Notes on Hopi Economic Life by Ernest Beaglehole Pearl Beaglehole

Author:Ernest Beaglehole, Pearl Beaglehole [Ernest Beaglehole, Pearl Beaglehole]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Cultural Studies, Native American Studies, History, Americas, United States, 19th Century, Biography & Memoir
ISBN: 9781839745270
Publisher: Barakaldo Books
Published: 2020-05-19T04:00:00+00:00

HUNTING AND HERDING

Hunting and hunting ritual have been considered in detail elsewhere{49} but it may be recalled in this context that the values centering about the hunting complex contrast strongly with those implied in agricultural work. Whereas agriculture is marked by monotonous routine activity and involves long-continued and patient labor, the hunt gives to the Hopi all the pleasure and excitement of rapid movement. The element of chance bulks large and an occasional element of danger adds to the fascination of the activity. At all times the individual is given the opportunity to display both skill and daring and the satisfaction accruing from such display gains much from the presence of many companions. The rabbit, other small game, the eagle and the coyote are the only animals hunted today but formerly when white contact was slight and pasturage grass more plentiful, antelope, deer, mountain lion, mountain sheep and gray wolf were also frequently hunted for food and skins. From various parts of these animals were obtained skins for moccasins, leggings, bow guards, drums, clothing, pouches, shields, masks, riding gear, lariats, sinew for bowstrings and sewing, hooves for rattles, antlers for straightening wrenches, basket implements, and feathers for ceremonial and ritual costume. The flesh and organs provided a welcome addition to a diet otherwise almost exclusively composed of corn and vegetable foods.

The work of tending sheep and cattle is exclusively a masculine occupation though Fewkes noted in 1890 that Hopi sheep were herded by the women and children who sometimes carried bows and arrows.{50} Women do not participate in such activity at the present time and it is possible that there is something exceptional about Fewkes’ observation. At First Mesa, herding appears to be the main support of some households, the men of the household dividing their time between their village home, where they cultivate small fields of corn, and herding camps close to their grazing sections in more distant parts of the reservation. At the other two mesas where herding is still a subordinate occupation, the usual practice is for cattle to graze wild, and for several men to pool their small flocks of sheep and goats. Each man then takes his turn for a two-day period at herding the combined flock. The flock is taken each morning from the corral by the herder, accompanied by a small boy as assistant, and slowly driven over the desert pasture to and from the nearest spring, or water supply, being returned to the corral at nightfall. A heavy winter snowfall may preclude the possibility of taking the flock in search of pasture and in this case, since no provision is made for storing winter fodder, often many animals die of exposure and starvation.

In summer a small sheep camp is established some distance away from the village and the sheep are taken from the village corrals to the pastures adjoining the camp. The herding is carried on in rotation as before but the spell of duty is often for as much as ten days at a time.

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