Hopi journal of Alexander M. Stephen

Stephen, Alexander MacGregor, -1894; Parsons, Elsie Worthington Clews

Book

Hopi journal of Alexander M. Stephen

AMS Press • 23 • Published In 1969 • Pages: 2 v. (lii, 1417 )

By: Stephen, Alexander MacGregor, -1894, Parsons, Elsie Worthington Clews.

Abstract
This source consists of the published version of the notebooks of Stephen's systematic observations of Hopi ceremonial activities during the 1880s and 1890s. The introduction to the source by editor Parsons provides background on Stephen's work among the Hopi and on the Hopi themselves and neighboring Pueblo Indian groups. Stephen's observations focus on the towns of First Mesa and the time period between 1891 and his death in April of 1894. The ceremonial activities he describes include the Winter Solstice, Powa'mu initiation, Flute, Lalakon, and Mamzrau ceremonies and Horned Water Serpent and Kachina dances. In addition, he provides an account of Snake-Antelope ceremony at Shipaulovi in 1892 and information on Hopi ceremonialism dating back to 1882, the time at which he initiated his observations while working in connection with Mindeleff's (1886-1887) study of Hopi architecture. Stephen describes in great detail the timing, ritual actions, costumes, body decoration, and ritual paraphernalia of these ceremonial and dramatic performances and for this reason his notebooks constitute one of the most important sources of information on this aspect of Hopi culture. The source is all the more important because it is profusely illustrated with numerous plates and maps and hundreds of sketches and drawings. In addition, Stephen's notebooks include information on numerous other aspects of Hopi life at the end of the 19th century, Including sports and games, farming, hunting, burial customs, music, dance, decorative and representative art, mythology, religious beliefs, ethnometeorology, ethnogeography, ethnobotany, and ethnozoology. The notebooks also contain information on Hopi relations with other native groups and on the life and culture of those groups. In this regard, there is considerable information on the Tewa and to a lesser extent on the Navajo, Zuni, Taos, Keres, Acoma, and Laguna. Appendices provided by the editor and based on Stephen's notebooks include lists of Hopi and Tewa clans and their associated ceremonial activities, Hopi and Tewa Kachinas, place names, and kivas and information on Hopi weaving, pottery, color symbolism, and the secular and ceremonial calendar. An extensive and informative glossary is also included in the source.

Sacred objects and places

Ecclesiastical organization

Representative art

Prayers and sacrifices