Hopi

By Alice Schlegel and John Beierle

Moqui,Tusayan.

The Hopi are an American Indian group in Arizona. The term "Hopi" means "one who behaves" or "one who follows the proper way." The Hopi lived aboriginally in the same location they now inhabit, the northeastern quadrant of Arizona. Their reservation is completely surrounded by the Navajo reservation.

The Hopi tribal enrollment was 6,624 in 1988. At first contact in 1540, there may have been a similar number. The population estimate in 1887 was about 2,200. Until recently, intermarriage with outsiders was rare, with only an occasional Navajo or person from another tribe marrying in.

The Hopi language belongs to the Shoshonean branch of Uto-Aztecan. There are minor dialectical differences among the three Mesas (First, Second, and Third) on which Hopi villages are situated.

Hopi culture as known from the time of first contact came out of long tradition of Pueblo and pre-Pueblo culture, known archaeologically as Anasazi. Francisco Vasquez de Coronado's expedition in 1540 brought them their first contact with the Spanish. After a few other brief contacts, three missions were established, the first in 1629. These were destroyed in the Pueblo Revolt of 1680; after that date, there was little effort toward resuming contact and the Hopi were left alone. Contact with Americans began in the early nineteenth century and became intensive after 1850. An agency under the Department of the Army was established at Keams Canyon, near First Mesa, in 1873, and a reservation was set up in 1882. The first school was opened in 1887, and schooling became a central issue in the early factions of "Hostiles" and "Friendlies," or those opposed to or favorable toward accommodation with the Americans. Oraibi, the largest Hopi village, split in 1906 with much acrimony over this and other issues. A tribal c onstitution was adopted in 1936, providing for a tribal council with elected representatives from each village.

The Hopi lived in compact villages, ranging in population from less than a hundred to perhaps two thousand persons. In 1850 there were seven villages; now there are eleven. Today (early 1990s) as formerly, houses cluster about a central plaza where public ceremonies take place. Interspersed among the houses are kivas, or ceremonial chambers, which function as centers for esoteric ceremonies and as clubhouses for men. Traditional houses were built of stone and plastered with mud. Today (early 1990s), many people live in housing constructed of modern materials.

Aboriginal Hopis were horticulturists, hunters, and gatherers. The major crop was maize. Hopis traded widely with neighboring peoples and were well known for the textiles that men wove of the cotton they grew. European articles were accepted and traded; and after coming under American rule, Hopi participated enthusiastically in wage labor and established numerous small businesses. Today (early 1990s), wage labor, commercial cattle ranching (begun in the 1920s), pensions, and welfare are major economic resources for those who live on the reservation.

Commercial craft production has been a supplementary source of income for both men and women since the 1860s, and tourism is a major source of income for a small percentage of the population. Dogs were used for hunting aboriginally. Sheep and cattle supplemented hunting until the early twentieth century.

Cotton garments were woven for home consumption and external trade. Basketry was important for home use and for ceremonial exchange. Painted pottery, a traditional craft that had fallen into decline, was revived as a commercial craft in the late nineteenth century. Modern clothing, tools, and household goods began to be used in the late nineteenth century. Today (early 1990s), the traditional crafts are made for ceremonial use, sale, and to some degree household decoration.

Men did most of the subsistence labor, in addition to weaving textiles and working wood and leather. Women performed mainly processing tasks and made pottery and baskets. After contact, both sexes took advantage of wage labor opportunities on and off the reservation. Today (early 1990s), women and men hold a variety of jobs in teaching, administration, clerical tasks, and commerce as well as skilled and unskilled labor. Both sexes did and do perform ritual activities.

Land close to the village was owned by clans and was divided up among matrilocal clan households. Men cultivated land they received through their wives, and the harvested crops belonged to their wives. In addition, plots of land accompanied certain ceremonial positions. Since the horse and wagon and later the pickup truck were introduced, men have cleared fields in unclaimed territory farther from the village. These become their private property, which is often passed on to their sons.

Hopi society is divided into exogamous matrilineal ranked clans, the number varying over time. Clans are associated into exogamous phratries. Clans own farmland close to the villages and claim eagle-nesting grounds away from the village where eagles are captured for ceremonial use. High-ranking clans control ceremonial and traditional political offices and are in charge of ceremonies. Clan affairs are directed by a male and female pair, the clan elder and the clan mother. The elder is responsible for directing any male activities and ceremonies controlled by the clan and for representing the clan to the village, particularly in land boundary disputes. The clan mother directs female activities and ceremonies, makes the final decision in clan land distribution, and is responsible through prayer and ritual for the well-being of clan members. Although most clans are represented in most of the villages, each clan is a corporate group only within its village. Today (early 1990s), the importance of clans has diminis hed as land ownership and political office are achieved through other means, although clans are still active in ceremonial matters and exogamy is still the norm.

