The Harvey Collection at El Tovar. In the Hopi House, opposite the El Tovar
entrance, is installed one of the most interesting Indian collections of
the world,--a collection that would grace the National Museum of Great
Britain, France or Germany. The more intelligent the visitor to the Grand
Canyon, the more he will find he can learn in this wonderful storehouse
provided for his instruction and recreation.
The Hopi House. The building itself is a perfect model of a block in the
village of Oraibi, one of the seven Hopi pueblos. It is three stories high,
and contains many rooms. The original is supposed to accommodate forty-five
families. It is built of the chips of sandstone and other rock in
accordance with Hopi custom, rudely and irregularly laid in mortar. It is
of the terraced style of architecture, each story receding from the one
below it, so that the "second story front" finds a ready courtyard on the
roof of the "first story front," and the "third story front" on that of
the "second story front."
Houses that were Forts. In the old houses, found when the white man first
visited the pueblos, there was no means of entrance to the first stories
save by means of the ladders which stood outside against the walls, and
thence through hatchways made in the roofs. This was for the purpose of
defence against hostile tribes, who were constantly warring with these
home-loving Indians in order that they might steal from them the fruits of
their persistent labor and thrift. The ladder, during times of expected
attack, could be lifted upon the second story, out of reach, and thus these
houses became the forts of their inhabitants. Nowadays entrances are
provided on the ground floor, and this house at El Tovar follows the modern
custom, as well as the later innovation (which of course is essential in
this building) of using glass for windows. For convenience and safety,
another anachronism is tolerated in the electric light. In practically
everything else, the building is a true model of a Hopi community house.
With these people, the women are generally and mainly the builders of the
houses, the men merely assisting in the heavier work.
Quaint Stairways. In addition to the quaint ladders, quainter steps, cut
into flat or round trunks of cottonwood trees, are used. Stone steps
connecting the two upper stories, are also built outside in the partition
walls. The chimneys are constructed, in true pueblo fashion, of pottery
water ollas, the bottoms of which have been broken out. Three or more of
these, fastened with cement or mortar, are placed one above another. On the
roofs are wood piles, as at Oraibi, and also picturesque strings of red
peppers drying in the sun.
Navaho Silversmith. The entrance doorway is low, and the steps lead one
down into the first room, in true Oraibi style. This room is occupied by
the Tinne peshlikai, or Navaho silversmith, and Navaho blanket weavers. The
smith, though using some modern tools, still follows the time-honored
methods of his brother craftsmen. The silverware he makes will be more
fully described in the special chapter devoted to the subject, as will also
the blanket weaving of his wife and children.
Details of Construction. In this room there are several features of
interest. First notice the construction of the building. The roof is
supported by a massive upright, in a crotch, or V, on which the cross
rafters rest. Lesser poles are placed upon these at right angles, which in
turn support arrow-weed, willows, and other light brush. In the genuine
Hopi construction, mud is then plastered or laid thickly over these
willows; but as these rooms contain valuable collections of goods, a modern
roofing has been used, which, however, does not in any way detract from the
"realness" of the building.
Fireplace. In the corner is one of the quaint hooded fireplaces, with the
raised hearth, exactly similar to several I have sat before in Oraibi,
while my hospitable hostess prepared some Hopi delicacy or substantial food
to tickle the palate or appease the hunger of her welcomed guest.
Mealing Stones. On the left is a quartet of corn-grinders, walled in from
the floor by stone slabs laid in cement. In every pueblo house, a "battery"
of these mealing stones is to be found, and it is one of the commonest of
sights to find the women and girls on their knees, with the grinder in
hands, rubbing it briskly up and down with the swing of the body, while
every few moments, with a deft movement of the hand, the grain is thrown
between the grinder and the stone beneath. The motion reminds one much of
that required over the washing board. While thus at work, the Pueblo women
sing some of their sweetest songs.
Hair Dressing. Occasionally when a Hopi mother, whose daughter has reached
maidenhood, is located in the Hopi House, one may chance to find her
engaged in turning the heavy black hair of her "mana" into the big whorls
on the side of her head which are the Hopi emblem of maidenhood and purity.
The mother herself wears her hair in two pendant rolls. These are the
symbols of fruitfulness and chastity.
It is interesting also to see them make piki, a process elsewhere fully
described.
