the enviable title of “song-makers” has been earned by the music-loving indians of tusayan, and their fame as singers has gone out among all the tribes of the “land of little rain.” many a less inventive indian has come a long, wearisome journey to learn songs from the hopi, bringing also his fee, since songs that give the singer magic power over the gods and forces of nature are not to be had for the asking, besides to their learning a man must give the full devotion of his being and sit humbly at the feet of his instructors. the land where the hopi live may seem to furnish slight incentive to song, especially when one’s ideas of the desert are of its dreariness and desolation; but when one sets foot in the sacred precincts of the mysterious desert a new revelation comes to him and he sees with these indians that the wastes which unfold from the high mesas are full of beauty of form and brilliancy of color. sunrise and sunset bring wonderful tints into the landscape,—the distant blue mountains, the violet cloud shadows, the tawny, whirling [103] sand columns, the far-off thunder-storm, the vibration of the midday air, and the sparkling night sky must inspire the most prosaic mind. there comes to one in these surroundings a feeling of freedom, together with a sense of the vastness, transparency, and mystery of the desert which stir the emotions and makes the close pent life of crowded cities left behind seem but an unsubstantial dream. here the hopi have been always free; the isolated life on the narrow mesas brings about a close companionship and a true home-life besides. the air of the desert makes a man healthy and hungry, thus cheerfulness cannot but follow, expressed in songs that are from the soul.
it must be confessed that the impression of indian music one draws from various sources is that it consists of whoops, yells, and odd, guttural noises, but this is far from describing hopi music. between the light and airy kachina songs and the stirring though somewhat gruesome chants of the snake ceremony, there is a variety of compositions to many of which the most enlightened music lovers would listen with pleasure.
the flute music is especially pleasing. in the summer of 1896, the writer had the good fortune to witness the flute ceremony at the hopi pueblo of walpi. in the course of the ritual, which is an invocation for rain, a series of songs are repeated each day for several days. to one hearing indian music for the first time [104] the sensation was quite novel. the chorus of priests, rattle in hand, sang in unison before the flute altar, in a narrow, low, windowless room that greatly augmented the volume of sound. the time was set by the speaker-chief, who uniformly shook his rattle eight beats in five seconds for all the songs and for each day’s songs with the accuracy of a metronome. there were three beats in each measure. the pitch was low, the range limited, and the deep, vibrant voices seemed to portray the winds, thunder, rain, the rushing water and the elemental forces of nature.
the notation is chromatic, not possible to be expressed on any instrument save the violin, or the five-hole transverse flutes which later accompanied the singing. these flutes were played in unison on the octave above the voices, and their shrill, harsh notes marred the singing. in general effect the music is minor, but frequently major motives of great beauty spring out of dead-level monotonous minors. sometimes a major motive is followed by a minor counterpart of the same. there is much slurring, and an occasional reduplication comes in with great effect. a number of songs are monotonous, with once in a while a vigorous movement. the closing song is spirited and may truly be called beautiful. it consists of several legato verses, each closing with a turn, a rapid vibration of the rattle, and a solemn refrain. in structure and melody it resembles a christian hymn. the music reminds one of the gregorian [105] chants, and to the listener some of the motives seemed quite equal to those upon which handel built his great oratorios.
it is a pity that the many beautiful songs of tusayan cannot be written down and preserved but this will no doubt soon be accomplished. perhaps some genius like liszt who gave the world the spirit of hungarian folk-music will arise to ravish our ears with these musical expressions passed down from aboriginal american sweet singers.
while the music which most attracts our attention in hopiland is that of the various ceremonies, there is still a cycle of songs, many in number, of love, war, or for amusement; those sung by mothers to their infants, or shrilled by the women grinding corn. the men sing at their work, the children at their play in this land of the song makers.
if songs are numerous beyond computation among the hopi there are also more games conducing to their amusement than one finds among many other tribes. one may surmise that these games have been brought in by the clans that came from all points of the compass to make up the hopi, and who must have touched elbows with other tribes of different lineage during the wanderings. all games seem to have been borrowed, and no one may, in the light of present knowledge, say when, where, and by whom any one of the typical games was invented, any more than the father of a proverb or a joke may have the parentage ascribed to him.
