MODULE 3

THE HOPI

Key Concepts:
sipapuni
Hisatsinom
Nampeyo
Sikyatki Revival
Hopivotskwani
kikmongwi
katsinam
Powamu
Niman
Hopi-Navajo Land Dispute

Reading Assignment, Text: Chapter 3: "The Hopi," pp. 70-113

The Hopi are a Pueblo group who live on and around three mesas in northern Arizona. Both archaeologists and the Hopi trace Hopi ancestry to the Ancestral Pueblo people, whom the Hopi call Hisatsinom ("our ancestors"). Archaeologists use the name Hisatsinom to designate the Kayenta Branch Anasazi (Western Anasazi) who lived in northeastern Arizona, as differentiated from the Eastern Anasazi, whose descendants became the Rio Grande Pueblos.

The Hopi origin story is one of emergence from a series of worlds that lie deep below the surface of today's earth. When the inhabitants of previous worlds fought among themselves, misunderstanding the meaning of life, Tawa the Sun Spirit sent Spider Grandmother to guide them upward into the Second World and then a Third World when they resumed their fighting. When they again succumbed to conflict, a few men of good heart dispatched birds to seek a means of ascending a world above them. Catbird reached the sipapuni ("hole in the sky" or "place of emergence") through which the people later emerged. Hopi kivas (ceremonial structures) are semi-subterranean and each has a hole in the floor near the firepit that is known as the sipapuni.

Traditionally, each Hopi village was an autonomous entity, with its own sociopolitical and religious system. Hopi villages have been compared to Greek city-states, sharing a common thread of beliefs and practices in ritual and ceremonies as well as a web of kinship based on clan and lineage. Hopi government was essentially theocratic, and the chief - kikmongwi - of each Hopi village was from the Bear Clan. As ritual leader and "father" of the people of his village, he was expected to lead his "children" by providing an example of hard work, humility, and good thoughts. He was responsible for seeing that the rituals and ceremonial affairs of the village were properly carried out, while other officials acted on his behalf in political matters.

After the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 imposed tribal government on Native Americans, however, the Hopi Tribal Council was established. At first, many Hopi did not recognize the authority of this organization, but today, the Hopi Tribal Council, based in Kykotsmovi, is accepted as a governing body that represents the Hopi people.

The most dramatic aspect of Hopi life to an outsider is the fact that they have not only sustained their culture in such a harsh environment, but that they have also managed to flourish there for many centuries. Theirs is an enduring culture that commands respect, for they have managed their environment through careful ceremonial and agricultural practices. Tending the land is a form of worship to the Hopi and is accompanied by prayer and ritual. Agriculture, especially the growing of corn, is so inextricably linked to what it means to be Hopi that many Hopi who live in cities still keep plots of farmland at home near their traditional villages.

Hopi has always been matrilineal and matrilocal, with matriclans forming the basis of social organization. Women play a major role in Hopi society as mothers, grandmothers, preparers of food, owners of property, members of religious societies, and basketmakers and pottery makers.

The Hopi have probably been making baskets continuously for a longer period than any other Native Americans in the Southwest. Today, many women weave them for sale as well as for their own use. A Hopi bride was required to give her groom a single basket which he needed to go to the afterworld when he died. In return, the groom's family wove the bride's wedding robes which would also serve as her shroud upon the time of her death. Although Hopi women weave many types of baskets, the most colorful are the coiled baskets traditionally made only by the women of Second Mesa and the twined baskets traditionally made by the women of Third Mesa. The latter are the most colorful baskets in the Southwest because of the wide range of commercial dyes that the women favor.

In contrast to the basketry that Hopi women have been weaving for centuries, the distinctive style of Hopi jewelry - silver overlay - is a relatively recent development. In the 1930s, Fred Kabotie, the outstanding Hopi artist and Paul Saufkie, the fine silversmith, collaborated to create a unique style inspired by pottery, textile, and kachina imagery. Instead of making their pieces in the Navajo or Zuni styles, they cut out two pieces of silver in the same shape, cut out a design in one, then soldered the two together. The piece is then placed in acid to oxidize it and turn it black, which creates the distinct Hopi overlay style through the dramatic contrast between the blackened recessed design and the gleaming silver surface.

Pottery is another art form for which Hopi women are renowned. However, unlike basketry with its long history and silver inlay jewelry, a fairly recent innovation, Hopi pottery was not a continuous tradition. Perhaps because it was associated with Spanish oppression as a form of tribute, Hopi pottery design began to decline in the sixteenth century, with once flowing, exuberant designs giving way to static, cramped stylistic patterns. In 1895, archaeologist Jesse Walter Fewkes began excavating the ruins of an old Hopi village known as Sityatki. The elegant proportions and striking designs of Sikyatki pots caught the eye of a Hopi named Lesou who brought sherds home to his wife, Nampeyo. A Hopi-Tewa from the village of Hano, on First Mesa, Nampeyo began to incorporate these visually rich designs into her pottery to become the most famous Hopi potter. The style she developed - Sityatki Revival - is carried on by her descendants and by many other Hopi potters today.