Temazcalli Build!

Name: Temazcalli Build!
Start: 2025-10-13T06:00:00-07:00
End: 2025-10-18T19:00:00-07:00
Location: 1228 E Pecan Rd, Phoenix, AZ 85040

Schedule

Mon, 13 Oct, 2025 at 06:00 am to Sat, 18 Oct, 2025 at 07:00 pm

UTC-07:00

Location

1228 E Pecan Rd, Phoenix, AZ 85040 | Phoenix, AZ

Darryl, Lily, and Jesús, the co-founders of the Sonoran Desert Cultural Preservation Society, cordially and joyously invite you to join us at our home for a community temazcalli build and training intensive!
Also known in Spanish as a temazcal, a temazcalli is an Indigenous Mesoamerican sweat lodge intended for communal healing sweats, traditional midwifery, ceremony, death midwifery, and more. While it is similar in many ways to the inípi of Lakota & other northern Indigenous cousins’ traditions, the temazcalli is a permanent structure. Traditionally temazcales are built by the community, for the community, under the guidance and direction of an initiated temazcalera/e/o/x (a healer who has been initiated and trained in how to build temazcales and offer sweats & ceremony in them).
Our comadre Pallas, an initiated temazcalera from Albuquerque, will be joining us from October 13th to the 18th to help us build the temazcalli and offer a training intensive for all interested. We would be honored and delighted to have you join us and help in the process in whatever ways you can & that call to you!
This will be a week-long build, so feel free to come when you can and help as you’re able. To take advantage of the cooler weather and keep things safe, we plan on doing construction in the morning and evenings and focusing on the ceremonial training & teaching materials midday. If construction isn't an option for you, no problem! There are plenty of other community care tasks that we can share in that are just as needed & important. Potluck contributions are appreciated, for example!
We will be providing food and ask that everyone interested in helping bring a bucket load (more or less) of natural stones for the walls. These can be stones with special meanings attached to them, or just ordinary, stackable stones from the land. The idea is that the community is literally built into the walls, because when it is done, this will be YOUR temazcalli - for the SDCPS to steward & protect for community use & ceremony ❤️‍🔥
We also respectfully request everyone donate $20 each to help cover Pallas’ travel costs and honorarium for her time, teaching, and expertise. Thank you for your interest in literally building community - we hope to see you soon!