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Hopi Tribe Research Paper

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In the Southwestern portion of the United States, there are several Native American tribal communities including the Apache, Hopi, Navajo, Pueblo, and Zuni. After researching all of these tribes, the Hopi tribal community showed to have numerous dance rituals for different purposes. Their ritual dances include the Buffalo Dance, Bean Dance, Butterfly Dance, Snake Dance, and many others. With all of these dances in place, the Hopi have a strong history behind them. The Hopi tribe has mostly lived in Arizona since 500-700 CE. They are known as one of the oldest tribes and have continued to stay strong even after their contact with the Europeans in the 1500s. The Hopis are also known for their agriculture and dry farming which is necessary because of the lack of water their area received. One dance that they do is centered on praying for rain and that is the Snake Dance. The Snake Dance came from the earliest forms in the Hopi tribe and they believe that their ancestors came from an underworld and their spirits rest in the waters. Snakes are very abundant in the rivers and beds of water so the Hopi people call the …show more content…

A dancer who embodies an antelope priest enters first, stomps around the altar in a circle, and then lines up so that the snake priest can enter next. The snake does the same movement and then lines up across from the antelope priest. Once they are on opposite sides from one another, they begin to sway their bodies from one side to another and slowly chant. A snake priest eventually separates himself from the group and steps into the center where the altar is. The altar contains all of the snakes that were captured the days before. As he walks towards the altar, another snake priest follows him and uses a sacred feather to dust off his shoulders while another priest will wait until it is time to catch the snake when it is dropped. Each of the priests take turns emerging from

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