Hopi kin terms follow the Crow system.

Marriage was monogamous and was believed to last into the afterlife. In theory, people chose their own spouses, but high-ranking families to some extent controlled the marriage choices of their children. The marriage ceremony involved a short period of groom-service by the bride and an elaborate exchange of goods from both sides. The leading families of high-ranking clans tended to intermarry. Today (early 1990s), social class rather than clanship is a factor in selecting mates as it is in mainstream society, and some persons marry whites or Indians of other tribes whom they meet at college or at work. Matrilocal residence was the rule. By the mid-1920s, a number of people lived in neolocal households, which predominate today (early 1990s). Marriages dissolved with some frequency. Sexual fidelity was expected, but infidelity was known and often a subject of gossip and conjecture. It was not punished, though separation frequently resulted.

During the early nineteenth century, the small extended family was probably most common. By the late nineteenth century and into the twentieth, the matrilocal stem family was the accepted form, with usually the youngest daughter remaining as older daughters and their husbands built houses contiguous or near to the maternal home.

Clan land and ceremonial and political positions pass within the clan. Livestock usually goes from parents to children of both sexes, most commonly sons. Daughters inherit houses.

Early socialization was permissive. After about age four, children were expected to begin to do small tasks and were shamed or threatened if they did not obey. Boys were treated more harshly than girls, the preferred sex. From the 1880s to about the 1920s, there was much conflict over sending children to school, and even children eager to go were sometimes taken out to work on the family farm or to prevent them from being acculturated. In recent years, education has been recognized as valuable.

The Hopi community could be seen as a federation of ranked clans. Upward mobility by a clan occurred when a lower-ranking clan took over the position of a higher-ranking one within the phratry. Women were equal to men, each gender having its own area of control: women controlled most aspects of the economy through their control over land and produce, and men controlled most aspects of village decision making. The ideology of gender gave women a higher value than men. Sexual equality still exists, although gender roles have changed considerably.

Prior to the late nineteenth century, each village was autonomous and was governed by a chief and a council of elders from the leading clans. The major areas of political discussion were clan land disputes, over which the chief had final adjudication, and warfare. Every man belonged to a kiva, which he used as a social club; and through kiva discussions the village leaders could read village opinions. Women played an active, although indirect, role in decision making, as men represented the wishes of sisters and wives as well as their own. The traditional system was undercut by the reservation system and suffered a death blow with the establishment of an elected tribal council.

Before contact, control was probably informal: gossip, teasing, fear of being labeled a witch, and mocking by ceremonial clowns at village ceremonies. Today (early 1990s), local crimes and misdemeanors are handled through the tribal court system. Serious crimes like murder are adjudicated in federal court.

Before American domination, war sometimes erupted between villages over land boundaries or vengeance. Navajos raided Hopi villages from the 1700s until they were pacified in the late nineteenth century. Warfare involved all village males under the leadership of the hereditary war chief. Since American pacification, much conflict within and between villages is expressed in terms of acceptance or rejection of accommodation to white ways, although its causes may lie elsewhere. In recent years, conflict with Navajos has intensified as the two tribes dispute their share of jointly held land, but this time the conflict is being resolved through the United States federal court system rather than by warfare. The Hopi have a reputation for nonviolence, but domestic and other forms of interpersonal violence seem to have increased in recent years.

The Hopi universe consists of earth, metaphorically spoken of as "our mother," the upper world, and the under world from which the Hopi came and to which their spirits go after death. Although the concept of original creation is unclear, there are various accounts of the Emergence into this present world from three preceding ones, the place of emergence, or the SIPAPU, being located in the Grand Canyon. Each of the preceding worlds came to an end because of some evil done by witches, and the present world will someday come to an end also. In order to forestall this and to keep the world in harmony, ceremonies are performed by ceremonial societies and by kiva members. The universe is balanced between a feminine principle, the earth, and a masculine one, manifested in the fructifying but dangerous powers of sun, rain, and lightning. Evil is caused by the deliberate actions of witches, called "two-hearts" because they have bargained away their hearts for personal gain and must steal another's heart to prolong th eir own lives. When a ceremonial leader is believed to "steal" the heart of a relative to ensure that the ceremony will be successful, there is an element of magical human sacrifice in this belief. There are three major classes of supernatural. The most individualized are the gods and goddesses, each having his or her special area of concern. Figures or impersonations of these deities are used in ceremonial activity. The next category is the kachinas. A few of the kachinas are individuals, but most of them are classes of beings each with its different character and appearance. In kachina dances the dancers wear the costume appropriate to the kachina type they portray. Some types are more popular than others; new ones are invented and old ones drop out of use. Finally, there are the generalized spirits of natural objects and life-forms, who will be offended if one of their earthly representatives is treated improperly. Thus, when a game animal is killed, its spirit, and the generalized spirits of that animal type, must be placated.

