Pumpkin Seed Point

Pumpkin Seed Point: Being within the Hopi

In his book published by Sage Books in 1969, Pumpkin Seed Point: Being within the Hopi, Frank Waters documents in detail his 3 year account of living with the Hopi tribe. Many say that his account is perhaps the best, one in which he relives their rich traditions and history. In his work, Waters composes more of a diary involving his experiences with the Hopi. He shares his introductions to various people he meets over his three year adventure. The book was a very easy read that definitely educated me on the Hopi cultures, traditions, and history. This book is a "beautifully written personal account of Waters' inner and outer experience in this subterranean world".

Frank Waters, known as the "Grandfather of Southwestern Literature", had many associations with the American Indians throughout his life. His father was part Cherokee Indian. He has written several books detailing personal accounts with various Native tribes. In his Hopi account, Waters spent the majority of the time interacting with the Northern Arizonian Hopi. He refers to them as the strangest, most secretive and obdurate tribe left in the United States. His purpose in writing this book was to record the traditional religious beliefs and instinctive perceptions of life processes of the old wrinkled Hopi. He wanted to educate the whites on Native civilizations.

Waters resided in a little house at Pumpkin Seed Point in New Oraibi. It is here that he stayed up many nights recording his experiences in a diary. Waters believes that with the white peoples desperate reliance upon surface physical reality, we seldom perceive that in this Indian sub stream lays an America we have never known. During his encounters with the Native people, Waters acknowledges that in the depths of the Indian soul there lies a mistrust and dislike of whites. "We find ourselves at this great verge, the red and the white, two brothers of a common humanity held apart by two opposite complementary principles which neither has reconciled." In his book, Frank recalls some of these very conflicts.

Waters' closest friends, the Two Bears, guided him around New Oraibi and other villages. The Two Bears were actually a married couple. White Bear, the husband, was a Hopi. His wife, Brown Bear, was of German descent. She liked being called Brown Bear because she would say, "my skin is white but my heart is Hopi". White Bear was responsible for gathering most of the research and data. They used a little black recorder to tape all the information from touring places and visiting Hopi people. White Bear would later translate them into English so his wife could type them up. White Bear would also translate for Waters when he was interviewing the Hopi people. White Bear guided Waters through many sites of ancient ruins, hidden shrines, pictographs, and petroglyphs.

The Hopi Reservation included approximately 4,000 square miles located right in the heart of the Navajo's Reservation of 25,000. The Hopi government had vowed to protect their land against the Navajo; however, due to the vast difference in tribal population, the Navajos began to intrude on the Hopi land (80,000 Navajos to 5,000 Hopis). Waters was also quick to observe the contention the Hopis and Navajos had amongst each other. The Hopis felt like some the merchants catered more to the Navajos than to them, i.e. the local trading post showed preference to the many Navajos who drove in form the desert with jewelry to pawn. Another area of contention was the local hospital being built by the Public Health Service at the Hopi agency headquarters. Due to the distant location of it, the Hopi felt it was being