USA > Arizona > History of Arizona, Vol. VII > Part 10
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"Dr. Edward Palmer writes: 'In May, 1869, in company with the Rev. Vincent Colyer, I visited the Moquis Indians. One night, while camping near the town, we wished some corn for our horses. The Governor being made aware of the fact, mounted the top of the house and called aloud. A movement was soon dis- cernible, housetops and doors being occupied by listeners. The Governor repeated his call sev- eral times. Soon from every quarter corn was brought in flat baskets until more than enough was procured, for which we were expected to pay nothing, but Mr. Colyer gave them some flannel. They were surprised to see us giving corn to our horses, because it is raised with so much difficulty that they use it only for their own consumption.
"'The Governors of the Moquis towns are accustomed to mount their housetops at night and give instructions regarding the labors of the following day. The night before we left the
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town of Oraybi one of these harangues was made, and we were informed that the Governor had instructed all the people to go out early the next morning and kill jack rabbits, which were eating up the corn. Early the next morning the men turned out, according to orders, accom- panied by the women, whose business was to take care of the game. Rabbits are an impor- tant article of food with these Indians, and their skins are cut up into clothing. The implement used in capturing them is the boomerang, which is shied at the legs of the animal.
" 'The Governor invited Mr. Colyer, Lieut. Crouse and myself to dine with him at his house. He received us cordially, showing us a silver headed ebony cane, a gift from President Lin- coln. Dinner being announced, a blanket was spread upon the floor, and upon it were arranged dishes filled with dried peaches, a good supply of boiled mutton, and a large basket of corn cakes as blue as indigo, made from the meal of the blue corn. There were also some dishes filled with a sweet liquid made by dissolving the roasted center of the agave plant in water. There were neither plates, knives, forks, spoons nor napkins, but the dinner was clean, as was everything else about the house. The bread an- swers for both plate and spoon. You take a piece, lay a fragment of mutton and some peaches upon it, or a little of the sweet liquid, and bolt the mass, plate, spoon and all. This dinner, though prepared and cooked by Indians, of food produced entirely by themselves, tasted better than many a meal eaten by us in the bor- der settlements, cooked by whites.' "
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THE HOPI (OR MOQUI).
In The Eleventh Census of the United States, 1893, Thomas Donaldson gives the following in reference to the Moqui Pueblo Indians of Ari- zona :
"The Moqui people are rich in legends and folklore. They have their stories of giants, giantesses, hobgoblins, fairies, and all kinds of spirits, which they believe once lived and in- habited the earth in time long since gone by. Every cliff and mesa, every mountain and can- yon, has some story attached to it which the natives treasure with care. All these legends, traditions, and stories are transmitted, orally, from generation to generation, with minutest exactness of circumstances and detail. A child in telling these stories is attentively listened to by its elders and quickly prompted if it makes a mistake in any particular; so we can feel as- sured in reading any of these legends received directly from these people that they accord with the true, literal, Indian version. These people also have their superstitions and their belief in ghosts.
"In the Butte country, south of Awatubi, there is a hole in the ground which can be de- scended to a great depth, with curious hiero- glyphics all along down the almost perpendicu- lar sides of the hole, which is only large enough to admit the body of a man. The Moquis never approach this hole without first scattering sacred meal and uttering prayers. Near it is a cave where it would be quite safe to cache any treas- ure, for so great is the fear both the Navajos and Moquis have of it that they will go a long distance to avoid passing its mouth. This cave
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was explored by Mr. Keam and Mr. Steven, guided by Polaki, and when its remotest corners were reached they found it inhabited only by large numbers of hedgehogs.
"After their harvest their religious ceremo- nies begin, in which they thank the Great Spirit for blessings vouchsafed to them, and ask that the coming days be prosperous; that drought, famine and pestilence be kept away, and that the supposed ancient prosperity and mighty condition of their race be ultimately restored. It is evident that they are hard-working people, for almost every moment of their time is spent in obtaining the necessaries of life, as they are
poor and in a barren country. A day now and then is appointed for sports, which only the men attend, dancing and horse-racing, the latter being the principal sport. For the horse-racing they go into the desert and select grounds at a point where they can be seen from the mesas, and when the day arrives the men all come mounted on their best ponies, dressed in a variety of costumes, some in the cast-off cloth- ing of the white man, some in only a 'gee' string (breech-cloth), eagle feathers, a pair of mocca- sins, and an old plug hat, suggesting the story of the Georgia cavalryman's uniform; some tastefully and others most gorgeously arrayed in finery of their own invention and manufac- ture. When the races open, the people form two lines, facing each other, the distance between them being about thirty feet. Usually but two race at a time. Those entering the contest ride away three hundred, four hundred, or five hun- dred yards, to some point agreed upon; then,
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turning, they dash forward, riding to and be- tween these lines to a lariat, which has been drawn across from one side to the other. All the spectators act as judges. There is never any dispute as to the result of a race, no matter how much has been staked upon it, one way or the other. The wildest demonstrations of de- light are indulged in by the winners, and the losers join heartily in the general hilarity.
