raids beginning in the 17th century, which was about the time of the Pueblo Revolt against the Spanish oppressors. The descendants of these Tewa continue to reside on First Mesa and are now considered a part of the Hopi people by the government and many, but not all, Hopi people.Today, mostly Hopi live on the Hopi Reservation –though others live there as well (for example, teachers and ministers who are not Hopi live on the reservation). There are, to the best of my knowledge, three non-Native men who are married to Hopi women who live on Hopi and four non-Native women married (or previously married) to a Hopi man who live on the reservation. There are also a number of both men and women from other tribes who have married Hopi partners and live on Hopi.
Some translate the word Hopi to mean “The Peaceful People.” That is more a description than a translation. The term Hopi translates more to “good, calm, thoughtful, friendly.”
Governance and Governing
The Hopi people and the Hopi tribe have never fought with troops of the Spanish, Mexican, or United States military. They also have never signed a treaty with any of those governments. Even so, they have been abused by all.
Spanish priests came to Hopi in the 1600s and forced the Hopi men to build churches for them. They forced the Hopi men to travel nearly 100 miles away to obtain timbers for the church roofs. While the men were gone from the villages, the priests were said to “have their way” with the women. Then during the Pueblo Revolt, the Hopi, along with all the other pueblos, rose up and evicted the Spanish. When the Spanish regained control of the pueblos of the Rio Grande, they never came back to Hopi. However, the government then took control and during the 1880s allowed religious schools to be established on Hopi, requiring Hopi children to attend. The Hopi resisted, with the result that a number of Hopi men were rounded up and sent to Alcatraz for refusing to send their children to school.
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, Rev. Henry Voth, a Mennonite missionary, had a church at what was then New Oraibi (now Kykotsmovi). He would go to Oraibi during the times of ceremonial preparations, enter the kivas where the non-public parts of ceremonies were taking place, and take notes or make drawings. These notes and drawings were later published, revealing ceremonial secrets. He took a portable organ and the choir from his Mennonite church to the dance plaza at Oraibi during a katsina ceremony, where they disrupted the ceremony by singing hymns.
In the mid-1930s the government told the Hopi that they could no longer have separate governments at each village, run by religious chiefs and leaders. In 1936, as a part of the Indian Reorganization Act, writer Oliver LaFarge and Commissioner of Indian Affairs John Collier crafted a constitution for the Hopi. LaFarge and Collier persuaded the Hopi to ratify the constitution. In October 1936, the constitution was ratified by a vote of 651 for and 104 against. The certification by the Secretary of the Interior indicated that more than 30 percent of eligible voters participated. The 1930 census indicated a Hopi population of 2752. This evidences that voting is not natural to Hopi; and, in a situation where there is disagreement about a question, Hopi mostly vote with their feet. That is, if they disagree with something, they don’t participate in the vote. In the Hopi traditional form of governance, the village chief and his advisors would discuss an issue until most in attendance came to agreement, sometimes after days of discussion and compromise. At that point, the chief would declare a decision–usually one that was good for the most people.
LaFarge, himself, said that the constitution and constitutional form of government would not work for Hopi. The original constitution left the seat of power up to the individual village leaders, rather than with the tribal council. However, the government needed just one voice for Hopi so it could impose rules and regulations Hopi-wide, which meant dealing with only one entity for the whole tribe.
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