Indian Crafts: Hopi, Navajo And Iroquois (1980)

The first bull to live in America were the Indians. They made everything they needed from the materials that nature provided. Today, the Hopi, Navajo, and Irakquoy, as well as many other Indian groups, still make objects by hand, just as they were made many years ago. The Hopi Indians have always lived in the American Southwest. In the old villages high on the tops of stony cliffs, Hopi men still weave clothing and blankets on their large looms. Hopy women still gather the leaves of the yaka plant to make baskets. Long ago, baskets were used every day to carry water, to serve food, even to catch fish. After the leaves are gathered, they're peeled and put into bundles. Hopy women can make many different designs in their baskets by the way they stitch the coils of leaves together or by dying the leaves different colors. [Music] Basket making is slow work for the yucka leaves must be moistened often to keep them from drying [Music] out. It may take as long as two weeks to finish just one basket. Hopy women like to work together and they enjoy having children nearby. It helps to make the hours pass more quickly. Today the Hopy used the baskets for decoration or sell them to those who value their beauty. The first step in making Hopy pottery is finding just the right kind of clay. The Hopy woman works the wet clay into long coils with her hands. The coils are wound around and around until a bowl or jar is [Music] formed. After the wet clay is shaped, the pot is rubbed and scraped of the wet stone until it is perfectly smooth. [Music] A hopy woman makes her own paints by mixing water with minerals from the earth. Her brushes are made from the yaka [Music] plant. Her designs are shapes and curving lines that may remind her of things in nature, such as clouds and birds. [Music] To make the pot hard and strong, it must be baked in an oven. Pieces of broken pottery are placed over the pot to protect it from the fire. Then the Hopi potter makes her own oven, usually out of wood or dried sheep's dung. Since there's no thermometer to tell when the pot is done, Hopy women must know from experience when to remove it. The design of Hopi pottery is quite unlike that of any other. From wood that drifts down the rivers in springtime, Hopy men cut and carve cacina dolls for their children. Cacina dolls are used to teach the children about the cacina spirits. Hopi religion teaches that many different cachacina spirits bring rain and other good things to the tribe. The children learn to know the cacina dolls by their different costumes, colors, and masks. After the body of the doll has been carved, ears, noses, snouts, or horns may be attached with [Music] pegs. The details of the doll's mask and costume are painted on with bright colors. Feathers, headdresses, or jewelry complete the costume. Often the cachacina carries an object. It may be a rattle, a branch, a bow and arrow. Since there are more than 250 different caca dolls, Hopi fathers are careful to make each doll as perfect as possible. [Music] Not far from the villages of the Hopi live another Indian tribe of the southwest, the Navajo. From the Hopi, the Navajo learned how to weave cloth from sheep's wool. Today, the Navajo are famous for their woven wool blankets and rugs. After the sheep have been sheared, their wool is cleaned and straightened. Then the long wool fibers are spun on a spindle stick. To spin a thin, strong yarn takes practice and skill. When it's time to dye the yarn, the stove is brought outside. The Navajos still color most of their yarn with dyes that come from plants and [Music] berries. Among the Navajo, it is the woman who weaves. As she works at her loom, the Navajo woman plans a design for the weaving in her mind. She never has to write it down or draw a picture of it. To us, the weavingings are full of interesting designs. To the Navajo, the stripes see [Music] glory. A Navajo home may also be a workshop for making jewelry. The first step in making silver jewelry is to carve a design into a block of sandstone. The design is then covered with another block of sandstone and the two are wrapped together to make a mold. Scraps of silver are melted with a torch. It takes much less time than it did in the old days when silver was melted over a fire. The Navajo silver smith can tell by the color of the melted silver just when it is ready to be poured into the mold. When taken from the mold, the jewelry is rough and not very pretty. It does not yet look like a bracelet. It must be rubbed and filed to make it smooth. Then the soft silver is hammered into a bracelet shape. During this process, the bracelet has picked up dirt and stains. A bath in hot acid removes them. It is almost finished. The final step in making silver jewelry is a careful polishing. Unlike the Hopi and Navajo of the dry southwest, the Irakquoy Indians settled in the forests of northeastern America. One of the oldest traditions of the Irakcoy begins with finding a special tree. When a living basswood tree is found, an offering is made to the spirit of the tree. Then just as they have done for over 300 years, the Irakcoy carve a mask from the trunk of the tree. The mask called a false face represents an Irakquoy spirit who once used its power to help the tribe. The Irakquoy believe that when the mask is worn in a ceremonial dance, special powers to cure disease are given to the one who wears it. After the features of the mask have been carved, it is removed from the tree. [Music] A carefully made fire burns away the center of the mask. Traditional Irakcoy tools are used to finish the details. If the mask is finished in the morning, it is painted red. If it's taken from the tree in the afternoon, the mask is painted black. Only the Irakcoy who carves the false face mask may wear it. The crafts of one Indian group are quite different from those of any other. For each object expresses the heritage of one tribe and the thought of one person. [Music]