"In 1889 Mr. C. R. Moffet attended a tininina, or social dance, given by the young men of Walpi. He thus describes it: 'We made our way through the intricate windings of the nar- row streets to nearly the opposite side of the village, where we found about forty men assem- bled in a long, low, and narrow hall. As only one very poor dip was burning, and as the only opening through wall or roof was a very low and narrow door near one end, it is safe to say that the lighting and ventilating of their ball- room was not first class. The dancers had re- moved all superfluous clothing, and it was ex- tremely ludicrous to see an Indian come in, and, after quietly greeting those present, with great dignity take off his shirt and hang it up, just as a white man under similar circumstances would remove his great coat and hat. The mu- sical instruments were a tom-tom, made of a sec- tion of hollow cottonwood log, one end of which was covered with dried muleskin, a number of gourds, filled with pebbles, and, wonderful in- novation, a half string of sleigh-bells. The pebble-filled gourds and the bells were rattled, and the tom-tom, beaten with a heavy stick, came in from time to time like a bass drum, and the
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dancers, in a long single file, kept time. First but the right foot of each moved to the music, then both feet, then both feet and one arm, then all the limbs, then the head, then the whole frame fairly writhed. The line slowly retreated to the back of the hall, but at once advanced with ever accelerating speed, ending in a terrific bound. All this in perfect unison, keeping time to the music, all the dancers chanting the story of their tribe. First, low and plaintive the song, telling the death of some renowned chief, or great misfortune of their people; then higher, telling of the capture of whole herds of deer and antelope and big horns, by their mighty hunters; then higher, ever higher, telling the adventures of their brave warriors on the fields of strife, and ending in a terrible yell, that marked the close of a wonderful exploit of some death-deal- ing chief. The wavering light, the shadowy corners, scarcely lighted at all; the rattling bells and gourds, and the mournful tom-tom; the long line of nearly nude Indians, their long hair streaming out behind, marching, bounding, writhing, and wildly tossing their arms; and the strange song, now soft and low, now loud and fierce, formed a scene oppressively weird, and never to be forgotten. The tininina ended at about ten o'clock.'
"The Moquis bury their dead with much cere- monv. They do not put them in boxes or coffins, but wrap them in blankets and lay them away in the rocks with bowls of sacred meal, meat, water, corn. and fruits. This is not done from any superstitious notion that these things are going to be of any use to the dead, but because
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they are symbols of certain ideas. The women are the chief mourners and are grief stricken at their loss. The great altitude of the town with the consequently rare and pure air prevents odors.
"Their form of courtship and marriage is very simple. In this part of their life neither priests nor civil officials have anything to do. When a young man seeks a wife he pays court to a maiden of his own choosing, and if he is favored she sends him a basket of variously col- ered peki, or peky, which signifies that she is willing to marry him. Then he, with all his people, visits her family, and they have a little fete. This is returned, when the young man goes away with the girl, now his bride, and lives in her house. These people are very moral and hold in most sacred regard the family life. They do not marry sisters or cousins, and they invariably go out of their family or gens to se- lect wives or husbands.
"The Moquis, it is said, believe in a great spirit, who lives in the sun and who gives them light and heat. With the Moquis there are male and female in the idea of deity; the earth is the female, and all living things are the issue.
