Acoma
The Acoma are one of 19 tribes of the Pueblo Indians . They now live on the Acoma Pueblo reservation west of Albuquerque in the US state of New Mexico . The name comes from the Indian name Akoma and means people of the white rock . The reserve was built on the area of three traditional Acoma dwellings, including the actual Acoma-Pueblo (also called the sky city and the kingdom of Acus by the Spanish missionaries ), the main Acoma settlement, which is located on a mesa , around 120 m above the steppe lies.
The traditional Acoma economy consisted of arable farming (especially maize, beans, pumpkins) and sheep breeding, which were supplemented by group and individual hunts for pronghorns , bears and small game. The Acoma knew no wells or dams, but instead collected the rainwater in natural and artificial cisterns . The basis of the society was a matrilinear clan system - the houses and fields were inherited in a female line. When they married, the men moved into the wife's house ( matrilocal ). The secret societies ( men's associations ), in which medical knowledge was passed on, were also of great importance .
history
Creation myth
According to the myths of the Acoma, their people were based on two women, Nautsiti and Iatiku , who rose from the underworld. With the help of the sun, they brought all other living beings to life. The two sisters then married men and gave birth to children. Iatiku stayed where the Acoma Pueblo stands today and their daughters became clan mothers. Meanwhile, Nautsiti had moved east. Since the Spaniards later came from the east, the Acoma took them for descendants of Nautsiti and treated them very friendly at first until they noticed their mistake.
Prehistory
The ancestors of the Acoma consisted of four groups, one of which inhabited the pueblo since early prehistoric times, another occurred around 1300 BC. From the area of Mesa Verde . The remaining two groups presumably migrated from the Cebollita region. At that time, the Acoma area stretched from the Rio Grande westward to the El Morro area. What is certain is that migrations to the Acoma territory took place in the 13th century.
In three stages - called Acoma I to Acoma III - the initial simple one-room pueblo developed into today's complex buildings.
Around 1200 BC The Acoma pottery began to differ from that of the Zuñi in the fact that they used volcanic clay mixtures.
In addition to the Acoma-Pueblo, various villages have so far been identified: Acomita, McYartys, Locomotive Rock, Spider Spring, Cebolla and Questa. These served the Acoma primarily as camps for farming and cattle herding, while the old Acoma pueblo was used as a base.
First contacts with the Spanish
As early as 1539, at the beginning of the colonial era, Acoma was first mentioned by Marcos de Niza , who heard about the Acoma on his expedition but did not meet them himself. Nevertheless, he spoke of a city full of gold and silver treasures, which aroused the interest of the Spaniards. The Spanish conquistador Francisco Vásquez Coronado , who in 1540 led an expedition to search for the legendary seven golden cities of Cibola in the southwest of the later United States, sent his captain Hernando de Alvarado further east. This broke out on August 29, 1540 and after five days came across the Acuco-Pueblo of Acoma. He described the residents as "... robbers feared across the country."
The Indian village was on a rock and could only be entered by stairs. On the edge of the rock there were a number of smaller and larger stones that could be rolled down on any attackers without the residents having to show themselves. About 200 warriors lived with their families at a height of 120 meters in the buildings of the pueblo, which extended over four floors. The top floor contained cisterns for rainwater and storage rooms for maize. The residents kept turkeys and processed cotton, deer skins, buffalo skins, corn and vegetables, and turquoise. But there could be no question of gold and silver treasures.
Various expeditions by the Spaniards also visited the Acoma in the following years. An expedition that reached the Acoma Pueblo in 1582 estimated its population at 6,000 people.
In 1595 the Spanish viceroy sent the conquistador Juan de Oñate to take possession of what is now New Mexico and colonize it. On April 20, 1598 he set out with 129 Spanish soldiers, their wives and children as well as 10 Franciscan monks and two lay missionaries. On October 27, 1598, he conquered the Acoma Pueblo under Chief Zutacapan without encountering any resistance. He and his troops were preceded by the rumor that the Spaniards were immortal, which is why the Acoma preferred not to wage war against them. However, Oñate feared that the Acoma were plotting against him, and initially withdrew.
