1960 Flagstaff All-Indian Powwow Program

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ALL-INDIAN POW WOW
JULY 2,3,4, 1960 - FLAGSTAFF, ARIZONA
NOTE: Copies suitable for framing of the cover painting are available at
$1.50 by writing Pow Wow Magazine, P.O. Box 1407. Flagstaff. Ariz.
_ PARKING AREAS
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TICKETS
Tickets for all Pow Wow perform­ances
are on sale at the Chamber
of Commerce, 101 West Santa Fe,
until the morning of July 2. The
ticket office will then be open in
front of the grandstand at the Pow
Wow grounds. All grandstand and
box seats are reserved. Tickets for
bleacher seats go on sale two hours
before each event.
. j
HAT YOU'LL lEE
ACTIVITIES LISTED BELOW ARE T~~E SAME
TIME AND PLACE FOR ALL THR~: E DAYS
COLORFUL PARADES
The parade starts promptly at 11 a.m. each day of the Pow Wow. The
map to the left indicates the route it will follow. This is a colorful spec­tacle
with ceremonial dancers performing briefly at various places
along the parade route; rodeo performers on horseback; and numerous
Indian families riding in their traditional wagons, displaying their most
beautiful jewelry, rugs and blankets. The parade participants are all
Indians. No whites are allOwed to participate in any Pow Wow event.
ALL-INDIAN RODEO
The rodeo performance begins promptly at 1: 30 o'clock each after­noon,
featuring some of the best rodeo events in the Southwest. The
participants are amateur rodeo performers, well-trained Indian cow­boys
who have more fun than the spectators. In addition to the usual
rodeo events of bronc riding, team tying, bulldogging and bull riding,
much fun is derived from a few unscheduled events which always
occur. The annual beauty contest and baby show are also held during
the afternoon performance.
NIGHT CEREMONIALS
Beginning at full darkness, approximately 8 o'clock, this colorful and
spectacular show takes place in the Pow Wow arena. The night cere­monial
program is produced in the most authentic surroundings possi­ble,
with the light of camp fires highlighted by special lighting effects.
Often it is very cool in the evening, so in order to be comfortable and
enjoy the show, it is suggested that you bring a coat and blankets.
INDIAN ENCAMPMENT
The Indians begin to arrive a few days before the Pow Wow and an
encampment forms in the Flagstaff City Park. You will see numerous
tents, cars, and pickup trucks serving as shelter for the families attend­ing
the festivities. Each cowboy's horse is tied, or corraled in a make­shift
pen near his "camp," and each family ~nit has its campfire where
their meals are prepared. Immediately in front of the grandstand will
be found small "shops" where the Indians sell their handiwork.
THE BEGINNING
THE All.Indian Pow Wow is the end result of location and circumstance. It is
all Indian because the Indians are here-14 tribes live in Arizona, and the
Navajo occupy the largest reservation in the U.S. It is a Pow Wow because it is
an Indian gathering for the three-day celebration, presided over by the San Fran­cisco
Peaks, the "place of snows where the thunder sleeps" as the Navajo call it.
Flagstaff is in the heart of Indian country. To the north live the Hopi and Na­vajo,
to the southeast the Apache, to the west the Havasupai, Hualapai and Yava­pai.
In southern Arizona are the Papago, Pima, Maricopa, and Yaqui. Along
the Colorado River farther west are the Chemehuevi, Cocopah, Mohave, and Yuma.
The coming together of the tribesmen of the Southwest has been an annual
event for over thirty years. They are joined in the Pow Wow celebration by their
neighbors in New Mexico, the Pueblo people, and by tribesmen from Oklahoma,
Wyoming, South Dakota and other states.
There is a precedent for the celebration at Flagstaff that dates back to 1876.
Accounts differ, but one version relates that in 1876 a party of emigrants, California­bound,
camped at the spring not far from what is now the City Park. To celebrate
Independence Day they trimmed a tall pine into a flagstaff and flew the American
flag, fired shots into the air and whooped it up in general. Indians in the vicinity
heard the noise, came to investigate and were invited to join the fun. The trimmed
tree remained a landmark for many years and was still standing in 1883. There is
general agreement on one point: that is how Flagstaff got its name.
BABBITT BROTHERS TRADING CO.
F or several years in the 1920' s the local or­ganization
of Elks put on a July Fourth celebra­tion
called the "Days of '49" which attracted so
many Indian onlookers that a number of busi­nessmen
suggested starting an Indian show. The
idea caught on. The Indians were invited to come
to town for a community celebration with plenty
of free food and a chance to play games and
have races and dances. The success of the first
celebration in 1929 set the general pattern and
marks the beginning of the Pow Wow of today.
I t was a success from both points of view: the
Indians had fun, they met old friends and made
new ones, traded their goods and found it con­venient
to buy supplies; the townspeople also
had fun, and businessmen took in silver dollars.
In the early years of Pow Wow the celebration was a commun­ity
affair with everyone pitching in to help. Beef and mutton, beans
and potatoes were served free to the Indian visitors. They in turn
provided the entertainment, playing games in the afternoon and danc­ing
in the evening. It soon developed into an all-Indian show.
