The Unwritten Literature of the Hopi | Page 8

is
far to seek in this land of scant vegetation, in fact literally miles away
and getting farther every year, so that the man with team and wagon is
fortunate indeed and the rest must pack their wood on burros. Both men
and women gather backloads of faggots wherever such can be found in
walking distance, and said distance is no mean measure, for these hardy
little people have always been great walkers and great runners.
Hough says:[11] "Seemingly the men work harder making
paraphernalia and costumes for the ceremonies than at anything else,
but it should be remembered that in ancient days everything depended,
in Hopi belief, on propitiating the deities. Still if we would pick the
threads of religion from the warp and woof of Hopi life there
apparently would not be much left. It must be recorded in the interests
of truth, that Hopi men will work at days labor and give satisfaction
except when a ceremony is about to take place at the pueblo, and duty
to their religion interferes with steady employment much as fiestas do
in the easy-going countries to the southward. Really the Hopi deserve
great credit for their industry, frugality, and provident habits, and one
must commend them because they do not shun work and because in
fairness both men and women share in the labor for the common good."
[Footnote 11: Hough, Walter, Op. cit, pp. 156-58.]

IV. POTTERY AND BASKET MAKING TRADITIONAL; ITS
SYMBOLISM
* * * * *
The art of pottery-making is a traditional one; mothers teach their
daughters, even as their mothers taught them. There are no recipes for
exact proportions and mixtures, no thermometer for controlling
temperatures, no stencil or pattern set down upon paper for laying out
the designs. The perfection of the finished work depends upon the
potter's sense of rightness and the skill developed by practicing the
methods of her ancestors with such variation as her own originality and
ingenuity may suggest.
All the women of a pueblo community know how to make cooking
vessels, at least, and in spare time they gather and prepare their raw

materials, just as the Navajo woman has usually a blanket underway or
the Apache a basket started. The same is true of Hopi basketry; its
methods, designs, and symbolism are all a matter of memory and
tradition.
From those who know most of Indian sacred and decorative symbols,
we learn that two main ideas are outstanding: desire for rain and belief
in the unity of all life. Charms or prayers against drought take the form
of clouds, lightning, rain, etc., and those for fertility are expressed by
leaves, flowers, seed pods, while fantastic birds and feathers
accompany these to carry the prayers. It may be admitted that the
modern craftsman is often enough ignorant of the full early significance
of the motifs used, but she goes on using them because they express her
idea of beauty and because she knows that always they have been used
to express belief in an animate universe and with the hope of
influencing the unseen powers by such recognition in art.
The modern craftsman may even tell you that the once meaningful
symbols mean nothing now, and this may be true, but the medicine men
and the old people still hold the traditional symbols sacred, and this
reply may be the only short and polite way of evading the troublesome
stranger to whom any real explanation would be difficult and who
would quite likely run away in the middle of the patient explanation to
look at something else. Only those whose friendship and understanding
have been tested will be likely to be told of that which is sacred lore.
However, if the tourist insists upon having a story with his basket or
pottery and the seller realizes that it's a story or no sale, he will glibly
supply a story, be he Indian or white, both story and basket being made
for tourist consumption.
To the old time Indian everything had a being or spirit of its own, and
there was an actual feeling of sympathy for the basket or pot that
passed into the hands of unsympathetic foreigners, especially if the
object were ceremonial. The old pottery maker never speaks in a loud
tone while firing her ware and often sings softly for fear the new being
or spirit of the pot will become agitated and break the pot in trying to
escape. Nampeo, the venerable Tewa potter, is said to talk to the spirits
of her pots while firing them, adjuring them to be docile and not break
her handiwork by trying to escape. But making things to sell is
different--how could it be otherwise?

In one generation Indian craftsmen have come to be of two classes,
those who