[106] but the hopi are not disturbed by such philosophical considerations and adhere to the traditional and time-honored games they know without desire for innovation. with them athletic games are most popular, are pursued with whole-souled abandon, and are accompanied with a world of noise and rough play; but the races and games connected with the religious ceremonies are carried on with due decorum. stout shinny sticks of oak brought from the north show that the hopi know the widespread sport that warms the blood of many an american boy, but, alas! there is no ice for its full enjoyment. among other athletic sports one may reckon throwing darts, shooting with bow and arrow at a mark, or hurling the boomerang-like club, which is an ancient weapon, or even impromptu trials of skill in throwing stones or in bouts of friendly wrestling. the most amusing struggle game is the nuitiwa, played by both sexes after the close of the snake ceremony. men and boys provide themselves with some piece of pottery or other object of value and run through the village crying “wa ha ha! wa ha ha!” pursued by the fleet-footed women who chase them and struggle for the prize with much laughter and shortness of breath. the men take the precaution to remove their shirts, if they value them, before they begin, for that garment is not worth a moment’s purchase when the girls reach for the prize held at arm-length above the head.
many of the sacred games are of an athletic [107] character. of these may be mentioned the numerous races, including the kicking race in which stones are carried on top of one foot, and the sacred game of ball. one might include in the list the bow-women of the mamzrauti ceremony and basket throwers of the lalakonti ceremony, since it can be seen that games are closely connected with primitive religious beliefs and may all have originated as a form of divination, or some other early attempts of man either to influence the beings or to spy into the future. it may be that some games are remnants of long-forgotten ceremonies, once of great import to early worshippers.
of sedentary games there are a number. one like “fox and geese,” called totolospi, is the patoli of the mexicans, which is said to be in turn the pachise of the hindus, and the rectangular plan of this game may sometimes be found on the rocks near the villages. there is “cup and ball,” a guessing game in which four cups cut from wood and a stone about the size of a marble form the paraphernalia; and there is a game in which reed dice with markings are thrown. a set of these dice was found in an ancient ruin near winslow, arizona, and they are represented on an ancient bowl from sikyatki, a ruin near walpi.
with all these games the hopi are not gamblers and appear to have the same aversion to it as they have to fire-water, differing in this respect from the navaho, zu?i, and many other tribes of indians. most of their games, like those of the ancient greeks, are [108] full of the exhilaration of life, the glow of physical training, the doing of something to win the favor of the gods.
in this account the children must not be left out. imitating the customs of their seniors, they not only carry out the great games but also enter with abandon the childish sports of chasing, tag, ring around a rosy, ball, and other juveniles. tops and popguns are not unknown, and if a boy has a pebble shooter made of an agave stalk with a spring of elastic wood he can go as far in mischief as ever hopi children do, but he never fires away peas or beans, for they are too precious.
it may be well to recount here the endurance of the hopi in their great national accomplishment—that of making long runs at record speed.
one morning about seven o’clock at winslow, arizona, a message was brought to the hotel that an indian wished to see the leader of an exploring party. on stepping out on the street the indian was found sitting on the curbstone, mouth agape with wonder at the trains moving about on the santa fé pacific railroad.
he delivered a note from a white man at oraibi and it was ascertained that he had started from that place at four on the previous afternoon, and arrived at winslow some time about the middle of the night. when it is known that the distance is sixty-five miles and the indian ran over a country with which he [109] was not familiar, the feat seems remarkable. it is presumed that he ran until it became dark and then waited till the moon rose, finishing the journey by moonlight.
on his back he carried a canteen of water wrapped in a blanket. he took only a sandwich, explaining that if he ate he could not run, and receiving the answer to the note, resumed his journey to oraibi. afterward it was learned that the runner reached oraibi with the answer that afternoon, having been promised a bonus if he made the trip in one day. the distance run cannot be less than 130 miles, a pretty long course to get over in the time, and this indian is not the best runner in oraibi. there is one man who takes a morning practice of thirty miles or so in order to get in trim for the dawn races in some of the ceremonies, and it is said that he won in such a race some years ago, distancing all competitors.
nothing in the whole realm of animal motion can be imagined more graceful than the movements of one of these runners as he passes by in the desert, his polished sinewy muscles playing with the utmost precision—nothing but flight can be compared with it. the indians say that moccasins are the best foot-wear for travel over sandy country, as the foot, so clad, presses the loose sand into a firm, rounded bunch, giving a fulcrum for the forward spring, but the naked feet scatters the sand, and this, on experiment, was found to be true.
