The Hopi-Tewa potters are a group of native artists from various clans living about a hundred miles southeast of the Grand Canyon in Arizona.  Hopi clans speak a Uto-Aztecan language, while the Tewa clans speak a Tanoan dialect from New Mexico.  Long ago, the two groups of clans came together, centered around First Mesa, a flat-topped mountain with a panoramic view for hundreds of miles.  They continue to speak their respective languages, while living side-by-side, sharing many cultural arts traditions.  One of those traditions is the ceramic art of pottery making.

Hopi and Tewa clans share in common a tradition that they were "born" or "emerged" from the body of Mother Earth.  The place of emergence, the Sipapu, is considered the navel of the earthly female spirit.  For some Hopi clans, this place is located in the bottom of the Grand Canyon, while the Tewa place of emergence, Siibopay, is said to be beneath a lake in southern Colorado.

Tewa elders, Albert Yava and Alfonso Ortiz, recorded their oral history, recounting great migrations down from present day Colorado into New Mexico.  Tewa clans followed the Rio Grande, establishing pueblos including: San Ildefonso, Santa Clara, San Juan, Nambe, Pojoaque and more. 

Around 1300 to 1350, many clans migrated throughout the Southwest.  As these groups of extended families migrated, they carried their traditions, including styles and techniques in making pottery.  Their clan symbols, found in rock art and designs on pottery shards, mark their trails.

Today, most of the Hopi-Tewa potters make a style of ceramics variously called "Hano Polychrome" or "Sikyatki Revival" ware.  "Hano" is the Hopi name of Tewa Village on First Mesa.  The word "Sikyatki" means "yellow earth" and also is the name of a former village at Hopiland located two miles north of First Mesa.  Polychrome means multi-colored.  Revival implies an earlier style has returned to popularity.  

Who originally created Sikyatki Polychrome, the multi-colored style of pottery popular at Hopi today?  Two groups of clans.  The Kokop "Firewood" people, including the Coyote Clan, came from present day New Mexico.  They were influenced by Patki, Water Clan people from southern Arizona and Mexico.  Southern Hohokam groups came from the Gila River and Salt River valleys, and the Verde Valley.  The Eastern groups of Tewa and Keresan speakers from New Mexico introduced new and refined techniques.  The southern groups contributed more designs.  Later arrivals of Kachina and Tewa clans further expanded the body of design symbolism and range of techniques.  Here we find the roots of what is generally known today as "Hopi pottery."

With the uniting of these clans around 1375, an "artistic movement" grew and spread outward from Hopiland, influencing groups of potters throughout the Southwest. Black- on-white pottery generally fell out of style, being replaced with brilliant black-on-orange, followed by black-on-yellow pottery.  The color red soon was added.  Fantastic pictorial designs flourished - butterflies, parrots, feathers, and the unfolding of seeds into plants became important symbols.  These designs reflect a philosophy and spirituality based on the study of life, germination, plant genetics, the transformation and growth of plant, animal and insect life.  The potters observed nature closely, with respect for the spirit of Earth.  Among the people were star gazers, observing the cycles of the cosmos to time their ceremonies.  Hopi-Tewa pottery reflects world views related to the past, present and future of over a hundred clans.

The Kokop, "Firewood" people, came from New Mexico.  Their related clans include:  the Isauu Coote, Kwewu Wolf, Sikyatayio Yellow-fox, Letaiyo Gray-fox, Masi Maasaw Earth Spirit, Tuvou Piñon, Hoko Juniper, Awata Bow, Sikyatci Yellow-bird, and Tuvatci bird, as well as the Zrohono and Eototo, for which we have no translation.

Alexander Stephen recorded in the 1890s that the Isauu Coyote Clan was involved in the development of Sikyatki Polychrome.  The clan settled in the village of Sikyatki and brought with them a beautiful pottery tradition later revived by Nampeyo.

