While we know our northern friends may not feel it, in the South, Spring is
here. So we thought we'd share a few of our gardening sites appropriate
for this time of the year. Along with gardening, there's grilling, and getting
ready to diet so that you can fit back into that bathing suit this summer!
Social organization.—The Hopi
people are divided into several phratries, consisting of numerous clans,
each of which preserves its distinct legends, ceremonies, and ceremonial
paraphernalia. Out of these clan organizations have sprung religious
fraternities, the head-men of which are still members of the dominant clan
in each phratry. The relative importance of the clans varies in different
pueblos; many that are extinct in some villages are powerful in others.
The 12 phratries and their dependent clans as
represented in the East Mesa villages are as follows:
1. Ala-Lengya ( Horn-flute) phratry: Ala (Horn), Pangwa
(Mountain sheep), Sowiinwa (Deer), Chubio (Antelope ), Chaizra ( Elk),
Lehu (Seed grass), Shiwanu (Ant), Anu (Red-ant), Tokoamu (Black-ant),
Wukoanu (Great-ant) Leliotu (Tiny-ant), Shakwalengya (Blue flute),
Masilengya (Drab or All-colors flute).
3. Chau(
Snake ) phratry: Chua (Snake), Tohouh (Puma) , Huwi (Dove ), Ushu
(Columnar cactus), Puna (Cactus fruit), Yungyu (Opuntia), Nabowu (Opuntia
frutescens), Piuwani (Marmot), Pihcha (Skunk), Kalashiavu (Raccoon),
Tubish (Sorrow), P a t u n g (Squash), Atoko (Crane), Kele (Pigeon-hawk),
Chinunga (Thistle). The last 5 are extinct.
12. Honani ( Badger) phratry: Honani ( Badger), Muinyawu (
Porcupine), Wishoko (Turkey-buzzard), Buli (Butterfly), Buliso ( Evening
Primrose), Kachina (Sacred dancer).
Most of the above clans occur in the other Hopi
pueblos, but not in Hano. There are a few clans in the Middle Mesa
villages and in Oraibi that are not now represented at Walpi. For the Hano
clans see Hano.
The Honau (Bear) clan is represented on each mesa and
is supposed to be the oldest in Tusayan. It is said to have come
originally from the Rio Grande valley, but on the East mesa the clan is
now so reduced as to be threatened with extinction at Walpi within a
generation.
The Chua (Snake) people were among the earliest to
settle in Tusayan, joining the Bears and living with them when Walpi was
in the foothills. The legends of this people declare that they carne from
pueblos in the north, near Navaho Mountains, on the Rio Colorado. In their
northern home they were united with the Ala (Horn) people, who separated
from them in their southerly migration and united with the Flute people at
the now ruined pueblo of Lengyanobi, north of the East mesa. The combined
Snake and Ala people control the Antelope and Snake fraternities, and
possess the fetishes and other paraphernalia of the famous Snake dance.
The palladium of this people is kept at Walpi, thus leading to the belief
that this was the first Hopi home of the Snake and kindred people.
The Lengya (Flute) people, once very strong, are now
almost extinct at the East mesa, but are numerous in some of the other
pueblos. They are said to have lived formerly at Lengyanobi and to have
come to Tusayan from the south, or from pueblos along Little Colorado
river. The chief of the Flute priesthood controls the Flute ceremony,
which occurs biennially, alternating with the Snake dance. There are two
divisions in the Flute fraternity, one known as the Drab Flute and the
other as the Blue Flute, the former being extinct at Walpi. Sichomovi and
Hano have no representatives of this phratry, but it is represented in all
the other Hopi villages.
There are Ala, or Horn, people in most of the Hopi
pueblos, and clans belonging to this phratry are named generally after
horned animals. Their ancestors came to Walpi with the Flute people and
were well received, because they had formerly lived with the Snake people
in the north. They now join the Snake priest in the Antelope rites of the
Snake dance.
The Patki (Water-house, or Cloud) phratry includes a
number of clans that came to the Hopi country from the south, and the now
ruined villages along the Little Colorado are claimed by this people to
have been their former homes. They were comparatively late arrivals, and
brought a high form of sun and serpent worship that is still prominent in
the Winter Solstice ceremony. The Sun priests, who are well represented in
most of the
Hopi pueblos and are especially strong at Walpi,
accompanied this people. Others, as the Piba or Tobacco clan, came to
Walpi from Awatobi on the destruction of the latter pueblo in 1700.
The Pakab (Reed) people also came from Awatobi,
settling first at the base of the Middle mesa, whence they went to Walpi.
They control the Warrior society called Kalektaka.
The Kokop ( Wood) phratry came from Sikyatki and have a
few representatives in Walpi and in the other villages. The traditional
home of the Kokop and allied clans was Jemez (q. v.), in New Mexico.
The Honani or Badger phratry originally lived at
Awatobi, and after the destruction of that pueblo went to Oraibi and Walpi.
It is now largely represented in Sichomovi, which village it joined the
Asa in founding. The Buli, or Butterfly, clan is closely related to the
Honani people, and both are probably of Keresan or of Tewa origin.
The Kachina phratry is also of New Mexican origin, and
in some of the pueblos shares with the Honani the control of the masked
dance organization called Kachinas; but it is not strong in Walpi.
The Asa people were Tewa in kin, coming originally from
the Rio Grande valley and settling successively at Zuñi
and in the Canyon de Chelly. This people, with the Honani, founded
Sichomovi, and is now one of the strongest clans on the East mesa. Only
one or two members now live at Walpi; a few live in the Middle Mesa
villages, but none at Oraibi.
