Hopi Tales Of Destruction

"The tales concern such villages as Sikyatki, Hisatsongoopavi, and Awat'ovi, which were destroyed by war, fire, earthquake, or internal strife. Though abandoned for centuries, they live in memory, reminders of ancient tragedies and enmities that changed the Hopis forever. Related by storytellers from Second and Third Mesa, these tales vividly describe village destruction and show how much human evils such as witchcraft, hubris, corruption and betrayal of fundamental values can precipitate social disintegration and chaos."--BOOK JACKET.

The traditional Hopi world, as reflected in Hopi oral literature, is infused with magic?a seamless tapestry of everyday life and the supernatural. That magic and wonder are vividly depicted in this marvelous collection of authentic folktales. For the Hopis, the spoken or sung word can have a magical effect on others. Witchcraft?the wielding of magic for selfish purposes by a powaqa, or sorcerer?has long been a powerful, malevolent force. Sorcerers are said to have the ability to change into animals such as a crow, a coyote, a bat, or a skeleton fly, and hold their meetings in a two-tiered kiva to the northeast of Hopi territory. Shamanism, the more benevolent but equally powerful use of magic for healing, was once commonplace but is no longer practiced among the Hopis. Shamans, or povosyaqam, often used animal familiars and quartz crystals to help them to see, diagnose, and cure illnesses. Spun through these tales are supernatural beings, otherworldly landscapes, magical devices and medicines, and shamans and witches. One story tells about a man who follows his wife one night and discovers that she is a witch, while another relates how a jealous woman uses the guise of an owl to make a rival woman's baby sick. Other tales include the account of a boy who is killed by kachinas and then resurrected as a medicine man and the story of a huge rattlesnake, a giant bear, and a mountain lion that forever guard the entrance to Maski, the Land of the Dead.

Becoming Hopi is a comprehensive look at the history of the people of the Hopi Mesas as it has never been told before. The product of more than fifteen years of collaboration between tribal and academic scholars, this volume presents groundbreaking research demonstrating that the Hopi Mesas are among the great centers of the Pueblo world.

This volume brings together twenty-one traditional tales recently retold by Hopi narrators. Complete with English translations and original Hopi transcriptions on facing pages and a bilingual glossary. Hopi Coyote Tales is important to an understanding of the Hopi language and folklore. To nomadic hunters such as the Navajo, who competed with him on the open range, Coyote was by turns a formidable trickster, a demonic witchperson, and a god. As sedentary planters, the Hopis tended to reduce Coyote to the level of a laughable fool. In these tales Coyote is a friendly bumbler whose mistakes teach listeners what tricks to avoid. Time after time he is hurt or killed for failing to understand a situation correctly. The collection is as amusing as animal fables should be, as simply told, and as instructive. Published as a companion volume to Father Berard Haile's Navajo Coyote Tales, Hopi Coyote Tales is a valuable contribution to cross-cultural studies.

The Anaasází people left behind marvelous structures, the ruins of which are preserved at Mesa Verde, Chaco Canyon, and Canyon de Chelly. But what do we know about these people, and how do they relate to Native nations living in the Southwest today? Archaeologists have long studied the American Southwest, but as historian Robert McPherson shows in Viewing the Ancestors, their findings may not tell the whole story. McPherson maintains that combining archaeology with knowledge derived from the oral traditions of the Navajo, Ute, Paiute, and Hopi peoples yields a more complete history. McPherson’s approach to oral tradition reveals evidence that, contrary to the archaeological consensus that these groups did not coexist, the Navajos interacted with their Anaasází neighbors. In addition to examining archaeological literature, McPherson has studied traditional teachings and interviewed Native people to obtain accounts of their history and of the relations between the Anaasází and Athapaskan ancestors of today’s Hopi, Pueblo, and Navajo peoples. Oral history, McPherson points out, tells why things happened. For example, archaeological findings indicate that the Hopi are descended from the Anaasází, but Hopi oral tradition better explains why the ancient Puebloans may have left the Four Corners region: the drought that may have driven the Anaasází away was a symptom of what had gone wrong within the society—a point that few archaeologists could derive from what is found in the ground. An important text for non-Native scholars as well as Native people committed to retaining traditional knowledge, Viewing the Ancestors exemplifies collaboration between the sciences and oral traditions rather than a contest between the two.

Lost Knowledge: The Concept of Vanished Technologies and Other Human Histories investigates early texts that speak of sophisticated technologies millennia ago that became obscured over time or were destroyed with the civilizations that had created them.

Kokopelli the flute player is one of the most popular icons that American culture has adopted from the Native peoples of North America. The Kokopelli name and image are everywhere, adorning everything from jewelry, welcome mats, T-shirts, and money clips to motels, freeway underpasses, nature trails, nightclubs, and string quartets. Kokopelli evokes mystery and wonder, ancient ceremonies andøspirituality, Mother Earth and the purity of nature. But what exactly is Kokopelli? Just how Native American is this ubiquitous flute player? In this fascinating book, the distinguished scholar of Hopi culture and history Ekkehart Malotki describes the development of the Kokopelli phenomenon in American mass culture from its beginning to Kokopelli?s present status as pan-Southwestern icon. He explores the figure?s connections with the Hopi kachina god Kookop”l” and Maahu, the cicada, and discusses how this rock-art image has been appropriated and misunderstood. Kokopelli sheds light on a little-understood aspect of Hopi culture and testifies to the continuing power of Native cultures to spark the popular imagination and interest of outsiders.