Peaceful Ones (1953)

The Painted Desert North from here are great fingers of Maes and colorful Cliffs up some of these high cliffs in prehistoric times climb the more peaceful tribes to escape from their enemies in the plains below and today their Descendants the hopes still live in their Sky perched Homes in Pueblo that were teeming communities 200 years before Columbus stumbled along our Eastern Seaboard one of them old arbe is said oldest continuously inhabited spot weathered by time and the skies the ancient streets and houses lie dreaming under the weight of [Music] centuries for over a thousand years the Pueblo men have built their Villages from materials at hand from the valley 600 ft below the houses of native Rock blend into the Mesa for safety not easily seen nor easily reached by one of the few paths up the sheer Cliff walls these peaceful ones are an industrious people and their daily life follows the pattern of centuries they live in a patriarchal society wherein the women are the center and inheritance passes from mother to daughter every task is set by tradition women and men being assigned to separate duties the man builds the home which becomes the property of his wife to be inherited by their eldest [Music] daughter to the house is brought the Harvest also the wife's prop property although it was eak out of the barren Land by the man of the family the hopes are an agricultural people the men Farm tiny fields at the base of Rocky Cliffs a mere patch on the valley floor they do not look like usual farmlands the corn wide spaced and planted deep to reach the meager water grows no more than 3 ft tall but carefully tended the sturdy stocks are crowded with 12 and 15 big ears and only at ground level can some of them find room to push from the stock Bountiful crops rested from a reluctant Land by patient diligent hard labor The Orchards often tucked between the rocks at mesa's Edge are Squat and gar they're stunted by the scorching winds in the parched Earth and their roots are exposed by the shifting sand yet the dwarfed trees are heavy with their harvests which rip peaches apricots and apples literally crowded on tough little branches for the Hardy trees bring forth heavy harvests from the dry land after the crops are harvested there is still no rest for the Hy hands through the winter months the work goes on the peaceful hopes are the only tribe in all America wherein the men are the Weavers and they not the women own the sheep of the tribe the wool from the small bands is sheared and washed and dried then it is ready for carting in this combing process the wool is further cleaned as it is brushed and combed between the carding Combs it is pulled apart and shredded to roll off the carding Combs a soft white [Music] fluff as if by Magic this soft white fluff becomes firm Stout yarn by means of a simple wooden spindle it is spun into thread expert fingers twirl the spindle and Pull and stretch the wool over and over again it is twisted and pulled spun and respun to become fine and even for standards are high with these hopy Weavers trained as they are for from childhood by old to [Music] Young At Last the fine yarn is ready for the Looms looms that are stretched in the shadows inside the ancient houses from floor to ceiling Seated on the native Rock floor hour after hour the patient Weaver Works each thread is pounded down onto the one before the wooden baton or stick is slipped between the warp and turned edgewise to hold apart the threads the yarn is pulled between again it is beaten down to hard tight smoothness the more the pounding the more firm and close the weave Through The Long Winter months the texal grows slowly thread by thread and these Texs plain in color white or black or dark green are woven for ceremonial garments the Border decorations are embroidered on later by the Weaver the designs are set by tradition a distinct pattern for each dance and ceremony the borders are spaced with medallions of symbolic designs clouds piled high above a mountain or a sacred squash Blossom for ritual shapes all Hopey life and religion is the heart of their existence far across the plains to the Southwest Loom the ancient San Francisco Peaks here high in the sky live the kachinas the supernatural beings of the hopes little dolls are made to teach the children of these beings they are carved in the likeness of the cachas and are made by the male relatives to be given to the little [Music] ones from dry Cottonwood Roots the doll is whittel and filed into shape after smoothing the figure is painted with costume and features some are simple and crude others intricate and delicate there are over 200 kachinas each represents an idea or nature or an animal such as the owl cacina then there are the clown cachas called mudhe heads by the Indians the dolls are presented to the children during the cacina dances held the first half of each year the dancers in these ceremonies always wear masks when masked the dancers believe they lose their own identity and receive the spirit of that cacina and the prayers of the people are carried to the gods through the impersonation in July the cacina spirits return to their San Francisco Peaks until another spring brings them again to the meses to watch over the growing crops of their good hopes the hopes have never developed a war dance their rituals are prayers to the gods usually for [Music] rain in the village plazas the public part of the dances are held nearby are the Kias the underground meeting places or or clubhouses of the tribe crude ladders lead down Into the Depths and there below are held important meetings and the secret religious rituals witnessed only by the initiated the climax to all the rituals is the snake dance one of the most famous Indian ceremonials real live snakes are used many of them deadly rattlesnakes the snake ceremony lasts nine days and on the last day emerges from the Kea to the plaza there an intricate ceremony is presented by priests of The Secret Snake and Antelope Clans the original ritual is never photographed on the Mesa only reenactments specially presented elsewhere are ever filmed after the ritual the snakes are carried by Runners from the Mesa to The Valleys below where they are released to the four [Music] directions they become Messengers to the gods of the underworld taking to them the hopie prayer for rain and so ends the most fervent and sacred ceremony of these deeply religious people a gentle people that blows in the sky and today they find in their Heavens the same Serenity that Through the Ages has made them the peaceful ones the hopes