Blog post #2

After listening to all the creation stories, the one that stood out to me the most was the Hopi Origin story. This was because it mentioned something about a Center Place. This was the place where the Hopi knew that they were at home. I find this very interesting because I believe that in order to find where you belong, you need to explore the world first. “Maasaw, the caretaker of Earth told us to watch for a great sign in the sky, it would be a symbol that we have reached the Center Place. So, when we saw a bright light in the sky, we came to rest in the southwest.” I thought that this quote says a lot about the Hopi. They traveled throughout the lands, and they came to stop in the southwest. From the video, what if that bright light was some kind of eclipse, like an alignment of all the planets in the solar system. Chaco was also something interesting that I noticed. It was a place where people came together from vast distances. This is something that my family does. We have a huge family reunion on my mom’s side of the family in Hawai’i. We cook all sorts of food; I have family all over the United States, so we have a lot of variety.

I believe that it is important to listen to these stories because it gave me a visual view of what I was listening to. I personally learn better when I can see what is happening, and in this case, it was perfect for the stories because I could understand what was going on. If I were to just read them, I would be very lost and confused.

From the reading, I learned a lot about the structure of indigenous communities. I learned that everyone in the community had a role. Gender played a huge role in what a person did. For the women, they did a lot. They had the role of working the agriculture, so they did all the farm work. Without women, a lot of communities would not have been as successful as they were. Men were hunters, but when they went on long trips. Women went with them to carry supplies and water.