The Zuni Native Americans are a tribal society from the southwestern United States, part of the Pueblo Indian nation. They have lived in their current location for over 1,300 years and are known for their unique language and tribal cohesion. The Zuni tribe is organized around 13 matrilineal clans, with women considered the life of the tribe. They support themselves through farming and producing traditional handicrafts. The core spiritual beliefs of the Zuni revolve around elaborate ceremonies for rain and fertility.
A Zuni Native American is a member of a particular tribal society originating in the southwestern United States. The Zuni tribe is one of the four tribal groups that make up the Pueblo Indian nation. This tribe is called the Ashiwi, which means “the people of meat,” and is thought to be descended from the ancient Pueblo people known as the Anasazi. Although the Zuni belong to the Pueblo Nation, the Zuni language is classified as a language isolate, meaning it is unique and unrelated to other Native American languages. Home to the Zunis is a remote reservation the size of Rhode Island in the arid highlands of western New Mexico.
Unlike other Native Americans, the ancestors of the Zuni Native Americans were not forced to leave their homelands and settle. The Zuni, Native Americans, have lived at the current location for more than 1,300 years. Hawikuh, an ancient Zuni community, or pueblo, was the first Native American community seen by the Spanish in the 16th century, and the Zuni were the first Pueblo Indian tribe to have contact with explorers. It was Hawikuh, along with six other communities, that the Spanish called the Seven Cities of Cibola and erroneously reported as sitting on a golden empire. This rumor launched a search for the treasure of Francisco Vazquez de Coronado and other conquerors which, ultimately, led to the defeat and near-destruction of the Pueblo Indian nation.
In the 21st century, it is unusual to find a tribe whose members are not dispersed, but nearly the entire Zuni tribe continues to live in Zuni Pueblo and the adjacent community of Blackrock. Largely due to their tribal cohesion, they are less threatened with language extinction and a significant number of children still speak Zuni. Most Zuni Native Americans farm and continue to have a sedentary farming community. Economically, they also support themselves by producing and selling traditional handicrafts such as baskets, jewelery and pottery. The core spiritual beliefs of the Zuni Native Americans revolve around elaborate ceremonies for rain and fertility, along with an annual cycle of ritual dances.
The Zuni tribe is organized by kinship around 13 matrilineal clans. Women are considered the life of the tribe. Men may do the building, hunting, and gathering of necessities, but whatever they harvest, capture, or build is the property of women. Historically, women were the ones who traded with other tribes and dealt with financial matters or problems. A woman may divorce her husband for trivial matters; she must then return to her parents’ home, leaving her children behind.
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