The Hopi Native Americans are a Pueblo Indian nation living in northern Arizona for over a thousand years. They are known for their successful dry farming techniques and matrilineal society. Agriculture is incorporated into their religion, and corn is vital to their practices.
The Hopi Native Americans are members of an Indian tribe indigenous to the southwestern United States. Together with the Zuni, Acoma, and Laguna, the Hopi Native Americans make up the modern Pueblo Indian nation. The Hopi, which means “Peaceful People,” are thought to be descended from the ancient Pueblo people commonly known as the Anasazi. The Hopi belong to the Pueblo nation, but their dialect is not related to other Pueblo Indian languages; it is instead a distant relative of the Aztec language. They are the westernmost group of Pueblo Indians and live in the arid northern Arizona highlands near the Painted Desert.
This same area of Arizona has been home to the Hopi for over a thousand years. The tribe lives on the summit and in the area surrounding three mesas. Tribal members who reside in the highlands live in traditional villages, but those who live in the area surrounding the highlands reside in small communities. Old Oraibi, located on Third Mesa, is the oldest continuously inhabited village in the United States, having been founded in approximately the year 1050 when Hopi Native Americans settled the area.
Traditionally, the Hopi economy is centered on agriculture. To successfully farm in such an arid landscape, the Hopi Native Americans developed a variety of agricultural practices. Between the mesas, they farm dry in the washes and valleys, but along the mesa walls, they farm on irrigated terraces. Some of the garden terraces have been in use since the year 1200. The Hopi are sometimes referred to as the world’s greatest dry farmers due to the successful record of these centuries-old techniques,
In Hopi culture, men are responsible for agriculture. The men work the fields and own the fruit trees and livestock, but the land is owned by the women. As a matrilineal society, a new Hopi husband joins his mother-in-law’s family. Social status and inheritance is through the female’s clan. Gender roles are traditional as men are in charge of warfare, religion, politics and agriculture and women take care of the home and children.
Agriculture is incorporated into the Hopi religion. Corn is vital to religious practices as the Mother that feeds and sustains the Hopi people. It is used as a prayer offering and ceremonial object. The Hopi have a complex mythological and religious tradition that stretches back centuries. At its core are the kiva, a ceremonial and social chamber, and a tribal religious life involving hundreds of kachinas, who are spirits of unseen life forces.
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