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Native American Notes. Brainstorm. The Anasazi : THE ANCIENT ONES.
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The Anasazi: THE ANCIENT ONES The prehistoric Indian culture of the Anasazi lived in the United States from approximately 500-1600 CE. In the late 14th century this highly developed society abandoned many of their great habitations such as Chaco Canyon, Mesa Verde, Montezuma Valley and subsequently evolved into the Pueblo, Hopi and Zuni peoples of today. The following represent some examples of their writing.
Papago poem Come All! Stand Up! Just over there the dawn is coming. Now I hear soft laughter!
Navajo song Since the ancient days, I have planted, since the time of emergence, I have planted
Twea Pueblo poem Long ago in the north lies the road of emergence. Yonder our ancestors live, yonder we take our being.
Navajo poem You say there were no people smoke was spreading... First Man was the very first to emerge you say there were no people smoke was spreading.
Zuni poem Our great fathers talked together. Here they arose and moved on. They stooped over and came out from the Fourth World, carrying their precious things... They stopped over and came out and saw their sun father and inhaled the sacred breath of the light of day.
Pima song Together we emerge with our rattles;... this is the whiteland; we arrive singing we have come! We have come! The land trembles with our dancing and singing.
Zuni poem Now this is the day, our child, into the daylight you will go out standing... our father, dawn priests have come out standing, to their sacred place.
Zuni song They stooped over and came out of the mud world, carrying their precious things clasped to their breasts.
Navajo poem It was the wind that gave them life. It is the wind that comes out of our mouths now that gives us life... In the skin the tips of our fingers we see the trail of the sing. It shows us where the wind blew when our ancestors were created.
Pueblo poem The path for young people is within your spirit.
About 14,000 years ago, a land bridge--at some points as wide as a thousand miles--connected the continents of Asia and North America at the Bearing Strait. Across this land bridge and southward down the continent of North America, ancient people wandered from Asia into a new land.
PEOPLE OF THE PUEBLO • The Duplex People, the Condominium People, the Ranch-Style People--is what will anthropologists call us when they look back to the 21st Century a thousand years from now? Will they name us for the kinds of houses we live in? This is how archeologists named the Anasazi who lived in the southwest 1,300 years ago. • The Spanish word for pueblo means a type of community structure built for many people. Because the Anasazi of this period built these kinds of community, they are named the Pueblo people.
NATIVE AMERICAN SPIRITUALITY: COMMON THEMES Robert Staffanson American Indian Institute • Note a dictionary's definition of spirituality: devotion to spiritual (i.e., metaphysical) things instead of worldly things. This definition does not apply to Native Americans because they do not recognize a dichotomy between "spiritual" and material things. • A simplistic definition of Native American spirituality would be that it is the opposite of pragmatism (i.e., short-term concern with "practical" results). While Native American spirituality is not easily defined, it has several defining characteristics: • RECOGNITION OF THE INTERCONNECTEDNESS OF ALL CREATION • A BELIEF THAT ALL LIFE IS EQUAL • THEIR PRIMARY CONCERN IS WITH THE LONG-TERM WELFARE • OF LIFE RATHER THAN WITH SHORT- TERM EXPEDIENCY OR COMFORT • THEIR SPIRITUALITY IS UNDER GIRDED BY THANKFULNESS TO THE CREATOR.
Today You can visit the pueblos and reservations where the descendants of the Anasazi live today. At places like Taos Pueblo in northern New Mexico, the Acoma and Zuni reservations in western New Mexico or the Hopi reservation in northern Arizona you can watch native artists continuing their ancient traditions. The Hopi are probably the best known of the Pueblo basket makers.
