The Hopi Tribe

The Hopi Tribe are a group of pueblo Indians, located in the northeastern Arizona. The Hopi are considered to be very wise by other Indian tribes because the Hopi have inhabited the same land for a millennium. Although the Hopi are a wise group of people with a beautiful way of life, the Hopi had to fight to remain near their original territory, and prospered on their current reservation.
The Hopi are a very peaceful tribe who live in northeastern Arizona in the center of the NAVAJO lands. In the book, “Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes,” by Carl Waldman, he states, “The Hopi were the westernmost of the Pueblo Indians… They are the only Pueblo peoples to speak a dialect of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Yet like the other Pueblo Indians,
The Second Mesa has three traditional villages including Sipaulovi, Mishongnovi, and Shongopavi; this Mesa is also the location of the Hopi Cultural Center and Hotel. As you near Third Mesa, you will find the seat of the Hopi Tribal Government, Kykotsmovi. There three traditional Hopi villages in Third Mesa, Old Oraibi, Bacavi, and Hotevilla (“The Hopi Indians” 2). The Hopi Indians lived in Pueblos that were made out of stones set in mud and trees. The men would travel long distances to find pine trees to use because trees were a rare item in their homeland; then they would bring them back along with other building materials and the women of the tribe would build the Pueblos. Pueblos were designed with flat roofs that were filled in with poles, branches, leaves, and grass, and then packed with plaster. To enter the Pueblo the family must enter through an opening on the roof and climb down a ladder. Living in Northeastern Arizona the Hopi had to be skilled farmers, most of their food was sustained through hunting and gathering. The women gathered all the wild plants they could find and the
The men had to survey all the different types of soil that surrounded their land to find the perfect spot to plant the plants; they usually planted in sandy soil where they could catch runoff water from the rare rainstorms the received. They usually grew corn, beans, squash, cotton, and tobacco, all of which were able to withstand the hot grueling temperatures of Arizona. The men protected the crops from sand storms and harsh winds by building windbreaks out of branches and brush. The Hopi Indians social structure differed from most Indian tribes because their chief was also the shamans or the medicine man. The Hopi also had different groups of related families including Snake, Badger, and Antelope Clans. These Clans helped direct the annual cycle of religious events and also helped make village decisions. The Hopi also wore very bright clothing; the Hopi men made blankets and clothing wove out of cotton, then the women colored the threads with yellow, orange, red, green, and black dyes from plants. The Hopi also used leather and rabbit skin to