On December 1, 1598, Juan de Zaldivar , a nephew of Oñate, met with 20-30 men at the pueblo. Three days later he left his camp with 16 men in full armor and climbed the table mountain of the pueblo. There there was an argument in which the Acoma killed Zaldivar and all but five of his men. The fugitives hurried down the steep slope, one of which was fatally injured. The remaining four escaped to their companions who were waiting for them in the camp. Why the dispute came about is unclear. An Acoma tradition says that the Spaniards attacked some Acoma women.
Oñate sent Juan de Zaldivar's brother Vicente to avenge Juan. On January 21, 1599 he reached the pueblo with 70 men. The Acoma had meanwhile turned to friendly tribes for help, and Apache warriors in particular had obeyed. The fight lasted three days until 12 Spaniards were able to climb the pueblo in the south unobserved. They conquered the whole pueblo and lost only one man. Around noon on January 24th, the Acoma surrendered. Of the estimated 6,000 Acoma, 800 had lost their lives.
In February 1599 the Spaniards judged the Acoma: The male Acoma over 25 were each chopped off a foot and had to serve the Spaniards for 20 years. All male Acoma between 12 and 25 years of age also had to serve for 20 years, as did all women over 12 years. Two Indians who were visiting the pueblo during the attack by the Spaniards had their right hand chopped off, then the Spaniards sent the people who had been judged back to their own pueblos as a warning. What was euphemistically called personal service was actually slavery.
Oñate's actions sparked protests up to the Spanish court. Nevertheless, Oñate was able to hold onto his office until 1609. However, he was subsequently banned from setting foot in the New Mexico area. In addition, he had to pay a fine of 6,000 ducats . Vicente de Zaldivar was also banned from entering New Mexico for eight years. Oñate's successor, Pedro de Peralta , carried out only minor reforms in the administrative system. He was just as intolerant of the Acoma as his predecessors and, with the help of Franciscan monks, forced Christianity and Spanish education on them. He also forced them to pay high taxes.
After the period of forced labor ran out, the Acoma gradually returned to their village. Together with Indians from other pueblos who had fled because of a conflict with the Spanish administrators or missionaries, they rebuilt the destroyed pueblo between 1599 and 1620. After the bloody clashes, the Spanish had avoided the Acoma pueblo for a long time. It was not until 1629 that a missionary resettled there with Juan Ramirez. The Acoma still have fond memories of Ramirez today. In 1630 around 2,000 people lived in the pueblo again. This number subsequently fell continuously.
Pueblo uprising
After other Franciscan monks followed Ramirez, times got worse for the Acoma. They lost their best crops. Between 1645 and 1675 the repression by the Spaniards became more and more evident, in particular the Acoma were no longer allowed to practice their traditional religion, from which they had not renounced despite their conversion to Christianity. When the Pueblo peoples revolted against the Spaniards in 1680, the Acoma also took part in the uprising. They burned all Christian symbolic objects; "Her" Franciscan priest Lucas Maldonado was probably able to flee in time. Because of its geographical remoteness, the Acoma pueblo did not play a very significant role in the uprising. The Acoma were also hostile to the Spaniards when in 1695 some Pueblo groups, especially the Keres, put an end to the uprising. They allied with the Hopi , Zuñi and Apaches. During the uprising, many refugees from the friendly tribes moved to the Acoma Pueblo. In 1681 the Spaniards tried to retake New Mexico; they failed.
On August 15, 1696, the Spanish attacked the Acoma Pueblo under Diego de Vargas . They took five prisoners, including a chief. But they did not succeed in conquering the pueblo. Vargas had the prisoners shot, destroyed the Acoma fields and withdrew.
According to oral tradition, the refugees from other pueblos who had settled in the pueblo left the Acoma pueblo between 1697 and 1699 and settled on a nearby lake. The settlement became known as Laguna . At around the same time, the Acoma started operating some of their seasonal camps again.
