For my senior project I went to visit an indian reservation in Arizona, 3 hours outside of Phoenix. With a class of 12 students, we stayed on the Hopi Reservation for one week to study the Hopi indian culture. On our trip we learned to weave baskets out of Yucca plants and made wooden toys and sculptures. The trip was segregated between the men and women so every student worked on separate projects. The women cooked and worked around the house while the men did labor and dealt with cattle. For our meals we ate elk soup with bread mostly and a few other traditional dishes. We went to one ceremony that was held in the Hopi village where the men of the village dressed up as spirits that represented their culture and they danced in a giant circle as they gave out organic foods to the audience. The family we stayed with told us many stories behind the spirits they worshiped and the Kachina dolls that represented those spirits. They explained that their villages were divided by family clans. There was the corn clan, water clan, eagle clan, bear clan, etc... Hopi land is divided by three mesas. On one day we went out and visited the other two mesas. All of the land was a desert filled with decaying homes made of mud and stone and there was trash littered everywhere, sadly. On another day we went to venture a giant piece of land the family owned where they kept their cattle. There we cooked veil and helped to herd together all the cows. Nearing the end of our trip, we woke up as early as 4 a.m. to go to one of the mesas where we witnessed one of their most sacred ceremonies, marriage. The bride had to wait until the sun began to rise so that she may walk through her childhood village as a presentation of how she has now become a woman. During our last day before leaving the reservation, one of our hosts Lee, blessed the students by burning a clustered stick of sage and other herbs and basked us with smoke before we got on the bus. I feel that everyone learned a lot about how the Hopi tribe governs their own land without taxes and their own laws. It's almost like another country because it's so different from American society.
There we cooked veil and helped to herd together all the cows. Nearing the end of our trip, we woke up as early as 4 a.m. to go to one of the mesas where we witnessed one of their most sacred ceremonies, marriage. The bride had to wait until the sun began to rise so that she may walk through her childhood village as a presentation of how she has now become a woman. During our last day before leaving the reservation, one of our hosts Lee, blessed the students by burning a clustered stick of sage and other herbs and basked us with smoke before we got on the bus. I feel that everyone learned a lot about how the Hopi tribe governs their own land without taxes and their own laws. It's almost like another country because it's so different from American society. While some indians may own cellphones, television, and sometimes the internet, most of their people are very sacred and don't use modern technology unless it's necessary. Most of them don't even believe in using cameras and forbid pictures to be taken of their people and their land because it takes away your soul. We also learned about how the Europeans tried to take over their reservation long ago and how they stripped the indians of their tribe names and language to replace it with English words and churches. Eventually the Hopi drove the Europeans out though and now they have no churches and continue to teach their native language in their schools. Besides the basics though, our hosts taught each of us something more valuable. For me, I learned that family is sacred and are the one's who truly matter in life. These clans worked together everyday to produce food for their village and every person helped, including the children. Rather than seeing kids play video games or explore the internet, most were outside helping their neighbors. Now I feel an unconditional appreciation for my life and my family and since then I've worked hard to create a stronger bond between my family and I. This was truly a once in a lifetime experience, and I'll never forget the faces of those who were kind enough to bring us to their homes and teach us their beautiful culture.