The Eagle Sacrifice

Why did Hopis capture eagles?

Les Freeman

Upper Hutt, Wellington, New Zealand

- Marshall Trimble

Why did Hopis capture eagles?

Les Freeman

Upper Hutt, Wellington, New Zealand

The Hopis sacrificed eagles as part of an important tribal ceremony. In the spring, Hopi youth climbed up to the nest and captured eaglets. They took the eaglets home and treated them as they would a child, gifted with baby presents and tenderly nourished. Tethered on the rooftop, the eaglets were fed rabbits until the Niman, or Home Dance, in mid-July.

At the end of the ceremony, the Katsinas (spirit messengers) left the villages and went to the San Francisco Peaks to remain there until early winter. The Hopis then gently suffocated the now-grown eagles. Their spirits carried a final prayer for rain as clouds to the Katsinas.

The Hopis then took the eagle bodies to kivas, where they plucked the feathers and arranged them according to religious tradition. Then they buried the eagles in a special cemetery.

For the Hopi tribe, the eagle embodies the spirit of their ancestors.

How did slim-hipped Westerners keep their gunbelts in place?

Robert Vaillancourt Mason,

New Hampshire

A gunslinger had some options: a shoulder holster, a suspender rig and even pockets and waistbands, preferred by town-based shootists, including the Earp brothers who went that route at the O.K. Corral battle.

Wyatt Earp did experience an embarrassing moment with his gun rig.