The Unwritten Literature of the Hopi — John Locke — John Shaqi
The Unwritten Literature of the Hopi
John Locke · en
For instance, a Hopi man of middle age, known to the writer as George
(school name), tells her that his adopted father belonged to the Tobacco
Clan, so the name selected for him by the paternal aunts was
"Sackongsie" or "green tobacco plant with the blossoms on." Bessie, born
in the same family, was named "Sackhongeva" or "green tobacco plant
standing straight." The nine month's baby daughter of a Hopi girl once
in the employ of the writer is merrily called "Topsy," although formally
named Christine in honor of the school superintendent's wife. Her mother
explains that the father's clan is Tobacco, and the aunts named this
baby "Topt-si," "the red blossom on top of the tobacco plant," which
sounds so exactly like Topsy that the family sense of humor has
permitted the nickname. One of the writer's Hopi girls was named "two
straight, tall rows of corn," another, "Falling Snow." These pretty
names, too long for convenience, are nevertheless cherished, as a matter
of sentiment, by their owners.
[Footnote 33: Goddard, P.E., Indians of the Southwest: N.Y. Amer. Mus.
Nat. Hist., Handbook Series No. 2, 1921.]
=Marriage=
The following is Hough's[34] description of the wedding ceremony at
Oraibi: "When the young people decide to be married, the girl informs
her mother, who takes her daughter, bearing a tray of meal made from
white corn, to the house of the bridegroom where she is received by his
mother with thanks. During the day the girl must labor at the mealing
stones, grinding the white meal, silent and unnoticed; the next day she
must continue her task.... On the third day of this laborious trial she
grinds the dark blue corn which the Hopi call black, no doubt, glad when
the evening brings a group of friends, laden with trays of meal of
their own grinding as presents, and according to the custom, these
presents are returned in kind, the trays being sent back next day heavy
with choice ears of corn.