On July 6, 1699, Varga's successor, Pedro Rodriguez Cubero, attacked the Acoma Pueblo. The Acoma surrendered after knowing that all of their allies had also surrendered. The mission was then re-established. The Acoma swore allegiance to the Spanish crown; this decision allowed them to subsequently plant fields again and rebuild their flocks of sheep.
18th - 20th century
In the 18th century, the Acoma lived in peace with the Spanish, save for a few isolated incidents. The missionaries realized that they could not push the kivas and thus also the traditional ceremonies out of the pueblo. In contrast to their predecessors, they did not try to force this through. The Spaniards and the Pueblo peoples were increasingly threatened by raids by nomadic tribes, mainly Comanche , Diné and Apache, and allied against these common enemies.
The Acoma enjoyed a quiet time from then on, agriculture and trade flourished again. Acoma hunting parties pushed far north and returned with bison pelts that they sold to Mexico. Tensions arose in 1750 when the Spaniards tried to settle Diné Indians near the Acoma. The settlement plan was soon rejected; the Acoma were against it not only because they were hostile to the Diné, but also because resources were too scarce.
In 1780–1781, the acoma were reduced from around 1,500 to around 530 by a smallpox epidemic. By 1795 their number had recovered to 900.
At the beginning of the 19th century, the status of the Pueblo Indians improved due to Mexican administrative reforms. In 1846 there was a war between Mexico and the neighboring USA . With the peace treaty of 1848, the United States took power in New Mexico. The majority of the Americans received a friendly welcome from the Acoma, as they welcomed the expulsion of the Spanish administration.
On July 6, 1857, the US government determined the boundaries of the Acoma and Laguna territories. In doing so, it was based on the guidelines of 1848. Mexican speculators as well as American farmers often tried to take their fertile land from the Acoma. Occasionally they were assisted by American federal courts because the Indians Protection Act was passed in 1834, when Acoma was not yet subject to American law. It was not until 1913 that the Acoma received the same rights as the other American Indian tribes. The Americans did not feel threatened by the Acoma and allowed them their traditional way of life. This fact and the fact that the Acoma-Pueblo was very remote contributed to the fact that the traditional way of life changed only very slowly.
American military statistics give a population of 435 Acoma in 1870, who lived in 124 families. They owned 58 horses, 860 cattle, 92 oxen, 1,600 sheep, 503 goats, 82 pigs, 68 donkeys and 10 mules.
Around 1879 the railroad tracks of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway were laid through the Acoma area. The transport links brought Neusiedlers who settled permanently in the Acoma area. Only now did the Acoma's life begin to change more rapidly. Numerous Acoma left the inaccessible Pueblo and settled along the railway line. From there they could manage their fields and pastures better and better reach the sales markets for their products.
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In 1885 the Acoma owned 400 horses, 500 donkeys, 550 cattle, 25 pigs, 9,500 sheep and 250 chickens.
In 1890, another epidemic of smallpox and diphtheria raged among the pueblos in New Mexico, reducing the Acoma population from 582 to 504.
In 1897 the Indian agency reported that although 55 children lived in Acoma-Pueblo, there was no school. In 1917 there were 150 school-age children, but only 19 of them attended school in Acomita. The Acoma took over the Euro-American way of life very slowly.
In the 19th and 20th centuries, the Acoma were repeatedly involved in land disputes. As a result of the General Allotment Act 1922, their collective reserve land was to be parceled out and divided among the individual Acoma, if this had not already been done. The per capita land size had been calculated precisely to leave land that could be sold to white farmers. The Acoma fought against the new law, but could not prevent it from being implemented on March 23, 1928. In the same year the governor of Acoma decided that from now on white visitors would have to pay an entrance fee to the Acoma Mesa. The population in the pueblo increased again; In 1946 about 1,000 people lived there.
After the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, the Acoma reverted to their traditional system of government, which was not set out in any written constitution. This form of government still existed in 1978 with some restrictions.
Despite additional gainful occupations like pottery and making silver jewelry, drums, and leatherwork, every Acoma came to an average annual income of just $ 500 in the late 1960s.
