EXCERPTS
by Anne O'Brien
in association with The Heard Museum
Why read Traveling Indian Arizona?
It has all the information you need, all in one place!
Click here for a printable version of these excerpts
In Arizona, more than 20 Native tribes still live on at least part of the lands of their ancestors. Travelers and explorers (including those who explore from the comfort of an armchair) are drawn into these rich cultures that have evolved over countless generations. Ann Marshall, Director of Collections, Education, and Interpretation at the Heard Museum in Phoenix, says in the book’s foreword: “….. Anne O’Brien’s book is a good way to help people plan their visits and gain the additional knowledge that ensures great experiences.”
What you can expect:
Page 10: Visitors to Indian lands expect a cultural heritage that is foreign in some respects to their own everyday life. This is true even if the visitor is Native American, since tribes are quite individual. Hopi ways vary significantly from Navajo, and the customs and history of one branch of the Apache or Yavapai people may have as many differences as similarities.
On the other hand, people around the world are touched by common factors and information that allow them to share much in contemporary life. Computers, television, work, education and transportation have inevitably blended traditions and perceptions. Still, history provides context for current issues relating to the lands and their people. Both need to be considered as part of the travel experience.
Page 12: This book is meant to be read as background material and then referred to as a travel guide. Hopefully it will inspire your curiosity and encourage an appreciation of indigenous peoples whose voices strongly influence how the world defines America.
In each chapter, an Introduction to the Culture explains why the people evolved as they did. This opening section offers a brief view into the deep past, including a creation story. Subsections such as Enduring Lifeways, Daily Living, Foreign Contact, and Reservation Life move history into the present. Ceremonial Customs explains tradition spiritual aspects of the culture that the traveler is likely to encounter through artistic expression or direct contact.
p. 14: Travel Tips: Find out what kind of topography to expect. Travelers who don’t know Arizona sometimes think it’s all desert. In actuality, you may find yourself on the plains or in the mountains. Temperatures and weather often depend on altitude.
Introduction to the Cultures
p. 75, Hopi: Ancient prophecy preordained the location of Hopi. Their first people emerged from below this world into the current one, which is the Fourth World. In the earliest of times, the Hopi were called to travel in all directions until they reached certain designated points. Like a spiritual relay, the plan then called for them to turn back from their appointed destination and reunite at a site representing the center of existence. This place was the Hopi mesas. The reason for selecting such a demanding environment was to keep the people spiritually attuned, humble in their proper dependence on supernatural forces.
p. 167, Pai: Western archaeology says that the original Pai bands numbered thirteen. Eventually they became three separate tribes: Hualapai, Havasupai, and Yavapai, all of which continue to reside on portions of their ancestral territory in Arizona. The Hualapai, or People of the Tall Pine (Hwal’bay in their own language) spread out where the Colorado River makes a long east-west rush through what we now call Grand Canyon. They populated the deserts, pinon and juniper-covered plateaus, mesas and pine-forested mountains that form giant steps rising to its rim. They became the keepers of the region they call hakataya, the backbone of the river, which includes many side canyons connected to the Grand. At least one conceals an ancient cave in which fossils dating to the Ice Age have been found.
Exploring the Lands
p. 49, San Xavier del Bac: A small section of reservation land surrounds Wa:ik, or Bac, a village in the Santa Cruz Valley. It is 7 miles outside Tucson. Here stands Mission San Xavier del Bac. The extravagant façade of San Xavier (often pronounced Hah-VEER), surrounded by the desert, astonishes first-time visitors. And if the Colonial Spanish exterior seems unlikely, the interior will take your breath away. Restored between 1992 and 1997 by an international team of conservators, each detail stands as a testimony to the importance of the beliefs it represents.
The mission, founded originally by Jesuit Father Eusebio Kino in 1692 and replaced between 1783 and 1797 by Franciscans, is still the parish church of Wa:ik, or Bac. The art so lovingly cared for dramatically tells the entire story of Christianity, from the Old Testament to the Roman Papacy. It is meant to teach and the quality of its art work conveys as much as the stories they represent. No expense was spared. Mexican artists were brought to adorn the walls and façade. Hundreds of statues (among them, 182 angels and at least 100 saints are portrayed) were also imported from Mexican guild workshops. Specialists called encarnaderos created lifelike faces and hands. Experts dressed them realistically. Sculptures and paintings were finished with precious pigments of jewel-like colors enhanced with gold.
Take time to see ever nook and corner. Read San Xavier: the Spirit Endures, by Kathleen Walker; or go to the library and find the October, 2002 issue of Arizona Highways, which contains an article written by expert Bernard Fontana and illustrated with specially lighted post-restoration photographs. Preparing will be time well spent.