Various Baskets. In the various rooms on the ground floor, the observing
and curious will find quite a number of quaint architectural devices. The
chief attractions to most visitors are the various Indian goods. There are
baskets made by every Indian tribe in North America, Navaho wedding baskets
made by Paiutes and used also by Apaches as medicine baskets; Havasupai,
Pima, Hopi, and Katchina plaques; Hupa and Poma carrying baskets; Haida,
Makah, Mescalero, Apache, Mission, Chimehuevi, Washoe, and a score of
others. Here are pinion covered water-bottles of Navaho (tusjeh), Havasupai
(esuwa), and Apache (tis-ii-lah-hah). Note the vast difference in the
native names for practically the same thing.
Hopi Katchinas. The Hopi Ethnologic Collection (on second floor) is the
best in the world, with the exception of the collection in the Field
Columbian Museum, Chicago. In this collection are a large number of
katchina dolls. Of these katchinas much might be written. They are ancient
ancestral representatives of certain Hopi clans who, as spirits of the
dead, are endowed with powers to aid the living members of the clan in
material ways. The clans, therefore, pray to them that these material
blessings may be given. "It is an almost universal idea of primitive man,"
says Fewkes, "that prayers should be addressed to personations of the
beings worshipped. In the carrying out of this conception men personate the
katchinas, wearing masks, and dressing in the costumes characteristic of
these beings. These personations represent to the Hopi mind their idea of
the appearance of these katchinas or clan ancients. The spirit beings
represented in these personations appear at certain times in the pueblo,
dancing before spectators, receiving prayer for needed blessings, as rain
and good crops."
Powamu and Niman: The katchinas are supposed to come to the earth from the
underworld in February and remain until July, when they say farewell. Hence
there are two specific times which dramatically celebrate the arrival and
departure of the katchinas. The former of these times is called by the Hopi
Powamu, and the latter Niman. At these festivals, or merry dances, certain
members of the participating clans wear masks representing the katchinas,
hence katchina masks are often to be found in Hopi houses when one is
privileged to see the treasures stored away. In order to instruct the
children in the many katchinas of the Hopi pantheon, tihus, or dolls, are
made in imitation of the ancestral supernal beings, and these quaint and
curious toys are eagerly sought after by those interested in Indian life
and thought. Dr. Fewkes has in his private collection over two hundred and
fifty different katchina tihus, and in the Field Colombian Museum there is
an even larger collection.
Katchina Baskets. For use in the katchina dances, katchina baskets are
made, and if one were to start a collection of all the katchina baskets of
the Hopi, he could look forward to possessing, in time, as large a number
as Dr. Fewkes has of katchipa dolls.
Indian Pottery. Hopi, Acoma, Santa Clara, Zuni and, other pottery abounds
side by side with Navaho blankets, war clubs, bridles, quirts, moccasins,
Sioux beadwork, pouches, and baby-carrying baskets. Not only can the Navaho
women be found weaving blankets, but, what comparatively few white persons
have ever seen, in one of the rooms is a Hopi man weaving a blanket, which
I question could be told from a Navaho, even by an expert, unless he saw it
woven. In another room, the Hopi's wife is making pottery.
During the day, time, when required, the attendants will gladly show
visitors the collection of rarer curios on the second floor. An anachronism
introduced here, to meet modern requirements, is the indoor stairway, but
one excuses it for the sake of the interesting, symbolic, katchina figures
that have been painted on the staircase walls.
Mexican Antiques. Here one room is devoted to Mexican
antiques,--candlesticks, crucifixes, paintings, tapestry, bells,
incense-burners, wooden plow, a model of the ancient caretta, chairs,
daggers, etc.
Alaska Room. The Alaska Room contains models of totem poles, carvings on
ivory and wood, boats, snowshoes, shields, baskets of several varieties,
Haida hats, etc.
Ancient Blankets. The Old Blanket Room contains an assortment of the rarer
and older Navaho, Mexican and Chimillo blankets, some of which are in the
exquisite old colors used before modern aniline dyes were known. Scattered
about also are some rare pieces of ancient pottery in black and white, dug
out from ruins in Arizona and New Mexico.
