Seemingly the men work harder making paraphernalia and costumes for
the ceremonies than at anything else, but it should be remembered that
in ancient days everything depended, in Hopi belief, on propitiating
the deities. Still if we would pick the threads of religion from the
warp and woof of Hopi life there apparently would not be much left. It
must be recorded, in the interests of truth, that Hopi men will work
at day's labor and give satisfaction except when a ceremony is about
to take place at the pueblo, and duty to their religion interferes
with steady employment much as fiestas do in the easy-going countries
to the southward.
Really, the Hopi deserve great credit for their industry, frugality,
and provident habits, and one must commend them because they do not
shun work and because in fairness both men and women share in the
labor for the common good.
An account of the arts which are carried on in the Hopi towns may
prove interesting to the reader who would like to know something of
the methods of the moccasin maker, potter, weaver, carver, basket
maker, and house builder, examples of whose handiwork are scattered
widely among collectors of artistic and remarkable things.
As though to keep up the dignity of the Peaceful People the wife of
"Harry," the new Snake chief of Walpi, frequently wears the cumbrous
foot-gear common along the Rio Grande. In spite of the scarcity of
deerskins, every Hopi bride must have as part of her trousseau a pair
of these remarkable foot-coverings, which require a large deerskin for
their manufacture. When the burdensome ceremony of marriage is over
the moccasins are laid away or worn out and never again may the woman
expect to have her measure taken for another pair.
But as moccasins are a part of the men's costume without which they
cannot run well over the yielding sand, and as there is no village
shoemaker, every man must make his own or go barefoot. Frequently in
the villages one meets a moccasin maker, chewing at the rawhide and
busily plying his awl and sinew while he goes gadding about. Just
before the Snake Dance, when every Snake priest must provide a pair of
new moccasins for himself, this art is very much in evidence.
The moccasin maker takes pride in hiding his stitches, and it must be
said that his sewing is exceptionally good in spite of the crude tools
of his craft. With the same skill he displays in other crafts, the
Hopi prepares the leather for the indispensable moccasins. The
simplest way of giving color to the leather is to rub red ocher or
other clay into the soft-tanned skin, as is seen in the red moccasins
of the Snake dancers. A warm brown is given to the leather with an
infusion of the bark of the water birch, and a black dye is made by
burning piñon resin with crude native alum. Sometimes the esthetic
tastes of a young man are gratified by moccasins dyed with aniline red
or blue according to his fancy.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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