A celebration, to most Indians, is a "great chicken pull." A ver­sion
of this ancient sport was one of the afternoon games, with a sack
of sand buried in the ground instead of a live chicken. The trick
was to yank the sack from the ground while astride a fast-running
horse. The little Indian ponies of those days could not always support
the rider as -he swooped down to grab the sack, and spills were fre­quent
and hilarious.
The tug-of-war was a popular contest, particularly between the
Mohave and Navajo women. As the Mohave were quite large and
prone to use a 300-pounder as "anchor woman," they almost always
won in spite of fierce resistance from the Navajo. The tug-of-war led
to so much quarreling among the contestants that it finally had to be
discontinued.
Other Indian games included the Hopi "stick-and-stone race."
Contestants ran barefooted and the game was played by putting a
smallish stone on one foot, throwing it with a swing of the foot, then
running to the spot where it landed and replacing it on the foot with­out
use of hands. This went on for the distance of a mile, twice
around the track.
Since 1934 the annual celebration has been sponsored and staged
by Pow Wow, Inc., a non-profit organization with a board of directors
composed of local business and professional men who serve without
pay. Tribal leaders assist in making rules and deciding how events are
to be handled. Before each Pow Wow they meet with board members
in a breakfast conference to make policy decisions.
HIGH noon each day of Pow Wow is parade-time. Promptly at 11, the Indians
who participate in the festival start their parade moving through the streets
of downtown Flagstaff. Like other events, it is an all-Indian affair and there are
marching bands, dance groups in full regalia, and cowboys riding their finest horses.
A unique feature is the procession of Navajo horse-drawn wagons which traditionally
concludes the panade.
Marchers begin to assemble an hour before parade-time at the west end of
Santa Fe · Avenue near the underpass on U. S. 66. Navajo wagons are lined up
along the curbs of side streets; riders adjust saddle cinches. Now is the time for
the spectator to observe at close range the details of colorful native dress, to watch
the byplay between Indians waiting to fall into line, and to take candid camera
shots and closeups.
The parade is a preview of events to follow. The cowboy riders will compete
in the afternoon rodeos; the dance groups in their ceremonial costumes will take
part in the evening performances. The dancers pause now and then, especially at
street intersections, to execute a few steps to the beat of a drum. As they dance,
there is the jingle of bells, the click of turtle-shell rattles. When the bands start
playing, the cowboys may find their horses executing a few steps of their own.
Among the all-Indian bands which entertain during the parade and other
events are usually the Hopi Indian Concert Band, the Navajo School Band and
the Hualapai Indian Band.
ARIZONA PUBLIC SERVICE
As the parade winds through the streets, the
spectators can see and compare the Indians of
many different tribes: Navajo, Hopi, 'and Apache
of Arizona ; groups from the New M'exico pueblos
of Taos, Jemez, San Juan, Laguna and Cochiti;
visitors from more distant states- the Cheyenne,
Oglala Sioux and Arapahoe. Zuni maidens pass
by, balancing decorated pottery jars on their
heads. Women of the Plains tribes walk softly
in leather moccasins, their tanned doeskin dresses
decorated with beadwork and porcupine quills.
An increasing number of Indian children
share the fun of parading, and their dress repeats
in miniature the dress of their elders. Some of
the children are already skilled dancers who will
appear in the evening ceremonials.
The procession of Navajo wagons-for many years a special fea­ture-
is the traditional climax of the parade. The wagons roll by,
each drawn by a team of little Indian ponies, with white canvas and
perhaps a colorful blanket stretched over the wagon bows. The
driver may be a Navajo man sitting erect, one hand on the brake­handle,
or a woman in full skirts of satin, velveteen blouse with
long sleeves, wearing a wealth of silver jewelry set with turquoise.
Whole families-children, old folks and pets- crowd together on
the floor of the wagon box, and peer out from under the canvas.
Keeping up with the times, many wagons now roll along on rubber­tired
wheels.
The number of wagons entered in the parade diminishes each
year as they are displaced by the modern pickup truck for transporta­tion.
The Navajo Reservation is the last refuge of these old-fashioned
farm wagons, where they are still used to haul wood and carry sup­plies
from the trading posts. Wagons are now driven to town only
at Pow Wow time, for it is a journey of several days from distant
parts of the reservation. The Pow Wow committee encourages en­tries
by offering bales of hay, watermelons and other inducements,
with cash awards for every day's participation in the parade, and a
special award to the wagon traveling the greatest distance (as far as
100 miles) to enter.
Part of the fun of a parade is watching the crowds. Not all the
Indians are in the line of march. They are also on the sidelines along
with the tourists and townspeople and other Pow Wow visitors. The
alert observer will catch many incidents of human interest and humor,
as the crowds gather in July Fourth-festivity mood.
As the parade disbands at the end of the route, near City Park,
many of the Indians will pose for pictures, if extended the courtesy
of first asking - their permission. It is also customary to pay some­thing
for the privilege.
THIS one is different, for the all-Indian events of the Pow Wow rodeo pre­sent
the Indian as cowboy in his own show. It's a performance peppered with
thrills, chills, and spills. And it gives the camera buff a chance to snap fast and
furious action pictures from the safety of the grandstand.