Hopi Altar Room. By far the most interesting room in the house to the
thoughtful inquirer is the Hopi Altar Room. Here are two reproductions of
altars made by the ethnologist, Rev. H. R. Voth, who was led to his study
of the Hopi while a Mennonite missionary to the Oraibi pueblo. These altars
are thus described by him:
Tao Altar. One of the fraternities among the Hopi Indians of Arizona is the
Tao or Singer Society. Such altars are erected in connection with the
sacred and secret ceremonies in underground rooms or kivas in the different
Hopi villages. Around these altars the priests arrange themselves,
squatting on the floor, during their ceremonies, and engage in singing,
sprinkling of sacred meal, smoking, asperging of sacred water, etc. Here
they prepare their prayer offerings, utter their prayers, and practise
numerous other religious rites. Of the slabs and sticks in the ridge of the
altar those of a zigzag form represent lightning, which is supposed to
emanate from clouds, which are represented by the terraced parts on top of
the slabs. The flat slabs symbolize stalks of corn, with ears of corn
carved on them. The thin sticks are supposed to represent the departed
members of the society. In front of the slabs are seen four bahos or prayer
sticks, composed of two short sticks, a turkey feather, two kinds of herbs,
and corn-husk pocket containing sacred meal and honey. The object to the
right, and in front of the ridge, is the tipone or sacred badge of the
society. It usually consists of an ear of corn, wound with cotton twine,
and having on its top feathers of different birds; to its sides are tied
sundry pieces of shell, turquoise, and other objects.
In front of the altar stands a medicine bowl, which is surrounded by six
ears of corn,--a yellow one on the north side, a dark bluish one on the
west side, a red one south, a white one east, a black one on the northeast
(representing above), and sweet corn ear on the southwest (representing
below). From this bowl, sacred water is asperged, and from a meal tray
sacred meal is sprinkled on the altar during ceremonies.
Powamu Altar. In the centre of the Powamu Altar is the framework. The four
scenic circles on and over the head-piece represent clouds, and the symbol
on the uprights blossoms, clouds, falling rain, etc. The larger of the
idols within the framework represents Chowilawn, the God of Germination and
Growth, the smaller one, Sotukonangwun, the God of Thunder, and the small,
black figurine to the left of the framework is the representation of
Pookong, the God of War. Between these idols stand numerous slabs, the
zigzag formed representing lightning, the straight ones stalks of corn,
etc. On each side of the altar proper stands a large wooden tablet, on
which is drawn a picture of the Hiv Katchina, a personage that figures
conspicuously in the ceremony on the sixth day, in which children are
initiated into the Katchina order. On this occasion masked and gorgeously
dressed men, who are supposed to be represented by these pictures, flog
these small candidates for initiation.
In front of the altar may be seen a square, sand picture, containing cloud
symbols, prayer offerings, blossoms, etc. Between this sand mosaic and the
altar proper are rattles, a medicine bowl, ears of corn, meal trays, eagle
feathers, and other objects.
The large object at the extreme left, consisting of a terraced tablet at
the top, several zigzag sticks, and a stand at the bottom, represents
clouds and lightning. The tablet and also the drawing in the upper part of
it represent clouds, the crooked sticks lightning, and the two circular
drawings, in the lower part of the tablet, symbolize blossoms. The small
idol between two of the sticks is a figurine of Chowilawn.
The symbol to the right of the altar on the back wall, consisting of
several semicircles, is that of towering rain clouds, with two rays of
lightning emanating upward from it. The small, black lines on the lower
border represent rain. To the left of the altar, on the same wall, appears
the typical Hopi sun symbol, and on the left side wall that of the mythical
water serpent, Balolookang. All of these wall pictures, however, are not an
essential part of the altar.
This altar, like the one of the Tao Society, was reproduced by Mr. Voth.
One of the subjects of his study was this altar and the various ceremonies
connected with it, and while he was making these studies he succeeded in
obtaining the photographs, drawings, measurements, notes, etc., from which
he reproduced this elaborate piece of sacred Hopi ceremonial paraphernalia.
Hopi Door. The door itself leading into this Altar Room is an interesting
antique. It is a real Hopi door, brought from Oraibi, and supposed to be
not less than one hundred and fifty years old. Its quaint method of
swinging, the way it is put together and fastened with nothing but rawhide
thongs, reveals, as few things could, the interesting inventions of
necessity. Prior to their knowledge and use of doors, which they
undoubtedly gained from the Mexicans, their doorways were closed by slabs
of rock, as described in the chapter on "The First Discoverers and
Inhabitants of the Grand Canyon." Those who have read that chapter will
find many things of especial interest in this fascinating house.
Value of Hopi House. The Hopi House is in itself a liberal education in the
customs, arts, history, mythology, religious ceremonials, and industries of
not only one, but many tribes of Indians. It is not only a good business
investment, but a place of benefit to which one should go prepared
intelligently to study. Such an one will come away with a keen appreciation
of the incomparable ethnological advantages this building affords him, and
he will not grudge any purchase, however large, the attractiveness of the
display has led him to indulge in.
Dances in the Hopi House. Every evening throughout the year, when a
sufficient number of visitors are present to justify it, the Indians of the
Hopi House give a few brief dances and songs, which faintly suggest the
style of some of their more elaborate ceremonials.