"The Moquis know one all-wise and good spirit, Cotukinuniwa, 'The Heart of the Stars.' They have also Balikokon, the Great Water Snake, the spirit of the element of water, and they see him in the rains and snows, the rivers and springs, the sap in the trees and the blood in the body. The whole Moqui heavens are filled, too, with Katcina, angels, or literally, 'those who have listened to the Gods.' All
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the great dead men of the Moqui nation at some time before they died, saw Katcina and received messages from them, and some of the chiefs now living have seen them, too. As it is so often found in the religion of a people who are low in mental development, and in whose pitiful lives the hours of trial and privation and sorrow are much more numerous than the happy ones, the spirit of good, though all-wise, is not all-powerful, so it is found here. Cotukinuniwa loves his chil- dren and would send to them nothing but good ; but that he cannot always do, for Balilokon is sometimes stronger than he, and wills evil. Yet it would not be right to call Balilokon the spirit of evil, for he is by no means always so. When he is pleased the mists and rains fall gently and the sap runs lustily through plants and trees, giving them vigorous growth; the springs and rivers are full, but clear, giving abundance of good water to the people and their flocks, and the blood flowing in the veins of the children of the tribe is the blood of health; but Balilokon is sometimes angered and the rains come not at all, or come in deluges that destroy; the rivers are dry or are raging floods; the sap is with- drawn from the plants and trees and they die, and the blood of the people flows through their veins but to poison. There have been times when the anger of Balilokon it seemed no cere- mony or prayer could appease; then hundreds of the people went down to death, and one time, away in the dim past, so many moons ago that their wisest one cannot tell how many, he sent a great flood that covered nearly all the earth, and but very few of the people and not many
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of the beasts were saved. Balilokon, having it in his power to do so much of evil, is the god most prayed to, and in his name almost all the cere- monies are held. At the foot of the cliff at the southern point of the mesa is a large rock (Moqui luck shrine) with a nearly flat top, about 8 feet in size, and a few yards to one side of it is a well worn trail. On the top of the rock are thou- sands of pebbles, seemingly every one that could possibly be lodged there, and around the base are other thousands that have fallen. It is the great luck stone, and from time immemorial have the children of the villages gone there to get forecasts of their lives. Each little devotee of the blind goddess selects three pebbles, and while walking down the trail, throws them, one by one, upon the rock. If but one pebble lodges, the thrower will know much of sorrow and dis- appointment, yet his efforts will sometimes bear good fruits. If two pebbles stay he will find more than the average of success, and if all three lodge upon the top he may march onward boldly, for what can withstand him? Should all the little stones fall off, what then? Well, the child can ask himself but one question, 'Why was I born ?'
""'In the "neck" or "saddle" which connects the first of the Moqui 'islands' or rock (the first or eastern mesa, on which is Walpi) with the main tableland, is a shrine of great importance. It is a little inclosure of slabs of stone surround- ing a large stone fetich, which has been carved into a conventional representation of the sacred snake. In two small natural cavities of the dance rock are also kept other large fetiches.'
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(Charles F. Lummis, in 'Some Strange Corners of Our Country.' 1892.)
"At points about the Moqui villages are altars and shrines, on or in which are idols made of wood or pottery, and at which the Moquis indi- vidually worship. Near Oraibi is a noted Phallic shrine. The Moqui worship or devo- tional acts are largely private. Their communal and public worship are generally by dancing or in games. Some of these shrines may be the re- mains of the old Catholic worship."
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CHAPTER IX.
THE HOPI (OR MOQUI) (Continued).
CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES-RELIGION- LACK OF RELIGION-NO SACRED FIRES- MOQUI GODS.
Mr. Donaldson, in the same publication quoted in the preceding chapter, also gives the follow- ing:
"The Moqui Pueblos of Arizona and Pueblos of New Mexico are citizens of the United States by virtue of the laws of the Mexican republic.
"So good an authority as Governor L. Brad- ford Prince, of New Mexico, ex-Chief Justice of the Territory, in his History of New Mexico, page 327, says :
"'By the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo all inhabitants of New Mexico, except those who chose formally to retain the character of Mexi- can citizens, became citizens of the United States, with the same rights and privileges as all other citizens.'
"The Moqui Pueblos were then inhabitants of New Mexico as well as the Pueblos. Neither formally, after the treaty, announced their in- tention to remain citizens of Mexico, but, on the contrary, have aided the United States with soldiers in war and by remaining good citizens in peace. The Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, in its inhibi- tion of citizenship to Indians not taxed, does not apply to the Moqui Pueblo or Pueblo Indians (not taxed), because the same could not set aside
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the contracts as to their citizenship made be- tween the United States and the republic of Mexico by the eighth and ninth articles of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Neither the Mo- qui Pueblos nor the Pueblos have exercised the right of suffrage to any extent since they became citizens of the United States. This fact should have no weight against their right of citizenship, especially in the case of the Pueblos of New Mexico. Suffrage is not a natural right; it is a privilege, and is conferred by the state. The citizen need not vote; there is no law to force him to vote; neither does he lose any rights or remedies for wrong by not voting. He can vote or not, as he likes. Thousands of American citizens do not vote, but they are citizens never- theless."
