Editing Hopi mythology (section)

==Four Worlds==
Barry Pritzker writes: "According to Hopi legend, when time and space began, the sun spirit (Tawa) created the First World, in which insectlike creatures lived unhappily in caves.  With the goal of improvement, Tawa sent a spirit called [[Spider Grandmother]] to the world below.  Spider Grandmother led the first creatures on a long trip to the Second World, in which they took on the appearance of wolves and bears.  As these animals were no happier than the previous ones, however, Tawa created a new, Third World, and again sent Spider Grandmother to convey the wolves and bears there.  By the time they arrived, they had become people."  Spider Grandmother taught them weaving and pottery, and a hummingbird brought them a [[bow drill|fire drill]].<ref name=bp/>{{rp|16}}

===Entrance into the Fourth World===
[[File:Hopi petroglyph - Mesa Verde National Park.jpeg|thumb|An [[Ancestral Puebloans|Ancestral Puebloan]] [[petroglyph]] in [[Mesa Verde National Park]]. The boxy spiral shape near the center of the photo likely represents the "sipapu", the place where the Ancestral Puebloans emerged from the earth in their creation story.]]
Two main versions exist as to the Hopis' emergence into the present Fourth World.

In one version, after evil broke out amongst the people in the Third World, with the help of Spider Grandmother, or bird spirits, a hollow [[bamboo]] reed grew at the opening of the Third World into the Fourth World.  This opening, ''sipapu'', is traditionally viewed to be the [[Grand Canyon]].  According to Barry Pritzker, "the people with good hearts (kindness) made it to the Fourth World."<ref name="bp"/>{{rp|16–17}}

The other version (mainly told in Oraibi) has it that Tawa destroyed the Third World in a great flood. Before the destruction, Spider Grandmother sealed the more righteous people into hollow reeds which were used as boats. On arrival on a small piece of dry land, the people saw nothing around them but more water, even after planting a large bamboo shoot, climbing to the top, and looking about. Spider Woman then told the people to make boats out of more reeds, and using island "stepping-stones" along the way, the people sailed east until they arrived on the mountainous coasts of the Fourth World.

While it may not be possible to positively ascertain which is the original or "more correct" story, Harold Courlander writes, at least in [[Oraibi]] (the oldest of the Hopi villages), little children are often told the story of the ''sipapu'', and the story of an ocean voyage is related to them when they are older.<ref name=Courlander>Harold Courlander. ''The Fourth World of the Hopis'', p.205.</ref> He states that even the name of the Hopi Water Clan (Patkinyamu) literally means "a dwelling-on-water" or "houseboat".  However, he notes the ''sipapu'' story is centered on [[Walpi]] and is more accepted among Hopis generally.<ref name=Courlander/>

According to Barry Pritzker, "In this Fourth World, the people learned many lessons about the proper way to live. They learned to worship Masauwu, who ensured that the dead return safely to the Underworld and who gave them the four sacred tablets that, in symbolic form, outlined their wanderings and their proper behavior in the Fourth World.

===Migrations===
Upon their arrival in the Fourth World, the Hopis divided and went on a series of great migrations throughout the land. Sometimes they would stop and build a town, then abandon it to continue on with the migration. They would leave their symbols behind on the rocks to show that Hopi had been there. Long the divided people wandered in groups of families, eventually forming clans named after an event or sign that a particular group received upon its journey.<ref>''See, e.g.'' Harold Courlander.  ''The Fourth World of the Hopi'', 35.</ref>  These clans would travel for some time as a unified community, but almost inevitably a disagreement would occur, the clan would split and each portion would go its separate way. However, as the clans traveled, they would often join together forming large groups, only to have these associations disband, and then be reformed with other clans. These alternate periods of harmonious living followed by wickedness, contention, and separation play an important part of the Hopi mythos. This pattern seemingly began in the First World and continues even into recent history.

In the course of their migration, each Hopi clan was to go to the farthest extremity of the land in every direction. Far in the north was a land of snow and ice which was called the "Back Door", but this was closed to the Hopi. However, the Hopi say that other peoples came through the Back Door into the Fourth World. "Back Door" could refer to the [[Bering land bridge]], which connected Asia with North America. The Hopi were led on their migrations by various signs, or were helped along by Spider Woman. Eventually, the Hopi clans finished their prescribed migrations and were led to their current location in northeastern Arizona.

Most Hopi traditions have it that they were given their land by Masauwu, the Spirit of Death and Master of the Fourth World.{{fact|date=February 2024}}