“Notwithstanding the oppression of the Spaniards in early times, the culture and esthetic ability of the Zu’is flourished unabated, and they are still producing excellent examples of their craft.

The colors of the Zu’is have a distinct significance. North is designated as yellow, because the light of morning and evening in winter is yellow; West is blue, for westward is the Pacific Ocean; South is red, it being the region of summer, and the East is designated as white, to signify dawn. The upper region is multicolored, as the light of the sun on clouds; the nether region, black, as deep caverns and springs.”

—Dorothy Smith Sides, from Decorative Art of the Southwestern Indians, 1936.