Johnathan Peña
Sports Editor
After five years of waiting, vendors and visitors came together to enjoy and celebrate Native American arts, cultures and traditions during the Nov. 9 Yanaguana Fest at the Mission Marquee Plaza.
The free and family friendly event was hosted by American Indians in Texas at the Spanish Colonial Missions and widely welcomed music and arts.
The fest has been on a hiatus since 2019.
The Yanaguana Fest’s name derives from the Payaya people — the earliest recorded inhabitants of the San Antonio region in Texas. The Payaya people called the San Antonio River “Yanaguana,” meaning “refreshing water,” or “Land of the Spirit Waters.”
Jordyn Galvan, Development and Communications Coordinator for AITSCM, said the event brings people of Black, Indigenous and people of color communities together while inviting the youth to have fun in a “sober” environment.
“The event celebrates the diversity and authenticity of generations that have been here in Yanaguana, San Antonio from generations before to present,” Galvan said. “Bringing our young people together to give them a community where they can have fun in a sober setting and making sure that we are inclusive for everyone and their backgrounds and stories.”
The purpose of Yanaguana is to make a safe space for people of Indigenous, Black, Asian, and Pacific Islander cultures to have fun in a drug- and alcohol-free way while celebrating the arts and the resilience of a community and kin.
“This is a setting where people should be proud of who they are and whatever their background is. We want them to feel proud, empowered and interconnected together,” Galvan said.
Yanaguana Fest had been on hold since 2019 due to COVID-19 making it inaccessible and unsafe for everyone to celebrate.
“We did try to make it accessible during that time for people who needed those resources through virtual means,” Galvan said. “Our community has been asking us for the last few years when the next Yanaguana Fest is going to take place and get our arts, strengths and community together.”
The Yanaguana Fest had over 20 committee members, staff, partners and contractors of AITSCM come together to coordinate the performances, panels and arts on the stage.
“We have had many different aspects in organizing the event. We have been planning for about eight to nine months,” Galvan said. “So seeing everything come together and seeing all the smiles keeps us going, and it makes the work worth it.”
Jesse Borrego, a board member of the AITSCM, advocates for the celebration of Indigenous cultures and traditions in Yanaguana.
“The identification and the honoring of our Indigenous families and celebrations in San Antonio which is originally the Yanaguana,” Borrego said. “San Antonio has always been an art town and different cultures share their stories and should always have a chance to express those stories, because that’s what ‘cultura’ means: to grow.”
“You have to exemplify and honor the cultures that helped grow San Antonio, and to do that we have a celebration, a cultural gathering of storytellers, vendors and artists expressing their narrative.”
Borrego expressed the significance of being a teacher and a storyteller in helping the youth and sharing the knowledge of the arts through culture.
“Being true to your culture and traditions of your ancestors like your grandparents and great-grandparents,” Borrego said. “Honoring your community by how you treat your elders, families, women and kids by giving them a voice: ‘water the soil so it can blossom.’ That’s the next generation.”
During a lecture panel, Borrego talked about the future of the indigenous people and keeping the culture alive.
“Indigenous futurism in the 21st-century – are we going to lose our culture that we have been struggling so hard to find for many decades… centuries? Now it’s coming to fruition. Empowerment is for the next generation, allowing them to grow and build culture.”
Deborah Kuetzpal Vasquez from the Payaya le ana Apache Nation teaches youth about their culture by speaking about the Yanaguana Fest and was one of the vendors at the celebration
“It brings more information about Indigenous people and the beauty of the culture which they have tried to erase,” Vasquez said. “Everyone has an origin of culture, but the thing that separates us really unites us.”
Vasquez’s booth sold stickers that depicted Indigenous identities and culture and books on healing within the community and embracing Indigenous culture and spiritual sages.
The American Indians in Texas at the Spanish Colonial Missions will host the ninth annual Pecan Harvest on Dec. 7 at the Witte Museum in the Dawson Family Hall from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Entry costs and participants can also join the 2025 Indian Scout Bobber Raffle for $50.
