Mythology

The San Francisco Peaks, north of Flagstaff, Arizona (Bahti 51), are an important landmark to many of the groups of Native Americans in the southwest from both pueblo and seminomadic cultures. For the Hopi and the Navajo, this group of mountains has special significance in each of their systems of beliefs.

In the Hopi tradition, the San Francisco Peaks are the home of the kachina spirits. In the Hopi language, these peaks are called Nuva’tukya’ovi, which can be translated as Sown Mountain (Bahti 186). During the winter solstice, the kachinas come to the Hopi villages for a season of festivities and dances. The kachinas’ visit is critical to the well-being of the Hopi people: as discussed earlier, they act as intermediaries between the Hopi and their gods, and they bring the rains that nourish the crops. The kachinas return to their home during the Home Dance, known as Niman (Bahti 52). Niman is a sixteen-day ceremony that starts around the time of the summer solstice and continues through the middle of July (Bahti 186).

While Hopi tradition includes the San Francisco Peaks, the Hopi reservation is not near the mountains. According to Hopi mythology, however, before the establishment of reservations, the Crow clan of the Hopi lived at the base of the San Francisco Peaks and came to know the kachinas, seen as a spirit people in this part of Hopi mythology, first (Nequatewa 66). The kachinas taught the Crow dances, songs, and costumes that would bring the kachina’s blessing, rain, and ultimately prosperity to the people, and the Crow clan then shared these customs they learned from the kachinas with the other Hopi clans (69). Since there is usually snow on top of these peaks, their association with water is not unfounded.

The Navajo also find significance in the San Francisco Peaks; however, the mountains’ importance is due to its geographic location. After the mythical ancestors of the Navajo, the First People, migrated to this world and transformed it into a livable place, they defined the boundaries of what would be the lands of the Navajo (Bahti 150). These boundaries are defined by the four cardinal direction mountains, and Mount Humphrey in the San Francisco Peaks marks the western boundary. This mountain is associated with abalone and the color yellow as a result of the direction it marks (156). Like the Hopi, the Navajo view this site as very important to their beliefs, and yet the peaks are not included in their territory. Because of this problem, both the Hopi and the Navajo are having difficulty retaining a sense of truth in their system of beliefs.