White Bear noted that a long time had elapsed since the war between the clans of the Snake and the Bow and his people's subsequent migration to their current homeland in Arizona. The Hopi always keep alive the memories of important events even if the members of some clans prefer not to remember them, he said, evidence for his story having been located in the forms of drawings and sculptures. "As I already mentioned, a schism had occurred among the spiritual guides. Some wanted to continue to teach and to educate the young people in harmony with our important spiritual heritage. The Clan of the Snake formed part of it, but others like the Clan of the Bow did not want to continue this way," White Bear said. "This clan had already acted similarly when it took part in activities that led towards the destruction of the Third World. These facts are known by the Hopis. We also know the form of energy which was used during this combat. The scientists of many countries work on the development of such weapons today. The Clan of the Bow challenged the Clan of the Snake and other clans, declaring itself stronger and superior to the others, who accepted the challenge. Regarding the Clan of the Snake, White Bear said:
"We Hopis are the only people to have as a symbol the snake with the six heads. One head is directed towards the east, one to the north, one to the west, one to the south, one upwards and the other downwards. They were the spiritual directions of the various Clans of the Snake of that period. Each of the six snakes had its own significance and its own tasks. I only want to explain the one that plays a part in this story--namely, that with the downward head, which acts under the surface of the ground. We all know a snake which buries itself under sand which we call "snake of sands" (i.e. "sidewinder", a desert rattlesnake). Because of the power of this snake, the Clan of the Snake 'was invited' to ensure the city's defense, and you will see soon why. The chiefs of the two sides met in order to fix the rules of the combat. There were important quarrels like today among heads of state. They agreed that the combat should begin two days after the end of the meeting and that each side would try during four days to conquer the city of the enemy. The Clan of the Bow wanted the Clan of the Snake to begin the hostilities, but the latter said, 'No, you challenged us. You, therefore, must start,' and that became the agreement. The combat was to begin each day with the rising of the sun and finish when the sun touched the horizon. It was not a war in which one fights man against man with bludgeons or bows and arrows. The cities were at a distance of 80 to 100 kilometers from one another, and it was a scientific and technological war between two very powerful groups. This is why the two clans do not like to speak about it even today.
During the two following days all the preparations were undertaken and on the third day, when the sun appeared above the horizon, the combat started. The Clan of the Bow bombarded the city of the Clan of the Snake with the strongest and most destructive weapons it had. What was used is related today to electrical energy similar to lightning. This Clan of the Snake had prepared itself for it. The snake that I mentioned previously helped the people to go under the ground and to protect themselves with a powerful shield and a kind of electrical energy. During the day only the chiefs appeared from time to time under a shield to see the position of the sun. It was difficult for everybody, and everyone was relieved when the sun lay down and everything became quiet again. There was no more of this thunder each time the powerful force touched the shield. The shield was removed and everybody could leave the shelters.
The Clan of the Bow knew that it had not caused any destruction in the Clan of the Snake and that the Snake Clan would attack the following day. And then it was Clan of the Bow's turn to make preparations for protection. The sun rose and the Clan of the Snake attacked the city of the Clan of the Bow. The weapons of the Clan of the Snake were so powerful that they looked like atomic explosions! But both sides had made important scientific progress, and the Clan of the Bow also had a powerful shield allowing it to survive this second day. On the third day nothing decisive occurred, and the Clan of the Bow lost its chance of victory. The fourth day arrived, which was the last chance of victory for the adversary. After a few hours in the afternoon the Clan of the Snake decided to try something else to show his power to the adversary. Shooting ceased, and they used the capacities of the snake to bury themselves. They built a tunnel below the fortifications of the Clan of the Bow.
People of the Clan of
the Bow were astonished that the bombardments stopped before sunset. They
wondered if the Clan of the Snake had given up. They were still raising
questions when the chief of the Clan of the Snake came out of the tunnel and
said, 'We are here and you are overcome. We could kill you now, but we will
not. But from now on your divinity, Saaviki, must carry a snake in the mouth at
the time of your ceremony every four years.' It was the end of the combat.
After these very turbulent times in Palatquapi and Yucatan, the clans became completely divided. Palatquapi was not destroyed by the war; people had left it when it lost its power, and it was finally destroyed by an earthquake. Many clans started to migrate again but were isolated from each other. "The Kachinas helped us only by showing us the way. We could not use spaceships any more. We really had to struggle if we were to deserve to have this new land," White Bear said, adding that the migrations aimed towards the four cardinal points. People had come from the south, and now on this part of the continent they were to move towards the north" east, or west. "Our people moved all over North America. Ruins and tombs on the whole of the continent attest to our movements. We are the only people who, even during the migrations, built our houses in stone. The Creator wanted it this way. We assembled neither tents nor light huts but only built true houses in which we remained, sometimes for several years before carrying on. Such settlements or their ruins showed the groups arriving after us that we had passed there a long time before them," White Bear said. "Some began the migrations and never finished them. Others remained on a spot when they found an area that they liked."
However, he said, only a few groups remained true to the laws and transmitted the true traditions. The others no longer followed the original religion. They lacked the knowledge although Taiowa had created them all.
Casa Grande
Evidence of the clans can be found in the whole of Central and North America. The few clans that continued to respect the laws tried to find spiritual guides, looking for teachers because they knew they could not fulfill this role themselves. "Some spiritual leaders decided to bring together their clans in order to teach the young generations the highest level of knowledge concerning the relations between men and the Creator, and finally to transmit all of our marvelous traditions to them which, since the First World, remained alive through and despite the difficult migrations and times," White Bear explained.
"At that time the marvelous city, which one today calls 'Casa Grande', was built." Apparently the four most important clans lived there, and today one finds there the symbols of the Clan of the Eagle, the Clan of the Snake, the Clan of Corn and the Clan of the Phantoms as well as symbols of other clans. I remember well a day, when I still went to school, that I sat close to my father. He asked me what I had learned in school and did not seem satisfied with my answer, so he started to speak me about this city. Later, when I was able to visit it with my father, I found it exactly the way he had described it to me. However, he had never been to this place, so how could he have described it so precisely? Obviously their fathers had spoken to them about it many times. It is this way we keep our traditions. The four clans tried hard to attract other clans, and eventually this city became an important center. Its end arrived when it was attacked by the Clan of the Spider. The clans that lived in the city defended it courageously, but when the enemy diverted the river that fed the city, they had to give up. They did not capitulate, however, because they had dug a tunnel by which they were all saved. This city was the last great gathering place before the final reunification in Oraibi.
--end
First story in the series can be found here at OpEd News.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
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