By a brief survey of present day Hopi culture and an examination into
the myths and traditions constituting the unwritten literature of this
people, this bulletin proposes to show that an intimate connection
exists between their ritual acts, their moral standards, their social
organization, even their practical activities of today, and their myths
and tales--the still unwritten legendary lore.
The myths and legends of primitive peoples have always interested the
painter, the poet, the thinker; and we are coming to realize more and
more that they constitute a treasure-trove for the archaeologist, and
especially the anthropologist, for these sources tell us of the
struggles, the triumphs, the wanderings of a people, of their
aspirations, their ideals and beliefs; in short, they give us a twilight
history of the race.
As the geologist traces in the rocks the clear record of the early
beginnings of life on our planet, those first steps that have led
through the succession of ever-developing forms of animal and plant life
at last culminating in man and the world as we now see them, so does the
anthropologist discover in the myths and legends of a people the dim
traces of their origin and development till these come out in the
stronger light of historical time. And it is at this point that the
ethnologist, trying to understand a race as he finds them today, must
look earnestly back into the "realm of beginnings," through this window
of so-called legendary lore, in order to account for much that he finds
in the culture of the present day.
=The Challenge: Need of Research on Basic Beliefs Underlying Ceremonies=
Wissler says:[2] "It is still an open question in primitive social
psychology whether we are justified in assuming that beliefs of a basic
character do motivate ceremonies. It seems to us that such must be the
case, because we recognize a close similarity in numerous practices and
because we are accustomed to believe in the unity of the world and life.
So it may still be our safest procedure to secure better records of
tribal traditional beliefs and to deal with objective procedures as far
as possible. No one has ventured to correlate specific beliefs and
ceremonial procedures, but it is through this approach that the
motivating power of beliefs will be revealed, if such potency exists."
[Footnote 2: Wissler, Clark, An Introduction to Social Anthropology:
Henry Holt & Co., New York, 1926, p. 266.]
Some work has been done along this line by Kroeber for the tribes of
California, Lowie for the Crow Indians, and Junod for the Ekoi of West
Africa; but it appears that the anthropological problem of basic beliefs
and philosophies is dependent upon specific tribal studies and that more
research is called for.
=The Myth, Its Meaning and Function in Primitive Life=
As a background for our discussion we shall need to consider first, the
nature and significance of mythology, since there is some, indeed much,
difference of opinion on the subject, and to arrive at some basis of
understanding as to its function.
The so-called school of Nature-Mythology, which flourishes mainly in
Germany, maintains that primitive man is highly interested in natural
phenomena, and that this interest is essentially of a theoretic,
contemplative and poetical character. To writers of this school every
myth has as its kernel or essence some natural phenomenon or other, even
though such idea is not apparent upon the surface of the story; a deeper
meaning, a symbolic reference, being insisted upon. Such famous scholars
as Ehrenreich, Siecke, Winckler, Max Muller, and Kuhn have long given us
this interpretation of myth.
In strong contrast to this theory which regards myth as naturalistic,
symbolic, and imaginary, we have the theory which holds a sacred tale as
a true historical record of the past. This idea is supported by the
so-called Historical school in Germany and America, and represented in
England by Dr. Rivers. We must admit that both history and natural
environment have left a profound imprint on all cultural achievement,
including mythology, but we are not justified in regarding all mythology
as historical chronicle, nor yet as the poetical musings of primitive
naturalists. The primitive does indeed put something of historical
record and something of his best interpretation of mysterious natural
phenomena into his legendary lore, but there is something else, we are
led to believe, that takes precedence over all other considerations in
the mind of the primitive (as well as in the minds of all of the rest of
us) and that is getting on in the world, a pragmatic outlook.
It is evident that the primitive relies upon his ancient lore to help
him out in his struggle with his environment, in his needs spiritual and
his needs physical, and this immense service comes through religious
ritual, moral incentive, and sociological pattern, as laid down in the
cherished magical and legendary lore of his tribe.
The close connection between religion and mythology, under-estimated by
many, has been fully appreciated by the great British anthropologist,
Sir James Frazer, and by classical scholars like Miss Jane Harrison.
The myth is the Bible of the primitive, and just as our Sacred Story
lives in our ritual and in our morality, as it governs our faith and
controls our conduct, even so does the savage live by his mythology.
The myth, as it actually exists in a primitive community, even today, is
not of the nature of fiction such as our novel, but is a living reality,
believed to have once happened in primeval times when the world was
young and continuing ever since to influence the world and human
destiny.
The mere fireside tale of the primitive may be a narrative, true or
imaginary, or a sort of fairy story, a fable or a parable, intended
mainly for the edification of the young and obviously pointing a moral
or emphasizing some useful truth or precept. And here we do recognize
symbolism, much in the nature of historical record. But the special
class of stories regarded by the primitive as sacred, his sacred myths,
are embodied in ritual, morals, and social organization, and form an
integral and active part of primitive culture. These relate back to best
known precedent, to primeval reality, by which pattern the affairs of
men have ever since been guided, and which constitute the only "safe
path."
Malinowski[3] stoutly maintains that these stories concerning the
origins of rites and customs are not told in mere explanation of them;
in fact, he insists they are not intended as explanations at all, but
that the myth states a precedent which constitutes an _ideal_ and a
warrant for its continuance, and sometimes furnishes practical
directions for the procedure. He feels that those who consider the myths
of the savage as mere crude stories made up to explain natural
phenomena, or as historical records true or untrue, have made a mistake
in taking these myths out of their life-context and studying them from
what they look like on paper, and not from what they do in life.
[Footnote 3: Malinowski, B., Myth in Primitive Psychology: M.W. Norton &
Co., Inc., New York, 1926, p. 19.]
Since Malinowski's definition of myth differs radically from that of
many other writers on the subject, we would refer the reader to the
discussion of myth under the head of Social Anthropology in the
Encyclopedia Britannica, Fourteenth Edition, page 869.