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In 1680, the Pueblo/Zuni/Hopi across the Southwest arose in an organized and coordinated rebellion, killed a number of Spaniards, including four friars, and drove the Europeans out of most of the region and back to Mexico. This rebellion was initiated and led by Popé, a Pueblo leader from the Rio Grande valley, the area that had been so badly decimated by Coronado's troops. The normally peaceful Hopi, who took such pride in their avoidance of war, felt themselves compelled to go along with the plan. Four or five friars at the Black Mesa were killed, and their churches were razed during the rebellion. Once the Spaniards lost control of the region, they were allowed to escape and make their way back to Mexico, in peace, without pursuit.
The Black Mesa region was to remain free of the Spaniards for more than a decade. In 1692, the Spanish returned, attempting to restore the Hopi towns to their control. Troops, led by Diego de Vargas attempted to regain their old footholds, but were driven back and decided that they did not have sufficient force or enough reason to attempt to retake the well-defended villages atop the mesas. Ironically, the Hopi were aided in their opposition to the Spaniards by their supposed enemies, the Navajo, as Navajo and Ute riders continually raided and harassed the Spanish camps.
Several other forays were made into Hopi territory, during the 1690's, with only one, significant result. The Spanish soldiers were, as usual, accompanied by friars, and, by 1700, the residents of one of the Hopi villages had voluntarily submitted to baptism. A great schism began at this time among the Hopi. The community of Awatovi is recorded as having converted to Catholicism, en masse.
Intra-community strife arose. This was aggravated by personal disagreements and rivalries between many of the top Hopi leaders and the leadership at Awatovi. These previously-existing disputes eventually culminated, in 1701, in a tragedy, with Hopi slaughtering Hopi. The traditionalist Hopi from the Black Mesa were horrified at the sight of the contamination of their clans and community, as one of their settlements willingly adopted the pagan ways that had almost wrecked the nation in the past.
It was decided that this contamination needed to be stomped out, immediately, before the Kachina became offended, and, once again, abandoned their people. The Hopi traditionalists, headed by a clan leader named Espeleta, descended with stealth upon the men of Awatovi on the evening of a large ceremony. The Awatovi males were gathered in their Kiva, in the midst of their rituals. The attackers crept up on the Kiva roof-opening, and rained arrows down on the men inside. The unprepared worshipers were slaughtered. The following day, Espeleta returned again, sacking the Roman Catholic mission, virtually leveling the town, killing more inhabitants and carrying off the women and children.
This act produced a great guilt in the Hopi psyche. The Hopi, “the Peaceful People,” had been forced to resort to violence, once again. Violence had been anathema to them throughout their history. Now, within a few short years, they had killed several Spaniards and wiped out one of their own settlements. This was a terrible cultural shock to them, and they blamed the troubles on the disruptions and sacrilege of the White Man. The nation made a resolution that it would go it alone in the future, and that the people would stick to their one true way of the Kachina.
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Contents, including illustrations, copyright T. K. Reeves, 1997.
on 5 April, 1997.