Katci, chief of the Kokop Clan at Walpi at the time of Nampeyo, ca. 1890, said his people originally had come from Jemez Pueblo in New Mexico or from related villages on the Jemez Plateau.  They lived in temporary villages near present day Keams Canyon and Eighteen Mile Spring, before settling permanently at Sikyatki during the fourteenth century.  The ruins of Sikyatki can still be seen about two miles north of Polacca.

What happened to the Village of Sikyatki?  Why was it abandoned?  According to Chief Katci, when Sikyatki was at the height of its importance, a Walpi man brutally hacked off the hair of one of a group of Sikyatki Runner Kachinas who were at Walpi for a ceremonial race.  The Sikyatki man was so furiously angry at this indignity to a Kachina that he vowed vengeance on the man from Walpi.

"Soon thereafter, visiting Walpi men challenged the men of Sikyatki to a race.  The vengeful Sikyatki man emerged as Runner Kachina in search of his Walpi rival.  He could not find him.  In a state of revengeful rage, he spotted his foe's sister, seized her and, with his sharp stone knife, cut off her head." The Walpi people returned horrified back to their own village.  Thus began a feud between Walpi and Sikyatki.  The conflict grew worse over time.  Some accounts claim the chief of Sikyatki himself grew concerned that his own people were losing sight of their humble philosophy of living respectfully, close to the Earth.  The climax of the story came when the Walpi people attacked and burned Sikyatki sometime during the 15^th century.  Walpi men reportedly smeared the Sikyatki houses with pine sap, set them on fire and destroyed the village.

Some claim that all the Sikyatki people were killed.  Others point out that Kokop clans and societies are integrated today at Walpi and other Hopi villages.  Tewa elder Albert Yava explained simply, "The people of Sikyatki had to go away because of evil things..."

The Tewa ancestors of Nampeo did not move from New Mexico to Hopiland until after the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, when the Pueblo people united to regain their freedom from Spanish rule.  Around this time, the Hopi sent three delegations to New Mexico to ask some of the Tewa to move to Hopiland.  Their purpose was to attract the famed Tewa warriors to become the defenders of First Mesa against groups of Utes, Paiutes and Navajo who were raiding Hopiland.  The Tewa won a famous battle against the Utes and eventually settled atop First Mesa, founding the village of Hano, also known as Tewa Village.

Twelve years later the Spanish returned for the "reconquest" of the Southwest.  Spanish soldiers arrived at Hopi and sought their revenge against participants in the Pueblo Revolt of 1680.  Over a hundred Hopis were executed by Spanish soldiers.  However, the Spanish never gained a permanent foothold at Hopi.

Around 1700, the Catholic village of Awatovi was destroyed in a manner similar to the earlier destruction of Sikyatki.  The survivors were said to have been integrated into villages at Hopi.

Early in the 1700s, another group of people from Jemez moved to Hopi to escape the Spanish reconquest in New Mexico.  Toward the end of the century, the Wild Mustard Clan, Roadrunner Clan and others, who had moved from the area east of Santa Fe to Hopiland, founded a new pueblo, Sichomovi, next to Tewa Village on First Mesa.  Sichomovi, Walpi, and Hano or Tewa Village are the pueblos now atop First Mesa.

In the late 19^th century, the village of Sikyatki was excavated by Jesse Walter Fewkes.  Beautiful Sikyatki Polychrome pottery was unearthed.  Nampeyo and potters from her Corn Clan were among those who were inspired by the remarkable designs and shapes of the old pots.  These potters created a revival of Sikyatki Polychrome, the style of pottery most popular at Hopi today.

Source Information:

Volume 1, American Indian Art Series, Hopi - Tewa Pottery, 500 Artist Biographiesby Gregory Schaaf, Ph.D.; edited by Richard M. Howard, designed by Angie Yan, 1998,CIAC Press (Center for Indigenous Arts & Cultures Press), Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Gregory Schaaf is the director of the Center for Indigenous Arts & Cultures that is a Division of Southwest Learning Centers, Inc., a non-profit educational organization established 1972.  To learn more, visit www.indianartbooks.com.

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