Page 46 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol IV

native american religions 1347

The Origins and Purpose of the Hopi Flute Society

The first responsibility of the Flute Society... is to the power of the sun, the Fire Clan the inner heat of
help mature the crops by bringing the last summer the earth, and the Blue Flute Clan playing the flute,
rains and warming the earth by singing the songs singing the songs, and using the feathers of tropical
that evoke heat, supplemented by the power of birds, which evoke heat. Four times they tried and
feathers taken from tropical birds. The second and failed, so they turned back south again.
most dramatic purpose is to enact mankind’s Emer- Turning east, the Blue Flute Clan met the minor
gence to this present Fourth World. From this Gray Flute Clan and recounted their experiences.
derives the origin and composition of the Flute They were reminded that they had failed because
Society. their efforts were not in accord with the Creator’s
When the Third World was destroyed by water, plans, and that they had done wrong in using their
mankind emerged to the Fourth World by crossing supernatural power before coming to the right place.
the water in reed rafts to the shore of this continent. The Gray Flute Clan accordingly assumed leadership
The place of Emergence was in the warm country to of the two clans. After migrating to Oraibi and dem-
the south, believed to have been Central America.The onstrating their powers, both clans were accepted,
people then separated into various groups to begin but ever since then the Gray Flute Clan has been pre-
their migrations over the continent. dominant over the Blue Flute Clan.
Those going north under the guidance of Spider Like the Snake-Antelope Societies, the Gray and
Woman included members of the Spider Clan, the Blue Flute Societies conduct ceremonies apart: the
Ghost Clan—sometimes known as the Fire Clan— former in separate kivas, the Blue Flute in its kivas,
the Sun Clan, Blue Flute Clan (another segment and the Gray Flute in its leader’s home on the east
comprising the Gray Flute Clan separating and going side of the plaza next to the Sun Clan leader’s home;
east), and Snake Clan. After traveling as far as they but they combine on the last day, when the ceremony
could go, they attempted to melt the arctic ice cap by is held outside.
evoking the powers given them: the Sun Clan using Source: Waters, F. (1963). Book of the Hopi (p. 211). New York: Viking Press.

standing the history of “Native American religions” 4. Native history typically makes connections that seem
from the standpoints of native communities and indi- atemporal to Western academic perspectives, but that
viduals: Native American religions begin and end actually link past, present, and future like a “hypertext”
with living peoples who speak of the origins of the in which past or future events stand in immediate
world and themselves as present realities. relationship with the present with regard to meaning,
2. This historical consciousness is now both oral and lit- causality, and consequence. This shape-shifting and
erate, but in both instances it is told by native voice multivocal character of native narratives is not simply
and not locked in library texts or museum holdings a matter of style of literature but indicates ways of
of mainstream societies. perceiving the world that are creatively different.
3. Discussion of rituals, myths, sacred objects, songs, 5. Place occupies a central role in native historical
and seminal places and ideas all hold historical in- consciousness. In native understanding the sensual
sight for native peoples. Unlike academic history that engagement with place is an act of cultivation that
attempts to describe objectively events, religious ob- may bring an individual or group to realization of
jects, and narratives, native historical awareness often cosmological values embedded in the lifeway. Sacred
sees them as persons deserving respectful treatment, places provide foundational insight into that which
even avoidance if one is not qualified to approach or gives identity to native peoples.This is unlike the pas-
embrace them. sive, objective roles of the environment in Western