Anasazi/Hopi






The following excerpts are from a newletter published by traditionalist Hopi elders of Hotevilla village in the late 1970's and early 1980's. They illustrate the Hopi's attachment to the land and to corn.

"Spring is here, the time for hard work is fast approaching. It will be a relief to go out into the wide open spaces, surrounded by the mesas, hills, and mountains after the long winter months. We missed our fields and are anxious to once again work the land and plant. ...

"This is a good time to pass on our greetings to our loved ones with thoughts of good health and happiness. It is a time which gives us good feelings of strength, so we hustle around readying our gardens and fields for planting. With our blessings, the seeds are put into the soil, the womb of our Mother Earth. She too feels the warmth of our Father Sun. She begins to stir, with the power of her kindness, she commences her duty of glorifying the land with a green coating of meadows and flowers. Let us be in harmony, for we are one. We have called to Mother Nature with our prayers. 'May your Creations come up strong and healthy so there will be an abundance of food for us and for all.'

"Some of us will be busy working the fields, planting, blending with nature, putting in our seeds, watching them appear. It makes us proud that we too are creators. We pamper our plants, sing and pray so they will grow healthy and strong. They will grow to produce food for our nourishment in return for our kindness and care so that we will stay strong and healthy. The plants will be happy for the duty they have done, both we and the plants will be happy to be part of nature."

"So the time passes on into summer and men tend their plants like newly born infants. We will face all the challenges of nature, wind, animals, and insects, plus keep the weeds removed, or the soil will be sucked bone dry. ...

"Ears of corn begin to appear on the stalks. Melons and beans appear on the vines. As you walk among the plants talking and singing, a good feeling of pride and happiness fills your heart. You can now say the labor you put into it will produce some harvest which will keep the wolf away from your door. ..."

"We are now into Harvest Season. Our youngsters and adults take it just like any other season, but it has some important meaning. It changes the life pattern of all land and life.

"We Hopi are enabled to look at ourselves as we are. The amount and quality we harvest reflect our ways of life in the past years. If the harvest is good, our mind power was strong and clear and in harmony with nature and spirit through prayers. This is faithfulness and happiness. If the harvest is poor, our power of mind strayed because it was not clear, and the prayers did not connect to accomplish the desire. This is sadness and a reason to worry.

"This season is also a harvest of unknown mystery. Only nature and spirit know what kind of life we did harvest, what they store away for us for the coming year, what most of us will see as we move ahead.

"This is the season of happiness and joy, abundance of food and no lack of appetite. There is hard work for men and women, as well as children old enough to help their parents. Each boy also helps his uncle who will in turn help him when he is old enough to become a man. Each girl helps her clan relations and aunts with the same hope for the time she enters marriage.

"First peaches must be brought in, split and dried on the housetops or on rocky places. Some people even build small sheds of stone where they stay to look after their fruit in case it rains. Men bring muskmelons and watemelons on their backs or on donkeys and nowadays on trucks or wagons. Beans are gathered, winnowed, and cleaned. Navajos come to the villages with mutton for trade, and the Hopi go into Navajo country to trade for mutton or even live sheep. ...

"Corn harvesting begins, with many people living by their fields until it is finished. Some will bring their corn on donkeys and wagons and even on their backs for many miles. When everything is gathered the housetops and yards look colorful beyond description, outer walls covered with drying food such as roasted sweet corn, muskmelon, and beans, even jerky meat from the Navajos, for use during winter. These are just a few glimpses of yesteryear, when our thoughts were one."

Anasazi/Hopi