--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Sjodahl, J. M. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 26 number: 1 published: 1922-11 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'J. M. Sjodahl, "Worship Among the Hopi Indians", *Improvement Era* 26, no. 1 (November 1922): 20–22.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2601unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera2601unse start_page: 20 end_page: 22 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1922-11) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2601unse publication_year: 1922 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1922, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Worship Among the Hopi Indians Worship Among the Hopi Indians By J. M. Sjodahl Elder C. L. Christensen, for many years a missionary among the Indians, whose interesting letter on "Hopi Legends" ap- peared in the April, 1921, number of the Era, gives a further account of certain religious ceremonies performed by the Hopi tribe and witnessed by him. Elder Christensen states that in 1877 there were many aged men in the Oraibi village, which w,as occupied by the oldest and most important of the Hopi tribe. One of them claimed to be 126 years old, and this youngster was most en- thusiastic when describing the greatness and importance of the once numerous nation. The Hopis had stone tablets, Elder Christensen tells us, on which could be seen strange glyphs, and these tablets, it was stated, originated during a period of temple building. For four hundred years, the Indians said, they had not been able to build temples. The last structure of this kind was begun on the Mesa Verde, Colorado, the farthest point north on which their temple building had been attempted. In their temples, it was said, their people used to offer sacrifices for their departed ancestors. However, some kind of ceremonies) were still performed in their underground "work shops." These are quite large, being as much as 80 by 45 feet, and 20 feet from floor to ceiling, and access is gained to the interior only through the roof by means of ladders. Elder Christensen describes the religious services in one of these rooms, as witnessed by him. He said : By courtesy of my friend, Elder Tuba, I was seated in one corner near a veil that had been stretched across the west end of the large "work shop." This veil was purple and was said to be very old. It was used only for religious services. On the top were two pretty birds, representing doves, probably. They moved back and forward on the veil, being manipulated by means of some fine thread. They seemed to be in the act of mating. Tuba told me that they were the means of communica- tion between us and the unseen world behind the veil, where there were three men representing the three creators of the uni- verse. Near the center of the veil were seen two beautifully dressed figures, or dolls. One faced the audience ; the other had his back turned towards us. The Indians continued all night in worship, and finally the two figures in the aperture in the veil moved, reversing WiORSHIP AMONG THE HOPI INDIANS 21 their positions, and a voice was heard: "Misiah umptu-wa;" meaning, "Messiah grant you your petition." The two figures, or dolls, were said to represent, one a high priest and the other a higher priest. The twenty-four worshipers were almost entirely undressed. Each wore only an apron of white cotton, ornamented with some curious designs and reaching clear around the body. When moving towards the veil, they would grip hands in many dif- ferent ways. When moving back they would separate. They were all the time solemn-looking beyond description, and they did not utter a word. The three characters behind the veil played drums and it was said that the world would have to dance to that music, or perish. J. Walter Fewkes, chief of the Bureau of American Ethnol- ogy, who has made a special study of the culture of the Pueblo Indians, in his report to the Smithsonian Institution for 1918, gives a detailed description of what lie regards a^ "The Sun Wor- ship of the Hopi Indians" which may throw further light on the ceremonies witnessed by Elder Christensen. It appears that the Hopis have more than one form of ritualistic services. The rites observed at our Christmas time — at the time of the winter solstice — are said the be quite elaborate at Walpi. The so-called fertilization ceremony at the time of the vernal equinox as performed at Oraibi, is identical in inten- tion with the winter solstice ceremonies at Walpi, but it is mod- ified in some of the details, one of which is the introduction of a portable screen or veil consisting of a rectangular frame over which is stretched a cotton cloth bearing various designs in addition to the germ god. The lower part is covered with corn seeds. On one side of the central figure is a figure repre- senting the sun, and on the other one of the moon. On top there are semi-circular hoops covered with cotton-wool to repre- sent storm clouds. The main object of the ceremonies, Mr. Fewkes says, is the fertilization of corn, represented by the kernels attached to the lower part of the screen. During the songs an invocation is sung to the Great Snake, although no effigy or other; representa- tion of this being is used at that time. Shortly after this rite, there appears in the kiva, a personification of the sky god, wear- ing on his head a star with four points. In his hand he carries a disc upon which thei sun emblem is painted. Mr. Fewkes describes a number of other weird drama- tizations of the Hopi Indians, such as the honor paid to Katcinas, or ancestral personages and clan founders; the snake dance, the flute festival, etc. The Katcinas, who once lived on earth, but 22 IMPROVEMENT ERA now passed beyond, are supposed to have power to aid their living descendants. They are therefore implored from time to time to manifest their power among the living. The occasions of their supposed visits are great festivals, and their arrival and departure for their abode are celebrated by elaborate dramatiza- tions in which masked actors impersonate the dead. It is a striking fact that the Indians all the way from the Pueblo area in Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New MJexico to the Nahuas of Mexico, the Mayas, Quiches and kindred peo- ples in Central America, and the various tribes and nations under Inca rule in Peru and the northern part of Chile had some form of services in which reverence was paid to the sun and the serpent, particularly the plumed, or winged serpent. In Peru the Spaniards, at the time of the conquest, found "sun worship" practiced at four great annual festivals at the solstices and equinoxes, and at these festivals llamas and alpacas, rabbits and birds, maize and vegetables, were sacrificed in the form of burnt offerings, as an expression of gratitude to the Being that had created them for the support of man. In the traditions of the Nahuas, Quetzalcoatl holds the first place. He is worshiped, says Nadiallac, as the incarnation of "the serpent sun," the creator of all things. The name means "bird serpent." As the lord and ruler of the clouds he was represented as a bird; as the lord of the lightning and the thunders he was represented as a serpent, according to John Fiske. It is perfectly clear from all that is known of Indian pre- historic religious ideas that the sun and the winged serpent were the symbols of the power and glory and majesty of the Creator, and that the intelligent Indians worshiped God under these, as well as other, symbols. To them the serpent did not repre- sent the evil power, but the creative, life-giving forces, analogous to the serpent image lifted up by Moses in the wilderness, which, according to John, the beloved, our Lord said svmbolized him, "the Son of man." (John 3:14.) According to Nadiallac, the Pueblo Iudians at one time oc- cupied the valleys drained by the San Juan, Rio Grande del Norte, Colorado, Chiquito, and their tributaries, an area of about 200,000 square miles. In some respects they were unlike other Indians of North America, especially in the construction of their houses, in which they lived in a kind of United Order. In other respects they showed a common origin with other branches of the race. They were an agricultural people, but were often forced to defend themselves against savage enemies. That is indicated by the number of arrow points and other weap- ons found in and near their dwellings.