Overview  

Hopi is a way of life; a religion, not a band of people. Its survival as one of the most ancient and intact cultures of Native America is said by the Hopi People to be because everything of significance to the Hopi happens in the sacred privacy of the Kiva. Each village and clan has its own Kiva, and each is responsible for a part of the spiritual knowledge that collectively makes Hopi. No single clan, or person can define the breadth of Hopi, and in that way preservation is ensured. In tourist traps and trading post windows, the carved dolls depicting Kachina spirits are bought and sold as vacation mementos, but nobody can buy what only the Hopi know.

About Your Day  

• Drive through desert lands to the First Mesa where after an orientation on local tribal etiquette you are accompanied on a visit to Walpi, a village which remains just as it has been over the centuries; there is no electricity or running water in the old village of Walpi. This is a chance to witness life as it has always been lived by village residents.

• Hopi Art reflects spirituality and the importance of the numerous Katsina spirits is placed into a cultural context with special narratives on Katsina dolls, and explanations of the symbolism in Hopi arts.

• Lunch at a local eaterie where you may like to try local traditional foods

• Travel to Second Mesa and Sipaulovi village, to where the Sun Forehead Clan migrated from the ancient dwellings of Homolovi from around 900 AD. Today six clans are represented in this village and you will see the central plaza - a communal meeting place and location for ceremonies where families, friends and clan relations return for ceremonial gatherings throughout the year.

• You will also visit three of the original houses constructed using traditional methods and materials; clan homes which are handed down through matrilineal clan lineage. On Supaulovi, you are at 6000 feet and your view spreads 100 miles in all directions.