Guardians of the Sacred Land
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Contents Guardians of the sacred land Foreword Every breath you take Arhuaco philosophy Coca Perpetual creation The Hopi ritual cycle Finding the light The Hopi creation story Kivas Maize Clans Karsinas The snow spires The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta Grave gold Settling the promised land Hopi land and history Fighting chaos Problems facing the Hopi and Arhuac• The Hopi's neighbours: the Navajo Divided we Stand A different kind of worship: missionaries in the Sierra The Indian movement in Colombia Killing the leaders Survival International Ed itor: HonM Drysdale Researcher: Jonathan Mazowcr Designed by Chris James, a student in the Department of Typography & Graphic Communication, The University of Readi Printed by Beacon Press ©Survival International 1994 ISBN 0 9 46592 02 0 Also available in French, Italian and Span Survivallnternational, 310 Edgware Road, London W2 rDY, U Tel:o71 723 5535 Fax:o71 723 4059 I Guardians of the sacred land Foreword by Stephen Corry Tribal peoples are viable, contemporary for centuries the Hopi have lived fr the• societies with complex ways of life and pro maize and beans and their herds of she gressive ways of thinking that are deeply and goats. relevant to today's world. The Sierra Nevada could scarcely be more different. It is a mountain range, rising It is roo easy to assume that tribal peoples steeply from the sea to an altitude of 5 8oo will inevitably be absorbed into our own metres ( 19000 feet), where the peaks are consumer society. While some tribal people locked in permanent snow although they are do undoubtedly seek conformity and mater only 45 kilometres from the Caribbean. The ial prosperity, many of them have no wish ro lower Sierra is a lush tropical world where adopt the way of life and the ambitions of a cornucopia of fruits and vegetables thrives. the 'civilisation' which they see around them. The Indians live from their crops and a little The idea that there may be merit in hunting, and they also keep pigs, goats, remaining outside the mainstream has in and sheep. recent years gained wider and wider accep· They are societies of the here and now, ranee. But it still remains shocking to those not museum pieces preserved In specl· who believe that everyone's primary ambi men jar~ tion revolves around their own wealth and power, and that society is moving inex The two environments have little in com orably from the stone age to the space age. mon, and the Hopi and Arhuaco have no Indeed, to many people, this idea is so alien contact with each other. Nevertheless, the that it is written off as the romantic fantasy people share a number of remarkable quali of a naive fringe. ties: their thinkers feel that humankind may It does not occur to these people that tribal destroy the world; they believe that they are concepts of the interdependence of life may the guardians of deep truths; and they think well be worth listening to at a time when that they could avert the impending disaster lfthere .are one or two Hopi who don't industrialised society's response to the if only they were listened to. But perhaps the forget the old laws then maybe there 1s world seems so volatile and troubled. most notable and conspicuous feature which characterises them both is that they reject hope in sav1ng the world. two civilisations hich view the world integration with 'whites' absolutely. They Hopi elder, 1993 with the most sensitive 11nd Insightful have retained an unassailable, even fierce, Intelligence and which have a p 'Ofound respect and respol'slblllt · for lif'" pride in their 'Indian-ness'- in their culture. This is especially impressive as they have So what is the reality of tribal lives and been living close to outsiders for many gen beliefs, and to what extent do they confirm erations. The strength and independence or contradict this idea? This report looks at of their spirit is remarkable. these questions through the examples of two They have not kept their self-esteem easily. lndian peoples in the Americas - two civili Their neighbours treat them with contempt. sations which view the world with the most Both the Hopi and the Sierra tribes face the sensitive and insightful intelligence and same kind of assaults that all Indians con which have a profound respect and responsi front, and which have destroyed so many. bility for life. T hey are not the remnants of The principal problem for all indigenous a past era, left behind in the human race peoples is the theft of their lands and because they refuse to get up to date. U they resources. are remnants, it is only in the sense that they are survivors. Far from being the dejected residue of an invasion which still threatens them, they, or at least some of them, are Kogi in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta facing the twenty-first century with a self-confidence which many in the indust rialised world would envy. How have they achieved this? The Hopi and Arhuaco The Hopi live in the southwest of what is now the United States. Five thousand kilo metres away, in Colombia, live the Indians of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta: the Arhuaco and their neighbours, the Kogi and Arsario. The Hopi {the word means 'peaceful' and refers to both their outlook on life and their homeland) live in a world of desert, canyons, and the flat-topped, low mountains called 'mesas'. At first sight this is an austere, desiccated world where agriculture looks difficult, if not impossible. ln spite of this, Many beliefs Deprived of any comfort and forbidden many foods, they rune their body, mind, But the main purpose of this report is and spirit ro a calling which will last their not to focus on their problems, nor to put lifetime. forward ways that people can stand with These partly secret, very complex world the Indians tO oppose the violation of their views may be fascinating, but do they have rights. Though these topics are not ignored, any relevance for the world at large? 'Guardians of the sacred land' has a different primary objective. A special path 'Guardians', as already suggested, seeks to sketch something of what these peoples The Sierra Indians call themselves herman. think about the world and their place in it. mayores, 'the older brothers'. They beliew These beliefs are expressed through many that they have a mystical wisdom and und· facets of their cultures and are consummated standing wh ich surpasses that of others. in their spirituality, religion, and rituals. (They refer to other peoples as hermanos It is these which provide the unshakeable menores, 'the younger brothers'.) The bedrock that has held them together as Arhuaco believe that they are responsible T!Jc hat U'O rll hy Arlmaco met1 represellts vibrant communities, guiding them through for ensuring the world is in balance: the t!Je snow peaks of the Sierra their volatile history and enabling them to whole planet depends on what happens Stand up to the onslaught which has threat in the Sierra Nevada. They regulate narur; ened them for generations. events and prevent catastrophe through a But, before beginning to look at these complex system of 'payments' to the Earrl things, it is important to highlight the When they hear of flooding or earthquake inevitable limitations of this brief report. in some distant country, they believe it is a result of their own failure to keep every "-he~ how th t even c;mall 'Ill' thing in harmony. apparently fragile societies can The Hopi also think that they have beer. survive in the face of overwhelming charged with fulfilling a unique spiritual de "'l"tCJti •n We are Indians and we understand duty: to walk hand in hand with all life that you do not need our fnendsh•P· In many religions there are almost as many towards stability and healing on a world But. Just as all people are equal interpretations as there are believers. wide scale. They think that if they fall pre before death. so nature itself has Amongst the Hopi, for example, each clan ro lethargy and decadence, they will be taught us that human equahty should refers tO its own stories and rituals, which destroyed and with them all life on Earth. exist without discnmination. co-exist within the wider corpus of belief. The destiny of the planet is in their hands DISCrimination arises from the spints Furthermore, to attempt a meaningful sum and they, together with all humankind, of the gods of ambition and of the mary of oral traditions (which do nor refer stand at a crossroads, facing the choice avarice wh ich pits brother against to a sacred book) can only be, at best, very between responsibility and selfishness, brother. For our mother, the Earth, selective if not crudely simplistic. whether to be or nor to be - a critical tim• we are one. In fact, the 'keepers' of these religions, which was predicted to the Hopi by their Arhuaco letter to the the Hopi elders and Arhuaco priests (known deities in the distant past. The danger car. government. 197 4 as mamos), say that their wisdom cannot be only be avoided if they, or at least some c conveyed through the written word. In both them, hold true to their wisdom. Hopi and Arhuaco culture, many of the essential teachings are disclosed only to seri Ancient and modem ous students who have the necessary voca The Arhuaco and Hopi religions are com tion, humanity, and endurance.