Masau'u
The contrast between life and death, for the Hopi culture, it is not as clear as for West.
The divergence of opinion between the West and the Hopi will be clear from the description of Masau'u god, the god of death but of life. For the Hopi Indians is not so, the ancestors of the Hopi, to which belongs Masau'u mythology, emerged from the underworld from Danger Cave, Utah. During his lifetime the Hopi Indian, is surrounded by a number of spirits who may be confined within the visible places of residence of the four horizontal directions with respect to a Zenit that is centered exactly above a nadir in it, under it, the roots of life.
After death, the Hopi Indian, returns to the underworld, and entering into a place that can be reached on foot from the village where he lived. This is not only the local underworld, the place from which the race has emerged to light, and one from which the individual returns after death, but also the deposit of all crops and plants necessary for subsistence, from which in- Depending on the season - they are drawn to the nourishment of the living tribe.
In a cosmos so compact, in which life and death are closely intertwined and follow each other in a cyclical pattern, there is no need to separate what starts what ends.
Masau'u The god is the god who best represents this philosophy Hopi god of the underworld and the surface, described as "Skeleton Man" is an anthropomorphic god, a god very human and accessible to all. this quality that over the centuries has made him a point of reference for the friendly attitude of kindliness and benevolence in the past that maybe did not have. The representation of
Masau'u is usually associated to the fields and master of all the good things of the earth. In the dark Masau'u the night kindles a fire which warms up, the same fire (sun symbol) causes plants to grow with a magical rapidity.
This deity is also associated with fertility, the deity who protects the boundaries of fields, properties and travelers; Masau'u omniscente and is omnipresent, the supreme god Hopi. In some stories
is also described as the god dell'imbroglio, the hoax, in others as a handsome man. Masau'u acquired over time the power to make any kind of metamorphosis, a prerogative that many Hopi deities.
Masau'u is also the deity who has ascended from the underworld and led the Hopi in the lands where, with many diffilcoltà , they prospered. To understand the figure of
Masau'u is very difficult, it was he who helped the Hopi to find a place to climb, it was he who helped them find the support, but on the other hand, it is also dangerous and meet him face to face with he's a harbinger of death.
These two conflicting aspects of God, inspire terror and show kindness and friendly to humanity, are combined in the memories of Talayesva, a priest of the Hopi village of Oraibi.
In his priestly office of Chief Sun Oraibi (place sacred to the Hopi), Talayesva's task was to bring offerings to the shrine Masau'u of a new moon night. In fact, this task should have done by his uncle, a member of the Fire Clan, but he was too weak to deal with. Talayesva took with him a tablet on which were the bread "Piki", a raw rabbit, mountain tobacco and maize flour, reached the shrine Talayesva chanted his prayer: "Great Masau'u, I was sent here to ask the your help in our daily lives. Fa 'it rain and protect us, let our people grow and live long and eventually die without suffering. " While he uttered these invocations and put down the offers, it seemed that a large breath of air came from the shrine.
Along the way back on the mesa, the dark, saw to the south-west a second moon reddish glow that emanated "... there was a second moon but a ball of fire emanated chge strong direttamante reddish colors that seem to spring from the ground, about three feet from it ... I realized that that was a test to which I wanted to submit Masau'u ... "
As they approached the fire, the fire lost intensity until realizing that almost switch off with a demonstration of courage it would fire off, and it was.
Back in the village lost and had the impression that something Talayesva hold him, preventing him from moving forward very fast and pulling back, when, in confusion, the priest has the feeling of being in the world Hell in the presence of Masau'u.
"inspires fear, scary people, scary just looking at it. Do not kill suddenly, but once you fall asleep. It gives off a terrible smell .."
Those who can look without fear Masau'u are affiliated with the Company Kwan, the members of this society of the horn have a range of special relations with it and with the god of the underworld, Muingwu "germinate".
The members of this society, to which belongs Talayesva, are hired to lead the spirits of the dead to the underworld and for that their efforts do not receive any awards, but rather, at the time of their death, a punishment.
The other deaths may leave the World Underground in the form of emission of steam and turn in "The People of the clouds, passing over the villages and bring the rain, whereas those of the Company Kwan remain to live forever in the Underworld, as servants of the dead and their specific gods .
The Strange Case of Dr. Fewkes
from Exit was founded in 1872 the Bureau of American Etnology, first created a department specifically to study the habits and customs of the natives and then became a way to open a groped dialogue with them.
