Hopi Mesas: Hopi ceremonies
The Hopi feel neither the urge nor the obligation to divulge details of their religious beliefs and practices to outsiders. To that end, they have resisted attempts to make Hopi a written language, or to expose it to scrutiny by teaching it in schools. As a result, Hopi spirituality has been repeatedly misrepresented to the world, whether as barbarous devil-worship or New Age guff. There is in any case no single unified Hopi religion; ceremonials vary from clan to clan and village to village. The most basic common element is the role of the kachinas . These "spirit messengers," which may represent the spirits of the dead, live in the San Francisco peaks north of Flagstaff.There are over three hundred different kachinas . At one time, they visited the mesas in person; now they come in the form of masked dancers. Not every village follows the same ceremonial calendar, but in general the kachinas arrive each year in early February for the Powamuya ceremony, or Bean Dance . They continue to visit throughout the growing season, before returning home after the Niman ceremony or Home Dance in July.
The Hopi do not worship the kachinas ; their main significance is as examples and allegories for the children. All Hopi babies receive tihus - what outsiders know as kachina dolls, which have become very popular crafts objects - at their first Niman ceremony, and the girls receive further dolls at each Powamuya and Niman ceremony thereafter.
For much of the twentieth century, Hopi ceremonies were promoted as tourist attractions. Even after cameras were banned in 1916, occasions such as the Snake Dance , when members of the Snake clan dance with live snakes between their teeth, attracted as many as 2500 outsiders. In recent years, however, the Hopi have moved toward the exclusion of non-Native Americans. By 1989, Second Mesa had closed all its ceremonies to outsiders, and it was joined by all the First Mesa villages in 1992 after the publication of a Marvel comic that characterized the kachinas as violent avengers.
While spectators are now very unlikely to be allowed at any kachina dances, however, some social dances , held between August and January when the kachinas are away from the mesas, may still be "open." Held in the village plazas, these usually take place at the weekends, so that Hopi who live off the reservation can return. Specific timings tend not to be announced until a few days in advance; for information, contact the Cultural Center. If you do get the chance to attend, wear clothing that fully covers your body, keep your distance, and do not photograph, sketch or question either dancers or audience.
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