Tom Bauyacya: Hopi Translator and Tribal Leader

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Translated literally, the word Hopi means "People of Peace" and the Hopis are the only tribe of American Indians that never fought the white man. Their culture is an old and proud one. Even modern anthropologists—always quick to date everything within recent and safe times —trace the oldest Hopi Pillage, Oraibi, back to about 1200 A.D. The Hopis (who, perhaps, know better) believe that Oraibi is the original settlement built by the survivors of the destruction of Mu or Lemuria and think that Old Oraibi has been inhabited for at least 4500 years . . . or since approximately 2500 B. C.

Today, the remaining seven or eight thousand Hopis still reside in their traditional homeland— three flat, sandy mesas that tower above the seemingly endless Painted Desert ofnorthern Arizona — and ask only to be left alone to maintain their way oflife and ancient religion. But the tribe faces bitter times. Their tiny reservation is surrounded by a seaof hostile Navajos and the U.S. Government is making a maximum effort to annihilate the Hopi culture.

The government's weapons are food, Christianity and "education" and the Bureau of Indian Affair has used these tools to — among other things — create The Hopi Tribal Council, a puppet organization which the Bureau controls and manipulates.

The Council has signed a contract with Peabody Coal Company, a division of Kennecott Copper Corporation, to strip mine the Four Corners area where Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado meet. The traditional Hopis know only too well that Peabody (a company that has already ravaged large areas of West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio and other states) will destroy the delicate ecology of the desert region where they live and the real tribal leaders are trying to institute legal action against all parties involved in the devastation ofwhat they regard as the spiritual center of this continent.

Mick and Lini Wheelock attended a portion of the kachina parade this year on the day of the Hopis' Bean Dance and talked with two of the traditionaltribe's spokesmen Tom Bauyacya and David Mononguie.

PLOWBOY: Tom, how old are you and David?

TOM: We don't know for sure because none of us kept birthdate records in those times. My parents didn't know and we guessed at my age . . . around 1909. David is much older.

PLOWBOY: What is your position with the tribe?

TOM: I am an interpreter. In 1948 I was chosen to represent the Hopis in community or state affairs as interpreter of the traditional religious knowledge we follow. We have eleven villages and various leaders who are the real authorities. They are the hereditary leaders and they have to know many of those religious instructions and teachings so that they know what to do when something comes up. They have to know many rituals and songs. Anything that comes up that has to be looked into in the light of that knowledge is my job

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