The Indians zuñi are one of the tribes which occupied the New Mexico formerly and the Arizona. They live today on a Indian Réserve, Zuni Indian Reservation, 56 km in the south of Gallup (New Mexico) on their ancestral grounds.

History

It is said that the Indians zuni come from people which lived at the same place there is more than 1000 years, before the arrival of Europeans. These people, the Anasazi , were a large company which held broad territories and many richnesses, and gathered distinct civilizations and cultures. Zuñi would be the direct descendants of the Anasazi.

The Indians zuñi succeeded in remaining little influenced by outside. They always asserted the same territory, on which they live for a very long time. This territory is about of the size of the State of Rhode Island.

They live mainly in the pueblo Zuñi in New Mexico. As for those which live out of the city, on the whole of the territory, they are very few and are distant from/to each other. They knew to be protected by not taking party with the problems which did not relate to them. Thanks to this neutrality in the wars and the conflicts, they could remain autonomous and resist the changes which took place around them.

The pueblo of Zuñi was the first pueblo discovered by the Conquistadores in 1539. On their territory many vestiges of pueblos going back is 600 or 700 years.

Language

Several anthropologists establish a bond between the Indians zuñi and the other tribes Pueblos dispersed in all the area of South-west (of the American continent). In any case, they are single today because their language is spoken only by them and does not resemble the languages of the close tribes.

Daily life

Zuñi, just like in the past, are deeply monk. Their religion is not that of the other tribes: they think that their gods reside in the lakes of New Mexico and Arizona.

The chiefs and the Shaman S during religious holidays, carry out two types different of ceremonies. While the chiefs, masked, make representations accompanied by musics and dances, the chamanes request the gods for a fertile ground and abundant rains. The chamanes play a big role in the community. They are consulted for councils, but also for cures. There exist various levels of know-how between the chamanes, the goal being to be with the more high level in order to take part in all the aspects of the life of the tribe.

If it is not rare to find the religion in good place in the Indian tribes, that is much more to see the women playing a big role. They are regarded as the life of the tribe. The men drive out, build, provide for the needs for first need, but the whole belongs to the women. It is they which trade and which deal with finances.

The Indians zuñi form a mysterious tribe. Their culture, their language and their city are insulated. But they belong to the lucky tribes which knew to resist at the same time to the European immigrants, with the américano-Mexican Guerre and with the hard treatments which they endured.

See too

Random links:

Regional natural park of the Volcanos of Auvergne | (65) Cybèle | Validation | Villers-on-Bonnières | Manual Luís Rodrigues Viana