These Indian cowboys are amateur contestants in the Pow Wow arena, having
a bucking good time, and some are as expert as professional rodeo hands. They
compete in events with all the natural recklessness of Indian youth, and there is
friendly rivalry between the tribes as well as between individual contestants. Of
course they compete for cash prizes, hand-tooled saddles, fancy boots and other
awards, but mostly for fun. They may even have more fun than the spectators,
though the spectators have the added advantage of watching the Indians watch
the show.
Most of the entrants are Navajo Indians from the reservation near Flagstaff.
Others may be Apache, Hualapai or Havasupai cowboys, or perhaps Cheme­huevi
from the Colorado River res~rvation.
The skills displayed in the Pow Wow arena were learned through tough
experience in everyday range work and hours of practice. Many Indians earn
their living as "cow punchers" either with their own cattle outfits or on off-reser­vation
r.anches. Local rodeos on the Navajo Reservation are weekly events in the
spring, and serve to test and sharpen the skills which the contestants display in
the one big event of the year-the Pow Wow rodeo at Flagstaff.
SOUTHWEST FOREST INDUSTRIES
Old timers say the three r's of the rodeo are
ridin', ropin', and rastlin'. Bronc riding, calf
roping, bulldogging, and steer riding are always
on the program and there are always plenty of
extras thrown in, some unscheduled. There may be
the excitement and fun of a wild cow milking
contest, in which one cowboy holds a range cow
(if possible) while his pardner tries to get a few
drops of milk into a pop bottle. The first con­testant
to reach the judges with his inch of
milk is the winner.
Saddle bronc riding is always good for thrills
and spills. It is an endurance contest between the
bucking horse and the rider as they come bang­ing
out of the rodeo chute. The bronc knows no
rules but the rider must use only one hand upon
the single rein from halter or hackamore. He must not change
hands, must not touch saddle or horse with his free hand-known as
"pulling leather." The rider must not lose a stirrup, and of course
must stay in the saddle, on the horse. How long he can stay is the
question.
Bulldogging is another blood-tingler and shows the quality of
cowboy sportsmanship. The bull dogger must "run his ox" with the
help of an assistant, called the hazer, and slide off his horse at full
gallop to catch the fast-running steer. He seizes the animal by the
horns and twists Its neck until it is wrestled to the ground while his
assistant stands by to continue hazing if anything gets out of hand.
Team tying takes split-second cooperation between two cowboys
and their horses. On the range it is used to put a calf in position for
branding. One cowboy ropes the calf around the neck while his team
mate throws a loop around the hind feet. A good roping horse will
then hold the neck rope taut, backing away from the calf, as the
rider dismounts to throw the calf to the ground and wrap a piece of
rope (called a "pigging string") around its feet. Contestants com­pete
for the fastest time, clocked at the moment the cowboy throws
up both hands to show the tie is completed and the field judge signals
the timer.
There are no breathing spaces between events, for horse races
on the arena track will keep the spectators cheering. The horses en­tered
are real racers--quarter horses, part thoroughbreds, topnotch
roping horses-with no resemblance to the little Indian ponies of other
years. Horse racing was started at the Pow Wow some 28 years ago
to encourage the Indians to breed and enter better horses, and has
long since become a regular event.
You may not see everything that happens in the Pow Wow
arena, for the rodeo is a close relative of the three-ring circus. But
you'll certainly remember the spills, chills, and thrills. And whether
you pronounce it ro-day-o or rode-eo, it will spell an exciting after­noon.
ANOTHER interesting feature at Pow Wow time is the Indian encampment
in the pines at City Park, where thousands of tribesmen camp for the three-day
celebration. They begin to arrive well in advance to select the best sites, and some
groups by tacit agreement use the same location year after year. At one time the
Hualapai always camped in the area where the Flagstaff Indian Dormitory now
stands.
Visitors are welcome for the Indians not only live here during Pow Wow but
do a brisk trade in handicrafts. It is a "behind the scenes" experience to walk
through the encampment. Here the Indians setup tents and improvised shelters, or
sleep in the back of trucks. The wagons that rolled in the parade are parked near
the owner's camp and horses are tethered here and there. Every family or group
has its own cooking fire, and the air is full of the smell of burning pine and juniper.
Strips of "jerky" hang from ropes strung between branches.
The Indians crowd into every available space, sandwiched in between the early
comers who had a choice of sites. Trucks and passenger cars are parked between
tents. In the evening hundreds of campfires burn brightly among the trees. Some­thing
is always cooking, and coffee bubbles incessantly in smoke-smudged pots. After
the evening performance, the Indians gather around their campfires to visit and re­late
the highlights of the day's events.
From the res ~rvations the Indians bring many handicrafts to sell at Pow Wow.
Navajo women hang their gayly colored rugs from ropes strung between the trees,
or drape them over the tailgate of a truck. J ew­elry
and native crafts of every description are dis­played
for sale along the main road.
Temporary wooden booths are also set up in
the Pow Wow grounds, where members of many
different tribes spread out their wares- shell
necklaces from San Domingo, mosaic-type Zuni
pins, oil paintings and watercolors by Navajo ar­tists.