Over the past 10 years the United States secretly through the relationships established between the "Four Corners" and the Anglo American Freedom Front, is mending, on and alternate, relations with the Alliance especially with sending doctors and medicines.
U.S. policy is sometimes meaningless, the bureau was its latest demonstration.
In 1901 he was sent by the Bureau of American Etnology the Dott.Fewkes in Hopi territory due to an outbreak of smallpox.
Over the past 10 years the United States secretly through the relationships established between the "Four Corners" and the Anglo American Freedom Front, is mending, in alternating phases, relations with the Alliance, especially with sending doctors and medicines.
policy came out at times without effect, the bureau was its latest demonstration.
Dr. Fewkes was sent to Walp, in the middle the heart of the Sancta Sanctorum-Alliance, a smallpox epidemic feared no trace is found by the Doctor.
The desolate village Walp is a real eagle's nest, precarious and almost invisible, situated high above the deserts in the south appear to be encroaching on the horizon, and the scholar in this village was also taking notes on the ceremonies he had witnessed.
At some point, someone came to tell who was to retire and take refuge somewhere because Masau'u was about to be summoned and that part of the ceremony was too sacred to be seen by strangers. The Doctor did what he was told and went and locked in a house nearby.
suddenly felt a strange sensation, as if there was someone inside the house: he looked up and saw a male standing tall in front of him, but he could not see his face because of ' darkness of the room.
"What do you want from me, and how did you get here?" Fewkes said the man. "I came here to amuse you," said the mysterious figure. And Fewkes: "Go away, I'm too busy and then I have no desire to have fun."
"Then suddenly, though I had never ceased to keep an eye on the figure disappeared," he declared after Fewkes "... shortly after I hear the voice coming from behind me ..."
"Turn your head for a moment" and when he turned Fewkes his eyes the figure of the man was back in front of him, but this time his expression was one aspect to strike terror.
The Doctor asked, "How did you get?" and the individual "I go where I want the doors locked and I can not keep out!"
"Look, now I'll show you how I did it to come in." replied the figure always in a tone less and less friendly. While Fewkes
afraid to continue to observe, the figure began to shrink until it becomes as thin as a straw, and disappeared through the keyhole. The
Dott.Fewkes still not believing what he saw as he remembered the incident and the man reappeared in the room-size originate.
"What do you want from me?" Fewkes said, "I told you I came for you to play ..."
scholar offered him a cigarette to ease the tension and then a match, the man laughed, making the match to Fewkes, "Keep well, I do not need .." came up a cigarette to the face, blew on it a flame and lit it. Fewkes shuddered to realize that those who had before his eyes was just Masau'u in person.
Masau'u then began talking to him and after a couple of hours Fewkes said he would do so to help the Hopi Masau'u as best he could and then gave him a spell that both children grew and began with all agiocare night. This
is what the Dott.Fewkes told the Board of the Bureau on his return from Walp.
What we know about Hopi culture owe much to the studies conducted by Fewkes who remained in Hopi territory for about two years.
Masau'u is also the God of Fire and is often remembered as the man who gave fire to the Hopi. In the ceremony Wuwuchim (New Fire - similar to the traditional Maya / Aztec) Masau'u always carries a flaming torch. The focus is not only the symbol of the Sun, but also logical and practical alternative to its light in this way Masau'u becomes the antithesis of the God of the Sun
The fire is considered as a symbol of the generation of human life is associated the Sun, decidedly masculine gender, where the generated power is obvious to all.
E 'a god of night and day he is forbidden as befits a god of Darkness of the underworld.
Maybe it was not always the god of fire, as in a recent statement of Hermequaftewa - Blue Bird Clan Chief of Shongopovi - is not described as such: "We came to this land only after receiving permission from the Great Spirit , Masau'u. He lived on this land with the Keeper of Fire, which is the Spider Woman. "
Masau'u's role as god of fertility is made more complex by the presence of another God of Fertility, Muingwu "germinate". The role of
germinator as the God of fertility is very simple and strictly delineated and its aspects as a creature of the Underworld are strictly limited to this single activity, although members of the Society of the Two Horns represent him during the Night of the Dead. The relationship between Masau'u Muingwu and is rationalized by the Hopi antrambi connecting them to the lady of the Sand, a mother of the earth.
is said to be the wife and sister of Masau'u germinator we have no enough information about the Hopi pantheon, which can vary between tribes and tribes. The various communities adapt mythological tales so as to include the protective deities the village itself.
