Hopi

The Peaceful Little Ones

Hopi is an English abbreviation of Hopituh Shi-nu-mu (The Peaceful People, or Peaceful Little Ones). The Hopi use it to refer to individuals who behave appropriately, are respectful, well-mannered, civilized, peaceable, polite, and follow the Hopi way—a philosophy and set of values that permeates all areas of life, including the setting of political policy and how one learns. The Hopi speak an Uto-Aztecan language that is related to Southern Paiute, Ute, and O'odham; culturally, they are related to Zuni, Acoma, Laguna, and the Rio Grande Pueblos.

Settled agriculturalists, the Hopi are the westernmost Puebloan peoples whose ancestors lived on the Colorado Plateau for thousands of years. They moved to their present homes following a history of clan and band migrations that are well documented in Hopi oral narratives and archaeological record.

The Hopi refer to the numerous sites and cliff dwellings as the footprints of their ancestors. One Hopi town, Oraibi, is the oldest continuously inhabited town in the United States; in the 1540s [Page 1113]the Spanish estimated it was home to between 2,500 and 3,000 people.

Through the years the Hopi have provided asylum for many people. Following the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, the Hopi gave sanctuary to Tewa-speaking migrants who feared reprisals from the Spanish when they returned to New Mexico in the 1690s. The Hopi allowed them to stay but they had to promise to contribute to Hopi culture, assume religious responsibilities, and live the Hopi way. Their contribution was to serve as warriors and protect the First Mesa Hopi village of Walpi from raids by Utes, Navajos, Apaches, and Spaniards and to serve as a buffer against Euro-American intrusions. The Hopi and Hopi-Tewa's calculated resistance to colonization, isolated location, tenacity, and belief in their culture has kept their traditions, language, religious beliefs, and rituals alive.

...