RELIGION.
"Of the religion and ceremonies of the Moquis in 1890, Mr. A. M. Stevens writes :
" 'Their thronged mythology has given rise to a very complex system of worship, which rests upon this theory: in early days certain super- human beings, called Cachinas, appeared at cer- tain seasons, bringing blessings or reproofs from the gods, and, as indicated by their name, they listened to the people's prayers and carried back their desires to the gods. A long while ago they revealed certain mystic rites to a few good men of every clan, by means of which, mor- tals could communicate directly with the gods, after which their visits ceased, and this, the Moquis say, was the origin of their numerous religious or Katcheena societies. To a limited
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extent certain women were also similarly en- dowed; hence, the membership of some of these societies consists entirely of men, others of women only, and in many both sexes bear a part. The public ceremonies of these societies are par- ticipated in by all members, fancifully dressed in cotton tunics, kilts, and girdles, and wearing large masks decorated with the emblems pertain- ing to the Katcheena whose feast they celebrate. Emerging from the kiva, the maskers form in procession and march to the village court, where they stand in line, rattle in hand, and as they stamp their feet with measured cadence they sing their traditional hymns of petition. The surrounding house terraces are crowded with spectators, and some of these celebrations par- take much of the nature of dramas. Feats of war are mimicked or the actions of wild animals and hunters, and many mythic incidents are commemorated, while interludes afford an op- portunity for a few grotesquely arrayed buf- foons to crack coarse jests for the amusement of the rude audience. Every moon witnesses some celebration.'
"Mr. J. H. Beadle, after visiting the Moquis in 1872 (in 'The Undeveloped West; pp. 582- 583), wrote of their religion as follows:
"'All my endeavors failed to discover the slightest trace of any religion. The simplest form in which I could put questions on that point seemed to completely bewilder them. The Spanish word Dios they had never heard, and the American word God, only as an oath, and did not know what it implied. To my question, "Who made all these mountains ?"
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Papa only smiled, then stared, and finally re- plied, "Nada; siempre son aqui (nothing; they are always here)." Fearing from this that my limited command of Spanish had caused him to misunderstand me, I entered into a very minute explanation, in the simplest possible words, of our belief, and had him repeat till I was sure he fully understood it, but apparently it roused no answering conceptions in his mind. Part of the talk struck me as so curious, that I at once copied it :
"'Myself: 'The Melicans and Mexicans have one they call God or Dios. We think He made us; made this mesa; made these mountains; made all men and all things. We talk to and ask good things of this God.'
" 'Papa: 'Yes; I much hear Melican man say, "G-d d-n" (repeating an oath too blasphe- mous to be written).
"'Myself: 'No, no; that is bad. He was a bad Melican man who said that. We think this God all good. Have the Moquis a God like that ?'
"'Papa : 'Nothing (nada). The grandfathers said nothing of Dios, what you say Got-God' (making several attempts at the word).
"'Myself: 'But say to me, who made this mesa ; these mountains; all that you see there.'
" 'Papa : 'Nothing ; it is here.'
" "Myself : 'Was it always here ?'
" 'Papa, (with a short laugh) : 'Yes; cer- tainly, always here. What would make it be away from here ?'
"'Myself : 'But where do the dead Moquis go; where is the child I saw put in the sand yester- day; where does it go?'
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" 'Papa : 'Not at all ; nowhere ; you saw it put in the sand; how can it go anywhere ?'
"'Myself : 'Did you ever hear of Montezuma ? " 'Papa : 'No; Monte-Montzoo-(attempting the word). Melican man ?'
"'Myself: 'No; one of your people we think. What are these dances for, that you have some- times ?'
" 'Papa : 'The grandfathers always had them.'