Before the evening performance begins, the
early visitor can stroll about the encampment and
watch preparations for the ceremonial dances.
The carnival which yearly entertains both Indian
and Anglo visitors is already underway. Indian
children shrill their excitement as they ride the
ferris wheel or snap-the-whip for the first time.
1!t''.". MONTEZUMA INVESTMENT & REALTY
The soft drink stands and lunch counters are thronged with custom­ers.
After the evening ceremonials, the carnival attractions are at
their height providing a sort of side-show to the main Pow Wow
events.
The daytime visitor, looking for interesting sceries in the camp
to photograph, may find that some of the Indians also have cameras
in hand. It is increasingly popular to snap the unsuspecting visitor, and'
the height of achievemeJ?t is to take a picture of a tourist taking a pic­ture
of an Indian. This is all in good fun and an understandable
switch.
At any time of day or night there is something of interest to ob­serve.
Indian children are especially delightful, whether eating a large
chunk of watermelon, hiding behind their mothers' skirts, or ventur­ing
a shy smile. Like children everywhere, they love the excitement of
a big celebration and the Pow Wow is a rare treat for most of them.
Moreover, it is cool in Flagstaff in July. To camp for a few days
under the pine trees at the base of the San Francisco Peaks is a wel­come
change from the intense summer heat on the reservation. The
gathering of the different tribes has many aspects of an Anglo family
reunion, a Boy Scout jamboree and a traveling circus. There is also
a hint of the activities at a businessmen's convention, for the Indians
swap stories and ideas, make deals and trades during their days to­gether
in camp.
Far into the night the Indians visit together and perhaps chant
and dance around their own campfires. The strange sounds which
carry even into the center of town after midnight will come from the
Indian encampment. July, after all, is the month of the full "buck"
moon.
EXCITING, COLO
IN AGEl-OLD CE
I=UL INDIAN PERI=ORMERI
EMONIAL DANCES
I N the night ceremonials, the Indians perform "dances" vhich are not dances in the white
man's sense of the word. They are ritualistic patterns pass~.~_ down through generations-dra­matized
prayers that deities understand and answer. The sig 'ficance of every detail may be
known only by religious leaders, but the Indians understand why ~e dance must be performed cor­rectly
and well. They find communion with their deities in the eaningful tempo of the drum and
chant. and every action is a supplication.
Although most dances are religious in nature, a few are ocial dances or reflect a common
experience. It is as hard for non-Indians to grasp the meaning of Indian dances as it is for a white
man to explain his symbols and rituals. Some generalized expla ations may be ventured, however.
For the dances presented regularly, and some occasionally, in t e varied program of evening cere­monials,
the following notes may add depth to the viewer's appr ciation.
YEI-BEI-CHAI (Navajo- Part of the Night Way Ceremony, the Yei-bei-chai is performed on
the last two nights of the nine-day "sing" for curative purposes. It is sung in high falsetto voices,
peculiar to the Navajo, and the litany is mysterious and stran e to our ears, yet with a haunting
quality. It is meant to appease the gods, or YeisJ and to driv out evil influences. During the
actual healing ceremony, sand paintings are made by medicine en in the hogan of the sufferer.
In the Pow Wow arena, the performers appear in traditional c stume but without the masks used
only in the real ceremony.
CROWN DANCE (Apache)-Also known as the Mountain S irits Dance, it is the principal
dance of the Apaches and one of the most dramatic and exciti g of Indian ceremonies. It is given
to initiate young girls into womanhood and follows four days of purification and instruction by
older women. The dancers, masked with black hood and weari g strangely shaped headdresses,
represent the Can or beneficent deities. They carry symbolic s ords to fight the forces . of evil,
and the large wooden crowns bear symbols of the heavens whic are also painted on their bodies.
The strange masks and crowns are unique in the Southwest. he term "Devil Dance," some­times
applied to the Crown Dance, is a misnomer.
EAGLE DANCE (Pueblo) - Often performed at Flagstaff by the Hopi and the New Mexican
pueblos of Cochiti, Jemez, and San Juan, the dance dramatizes ,the relations between the eagle,
man, and the deities. The symbolism is direct and easily reco nized. In realistic costume, with
feathered wings attached to outstretched arms and wearing ea Ie-beaked headdress, the dancers
swoop and glide and wheel in simulated flight. Indians venerat the eagle for his power. Some
pueblos use the dance in healing ceremonies, because the eagl is always strong. The Hopi use
eagle feathers as prayer feathers, called pahosJ in their cereme onies.
HOOP DANCE- This most spectacular dance is chiefly a pIe sure dance and test of sure-footed­ness
and stamina. It originated with the Taos Indians some fift years ago, but is now a favorite
among many tribes. At first only one willow hoop was used; no as many as 7 or 8 hoops are ma­nipulated
with amazing skill and dexterity.
WATER CHANT (Zuni Maidens) -Balancing pottery jars on their
heads with dignity and grace, the maidens go to a spring near Zuni
village to bring back that precious commodity-water. At the spring
they sing songs of happiness and of hope that they will carry the
water safely home. The maidens wear handwoven mantas and the
beautiful jewelry for which Zuni craftsmen are noted.
