None of the current Hopi pueblos are on the exact sites of the pueblos of the early 1500s. The names of present-day villages on the Hopi reservation are as follows: Walpi, Sichomovi, and Hano on First Mesa; Shun-gopovi, Mishongnovi, and Shipaulovi on Second Mesa; and Oraibi, New Oraibi (Kyakotsmovi or Kiako-chomovi), Hotevilla, Bakabi, and Upper and Lower Moenkopi on Third Mesa. Modern pueblos have doorways and glass windows as well as other present-day conveniences, in some cases electricity. But the Hopi homes have much in common with those of their ancestors. There is a need for additional housing for tribal members. In September 2005, at the first annual Hopi Housing Summit, Hopi representatives met with state and federal officials to develop a plan for adequate and affordable homes.
Of all the Native North American peoples, the Hopi probably live closest to their traditional way. Many tribal members still farm their traditional crops, along with wheat. They have also learned to raise sheep. Many continue to produce traditional craftwork: pottery, basketry, weaving, and kachina dolls. The Hopi are also famed for their silverwork, a craft learned later in the mid-1800s from the Navajo, who learned it from the Mexicans. The Hopi are especially known for belt buckles, bracelets, and boxes with silver cutouts overlaid on a dark background of copper, oxidized silver, or a kind of coal called jet. Hopi culture can be studied and appreciated at the Hopi Cultural Center on Second Mesa.
Many Hopi continue to shape their lives around their ancient religion. Many still perform traditional dances, some with kachina masks and some without. Certain of these colorful and complex dances are open to the public. The dances are a form of prayer for the Hopi, who use the rituals to ask the gods for rain, food, and the well-being of the human race.
The Hopi Way has been in flux since the early 20th century, with many outside pressures. Traditionalists have sought the return of sacred objects taken without consent and improperly displayed in museums. They also have striven to preserve sacred lands from strip mining and pollution. In the case of Big Mountain, considered a place of healing and energy to both the Hopi and Navajo, Hopi traditionalists have been at odds with the federally recognized Hopi Tribal Council. The Hopi Tribal Council called for the return of Big Mountain and the relocation of those Navajo living on what has been determined to be Hopi treaty lands in order to receive new leasing income from non-Indian mining companies seeking coal. The traditionalists, on the other hand, backed the right of Navajo families, mostly fellow traditionalists, to stay. The federal government, ignoring the arguments of the traditionalists and succumbing to lobbyists of mining interests, passed the Navajo-Hopi Land Settlement Act of 1974 and the Navajo-Hopi Land Dispute Settlement Act of 1996. Navajo families and their Hopi allies continued the resistance to the destruction of sacred lands and culture, but, on exhausting legal remedies, they were forcibly evicted by the year 2000.
World History