The germination and patron deity of vegetation and fertility of land and crops.
Masau'u is the spirit of fertility in a more general sense, including human fertility.
Two other minor features associated with Masau'u to ancient times: to be the god of travelers and the Divinity of the border.
The Hopi have always been frequent travelers and merchants to travel in small groups or solo. Along the trails in the vicinity of the villages there are temples dedicated to Masau'u, where travelers happily returned to the village, place votive offerings made in thanksgiving for the journey safely.
"At the moment," says Fewkes in his book, "almost on every path at some point you notice a pile of rocks, and when you pass by a Hopi tired, take a handful of grass and this is the rub head, arms and legs, then lay the clump of grass and a small part of its load on top of stones. tuft of grass rests on a stone, or wood to hold it pezzodi. At the same time please Masau ' u protect him during the trip, but if it returns the thanks to the protection granted to him.
Shomopavi of a tribal chief said: "Masau'u gave them the land as it did in Oraibi, limiting their territories. Dispose a stone to mark the borders ... "and then" The western boundary of this property is marked with a stone border on which is carved un'atriglio Bear. A similar stone with the head of Masau'u recalls the original right of divinity entire territoriio.
To find Masau'u in his capacity as God of War has to go back to 1891, a time when the Hopi and the Government of colonial states were in stark contrast to the beginning of hostilities in the territories of the Four Corners.
The U.S. government proposed to subtract the Hopi children to parents and sent to boarding school far from their native lands. This project was part of U.S. unhappy integration program was transposed from the world and by the Hopi themselves a kind of brainwashing and an attempt to destroy the Indian culture.
parents objected so strongly and was sent a detachment of cavalry and take the children from the village of Oraibi.
When the soldiers arrive, bringing with them some of the hostages they had captured at the foot of Mesa, the villagers found themselves holed up in homes, on rooftops, armed with bows and arrows in full battle array.
Before the lieutenant, who commanded the mission, he realized what he was waiting for him, the Hopi began by presenting a veritable declaration of war. And to this end had three of the village dressed to represent the three gods of war. The action began when a man dressed as "Ava Spider" went to the deployed troops advising people to leave, the second person who introduced himself as the God of War Masau'u personified.
on his face a mask on which were painted black spots and took some items including a bowl full of liquid medicine prepared for the occasion. While passing in front of soldiers deployed them sprayed with the liquid, using a feather.
Then the soldiers ordered him peremptorily to leave in and leave the hostages before the appearance of the third person, "The Little God of War," because at that point would begin hostilities immediately.
The detachment of cavalry went between amused and frightened, a week after the village of Oraibi was attacked in force with a large number of people killed by the Hopi, this was the real cause of the beginning of the conflict between the U.S. Hopi and which then spread like wildfire among all the tribes of the area.
Among the Hopi tribe, in the late nineteenth century, the movement spread "Traditionalist", telling followers to live according to ancient traditions, not to have relationships with whites, leaving both the religion and live in poverty. The major centers "Traditional" Hotevilla, Shangopovi on the second Mesa founded by Traditionalists Moencopi of Oraibi and where he lives the more extreme wing of the traditionalists. The head
Yokioma of the Sun Clan of Hotevilla, was the instigator and leader of the schism belief that their culture was likely to be contaminated by people who were quietly working on their territory (SOM and the U.S.).
Traditionalists also retain "Tablet" holy stone given to the Hopi from Masau'u waiting for a Great White Spirit came from the East will bring them the missing fragment before starting the destruction of the Fourth World, at the end of "Kohjanisquasi" fool the world, and reconstruction of the Fifth World. The tablet was always guarded and hidden from Oraibi and is a contract-relationship between gods and humans, contains standards of living and to follow the theme of the Day of Judgement. We can not know if this is myth and reality, but this tablet is the most sacred to the Hopi hold more than 10,000 years.
"Masau'u told the Hopi story written on a stone tablet. He said - the whole earth is mine. As long as preserved, all the earth belong to you - When the story will be forgotten some disastrous event. Maybe the stars and the sea rush to become oil. And then the sun will send a fire and if they rise a flame for the destruction of all peoples. Or maybe there will be an earthquake that will kill them all. That's what I told the father of my father. "
Ki'oma - Cape Shongopovi.
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