BUFF ALO DANCE-A dance performed by all pueblos, usually in
mid-winter, it celebrates the return of successful hunters. Some da,nc­ers
are dressed as hunters; others impersonate the buffalo and a sym­bolic
killing of the animals is enacted. The women represent the
Buffalo Mother, and the hunter-leader will wear the feathered
Plains headdress to show that the buffalo came from the land of the
Plains Indians.
BUTTERFLY DANCE (Hopi) - Usually held in August to celebrate
abundant crops and in thanksgiving for a good summer, this social
dance is also a prayer for rain and for everything to bloom. The
elaborate headdress, called a tableta, depicts the bright and varied
coloration of butterflies, and the dance movements represent the mo­tion
of butterflies. Young Hopi girls used to wear their hair in tradi­tional
"butterfly" swirls around their ears to signify they were of
marriageable age.
LANCE AND SHIELD (Cheyenne)-It is said that this contest dance
was old before the white man came. The dancers go through the mo­tions
of battle with lance and shield, and each must keep step with
the drumbeat and song as they avoid the other lances. Dances of the
Plains Indians are war dances or contest dances, in contrast to the
Pueblo dances which are primarily enacted prayers.
KNIFE WING DANCE (Zuni )-Also called the Night Bird Dance,
it calls upon the night bird or nighthawk to protect the Zuni village.
As the bird flies over at dusk, it warns young people to return home.
The Zuni use the bird as a model for the Knife Wing Bird in their
jewelry, as its wings are thin and curved like knife blades.
PARROT DANCE (Cochiti) -One of the oldest and most sacred of
Pueblo dances, it is often performed at Flagstaff by the Cochiti from
New Mexico. Archaeologists have traced back the ceremonialism in­volving
parrots for over 1500 years. Parrot bones are often found in
prehistoric ruins. The skulls of a Mexican macaw and native Arizona
parrot shown at the Museum of Northern Arizona date from 1100-
1300 A.D.
MEXICO-"Maya" Feast Dance (Baile de Fiesta) -First performed
in Flagstaff at the 1959 ceremonials, this fiesta dance has been handed
down, it is said, from the days of the Spanish conquest of Mexico.
It is performed to celebrate Catholic feast days in the native villages.
The dance team from south of the border consists of musicians (drum­mers
and reed player) and five dancers from the Yaqui tribe in lower
Sonora, Mexico. The dancers wear shell-like objects called "teno­vales"
strung from knee to ankle, producing a clicking sound during
the dance steps. The masks and flowers are purely decorative.
HOTEL MONTE VISTA
THE chance to watch Indian craftsmen at work is a special feature at the
Museum of Northern Arizona during the exhibit of Hopi handicrafts. Sched­uled
annually at Pow Wow time, the Hopi Craftsman Exhibition is open to visitors
on July 1-2-3-4 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. Admission is free.
The arts and crafts of the Hopi Indians are varied, and they still use tradi­tional
methods of manufacture almost up-changed since the Spaniards first saw their
ancient villages in 1540. The Hopi Craftsman Exhibition brings together fine ex­amples
of their skill in pottery, basketry, weaving, and silverwork, which have been
collected by the museum staff in the Hopi villages on First, Second, and Third Mesas
northeast of Flagstaff. Craftsmen enter their products to compete for the cash prizes
and ribbons offered by the museum for the best work, and practically all items
exhibited are for sale.
In the museum patio, hundreds of woven baskets, decorated pottery, and tex­tiles
are on display. The weavers' looms are set up in the shaded arcade at the
rear, and a Hopi potter in old-style dress molds her bowls and jars while two basket
weavers demonstrate the making of wicker plaques and coiled baskets.
Kachina dolls hand-carved from cottonwood roots-an unusual and fascinat­ing
Hopi craft-line the walls and counter of the museum's special exhibit room.
Here, too, are the cases filled with silverwork of distinctive Hopi design: bracelets,
rings, pins, buckles, ear rings, necklaces.
Among the Hopi it is the men who do the weaving. This year one of 'the old-time
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MEMBER FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE CORP.
craftsmen, Sequoptewa, demonstrates blanket­weaving.
Sequoptewa was one of the b~st weavers
on the Hopi Reservation until an accident several
years ago paralyzed his right arm. He thought he
could never produce fine work again, and last year
wove all his remaining wool into one small multi­colored
blanket. He found however, that he did
better than he expected, and he has now resumed
weaving in spite of his handicap.
David Tawameiniwa comes to the Hopi
Craftsman show whenever he can find someone
to tend his sheep. Again this year he demonstrates
the waving of a traditional Hopi belt on a small
loom. The black, green, red, and white belt was
part of the old-style dress of Hopi women, and is
now worn with ceremonial costumes.
·
The Hopi potter has never us~d a wheel. Clay is rolled between
the hands and coiled to form a vessel. Garnet Pavatea, well known
among First Mesa potters, demonstrates with skillful fingers the
making of a pot from the first lump of wet clay to the firing of the
decorated piece. Firing takes place during the exhibit and, in the
traditional manner, without a kiln. The baking fire is built in an open
space behind the museum, and the fuel consists of dried sheep dung.
