| OCR Text |
Show VII. Conclusions The Zuni Creation and Migration narratives recount how the ancestors of the Zunis searched for the Middle Place. A son and daughter of the Zunis' head priest caused the creation of the mudheads. Children lost in the Zuni River by their mothers became the Council of the Gods, who live permanently in the Kolhu/wala:wa, under the surface of the earth near the junction of the Zuni and Little Colorado Rivers. The Zunis eventually found the Middle Place, but continued to communicate with the beings at Kolhu/wala:wa. One Zuni tale tells of several ancient Zunis who gambled with the Kokko at Kolhu/wala:wa, lost and fell into the other world, becoming the Uwannami, beings who move above the clouds and bring rain to the world. In order to commune with their ancestors, to maintain the order of the living world and of the spiritual world, as well as to bring rain to the earth, Zunis make a quadrennial pilgrimage to Kolhu/wala:wa. According to Zuni tradition they have made this pilgrimage ever since settling at the "Middle Place" centuries ago. Corroborating documentary and material evidence suggests that they have been making this one hundred ten mile long pilgrimage from their villages, now located on the Zuni Reservation, for at least five centuries. A vast body of ethnological, archaeological, and historical studies of the tribe exists, and a study of the extensive bibliography of Zuni scholarly work in these disciplines includes numerous descriptions and comments about Kolhu/wala:wa and the trail to that place. Ethnological studies indicate that that Kolhu/wala:wa and the trail to Kolhu/wa:wa are central to the Zunis' spiritual and material belief systems. The trail has a real and metaphorical meaning to tribal members, and is central to their vital and dynamic native religion. Attempts from Christian groups - 184 - |
