Hopi

 Hopi, pronounced "hope-ee," means "peaceful person" or "civilized person" in the Hopi language. **Click on these links to learn about Hopi CULTURE, ART, RELIGION and LEGENDS** The Hopi Indians, which means good, peaceful, or wise, come from a group of Southwestern people called Pueblo, but their language is different. They live in northeast Arizona at the southern end of the Black Mesa. Hopi Agriculture

=Dry Farming: The Seed of Hopi Culture = The Hopi people have always held tightly to their age-old practices and exercised caution in accepting modern methods and technologies. This reverence for tradition is today manifest in the traditional Hopi art of dry farming. Because of the scarcity of water, it is a rigorous and labor-intensive method of farming. With annual precipitation of 12 inches or less, the Hopi have been able to sustain and adjust in a region that offers a harsh, sometimes cruel, environment, and have developed skills in analyzing soil types and adapting planting methods to their environment. Agriculture has always played a central role in the Hopi culture, not only as a means of sustenance, but also in a ceremonial role. Believing that they are carrying out the instructions of //Màasaw//, the caretaker, guardian and protector of the world, the Hopi have entered into a spiritual covenant with him for the ages. Throughout their migrations to the Hopi mesas, they have brought his agricultural teachings with them. Today Hopi traditional farming is still performed entirely by hand. Although some Hopi use tractors to plow and plant their fields, all care and harvesting of the plants is done manually. Major fields are mainly located at the bottom of the mesas, within an average 10-mile radius of the villages. After the fields are planted, the Hopi farmer must commit himself to protect the plants from any harm. He regularly searches for cutworms in the soil around the corn, sprinkles the plants with a fertilizing solution made with dog feces and water, and uses bundles of snakeweed to protect plants from coyotes and other predators. The art of dry farming requires patience, humility, hard work, and most of all, after the teachings of //Màasaw//, a "heart full of prayer." The harvest season is a joyful time of year, and yields of corn, beans, and squash are piled high and ready to be stored for the winter. Women in the villages hurry to stack the corn in order for it to properly dry. When all the crops have been picked, Hopi farmers head back to the fields to prepare them for the next season. Through the keeping of their covenant with //Màasaw//, Hopis have farmed successfully for centuries and, through their traditional agriculture, have built a unique lifestyle; it has become the foundation on which all Hopi culture is built.

= Facts on Hopi Tribe for Kids =
 * [|Early Language]
 * [|Hopi Walk]

Traditional Hopi homes are made of adobe, a type of brick made of clay and straw.

Located on 1.5 million acres of land in Arizona, the Hopi tribe is rich with culture and learning opportunities. Children can learn a lot about the Hopis, including where they live, what their houses look like, what languages they speak, which

__[|foods] __  they eat and how the Hopi children spend their days.


 * 1) 

Where the Hopis Live
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 *   The Hopi tribe is located in the northeastern part of Arizona. Tribal members live on one of three mesas, or flat-topped hills, in one of 12 villages. The villages are called pueblos. In the past, the Hopi people lived in houses made of clay and straw baked into bricks -- called adobe -- and stone. These homes are called adobe houses, and stood multiple stories tall. Each family lived in their own unit, much like apartments are arranged. Today, some Hopi families live in modern houses and apartments, while others still live in traditional housing.

Hopi Language
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 *   Hopis speak the English language, and most also speak the native Hopi language, which is a relative of Aztec language. More than 5,000 people speak Hopi in their homes. The word "Hopi" in the Hopi language translates to "peaceful person" or "civilized person." To say "hello" in Hopi, say "ha'u," pronounced "hah-uh." Related to language is storytelling. The Hopi culture is rich with fairy tales and stories, and the Hopi tribe considers storytelling an important part of its culture.

What Hopi Children Are Like
>> __<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #006400; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">[|children] __ are like all other children. They play games together, attend school and help their parents at home. Some children in the Hopi tribe hunt and fish with their dads. Just like colonial children, who worked more and played less than children do today, Hopi children had more chores in the past. But they still had dolls, games and toys to play with. Hopi artists are known for their detailed kachina dolls. Instead of playing with these dolls, children learned about their tribe's religion from them. The dolls are handcrafted from cottonwood root and painted to represent figures from Hopi mythology. Some are adorned with fur, feathers, leather or other materials. Religious Hopi families might keep a kachina doll in the home. >>
 * <span style="font-family: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; vertical-align: baseline;">  Hopi

Hopi Farming
>> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #006400; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">__<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #006400; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">[|white] __ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #006400; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #006400; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #006400; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">__<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #006400; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">[|corn] __. Other crops included beans, cotton, squash and tobacco. Hopis raised and ate turkey, and men in the tribe hunted antelope, deer and game animals. Women gathered fruits, herbs and nuts. Some of the Hopis favorite recipes are similar to what families eat today, including baked beans, cornbread, hominy and soups. >>
 * <span style="font-family: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; vertical-align: baseline;">  Experts at farming, the Hopis grew many crops including corn. In fact, the Hopis grew 24 different kinds of corn, most commonly blue and

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