Hopi Legends

The reserves of the Hopi Indians, members of the large Pueblo group, are located in Arizona and New Mexico. Today [circa. 1970] there are still about 8,000 Hopis in existence. They weave extremely beautiful baskets, following an ancient handicraft tradition, and make magnificent pottery. In spite of the pressure of the blessings of civilization, the Hopi Indians on their reserves have preserved their age-old rites and customs, as well as their orally transmitted legends in an astonishingly pure form.

White Bear is cheiftain [at time of writing] of the Coyote clan by right of birth. He can still read most of the ancient "drawings" carved in the rock. Thus White Bear knows that a hand with outspread fingers next to the paintings means that the tribe who once executed the drawings is still in possession of the whole traditional wisdom. White Bear is capable of interpreting widely separated rock and cave drawings that he has never seen before. Unfortunately the chieftain is very reticent and extremely skeptical of white men (with good reason). The petroglyphs in the reserves are of remarkable design and sometimes whole rock faces are covered with them.
 

What have the legends of the Hopi Indians to tell us?

They say that the first world was Toktela. (Toktela literally means "infinite space".) Only Taiowa, the Creator, originally dwelt in the first world before he created men. The ancestors had been in contact with various worlds before they found their home on this planet. Taiowa told them that the supreme law was "Thou shalt not kill." If there were any differences of opinion or disputes between the Hopis, the opposing sides separated, went off in different directions and sought new hunting grounds. But both sides stuck to the traditional laws and kept on covering rocks and caves with the same paintings during their long marches. (They still observe this practice today.)

In the Book of the Hopi (the first revelation of the Hopi's historical and religious world-view of life) the following legend is told:

"In ancient times there was a battle for the Red City in the South. Wherever they came from, all the tribes were accompanied by Kachinas, beings who were reputed not to be of the fourth world, indeed, they were not men at all. Nevertheless, they always proved themselves to be protectors and advisors of the tribe and frequently helped them out of tricky situations with superhuman powers and arts. This was what happened in the Red City in the South when some Hopi tribes were suddenly attacked from all sides. With the speed of the wind, the Kachinas built a tunnel through which the Hopis were able to flee into the open behind the enemy lines without shedding blood. When they said goodbye, the Kachinas said to the chieftains: 'We are staying to defend the city. The time for the journey to our distant planet has not yet come!'"

If we follow the Hopi traditions, all the red rock drawings are simply very early messages with precise instructions to tribe members who might happen to pass through that particular bit of territory at any given time. It would be an interesting experiment to show Big Chief White Bear my color photographs of rock and cave drawings at Sete Cidades. (in Teresina, the capital of the Brazilian state of Piaui. Translated: "seven cities", this is the place referred to as the "seven cities of gold"..... the same place the Spanish were looking for, believing them to have been built, literally, of gold, and for which they wiped out, tortured and enslaved tribe after tribe after tribe, and Nation after Nation.) Who knows, perhaps he would [Chief White Bear] "read" in the remarkably similar symbols and motifs that the mysterious Red City of the South had been rediscovered at last.
 
 

- E.V. Daniken