[110] while excavating at winslow one day some of the workmen looked up toward the north and cried out, hopi tu, hopi tu, “the hopi are coming.” it was some time before our eyes could pick them out, but soon three men could be seen running, driving a little burro in front at the top of its speed. these were walpi men journeying to a creek some miles beyond winslow to get sacred water for one of their ceremonies. similar journeys are made to san francisco mountains for pine boughs and to the cataract of the colorado to trade with the havasupai. the spanish conquerors were struck with the ability of the hopi runners, and they record that the indians could easily run in one day across the desert to the grand canyon, a distance which the spaniards required three days’ march to accomplish.
often a crowd of hopi young men will go out afoot to hunt rabbits, and woe to the bunny that comes in reach! he is soon run down and dispatched with their curved boomerangs.
though baseball, football, and many other athletic games of civilization have no place among the hopi sports, of foot racing they are as passionately fond as even the ancient greeks. almost every one of the many ceremonies has its foot race in which the whole pueblo takes the greatest interest, for all the hopi honor the swift runners.
this brings to mind the story of how sikyabotoma lost his hair. sikyabotoma, who bears the school [111] name of john, is the finest specimen of physical manhood at the east mesa. john is not unaware of this gift of nature, as he poses on all occasions out of sheer pride.
one cannot observe that john got anything out of his american schooling; he seemingly does not speak a word of english, and he is beyond all reason taciturn for a hopi. it may be that john is a backslider, having forgotten or thrown over his early education and relapsed to his present state under the influence of hopi paganism.
as runner for the walpi flute society, his duty is to carry the offerings to the various shrines and springs, skirting on the first day the entire circuit of the cultivated fields of the pueblo, and coming nearer and nearer each day till he tolls the gods to the very doors of walpi. it is no small task to include all the fields in the blessings asked by the flute priests, since the circuit must exceed twenty miles. each day sikyabotoma, wearing an embroidered kilt around his loins, his long, glossy hair hanging free, stands before the flute priests, a brave sight to behold. they fasten a small pouch of sacred meal at his side and anoint him with honey on the tip of the tongue, the forehead, breast, arms, and legs, perhaps to make him swift as the bee. then he receives the prayer-sticks, and away he goes down the mesa as though he had leaped down the five hundred feet, his long, black hair streaming. he stops at a spring, [112] then at a shrine, and in a very short time can scarcely be distinguished running far out by the arroyo bounding the fields. john in this role is a sight not soon to be forgotten.
this brings us to the story of john’s waterloo. at sunrise on the last day of the wawash ceremony there are foot races in honor of the gods, and a curious condition of these races is that the loser forfeits his hair. now the hopi are like the chinese in having an aversion to losing this adornment. a bald hopi is a great rarity, and the generality of the men have long, beautiful locks, black as a raven’s wing, washed with soaproot and made wavy by being tied tightly in a knot at the back of the head. sikyabotoma entered the wawash race with confidence, but when the runners came back on the tortuous trail up the rocks sikyabotoma was second. a pair of sheep shears in the hands of his adversary soon made havoc with his locks. at the time this sketch was written john’s hair had grown again to a respectable length.
in making his toilet as flute messenger, to which the writer was a witness, john found it necessary to have his bang trimmed. this service was performed by an old fellow who picked up from the floor a dubious looking brush made of stiff grass stems, moistened it with his tongue occasionally as he brushed john’s hair, and finally with a pair of rickety scissors cut the bang to regulation shape.
sikyabotoma, in spite of the drawbacks pointed out, [113] is one of the lions of walpi by birth; he also belongs to the first families. divested of civilized garb, and as a winged mercury flying with messages to the good beings, he is an object to be gazed on with admiration, disposing one to be lenient with his besetting vanity.
