Last Saturday we went to the
Hopi Harvest Festival. It was
amazing! There were dancers from a
number of the South West Nations (tribes).
Take a deep breath and imagine for a moment, that it is
the 1500’s, about 500 years ago. People
in this part of the world travel mostly by foot, meaning they walked to where
ever they were going. They live in adobe
villages with the rest of their tribe and it is a simple life. You have your farmers, your weavers, your
hunters… Everybody has their job and you
run your life based on the season. The
Harvest Festival occurs on the Fall Equinox and it is time to gather with your
relatives to celebrate the abundant harvest.
Relatives have traveled for days in order to be here for this occasion. (everyone
is your relative, including the animals)They bring their dancers and crops to
share or trade. You are a peaceful
people who have inhabited this land for 500 years.
The Hopi have now been on the
same land for 1000 years. Yet, today many
continue to live a very simple life, and their entire way of being is based on
the 4 seasons, their traditional ways.
They have ceremonial dances from February through August, asking the Great
Spirit for rain through dancing and they thank Great Spirit for all that they
have received through dance, and they dance for many more reasons.
Fast forward to today. The Hopi culture remains very rich in
tradition and ceremony, although dates of the ceremonies have been moved to
weekends to accommodate the city dwellers.
This Harvest Festival was held on 1st Mesa of the Hopi
Land. We witnessed dancers from the Zuni
Nation in New Mexico, the Apache Nation from Southern Arizona and the Hualapai Nation
in North Western Arizona. (and more dancers) It took us back in time. As I sat there listening to the beat of the
drum, watching the dancers moving to the rhythm, it was easy to imagine it was
500 years ago. To feel I was a part of
something bigger than me, part of a community, tribe, family… I am a relative of the Hopi, just not in the
sense of my American way of life. Going
to Hopi Land is like being transported in time.
Sure many of them have the modern conveniences, but some of them are
traditionalist and still live the old way.
Their Spiritual belief is strong and it shows in their way of being and
of course in their ceremony. They have
prophecy similar to the Maya, Inca and Tibetans, but that’s a whole other story
which I am not qualified to write. If
you ever have the opportunity to visit indigenous people, DO IT. Be open and prepared to look at the world in
a different light, to try and see the way the indigenous people see, to accept
that we are all human, and we are all
related.
In Hopi Land you are not
allowed to take pictures during ceremonies, or of their villages. During
the Harvest Festival they change the rules.
For the first time on a visit to Hopi I was able to take pictures of the
dancers, not the village. In closing, enjoy
the pictures of the dancers below and when spirit leads you do something
different, give it a chance, be open to new experiences.
In Gratitude,
Linda G
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| A group of young dancers. |
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| Buffalo Dancers entering the plaza |
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| The Crowd |
