The Hopi Indians :: American America History

The Hopi IndiansIn the southwestern United States, in a higher place northern Arizona, are three mesas. The mesas create the home for the Hopi Indians. The Hopi have a deeply religious, isolated, tribal culture with a unique history.The Hopi stress concourse cooperation. The tribe is organized around a clan system. In a clan system, all the members consider themselves relatives. The clans form a social gumwood that has held the Hopi villages together. Clan membership provides a singular Hopi identity. The Hopi have a super developed belief system which contains macrocosmy gods and spirits. Ceremonies, religious rites, dances, songs, and prayers are celebrated in year-round. The Hopi believed they were led to the arid southwestern region of America by their creator, because he knew they had the power to evoke rain with power and prayer. Consequently, the Hopi are connected to their land, its country cycles and the constant quest for rainfall, in a religious way. The religious n itty-gritty of the community is the kiva, which is an underground room with a ladder protruding preceding(prenominal) the roof. The kiva is very important for several reasons. From the kiva, a connection is made with the essence of the earth. Also, the kiva is symbolic for the emergence to this world. The room would reconcile the underworld and the ladder would represent the way to the upper world. In fact, a room is kept in the house to store ceremonial objects. A sacred ear of corn whisky protects the room and symbolizes the ancestry of the family members. Kachinas are withal a focal geological period of the religion. For a Hopi, they signify spirits of ancestors, dieties of the natural world, or intermediaries between man and gods. The Hopi believe that they are the earths caretakers, and with the successful performance of their ceremonial cycle, the world pass on remain in balance, the gods go out be happy and rain will come. Because they think of their crops as gifts, t he Hopi Indians live in harmony with the environment. Art is also apply for ritualistic purposes. Mens loincloths were painted and decorated with tassels to symbolize move rain. Men also wore elaborate costumes that include special headdresses, masks, and body paints during ritual ceremonies and dances.The Hopi follow a seasonal sense of time. Depending on the season, different preparations were used for collecting the rain. Droughts required the Hopis to adopt new farming methods that are take over in use today.