From the 1980s, tourism developed into the main economic factor. Because of the increasing importance of tourism, the Acoma increasingly opened up to white culture. So they started teaching their children bilingual English and Keresan. In 1982 the first English-Keresan dictionary was published. The Acoma now own a casino in Acomita . In 1989, the Acoma took in over $ 1 million from visitors. With the proceeds they buy back land.
Most of the Acoma now live in the valley, in Aznac , McCarty or Acomita. Very few Acoma still live in the pueblo, but many return there for celebrations such as weddings, funerals or traditional dances. Unemployment is around 60%.
Culture
The description of the Acoma culture is based mainly on oral traditions.
Although the Acoma were able to defend themselves, they were considered a peaceful people who farmed. Their war experiences were based on constant attacks from nomadic peoples. The main enemies were the Apache tribes.
The traditional diet consisted of various types of preparation from blue corn to a drink, wheat cake, bread, peaches, wild berries, wild bananas and other fruits. In addition to maize, the Acoma planted melons, pumpkins, beans, chillies, onions, beets and fruits such as peaches, plums, apricots, apples, pears and cherries. Today stews seasoned with chili are very popular. Fruits and vegetables continue to be of great importance.
The work - planting, harvesting and grinding maize, digging ditches, hunting, etc. - was done together; the chief was responsible for a balanced distribution.
For most Acoma, religion, philosophy, and aesthetics were of great importance. They knew many prayers, songs and dances. They also enjoyed performing theater, both dramas and comedies. In addition, they liked to create handicrafts and everyday objects such as pottery, blankets, belts, dresses, moccasins , baskets and carvings.
Native American medicine was a well organized system among the Acoma, as was education. Students were taught behavior, the human mind, physical science, ethics, astrology, child psychology, history, rhetoric, music and dance. Theology was one of the central practical exercises.
Adolph FA Bandelier conducted research with the Acoma from 1883–1884. He mentions a dance called Chakuuya . He also spoke of nine clans that no longer exist today: snake, lizard, shia hat, turquoise stone, coyote, puma, badger, cricket and purple corn. Another 14 clans that Bandelier mentioned still existed in 1978: water, sky, sun, turkey, eagle, roadrunner ( racing cuckoo ), oak, ivy, red corn, yellow corn, white corn, pumpkin, bear and antelope. Each clan had its own ceremonies and knowledge. When the clans died out, the ceremonies disappeared with them.
The clans are matrilineal . Every clan has its responsibilities. For example, the antelope clan provides the caciques and is responsible for government affairs and land distribution.
The rites of the Roman Catholic Church were adopted for the marriage ceremonies; only a few marry according to traditional rites. Only exogamous marriages are allowed.
Many Acoma still live in Adobe houses. In addition, concrete houses have been built through government programs.
language
The Acoma speak a variety of Keres , which in turn is considered an isolated language .
See also
literature
- Hartmut Krech (ed.): The Acoma, residents of the villages . In: Indian life. Indian women and men tell their lives . Books on Demand, Nortorf 2009, ISBN 978-3-8391-1047-8 , pp. 13-34.
- Dietmar Kuegler: Acoma. "The People of the White Rock" . In: Magazine for American Studies 1997, Issue 1–4, ISSN 0170-2513 .
- Alfonso Ortiz (Ed.): Handbook of North American Indians . Volume 9: Southwest . Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC 1979, ISBN 0-16-004577-0 .
- Alfonso Ortiz (Ed.): Handbook of North American Indians . Volume 10: Southwest . Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC 1983, ISBN 0-16-004579-7 .
- Trudy Griffin Pierce: Native Peoples of the Southwest . University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque NM 2000, ISBN 0-8263-1907-6 , excerpt .
- Leslie A. White: The Acoma Indians . In: Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology, Annual Report 47, 1929-30 (1932), ZDB -ID 208194-5 , pp. 23-125.
Web links
- Photos of Acoma Pueblo ( Memento from December 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- Pueblo Pottery ( Memento from March 17, 2015 in the Internet Archive )