Three types of basketry are produced on the Hopi Mesas: the
coiled yucca work made exclusively on Second Mesa; the wickerwork
characteristic of Third Mesa, and the woven yucca trays or sifters,
made in all the villages.
Eva Hoyungwa is the demonstrator of wicker basketry, and usu­ally
brings along her little girl, also in traditional dress, to sit beside
her. She uses native dyes, made from the wild plants she has col­lected.
Branches of the wild currant bush form the frame or warp of
wicker ware, and the stems of rabbitbrush (chamisa) are used for the
weft.
The coiled type of basket takes longer to make and is more
expensive. Myra Joshua comes from Second Mesa to demonstrate this
type. The coiled basket has a foundation of grass and shredded yucca,
wrapped and sewed with split yucca leaf strips. Four colors are often
used in addition to the cream and green color of the yucca.
Always popular with visitors is the demonstration of piki-making
in "Piki House" behind the museum patio. Vera Nevahoioma is one
of the expert makers of this traditional Hopi bread. The batter is of
cornmeal in varied colors from blue, yellow, red or white Indian corn,
and cooked on a specially prepared stone grill. The thin sheet is then
whipped off and rolled into cylinders.
The Museum of Northern Arizona has two expert Hopi crafts­men
on its staff-Jim Kewanwytewa, carver of Kachina dolls, and
Willie Coin, silversmith-who assist with the annual exhibit and take
special orders from the visitors.
/
JUIT WHAT II A
TRADING
POST
THE trading post is an Indian counterpart of the old general country store. Some CUrIO
shops use the term to tweak the imagination, but you must drive into Indain country to see
an authentic example.
Usually built of adobe brick or stone, with few windows, a typical trading post may be
the only building for miles around. It often resembles a fort-which the early ones were.
There may be a gas pump in front and a few hogans nearby. It is still the only store ex­isting
in most parts of the Navajo reservation.
Depending on the time of day, you will see Navajos outside the post, leaning silently
against the wall or clustered in conversation. Others arrive on horseback or driving a team
of wiry ponies hitched to a Navajo wagon, or a modern pickup may disgorge an entire
family.
To step inside, out of the sun's glare and hot sand laden wind, is like entering a cool
cavern. The trader and perhaps an Indian assistant stand behind the counter waItmg on
customers: the women in velveteen blouses and bright sateen skirts, wearing their beautiful
silver and turquoise jewelry; the men in blue .ieans and cotton shirts, their belts strung with
silver conchas. Some may have long hair ti ::d in back with cotton string under their high
domed hats, but the young men favor creased stetsons and have their hair cut short.
The trading post is crammed with merchandise- canned goods and staples stacked on
shelves, dry goods and hardware in cases. Hanging from the rafters are bridles, pails, lan­terns
and stirrups. There are always cases of soft drinks, much in demand. In the center of
the floor is usually a large oil-burning stove for winter use.
To modern Navajos the trading post is much more than a store. It is the center of the
community where everyone goes from time to time. It is a place to meet your friends and
to gossip. H ere notices are posted on the bulletin board, about sheep dips, meetings, school
affairs. Th~ trader is kept busy telling non-literate customers what the notices are about.
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MEMBER FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE CORP.
A trading post may have the only tele­phone
in the community. Few Navajos under­stand
how to use it, and they prefer to give mes­sages
to the trader in Navajo for him to relay in
English.
Often there is a post office where the local
people receive their mail. It may be delivered
twice a week and mail days are major events.
Although few adults can read or write English, all
Navajos love to get mail.
They rely on the trading post for most of
their groceries, although they still raise part of
their food supply in the form of mutton and
corn. The store supplies tools and agricultural
implements, enamel and cast iron cooking ware,
stoves, harnessware. The trader also stocks ready­made
work clothes for men and children, and bolt
goods from which the women make their own
colorful outfits. Here both men and women buy
the Pendleton blankets they wear around their
shoulders.
The trader is the most important white man
in the Navajo community and often the principal
link with the outside world. He will write a letter,
make a phone call, give advice, and get informa­tion
about jobs or relief. Government officials
rely on him to post notices and pass along infor­mation
to the Indians.
Besides selling over the counter, the trader
must be a credit manager and market the prod­ucts
of the community. Most Navajos today live
on credit for much of the year, and the trader
carries their accounts until they receive th ~ ir
cash income. Some credit is secured by pawning
silver jewelry but most accounts are unsecured.
Besides cash, a trader may receive in a single year
40 tons of wool, 2,000 lambs, 500 rugs, quantities
of hides and several tons of pinon nuts. He must
market these promptly to keep his capital liquid.
North of Flagstaff on U.S. 89, there are
trading posts on the Navajo Indian Reservation
at Gray Mountain, Cameron, and The Gap.
Along Reservation Route 1 to Monument Valley
there are trading posts at Tuba City, Tonalea,
and Kayenta. The oldest and most famous is at
Ganado, forty miles north of U. S. 66. In busi­ness
continuously since 1880, the Hubbell Trading
Post is the last surviving example of an old-time
Navajo trading post. Efforts are being made to
establish it as a national historic site.