The leaders of the clans that control ceremonies are the chief priests or priestesses of these ceremonies and clan members take leading roles in them. Every Hopi is initiated into one of the two kachina societies, which are responsible for putting on the kachina dances. In former times, every man joined one of the four fraternities that put on the Emergence ceremony, and most women joined one of the three sororities. There are also special-purpose societies, controlled by clans but open to membership to anyone in the village, which conduct ceremonies. Villages vary in the number of societies still in existence, but all put on kachina dances, which are organized through kiva membership.

The Hopi follow a ceremonial calendar determined by solar and stellar positions. The ceremonial year begins with WUWTSIM, the Emergence ceremony, in November. SOYAL, occurring at the time of winter solstice, is conducted by the village chief, and its officers are the men holding the leading ceremonial positions in the village. It is at this time that ceremonial arrangements for the coming year are planned. POWAMUYA, in February, is a planting festival in which beans are sprouted in the kivas in anticipation of the agricultural season. This is a great kachina festival, with many types being represented. Kachina dances begin after SOYAL and continue until July, when NIMAN or Home Dance is held. This celebrates the return of the kachinas to their unearthly homes in the mountain peaks and the under world. Snake-Antelope and Flute Dances alternate biennially in August, the first emphasizing war and the destructive element and the second emphasizing the continuity of life after death. In September, MAMRAWT, or the principal women's ceremony, is held. This contains many elements found in WUWTSIM. The other women's societies hold their ceremonies in October. Along with these ceremonies, there are some that are held only from time to time and others that have been defunct for many years. In addition, there are many small rituals. Accounts of the late nineteenth century indicate that hardly a day passed without some ritual activity taking place somewhere in each village. While ceremonies have specific purposes, all are in some way thought to bring rain, which is valued both for itself and as a symbol of abundance and prosperity. The kachinas, especially, are rain-givers. Kachina dances are joyous public events, consisting of carefully choreographed dance sets interspersed with comical performances of clowns. The clowns, like ignorant children, mock everything and understand nothing. Social deviants are shamed by the clowns' mockery.

Traditional objects are produced as art objects as well as for use. Kachina dolls, nonsacred representations of kachinas given to girls and women as symbols of fertility and for toys, became tourist items in the late nineteenth century and have undergone several stylistic revisions since then. Modern techniques of silverwork were introduced by American artists associated with the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff in the 1920s. Using Hopi designs, this is a flourishing craft. There are several contemporary Hopi painters in oil and other media, as well as poets and art photographers. Aesthetic standards for dance, song, and costume are high and clearly articulated.

Sickness can be brought on by witchcraft, by contact with dangerous forces like lightning, or, more commonly, by sad or negative thoughts, such as anger or jealousy, which disturb the harmony of the body. Curing is done by shamans who diagnose and heal the ailment or by members of ceremonial societies that control the cures for certain diseases. Today (early 1990s), most Hopis make use of government hospitals along with native home remedies and shamanistic treatment.

A peaceful death in old age is a natural death. Other deaths may be attributed to witchcraft or the other factors causing disease. Burial by a son or other close relative is completed as soon as possible outside of the village. During its journey to the under world, the spirit of the dead may try to induce others to come with it, and various rites protect against this. Once safely in the under world, the dead are friendly to the living and will return to earth along with the kachinas to bring rain.

Documents referred to in this section are included in the eHRAF collection and are referenced by author, date of publication, and eHRAF document number.