Located at 1950 E. San Xavier Road; 520.294.2624; www.sanxaviermission.org. Open every day, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Services takes place regularly, so be respectful.
p. 215, Apache: The museum is unique in that the items it displays were all excavated from the site it adjoins. The Salado people who built the pueblo made beautifully decorated pottery, wove cotton cloth and created stone tools that are exhibited. It is set in an ethnobotanical garden of the plants that grow between desert and mountains which supplied food, fibers, dyes, and construction materials to the people. Nearby Pinal Creek provided water, which was directed into irrigation canals, and the smooth river stones for masonry.
Timelines in the museum illustrate the influence of peoples there from earliest times through trapping, mining, the coming of the railroads, and modern life.
Shaded picnic tables are available in this inviting setting.
Arriving in Globe from Phoenix, follow Route 60 through the newer part of town. After you come to the first sign for Besh-Ba-Gowa, the rest of the route is well-marked. The address is not particularly useful if you don’t know the streets, so this is the best way to find the park. Telephone 928.425.0320 www.go-arizona.com/Besh-Ba-Gowah-Archaeological-Park (map included)
Fascinating Facts
p. 20, O’odham: The Pima and Maricopa population outnumbered Euro-Americans in the Arizona Territory until 1880.
p. 234, Colorado River Tribes: The first Spaniards thought the Colorado River people were giants. The average Spaniard then was 5 feet 3 inches; the average Native man in the area was 6 feet or over and powerfully built.
p. 75, Hopi: Old Oraibi is generally considered to be the oldest continually inhabited settlement in North America.
Shopping
Page 145, Navajo:
Because the Navajo reservation is so large, shopping takes place wherever you are visiting. Official Navajo Arts and Crafts Enterprise outlets, museum, and trading posts are the best places to find authentic arts and crafts….A little research goes a long way in helping you take home something that is truly Navajo.
Typical Navajo Jewelry
- Concho belts: Conchos originated outside the Southwest. Early conchos were circular forms, hammered and stamped with designs. They were used as hair ornaments, buttons, and brooches by Plains Indians. Today they most often decorate belts and may be made in any shape or size. They are laced onto the leather and often have fancy buckles.
• Bracelets: Bracelets are made for both women and men in an infinite variety of designs, with and without stones. Stamped, chiseled, twisted, overlaid, sand cast, ridged, filed, soldered—all are authentically Navajo. Turquoise or many other gems may be used to enhance the design.
• Necklaces: The first necklaces were made of round beads soldered together. Later, they were oval or fluted. The “squash blossom” necklace is the most widely know Navajo design. It consists of a crescent-shaped pendant (naja, adapted from a bridle ornament,) sand cast or hammered, which may be silver or inlaid with stones, hung from a sometimes elaborate necklace.
• Buttons and brooches: Buttons for women’s clothing and moccasins are more common than those that men used to wear on their leather pants and moccasins, before jeans and boots became the norm. Brooches often adorn women’s traditional velvet blouses.
• Earrings: Traditional men sometimes wear turquoise nuggets strung through the ear lobes, but today every imaginable kind of earring is available. They include traditional jacla earrings that were tied as ornaments on a necklace when they weren’t being worn as earrings.
p. 69, Yaqui: Wonderful masks are created by some Yaqui artists, but a question always exists as to which masks are appropriate outside a ceremonial context. The tribal museum is the best source of information. Flower-embroidered blouses; “deer’s eye’ necklaces that absorb negative energy and also may be used as rosaries; transparent skirts that are layered for a distinctive Yaqui women’s look; and other items featuring the deer dancer, the Yaqui flag, and other cultural icons are sold at public events.
Native Voices, Native Lives
p. 151, Navajo Ed Singer: I’m an artist, mostly self-taught although I went to San Francisco Art Institute. I’m an “artist’s artist.” I paint for myself and don’t compromise to be “Native American. Soutine and Lucien Freud have influenced me. I call my work surrealism, although it doesn’t have anything to do with the movement in the 1930’s and ‘40’s. Being Native American today is such an absurd experience that it’s surrealistic. We have all these empty obligations. No one else has treaties with the U. S. We are so marginalized that we’re off the page. You hear about racism regarding Blacks and Hispanics, but we’re a drop in the bucket.
p. 70, Apache Laurel Endfield: …My parents never gave up on me. They believed that education is very important. Although I was a non-traditional student, I never dreamed of not pursuing a degree in higher education. I enrolled at Northern Pioneer College and for eight years studied different things I was interested in. It wasn’t until I became an assistant in a Head Start program that I discovered my true love: education. So I went on and got a Bachelors and Masters Degrees from Northern Arizona University (NAU.)
I was able to do that because my advisor nominated me for the Gates Millenium Scholarship Program. I didn’t understand it very well, but signed everything. She sent in the paperwork. The program was in its inaugural year and I was one of 230 graduate level students selected from a pool of 63,000. I was one of only 20 Native Americans and the only Apache at graduate level.
I received a check for $800, but I didn’t understand the full extent of the program until the end of the year when I went to the Gates Leadership Conference. We all came together and I heard the stories of other recipients Their stories were amazing! I was honored to be among them.