PENNEY'S
J. c. PENNEY CO., INC.
T
N O\..y peaceful cattlemen and farmers, the Apache have come a long way in
adapting to an alien culture that they fought so fiercely for so many years. Of
all the Indian tribes in the Southwest, they were the most feared and they were the
last to be subdued.
At one time the territory of the roaming Apaches included much of Arizona
and New Mexico, and extended onto the plains of Colorado and Texas. Now
some 8,000 Apaches occupy two main reservations in the White Mountains of
Arizona: the Ft. Apache Indian Reservation and the San Carlos Reservation which
adjoins it on the south. A few small groups live on the Ft. McDowell Reservation
near Phoenix and on the Camp Verde Reservation south of Flagstaff. In New
Mexico are two other groups, totalling over 2500: the Jicarilla in the north-central
part of the state, and the Mescalero in the mountains near Alamogordo.
In this instance, the Indians were not given poor land to live on. The two
main Apache reservations cover more than 5,000 square miles and contain forests,
grazing land, arable land and mineral resources. Here the Apache are developing
one of the largest cattle ranches in the world. They have become expert stockmen
with large herds of cattle and some sheep. They have an excellent breeding program
and Apache cattle auctions bring the highest prices of any range cattle.
The reservation land has lakes and streams and many natural parks where
stock can feed on lush grass. The average elevation is around 6,000 ft. and some
wooded peaks rise to more than 10,000 feet above sea level. This White Mountain
country has long been a summer vacation resort
and popular with fishermen and hunters.
Whiteriver is now the headquarters and main
trading center for the Ft. Apache reservation,
and is located not far from old Ft. Apache which
in the 1870's held a strategic position between
the areas then occupied by Apache and Navajo.
It is also an educational center, with the recent
addition of Alchesay High School and the White­river
elementary school. San Carlos is headquar..;
ters and trading center for the southern reser­vation,
and the San Carlos Indian School is
located there.
Although some Apache now live in frame
houses, many still prefer their native wikiup-a
dome-shaped hut made of poles and brush, or a
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MEMBER FEDERAL SAVINGS AND LOAN INSURANCE CORP.
shelter built on a tipi-like frame and covered with canvas. Where
electricity is available, the house may have electric lights, a washing
machine and a radio.
Apache men dress, as do the Navajo, in blue denim pants worn
with ornamented belts, colorful shirts and kerchiefs, large felt hats
and cowboy boots or heavy shoes. Apache women long ago adopted
a . "Mother Hubbard" style of white woman's dress, and wear a
loose, hip-length blouse with yoked neck and long sleeves over a full
skirt, often made of bright-colorecl calico with rows of ornamental
rick-rack.
The Apache are close relatives of the Navajo, for both belong to
the Athap2.scan family which was one of the last to come over from
Asia. They are relative newcomers in the Southwest, having arrived in
this area a mere 300 or 400 years ago.
Because of the mobility of their former life, the Apache de­veloped
few arts. The women achieved great skill in basketry, their
major art, and some designs give an effect of whirling motion.
Woven baskets were made of split willow or squawbrush, decorated
with black dye from martynia or devil's claw, and finished with
fringe and thongs of buckskin. Water jars were less finely woven and
made watertight with pinon pitch.
Nowadays the art of basketry is declining, and may become a
casual occupation for those who can afford the time involved. Apache
women still do a little beadwork, and fine doeskin garments, fringed
and beaded, are now made only for ceremonial use.
In the old days, Apache medicine men painted designs on buck­skin
In forceful and vigorous patterns. Present day Apache continue
to display artistic ability. The painting of the Buffalo Dancer (re­produced
on the cover ) is an example. The artist, Allen Houser, has
held a Guggenheim fellowship to continue his art work. Wesley
Nash, Ignatius Palmer, Rudolph Treas and Emmet Botella are also
painters of distinction. The tribal fair, h eld on the reservation after
mid-August, includes a display of current Apache arts and crafts.
THE LEGEND OF THE
PRINCE It
PRINCESS
L EGENDAR Y tales are apt to change in the handing down through generations, but
in the case of the "Prince and Princess" of the Havasupai, it appears that white men
have taken a hand in embellishing an ancient myth.
The Havasupai Indians are known as the "blue-water people" and make their home
in beautiful Havasu (Cataract) Canyon within the western boundary of Grand Canyon
National Park. Deep in the canyon, 3,000 feet below the rim, the greenish-blue water of
Cataract Creek plunges over successive waterfalls on its way to the Colorado River. And
there on the canyon floor the Havasupai farm the fertile land as they have for centuries.
The descent into Havasu is not easy, but many travelers over the years have made the
rugged trip down the narrow trail. They observed and commented on two strange pillars of
rock within the canyon, on top of an out jutting arm of the canyon wall. Erosion has carved
many curious formations in Havasu, but the trail from Hilltop skirts the rock wall on which
the pillars stand and no visitor can fail to see them.