"As an evidence of how difficult it is to ob- tain a satisfactory answer from a Moqui as to his religion, Dr. Oscar Loew, chemist to the Wheeler surveying expedition in 1874, who was with the Moquis for a time, writes:
"'With regard to the religion of the Moquis, diligent investigation failed to develop any- thing definite. To the inquiry whether they worshipped Montezuma, the reply was, in broken Spanish, 'No sabe, (I don't know).' By Mesayamtibe (a Moqui man) we were in- formed that he believed the 'sun to be the true God,' but that the so-called 'happy hunting ground' was, in his opinion, but a creation of
the imagination. * The Moquis some- * * times hold religious meetings in caves in the vicinity of their settlements.'
"Major J. W. Powell wrote in 1875 of the religion of the Moquis as follows:
" 'The people seem to worship a great num- ber of gods, many of which are personified ob- jects, powers, and phenomena of nature. They worship a god of the north, a god of the south, a god of the east, and a god of the west; a god of thunder, and a god of rain; the sun, the moon, VII-11
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and the stars; and, in addition, each town has its patron deity. There seems also to be in- grafted on their religion a branch of ancestral worship. Their notion of the form and con- struction of the world is architectural, that is, composed of many stories. We live in the second.'
"Special Agent Julian Scott, after two trips to the Moqui villages, wrote on May 20, 1891 :
" There is no use talking about their re- ligious beliefs, of which little is known. Dr. (Washington) Matthews is probably the best informed man respecting their mythology.'
"Mr. J. Walter Fewkes (1891) writes:
" 'The Hopi (Moquis) recognize that they have copied much from the Zunis in their reli- gious ceremonials. Many of their Kat-tci-na dances are said to be Zuni Kat-tci-nas. It is perfectly natural that they should copy their neighbors, especially if they believe the cere- monials more effective, and, also, the Hopi ob- servances have evidence of being copied from many sources.
"'It is a most baffling task to obtain from the Indians the proper names of their cere- monies. It is probable that for each celebra- tion they have several names, which are mostly descriptive of some portions of a dramatic epi- sode or some particular phase with more or less mystic elements.'
"Mr. A. F. Bandelier says the Moquis are Pueblo Indians to all intents and purposes, their language excepted. This probably in-
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cludes their religion, Pueblo referring to the Pueblos of New Mexico.
"It would seem from the authorities that the Moqui religion consists of 'mythology' and a number of ceremonies of a devotional charac- ter ; in fact, a highly developed materialism with ceremonial aids.
"It will be, recalled in this connection that there is no Christian church in any of the seven Moqui pueblos, and but little evidence of the re- mains of even a memory of the Catholic faith, whose clergymen were once with them, save, perhaps, in the rough shrines and altars now seen.
SACRED FIRES NOT PERPETUAL IN THE ESTUFAS.
"With a view to placing the life and actual condition of this curious people (the Moquis) on record in the Eleventh Census, the special agents who visited the Moquis were instructed to observe closely as to their alleged mysteries. It is stated by several modern writers that the Moquis kept alive the sacred fires. Mr. Scott wrote in 1890, both as to this and the venerable pipes as follows :
".I have heard of the sacred fires that are ever kept burning in the kevas (or kivas) of the Moqui Pueblos, and naturally looked for them. But alas! like many other things I read about and was told of, they proved a myth. During ceremonies they always keep a little fire going, which may be properly called their altar. These fires are prepared by the priests who pre-
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side over the ceremonies, and who sit directly in front of them and go through their invoca- tions addressed to the smoke, which, rising up- ward and through the hatch, disperses itself in the air and carries their entreaties to the deities ; besides, the priests are usually naked and the fire protects them. They smoke tobacco during the ceremonies, which seems to form a part of the rites, and which is never omitted. It is the cigarette as a rule, and is there omnipresent. While they use to some extent the different kinds of modern pipes, I have never seen one about in the kevas; the cigarette is universally used. Now and then an ancient pipe is seen, but all my efforts failed to get one. Pipes are only used in their ceremonies, and the Moquis attach superior attributes to them, believing that they are charmed by the spirits of the dead who, in life, smoked them. The story of the sacred fire seems to have no truth in it. There has been a misunderstanding. It is true that in some of the kevas or estufas of the seven pueblos there are always ceremonies going on, conducted by the priests. These ceremonies are also the schools of instruction for their young men when admitted into the different orders. It is in the estufa that the traditions and folklore of their race are told over and over again. They are the natural resorts of the old men who are unfit for labor, and it is from them that the Moqui youth obtain the traditional part of their educa- tion and all data as to the history of their people. This history is all oral, as they have no written language. The fire that is kindled in the keva is upon the flat stone floors and about in the
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