Description
The Hopi are Native Americans who primarily live in northeastern Arizona. The majority are enrolled in the Hopi Tribe of Arizona and live on the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona; however, some Hopi people are enrolled in the Colorado River Indian Tribes of the Colorado River Indian Reservation at the border of Arizona and California. The 2010 U.S. census states that about 19,338 US citizens self-identify as being Hopi. The Hopi Tribe of Arizona is a sovereign nation within the United States and has government-to-government relations with the United States federal government. The precise origin of the Hopi is unknown, although it is thought that they and other Pueblo peoples descended from the Ancestral Pueblo (Anasazi), whom the Hopi call Hisatsinom, “Ancient People.”
Language
Hopi (Hopi: Hopílavayi) is a Uto-Aztecan language spoken by the Hopi people (a Puebloan group) of northeastern Arizona, United States.
Culture
Hopi people also practiced matrilocal residence, in which a new husband becomes part of his mother-in-law’s household. A given pueblo, or town, might include two dozen or more matrilineal clans; these were grouped into several larger social units, or phratries. The traditional Hopi economy centred on farming and, after Spanish colonization, on herding sheep. The chief crop was maize, and the Hopi also grew beans, squash, melons, and a variety of other vegetables and fruits. Men farmed and herded, in addition to building houses, performing most of the ceremonies, making moccasins, and weaving garments and blankets. Women made baskets and pottery, gardened, raised children, cared for the elderly, and were responsible for the strenuous tasks of providing their families with hand-drawn water and hand-ground cornmeal.