Hopi & Apache Views on Death

Implicit in the Hopi configuration of culture is an integrated theory of the universe by which the Hopi attempt to organize their world in order to cope with their life problems and obtain some degree of security in a highly hazardous environment. They conceive of the world as an absolute, ordered system functioning under a definite set of rules, which are known to them--and to them alone. In accordance with these rules they believe they can, through regulating their behavior, emotions and thoughts in a prescribed manner, exercise a measure of control over their environment (Thompson & Joseph, 1965, p. 36).

Theoretically, according to the Hopi, all phenomena, natural and supernatural, living and dead--including man, animals, plants, the earth, sun, moon and clouds, the ancestors and the spirits--are interrelated and mutually dependent through the underlying dynamic principle of the univers

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ty is an accepted fact in the Hopi Way, with the Hopis making no real dividing line between life now and life later (O'Kane, 1958, p. 169), the Hopi show a marked aversion to anything connected with death (Thompson & Joseph, 1965, p. 64). Mortuary rites are simple and quickly accomplished. The dead are quickly buried with a stick inserted upright in the grave to serve as an exit for the soul, which is believed to stay in the grave for three days and on the fourth to begin its journey to the land of the dead. The spirit of the deceased is propitiated with prayer feathers to forget and not to bother the living and the trail back to the village is ceremonially closed. The soul will then undergo a rebirth in the underworld. It is not surprising that the Hopis, with their belief in the earth's reciprocity and in death and rebirth, are farmers. Asking the spirits for rain for their crops is a large part of their ceremonial life. Seeds for crops are sacred and inherited through the female line (Thompson & Joseph, 1965, p. 20). In the spirit of reciprocity, the Hopis also mined soft coal in prehistoric and early historic times--using it to fire their pots and to heat the rooms where they wove cotton cloth and manufactured othe
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Thompson Joseph, Hopis Apaches, Hopi Responsibilities, Apaches Baldwin, Upper World, According Hopi, Indian Apache, Chiefs' Talk, Wealth Apache, Implicit Hopi, thompson joseph, joseph 1965, thompson joseph 1965, basso 1973, baldwin 1965, o'kane 1958, raiding warfare, contrast apaches, joseph 1965 64, 1965 96, universe hopi, basso 1973 13, believe death, basso 1973 16, 1973 16 raids,
Approximate Word count = 2912
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page)