Religion

Zuni

The Amerindians renowned as the Zuni, Zuñi, or Aashiwi (as they call themselves) number slightly more than 10,000. Their 640-square-mile reservation is located in the valley of a tributary of the Little Colorado River high in the rugged plateau country of western New Mexico. Zuni conventionally speak the Zuni dialect, a exclusive dialect (also called an "isolate") which is unrelated to any other Native American language. The Zuni extend to perform their customary belief with its normal ceremonies and promenades and an independent and exclusive belief scheme. (Tedlock, 4-9)

Governor Norman Cooeyate has brought many religious changes in the society (Pueblo of Zuni). Culturally, the Zunis are similar to other Pueblo groups. They have been described as the most traditional and most widely known of all the Southwestern Indian groups (Kroeber, 8-18). Their social organization is matrilocal, with many exogamous matrilineal clans. The Zuni language is classified by linguists as a separate linguistic stock, called Zunian, which is distinct from the languages spoken by all the other Pueblos and the nearby Navajo and Apache. Zunis trace their ancestry to the builders of the ruins of Mesa Verde, Chaco Canyon, and Canyon de Chelly. These settlements flourished in the 10th through the 12th centuries. No one knows exactly when Zuni Pueblo itself was settled, but it is known to have been well established when the Spanish arrived in 1539.

For two centuries after the Pueblo uprising, the Zuni continued a yearly cycle of love & hate, rituals, and singing, together with religious ceremonies. Spanish friars maintained a presence at Zuni and made many political and economic demands on the Pueblo. They have a cycle of religious observance which takes precedence over all else. Their religious beliefs are centered on the three most powerful of their deities -Sun (Father), Earth (Mother), and Moonlight-Giving Mother. ...