Hopi Indians

Hopi, which means the “Peaceful People,” have lived in the Black Mesa region of the Colorado Plateau since their emergence into this, the fourth world. Living in this world is therefore referred to as the “Fourth Way of Life” and is reflected in the fact that when Maa'saw offered groups of people ears of corn, the Hopi were given a short, blue ear. After a period of clan migrations, the People settled on the mesas, where they still reside today and follow the Hopi way—Hopivötskwamî—the Hopi Path of Life, to preserve the good things of Hopi life. In Hopi philosophy, all life is a journey, and each group of people has a path that should be followed with humility, cooperation, and respect. According to Emory Sekaquaptewa, Hopivötskwamî includes every part of Hopi society and culture and is a comprehensive philosophy that touches the lives of Hopi on a daily basis. It gives Hopi a strong sense of security in an often-troubled world by relating the past to the present and ensuring cooperation with supernaturals, who provide rain, abundant crops, health, and well-being.

The Hopi speak a Uto-Aztecan language related to O'odham (Pima)and Ningwi (Southern Paiute), called Hopiikwa. This language has dialectical difference among the communities. Hopi population has grown throughout the 20th century, from a low of about 2,200 in 1900. In 1995,the Hopi numbered 7,785 tribal members, with a labor force of 2,170. A highly educated group, 63% are high school graduates. Many Hopi work in Southwestern urban areas, returning frequently to Hopi to fulfill social and religious obligations. It is in this way and through oral tradition that the Hopis transmit the essential parts of their history and the perspectives needed to follow Hopivotskwani.

A basic tenet of Hopi philosophy is that humans live in harmony with nature. In their view, religion permeates all aspects of an inextricably interwoven life. Nature, gods, spirits, animals, plants, the land, and the people are one in an unchangeable relationship. This philosophy is community based, and each of the 13 Hopi villages, located in the mesa and canyon country of northern Arizona in Coconino and Navajo counties, is ritually considered to be the center of the world, and each respects the others' independence. The Hopi belief that mankind evolved during life in four underground worlds, with a final emergence of the Hopi in the Grand Canyon, through a sipapu (place of entry to the present world), Hopi villages in their layout and architecture serve as living reminders of their emergence.

Hopi villages are located on three mesas, extending south from the southern escarpment of Black Mesa (First Mesa: Walpi, Sichomovi, and Tewa-speaking Hano, with Polacca located at the mesa base; Second Mesa:Shipaulovi, Mishongnovi, and Shungopavi; Third Mesa: Old Oraibi,Hotevilla, Bacabi, Kykotsmovi/New Oraibi) and 40 miles to the west, along the Moencopi Wash (Lower and Upper Moencopi). Each village consists of a series of multistoried, terraced structures, containing a number of living units, arranged in long rows or irregularly around a central plaza, the kisoni. The kihu, the individual matrilineal/matrilocal residence, is a rectangular structure constructed of sandstone and adobe mortar, with a roof of timber, cedar bark, and adobe mud. Today, such traditional houses are supplemented by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) concrete block housing below the mesa tops, especially in new communities, such as Polacca and Kykotsmovi. There are larger houses with hipped [Page 1201]roofs, electricity, and indoor plumbing. Some of the more traditional villages have decided not to introduce such evidence of the outside world into their religious centers on the mesa tops.

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