HOPI

the westernmost group of Pueblo Indians (q.v.), situated in northeastern Arizona in the midst of the Navajo Reservation and on the edge of the Painted Desert. Formerly known also as the Moki, or Moqui, they speak a Shoshonean language of Uto-Aztecan stock. In the late 20th century there were about 6,000 Hopi, living in typically terraced pueblo structures of stone and adobe and clustered into a number of independent towns. Most of their settlements were on high mesas. The precise origin of the Hopi is unknown, nor is it known why they lived in so many independent communities. Their own origin myths merely hold that their ancestors climbed upward through four underground chambers called kivas and lived in many places before reaching their present locations. And, indeed, archaeology has revealed that some abandoned pueblos, such as Sikyatki and Awatovi, were once occupied by Hopi people. Matrilineal descent was the tribal rule. Oraibi's populace, for example, used to be divided into 30 or 31 matrilineal clans, which were grouped into nine larger social units, or phratries, many of which are now extinct. Formerly, too, the Hopi were strictly matrilocal, which meant that a bride remained in her mother's house. This custom no longer prevails. The Hopi supported themselves by farming and sheepherding. Their chief crop was corn, but they also grew beans, squash, melons, and a variety of other vegetables and fruits. Men farmed and herded, in addition to building houses, performing most of the ceremonies, making moccasins, and weaving garments and blankets. The women, besides performing the usual domestic tasks, made baskets and pottery, fetched water, did supplementary gardening, and helped with housebuilding. Like other Pueblo Indians, the Hopi were peaceful and monogamous. Both sexes began their ceremonial careers soon after reaching six years of age by being inducted into the kachina (katcina) cult. Hopi kachinas were masked impersonations, always by men, of a wide variety of gods, spirits, departed ancestors, and clouds. Women seldom took active part in ceremonies, except as voluntary members of one or more of three feminine secret societies. However, in each village men had the option of joining a wide number of secret societies, including those that conducted a strenuous tribal initiation, and which staged an annual winter solstice (Soyal) celebration. So important was the Soyal that its leadership was always entrusted to a high official, usually the town's chief. Most widely publicized of Hopi rituals was the Snake dance, held in late August, during which the performers danced with live snakes in their mouths. Actually the public saw only a brief, though exciting, portion of a lengthy ceremony, most of which was conducted secretly in kivas. With the breakdown of isolation, growing numbers of Hopi have abandoned the ways of their ancestors. Caught up in a process of rapid cultural change, they no longer turn their efforts inward, toward their pueblos, but outward, toward the white man's towns and cities and economic and recreational systems. As a result the traditional culture of the Hopi has been steadily disintegrating.