Hano, as is well known, is a Tewan pueblo, situated on the East Mesa,
which was the last great body of Tewa colonists to migrate to Hopiland.
While other Tewa colonists lost their language and became Hopi, the
inhabitants of Hano still speak Tewa and still preserve some of their old
ceremonies, and consequently many of their own symbols. Here were found
purest examples of the Tanoan epoch.
The potters of clans introduced symbols on their ware radically
different from those of Sikyatki, the type of the epoch of the finest
Hopi ceramics, and replaced it by Tewan designs which characterize Hopi
pottery from 1710 to 1895, when a return was suddenly made to the ancient
type through the influence of Nampeo. At that date she began to cleverly
imitate Sikyatki ware and abandoned _de toto_ symbols introduced by Hano
and other Tewa clans.
Fortunately there exist good collections of the Tewa epoch of Hopi
ceramics, but the ever-increasing demand by tourists for ancient ware
induced Nampeo to abandon the Tewa clan symbols she formerly employed and
to substitute those of ancient Sikyatki.[68]
The majority of the specimens of Hano pottery, like those of the
Tanoan epoch to which it belongs, are decorated with pictures of clan
ancients called kachinas. These have very little resemblance to designs
characteristic of the Sikyatki epoch. They practically belong to the same
type as those introduced by Kachina, Asa, and Badger peoples. One of the
most common of these is the design above discussed representing Shalako
mana, the Corn maid, shown in figure 109. In this figure we have the
face represented by a circle in the center and many lenticular figures
arranged in rows attached to the neck and shoulders corresponding to the
appendages explained in figure 108. It is said in the legends that when
the Corn maid appeared to men she was enveloped in fleecy clouds and wore
a feathered garment. These are indicated by the curved figures covered
with dots and the parallel lines on the body. Feather symbols recalling
those of the Sikyatki epoch hang from appendages to the head representing
rain clouds.
[Illustration: FIG. 109.—Head of Kokle, or Earth woman.]
In figure 109 we have a representation of the head with surrounding
clouds, and portions of the body of a kachina, called Kokle, who is
personated in Winter ceremonies. It is instructive to note that this
figure has symbols on the head that recall the Sikyatki epoch. The
ancient Tewan earth goddess, Hahaiwugti, is represented in figure 110.
She appears also in figure 111, where her picture is painted on a ladle,
the handle of which represents an ancient Tewan clown called by the Hano
people Paiakyamû.
[Illustration: FIG. 110.—Head of Hahaiwugti, or Earth woman.]
[Illustration: FIG. 111.—Ladle with clown carved on handle and Earth
woman on bowl.]
[Illustration: FIG. 112.—Püükon hoya, little War god.]
The War god, Püükon hoya, also a Tewan incorporation in the Hopi
pantheon, appears frequently on pottery of the Tanoan epoch, as shown in
figure 112. This figure, painted on a terra-cotta slab, is identified by
the two parallel marks on each cheek.