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The Zuni (also spelled Zuñi) or Ashiwi are a Native American tribe, one of the Pueblo peoples, most of whom live in the Pueblo of Zuñi on the Zuni River, a tributary of the Little Colorado River, in western New Mexico. Zuñi is 55 km (35 miles) south of Gallup, New Mexico and has a population of about 12,000, with over 80% being Native Americans, with 43.0% of the population below the poverty line as defined by the U.S. income standards. However, many of the people do not consider their low income and lifestyle to be poverty.*
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Culture
Zuni traditionally speak the Zuni language, a unique language which is unrelated to the languages of the other Pueblo peoples. The Zuni continue to practice their traditional religion with its regular ceremonies and dances and an independent mythology.
The Zuni Tribal Fair and Rodeo is held the third weekend in August. The Zuni participate in the Gallup Inter-Tribal Ceremonial.
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History
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The Zuni, like other Pueblo peoples, are believed to be the descendants of the Ancient Pueblo Peoples who lived in the desert Southwest of New Mexico, Arizona, Southern Colorado and Utah for a thousand years.
Archeological evidence shows they have lived in their present location for about 1,300 years.
Before the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, the Zuni lived in six different villages. After the revolt, until 1692, they took refuge in a defensible position atop Dowa Yalanne, a steep mesa 5 km (2 miles) southeast of the present Pueblo of Zuñi. After the establishment of peace and the return of the Spanish, the Zuni relocated in their present location, only briefly returning to the mesa top in 1703.
Frank Hamilton Cushing, a pioneering anthropologist associated with the Smithsonian Institution, lived with the Zuni from 1879 to 1884. He was one of the first participant observers and an ethnologist.
A recent controversy involved Zuni opposing the development of a coal mine near the Zuni Salt Lake, a site considered sacred by the Zuni and under Zuni control. The mine would have extracted water from the aquifer below the lake as well as involved construction between the lake and Zuñi *, *. The plan died after several lawsuits.
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Zunis Crafts
In the earlier days of that age when Native Zuni Clans roamed an area that is now the Southwest United States, they made pottery for food and water storage. Women made pottery according to the clan's tradition of functionality and design. Clay for the pottery is sourced locally. It is prepared first by a blessing according to traditional ritual, and then grinding, sifting and mixing with water. After the clay is shaped into a vessel or ornament, it will be scraped smooth with a scraper. Then a thin layer of finer clay will be applied to the surface for extra smoothness. Next the vessel will be polished with a stone. Then the piece is painted with home-made organic dyes using a traditional yucca brush. To fire the pottery the Zuni used sheep dung in traditional kilns which had not changed for hundreds of years. However, most contemporary Zuni pottery is now fired in modern, electric kilns. While the firing of the pottery was usually a community enterprise, silence or communication in low voices was essential in order to maintain the original "voice" of the "being" of the clay and the purpose of the end product . The relatives of these Native Americans are known to buy their houses with selling pottery.
They also make fetish carvings and necklaces for the purpose of ritual and trade, and more recently for sale to their avid collectors. The art of silversmithing was introduced to the Zuni by Anglo vendors and trading posts, soon after the Navajo towards the end of the nineteenth century.
Zuni Indians live in flat-roofed houses made from adobe.
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Beliefs
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The life for these agricultural people evolves around their religious beliefs. They have a cycle of religious ceremonies which takes precedence over all else. Their religious beliefs are centered around the three most powerful of their deities – Earth Mother, Sun, Father, and Moonlight-Giving Mother. The Sun is especially worshipped. In fact the Zuni words for daylight and life are the same word. The Sun is, therefore, seen as the giver of life. Each person’s life is marked by important ceremonies to celebrate their coming to certain milestones in their existence. Birth, coming of age, marriage and death are especially celebrated.
Coming of age, or rite of passage, is celebrated differently by boys and girls. A girl who is ready to declare herself as a maiden, will go to the home of her father’s mother early in the morning and grind corn all day long. Corn is a sacred food and a staple in the diet of the Zuni. The girl is, therefore, declaring that she is ready to play a role in the welfare of her people. When it is time for a boy to become a man he will be taken under the wing of a spiritual ‘father’, selected by the parents. This one will instruct the boy through the ceremony to follow. The boy will go through certain initiation rites to enter one of the men’s societies. He will learn how to take on either religious, secular or political duties within that order.
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Miscellaneous
The Zuni were and are a peaceful, deeply traditional people who lived by irrigated agriculture and now by the sale of traditional crafts. Their location is relatively isolated, but they welcome respectful tourists. Carved stone animal fetishes, jewelry, needlepoint, and pottery are popular items.
Many Zuni also became master silversmiths and perfected the skill of stone inlay. They found that by using small pieces of stone they were able to create intricate designs and unique patterns. Another technique they have mastered is needlepoint. Small oval shaped stones with pointed ends are set close to one another and side by side. The technique is normally used with turquoise in creating necklaces or rings.
There is an old Spanish mission, Our Lady of Guadalupe Mission, which is a popular attraction; and a tribal museum, A:shiwi A:wan Museum & Heritage Center.
Nancy Yaw Davis, in the Zuni Enigma, and Gavin Menzies, have suggested that the Zuni share some affinities with the Japanese people, due in part to what they claim are genetic, linguistic and cultural similarities. This view, however, is not accepted by mainstream archaeologists, professional linguists, or the Zuni people themselves.
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Zuni in popular culture
Zuni culture plays a prominent role in the 1973 novel Dance Hall of the Dead, by the American writer Tony Hillerman.
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Books on Zuñi by Frank Cushing
Jesse Green, Sharon Weiner Green and Frank Hamilton Cushing, Cushing at Zuni: The Correspondence and Journals of Frank Hamilton Cushing, 1879-1884, University of New Mexico Press, 1990, hardcover ISBN 0-8263-1172-5
Sylvester Baxter and Frank H. Cushing, My Adventurers in Zuni: Including Father of The Pueblos & An Aboriginal Pilgrimage, Filter Press, LLC, 1999, paperback, 1999, 79 pages, ISBN 0-86541-045-3
Frank H. Cushing, My Adventures in Zuni, Pamphlet, ISBN 1-121-39551-1
Frank Hamilton Cushing, Zuni Fetishes, pamphlet, ISBN 1-199-17971-X and ISBN 1-122-26704-5
Frank H. Cushing, designed by K. C. DenDooven, photographed by Bruce Hucko, Annotations by Mark Bahti, Zuni Fetishes, KC Publications, 1999, paperback, 48 pages, ISBN 0-88714-144-7
Frank Hamilton Cushing, Zuni Fetishes Facsimile, pamphlet, ISBN 1-125-28500-1
Frank Hamilton Cushing, Zuni Folk Tales, hardcover, ISBN 1-125-91410-6 (expensive if you search by ISBN, try ABE for older used copies without ISBN)
Frank H. Cushing, edited by Jesse Green, foreword by Fred Eggan, Introduction by Jesse Green, Zuni: Selected Writings of Frank Hamilton Cushing University of Nebraska Press, 1978, hardcover, 440 pages, ISBN 0-8032-2100-2; trade paperback, 1979, 449 pages, ISBN 0-8032-7007-0
Frank Hamilton Cushing, Zuni Breadstuff (Indian Notes and Monographs, V. 8.), AMS Press, 1975, hardcover, 673 pages, ISBN 0-404-11835-6
Frank Hamilton Cushing, Outlines of Zuni Creation Myths, AMS Press, Reprint edition (June 1, 1996), hardcover, 121 pages, ISBN 0-404-11834-8
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Footnotes
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