Hopis are a group of the Pueblo, formerly called Moki, or Moqui. They speak the Hopi language at all their pueblos except Hano. They occupy several mesa villages in NE Arizona and numbered 6,624 in 1988. In 1540, they were visited by some of Francisco Coronado's men under Pedro de Tovar, but because of their geographical isolation they remained more independent of European influence than other Pueblo groups. The Spanish began to establish missions in 1629 at the pueblos of Awatobi, Oraibi, and Shongopovi. These missions were destroyed in the revolt of 1680 and when the residents of Awatobi invited the missionaries to return, the other Hopi destroyed their village. After the revolt, pueblos in the foothills were abandoned and the Spanish built new villages on the mesas for defense against possible attack. During the 18th and 19th cent., the Hopi were subjected to frequent raids by the neighboring Navaho. The region was pacified by the U.S. Army in the late 19th cent. and a Hopi reservation was established in 1882.
Beginning in about 1 C.E. a culture developed over the next 700 years. The Hopi call these people Hisatsinom (People of Long Ago) although the public and archaeologists refer to them as Anasazi or San Juan Basketmakers. By about 500 C.E. the Hisatsinom had learned to make pottery and developed elaborate pit houses of increasing size. By 700 C.E. they were cultivating corn, beans and cotton and settling down to a more sedentary life in small settlements of two to five pit houses. At about 700 C.E. the first substantial presence in the Hopi mesa area was established on Antelope Mesa, east of now Keams Canyon. Masonry walls came into use and aboveground dwellings replaced pit houses. From 900 C.E. to 1100 C.E many small masonry villages appeared in the area but a subsequent drying of the climate over the next 200 years saw a clustering of the area's population into larger villages, such as Oraibi, Awatovi, Wupatki, Betatakin and the villages in Canyon De Chelly.
To the Hopi, corn is the most important crop. ... The corn that the Hopi grow can be found in the dry dirt in the farming lands of Hopi villages in the western United States. ... To the Hopi, farming is an art, an act of faith. ... After death, the Hopi still continue to live. ... Corn is viewed as the mother of the Hopi. ...
Crops, particularly corn was crucial in survival to the Hopi and corn also played a more important role in the life of a Hopi Indian. ... The dwellings of the Hopi played an important role in their culture. The Kivas is an underground area below the Hopi's dwellings. ... The Hopi has over 300 Kachinas. ... The Hopis still exist today in 12 villages on or below the three mesas. ...
The Hopi, among other tribes, claim descendancy from the Anasazi. ... Hopi villages were built on top of defensible mesas. ... The region in which the Hopi inhabited in antiquity is called Tutsqua. ... The Hopi had little contact with its non-Indian intruders and overlords. ... Within the rectangle was a diamond shape portioned for Hopi exclusive use. ...
The Kachina dolls, called "tihu" by the Hopi, are carved out of the dried cottonwood tree root. ... "In the Hopi religion, everything in the world has two forms, the visible object and the spirit form." ... "The Hopi Kachinas play a major part in the Hopi ceremonial cycle and are regarded as spirit beings." ... The Hopi have three major ceremonies for the Kachinas. ... The Hopi Kachina dolls are carved from the dried cottonwood root, and are made completely out of one piece of wood. ...
The Hopi are also Pueblo Indians. ... The Hopi Indians believed in many gods. The Hopi used Kachinas to talk to their gods. ... Hopi Kachinas talked to the gods by singing and dancing. ... The Hopi also planted cotton and tamed wild turkeys. ...
Hopi Religion Hopis believe that the world was created by Taiowa (the sun-father) and Sotuknang, his nephew. ... Hopi ceremonial practice is governed by the belief in the absolute interdependent relationship between the upper and lower worlds. ... The ceremonial cycle of the Hopi calendar is observed in order to maintain this cooperative relationship. ... In various religious ceremonies Hopi men will dress up in costumes and painted masks to represent the Kachinas, or spirits of nature, with the purpose of asking the Kachinas to assist the growth of crops and to send rain. ... The kachina soc...
I recall this same viewpoint when the French court, in 2013, made a determination for approving the auction for several Hopi/Zuni kachina masks in Paris. The court stated, "Hopi ascribe 'sacred value' to the masks but 'clearly they cannot be assimilated to human bodies or elements of bodies of humans who exist or existed'" (News.Yahoo.com, 4/12/2013). ...
According to Mimetic Rituals of Child Sacrifice in the Hopi Kachina Cult by Susan E. ... Relatively the only time child sacrifice occurred was during the Aztec ceremonial cycle for spring planting, which begins with the festival of Tozoztontli in the third month of the Aztec year as read in, "Mimetic Rituals of Child Sacrifice in the Hopi Kachina Cult," written by Susan E. ...
