People of Peace and the Blue Corn
Let's begin by celebrating the Hopi.
Traditionally, Hopi people lives in villages atop a mesa. The Hopi reservation is made up of 12 villages throughout 3 separate (but close to each other) mesas.
A mesa is an isolated relatively flat-topped natural elevation like the one shown above. Out of respect for their privacy and way of life, we did not take picture of the actual mesa where they live. Shown in this picture above is a small mesa, and nobody actually lives there. It's relatively tiny compared to a much larger mesa where the Hopi villages are located.
The Hopis been living in the area known these days as First, Second, and Third Mesa (the Hopi people rarely call this area as "third mesa," they simply called it K-Town or the village's name such as Oraibi) in the Hopi Reservation for thousands of years. It is believed that Oraibi is the longest continuously inhabited area in North America.
The soil, topography, and weather elements in the area made living there relatively challenging. Natural resources and water are scarce. It surely is not for everybody. Even many who grew up in the area left for greener pastures. As told by the school manager/guide/astronomer, the ancestor of the Hopi decided to settle in this area simply because nobody wants to live there, and therefore nobody will bother them or fight them for their land.
According to him, the Hopi is one of the few Native American tribes that has never have any land dispute with the U.S. government throughout history. He also explained that since living condition is very tough, they don’t have time to meddle with other people’s affairs and kept their focus on living their own day-to-day life.
One of the few crops that can withstand the element is blue corn. Not surprisingly, blue corn has become an important staple in Hopi’s way of life. Piki breaad is one of the most unique traditional Hopi food made from stone-ground blue corn. This traditional Hopi bread is made from ground blue corn. Light, airy, and flaky, closest resemblance in texture I can think of is fish food flakes or a really thin parchment paper. A unique taste that I could not describe. It is that unique.
There are many other byproducts of blue corn such as blue-corn frybread (an denser version of frybread compared to Navajo's frybread) and Blue corn pancake (a pancake, with texture and taste similar to kodiak cakes).
Piki Bread
Shown here is a restaurant version, served with hummus.
Hopi Burger
Hopi Frybread (also called blue corn frybread), shown here serving as buns to a burger and it's fixings.
Blue Corn Pancake
That stack is just for photo-op. Each of us could barely finish one, let alone three.
That stack is just for photo-op. Each of us could barely finish one, let alone three.
According to a Hopi folklore, on the day of creation the Great Spirit were distributing seeds for humankind to grow. The Hopi chose blue corn because . . . nobody else want it. That way nobody will fight them for it. Of course. The Hopi — people of peace, once again live up to their namesake.
The Bible in Romans 12:18 teaches us “If it is possible, as much as it is up to you, be at peace with all people.” Who knows, the Hopi been a living example of that verse for thousands of years, even before the Book of Romans was written, way back to the B.C. era. Perhaps before the city of Rome was founded.
We surely have a lot to learn from the Hopi.
We surely have a lot to learn from the Hopi.
