A Hopi Ritual Ceremony

Kachinas, are benign messengers in Hopi religion. There are different ones for each seasons, and they are used in major rituals such as the August Rain Ceremony of the society of the Snake (snake symbolizes Mother Earth) and the Antelope (symbolizes fruitful reproduction).  Men on the side of the Snake collect serpents from the desert, sing to them, and feed them pollen.  Antelope men perform foot races to draw the clouds so the Snake can draw rain from them. (see photo of Snake Dance).

On the eighth day, priests conduct rites in the Antelope Kiva (the underground ritual chamber) altar, which is prepared beforehand with gourds of purifying water and a sand depiction of ruin's role in creation.

On the ninth day, the community convenes in the village plaza where the Snake and Antelope brothers stomp on the sipapu (hole) sounding board to waken the kachinas.   

A kisi pit contains fire pit, an altar and a platform.  Fire represents the 1st world, altar represents the 2nd world, and the platform represents the 3rd world.  A ladder out of the hole represents the 4th world above ground. The altar is painted with symbols of rain, lightning, and snakes.

A Snake priest holds a diamondback in his mouth while his guide strikes it with an eagle feather to keep it from coiling and striking.  The performers include an albino which is said to bring good fortune.

Then the Snake men lift dozens of venomous repents from a "kisi" pit, dance with them and finally carry them back to the plateau and await the needed rain.

Next time...on the Santa Fe Trail
__________________________
Today in Pioneer History: "On July 21,  1865, Wild Bill Hickok fight his first western showdown
and shoots Dave Tutt dead in the market square of Springfield, Missouri.

The Fascinating Hopi Religion

While reading about the Hopi, I was fascinated by their religion.  Hopi ("peaceful") live their religion with an essence of harmony, based on nine universes.  In a Hopi pueblo, the two highest buildings are the Supreme Being.  Man has passed through the lowest three (which are underground) to the fourth which is aboveground.  At each emergence man is born unblemished in harmony with all.  If a man can retain this purity, he will pass into a higher world.

Witches as well as man's frailty sully life's original purity.  To restore harmony, man needs the intercession of 300 "kachinas", benign messengers sent by the gods to accompany man when he emerges into the fourth world. (see photo) The kachinas stay with man for 6 months, after which they descend through a hole ("sipapu") to the underworld.  Before man emerges into the fourth world, man is given sacred corn, the Hopi staple which is grown on dry plateaus, watered only by springs, by seepage through sandstone mesas, or occasional rains.

All villagers belong to one or more religious societies, each with a ritual chamber ("Kiva") which serves a clubhouse, clinic, and shrine.  Membership is matrilateral - family life, based on a mother.  A daughter, for example, gives birth in her mother's house.  Birth is a by-product of death.  After a Hopi dies and visits the underworld, his spirit may float above the earth as a rain cloud, enlightening new crops, and bringing about rebirth.

Houses belong to women who educate their daughter.  When a daughter marries, the couple lives with her mother or next door.  The husband weaves two garments for his bride and then farms her family land. Men do all the weaving.  At puberty, a son leaves home to live in the Kiva until marriage. 

The Hopi environment is harsh but it inspires such respect for life that no game is killed without appeasement.  A dead rabbit is fed cornmeal, a coyote is given a cornhusk cigarette - all in a manner to appease to the gods. 

Next time...a ritual Hopi ceremony
_______________________________
On this Day in Pioneer History: "On July 18, 1792, the Revolutionary War naval hero John Paul Jones dies in his Paris apartment, where he was still awaiting a commission as the United States consul to Algiers. Commander Jones, remembered as one of the most daring and successful naval commanders of the American Revolution, was born in Scotland, on July 6, 1747.