Hopi Tribe Native American Indian Bronze Medallion By J.H. Bond

The Hopi are a Native American tribe who primarily live on the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona in the United States.  the Hopi (peaceful ones) people have the longest authenticated history of occupation of a single area by any Native American tribe in the United States. Thought to have migrated north out of Mexico around 500 B.C., the Hopi have always lived in the Four Corners area of the United States.  The Hopi Tribe is a sovereign nation within the US and has government-to-government relations with the United States federal government. Particular villages retain autonomy under the Hopi Constitution and Bylaws.  The Hopi are thought to be descended from the Ancestral Puebloans or Anasazi peoples of the US south west.  The traditional Hopi economy centered on farming and, after Spanish colonization, on herding sheep. The chief crop was corn (maize), and the Hopi also grew beans, squash, melons, and a variety of other vegetables and fruits. The most widely publicized of Hopi rituals was the Snake Dance, held annually in late August, during which the performers danced with live snakes in their mouths.  The Hopi hairstyle is called the Squash Blossom Whorls, or Butterfly Whorls and were worn only by the young Hopi maidens to show that they were unmarried. This complex hairstyle was achieved by the maidens mother, who would wind her hair around a curved piece of wood to give it a round shape, then remove the wood frame.