At the time of the ceremonies, especially those performed in summer,
Tewa from the Rio Grande pueblos come to visit and trade and enjoy the
merrymaking that attends the dances. Some of the people of Hano have
visited their relatives on the Rio Grande, but few of the Hopi are so
far-traveled in these days. There has been for centuries, however,
more or less communication across the vast stretch of arid country
lying between the Great River and Tusayan, and in a number of
instances in the distant past, whole tribes have emigrated from the
east to the Hopi country where they have founded new towns. Although
100 miles away, the Havasupai may also be regarded as near neighbors
who cross the desert to sell their fine baskets and superior
white-tanned deerskins, for which articles there is great demand. The
Hopi also traverse the sandy waste to visit the "People of the
Ladders," as they call the Havasupai, and bring back sacred red ocher
and green copper stone for pigments. The Havasupai and Hopi are
likewise linked by traditions of an ancient time.
Long ago, say the Hopi, the Paiute, who are uncultured but strong in
the art of warfare, came down from the north and harassed them until
the people of Hano vanquished them. The Paiute, although remotely
related, were not friendly to the Hopi, and besides, there was much of
value to be seized from the mesa-dwellers. For this reason the Hopi
did not cultivate the friendship with the Paiute and the only one of
that tribe living in Tusayan is "Tom Sawyer," whose portrait is drawn
in another place.
Nor were the Apache more desirable neighbors. The Hopi tell of the
troublous times when these nomads came from the south and compelled
them to draw up their ladders from the cliff at night. Still, Paiute
and Apache baskets and other aboriginal manufactures found their way
to the pueblos, who were always cosmopolitan in their tastes and did
not allow tribal enmity to interfere with trade.
Far to the south another people were friends of the Hopi. Very long
ago the Pima were closer neighbors and allies of some of the Hopi
clans, who touched them in their wide migrations, which brought them
to the "Palatkwabi." This is the Red Land of the south, lying on the
Verde River and its tributaries. The Hopi lay claim to the Tonto Basin
in southern Arizona, which has been thought to be their ancient
country since far and wide over this southern region is found the
yellow pottery so characteristic of the golden age of the Hopi.
Sometimes still the Hopi visit the Pima, and it is known that formerly
they joined in a fair that was held in the Pima country and brought
back various commodities in exchange for their own products. Even
today agave sweetmeats and alder bark, the latter used for dyeing
leather, are found in Hopi dwellings, having been brought from beyond
"Apache House," as they call the region south of the San Francisco
Mountains where the Apache formerly lived.
II
SOCIAL LIFE
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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