The Hopi collection consists of sixty-one documents, all in English, centered on the Hopi pueblos located on the First, Second, and Third Mesas in northeastern Arizona. Because of their relatively isolated locations from one another, ethnographic data will vary somewhat from mesa to mesa and from pueblo to pueblo. The file focus, however, is on the pueblo of Oraibi, located on the Third Mesa. The time coverage for the file ranges from the prehistoric period to the late twentieth century, with particular emphasis on the period of the 1880s to the mid 1900s. Those works which provide the best general ethnographic coverage are: Titiev (1971, 1972, nos. 1 and 2), Beaglehole (1937, 1935, nos. 29 and 56), Dennis (1940, no. 31), Stephen (l969, no. 47), Kennard (1973, no. 41), and Clemmer (1995, no. 49). In addition to the above, the five works by Voth also provide some additional ethnographic depth to the file (see Voth, 1905, 1905, 1912, 1912, 1903, nos. 4-6, 8-9). Voth, a Mennonite missionary, lived among the Hopi of Oraibi from 1893 to 1902. According to Talayesva (1942, no. 7), Voth was hated by the Hopi because he frequently forced his way into the ceremonies of the secret societies to collect his data. The accuracy of these data, however has never been challenged. Other documents in the file provide information on a wide range of ethnographic topics, such as culture history, religion and the ceremonial life, the economy, kin groups and kinship relations, the Hopi ceremonial societies or fraternities, the ecosystem, and the Oraibi split of 1906. More recent (1999) additions to the file update previous data and provide new information on such topics as widowhood (Schlegel, 1988, no. 58), gender roles and sex statuses (Schlegel, 1979, 1977, nos. 66 and 67), shamanism (Levy, 1994, no. 63), demography (McIntire, 1987, no. 65), the adolescent socialization of the Hopi girl (Schlegel, 1973, no. 64), puppet ceremonials (Geertz, no. 55), and social structure and social organization (Clemmer, 1995, no. 49; Levy, 1992, no. 52 ).

For more detailed information on the content of the individual works in the file, see the abstracts in the citations preceding each document.

This culture summary is from the article "Hopi" by Alice Schlegel, in the Encyclopedia Of World Cultures, Vol. 1, 1991. Timothy O'Leary and David Levinson, eds. Boston, Mass.: G.K. Hall and Co. The synopsis and indexing notes were written by John Beierle in August 1999.

• adoption, ceremonial -- category 608; regular -- category 597

• BOWA 'KA -- white magicians -- category 791

• ceremonial chiefs -- categories 575, 614, 624, 793, 796

• ceremonial societies - see kiva groups

• Indian Claims Commission -- categories 657, 698

• initiations, Powama and Kachina societies (initiates are between 6 - 10 years old) -- category 852; initiations for all other societies (initiates are young adolescents) --- category 881; hunting initiations for boys -- category 852, 224

• KALATAKMONGWI -- war chief -- category 624

• Katchina dolls -- category 524

• KIKMONGWI -- village chief -- category 622

• kiva groups -- category 575

• KWAN society -- category 575

• MAASAW -- god of the dead -- categories 775, 776

• MAGASTUTAVO -- a Hopi ethical system -- category 577

• MASKI -- the home of the dead -- category 775

• MOMTSIT -- a warrior sodality -- categories 575, 701

• MONGKO -- the Hopi "law of laws", the supreme symbol of power and authority -- category 778

• MONWI (MONGWI) -- the heads of clans, or ceremonial or secret societies -- category 554

• NAVOTI -- a system of knowledge employed in explaining the past and predicting the future -- categories 787, 828

• Oraibi split of 1906 (progressives vs. friendlies) -- categories 665, 578

• PAAHO (PAHO) -- prayersticks -- categories 782, 796

• PAVANSINOM -- ruling people -- categories 565, 554

• pinon gum, smoking of -- category 276

• POWAKA -- a sorcerer -- category 754

• SA'LAKO dolls (puppets) -- category 524; use in dramatic performances -- category 536

• SOPKYAW -- a communal harvest festival -- categories 796, 536

• SUKAVUNGSINOM -- common people -- category 565

• TIHU -- Kachina dolls -- category 524

• TIPONI -- a clan or secret society fetish of wood or stone -- category 778, 614

• tribal council (modern government) -- category 642

• TUUHIKYA -- the Hopi shaman -- category 756

• WUYA -- a sacred object; also a clan symbol -- category 778

Laird, W. David. Hopi Bibliography. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1977

Nagata, Shuichi. Modern Transformations of Moenkopi Pueblo. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1960

Schlegel, Alice. "Male and Female in Hopi Thought and Action." IN: Sexual Stratification, edited by Alice Schlegel, 245-269. New York: Columbia University Press, 1977

Titiev, Mischa (1944). Old Oraibi: A Study of the Hopi Indians of Third Mesa. Papers of the Peabody Museum, Harvard University, 22(1). Cambridge, 1944