It is said that the Havasupai believe god-spirits live in these stone pillars and protect
the Indians and their gardens from harm. There is also a legend that the rocks symbolize the
existence of the tribe. If one of the pillars should fall, the Havasupai would perish.
Why the pillars became known to Anglos as the 'Prince and Princess" is probably
the explanation, also, for "Elephant Feet" at Tonalea on the Navajo reservation and Bell Rock
in Oak Creek Canyon-the need for identification. There seems to be nothing in Indian
legend to account for the Anglo name.
The Havasupai themselves call the stone pillars Hue-gli-i-wa, which can be loosely trans­lated
as "something sticking up." The legend about them, as told by a Havasupai and re­ported
by George Wharton James In his "Indians of the Painted Desert" (1903), is as fol­lows:
The two gods of the universe are Tochopa, the good, and Hokomata, the bad. At the
beginning of the world, Tochopa made it possible for a man and woman to become progeni­tors
of the human race. First the Havasupai were born, then the "Apaches," then the Huala­pai,
Hopi, Paiute, and Navajo. Tochopa told them all where to live. The Havasupai and
"Apaches" (Yavapai in correct translation) were to live in H avasu Canyon, on opposite
sides of the blue water, and have dominion over the territory as far east as the Little Colorado
River and south to the San Francisco Mountains.
ARIZONA DAILY SUN
IN NORTHERN AR IZONA EVERYBODY READS THE SUN
I
i ..,..,,------:- :: -::::;;::?<-~
-~
For a long time the Havasupai and Yavapai lived in peace as brothers. Then one day
a Yavapai man saw a beautiful Havasupai woman and fell in love. H e was filled with great
desire and ate his heart out in his lonely hut although she was the wife of another man. Final­ly
he called upon Hokomata, the bad god (who sounds much like the white man's devil)
to h elp him. Always eager to stir up trouble, Hokomata told him to seize the woman for his
own, even if he had to kill her husband.
The Yavapai was quick to follow this evil advice. When the Havasupai discovered what
had happened, they took counsel together and decided that all the Yavapai must leave their
canyon home. The Yavapai refused, so the furious Havasupai fell upon them and drove them
out. It is said that the marks of their footsteps can still be seen where they climbed up the
rocks near Hue-gli-i-wa. They were driven far south of the canyon and told never again to
come north of the San Francisco Mountains. Thereafter, it is said, there was always war be­tween
the people of Havasu and the Yavapai.
Tochopa, the good god, grieved over this event and as a warning to evil-doers he carved
the great stone pillars in a place where they could be seen from above and below. The fig­ures
of the Yavapai man and Havasupai squaw stand there to this day.
Another legend relates how Tochopa carved other figures on the opposite side of the
canyon from Hue-gli-i-wa, above the ceremonial dancing place. Here on the high walls he
carved the figures of the man and woman who were the progenitors of the human race.
One figure is the man, A-pa-a, with a child on his back and two more by his side. The figure
farther down the canyon is the woman, Pu-kei.i, with the full breasts of a nursing mother. The
figures are greatly revered by the Havasupai as representing their ancestors.
It seems plausible that Anglos have confused the legends in believing that the "Prince
and Princess" symbolize the existence of the Havasupai. If true, it is far better that the figures
across the canyon represent the destiny of the tribe. For erosion is thinning the bases of the two
stone pillars, and the Havasupai in a previous census numbered only 213. I
FRED NACKARD WHOLESALE LIQUOR - PEPSI COLA
CROMER
WOLF
GRASMOEN
32nd Annual Southwest
,
BABBITT PROCHNOW
ALL-INDIAN POW WOW
SPONSORED BY POW WOW, INC., FLAGSTAFF, ARIZONA
SOUVENIR
MAGAZINE
Official Publication of Pow Wow,
Inc.
Published Annually
Editor
Articles
Art Director
Photog ra phy
Paul E. Weaver, Jr.
Evelyn C. Roat
Barton Wright
Weston Lee
Printed and Publ ished by
NORTHLAND PRESS
I 10 North Agassiz Street
Flagstaff, Arizona
COVER CREDIT
The painting reproduced on the
cover is part of the permanent col­lection
of the Museum of Northern
Arizona, Flag staff. Painted in 1938
by Allen Houser, the famous Apache
artist, it is aptly titled "The Buffalo
Hunter."
BLASER
BOARD OF DIRECTORS - 1960
Pow Wow, Inc., is a non-profit organization whose
sole function is the staging of the annual Pow Wow
celebration . The Board of Directors serve withou+
pay. The president is elected from the Board of Dir­ectors
for a two year period.
STURGEON CROMER
President
AL GRASMOEN ANDY WOLF
TED BABBITT T. M. KNOLES, Jr.
ROBERT PROCHNOW ROBERT BLASER
WILLIAM FENNELL PLATT CLINE
KNOLES
NOEL MILLER
Secretary-Treasurer
LOGAN MORRIS
Arena Director
CLINE
FENNELL
MILLER
WITH APPRECIATION
THE PUBLICATION OF THIS MAGAZINE HAS BEEN
POSSIBLE BY THE SUPPORT OF THE FULL PAGE
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