waste. Does this suggest a widening gap between the Spanish and the Puebloans? Or could it indicate that the Puebloans had successfully converted to Catholicism? At this point, we can’t say for sure. Nevertheless, the presence of a kiva in a Spanish Mission raises a lot of intriguing questions.
