Читать книгу American Indian Ghost Stories of the West - Antonio Sr. Garcez - Страница 20

The Tohono O’odham, or “Papagos,” as they were named prior to 1980, presently exists on a reservation, which extends over a hundred miles following the Arizona and Mexican border. This reservation is also the second largest in the U.S. It begins north in the Casa Grande area, east in the Aguirre Valley, west in the Sand Tank/Sauceda Mountains, and then ends south in Old Mexico, where a small population of Tohono O’odham presently reside in the state of Sonora. They still practice much of the traditional ceremonies and beliefs that were alive prior to contact with Spanish missionaries in the late 17th Century.

The People chose to renounce the negative name “Papago” which means “Bean Eaters,” for the more appropriate and suitable name that they have always called themselves, Tohono O’odham. The Tohono O’odham are a true desert-farming people. In years past, they used a “dry farming” technology (like the Hopi to the north), which utilized the infrequent thunderstorms and rains that flooded the washes and valleys. They planted traditional seed crops in these areas and simply waited as the earth’s wet season provided the needed moisture for germination. Presently, these farming practices are no longer in use by the people and, instead, they utilize water provided by modern wells.

An Italian Jesuit missionary named Father Eusebio Francisco Kino made contact with the Tohono O’odham in the year 1687. This meeting changed the culture of the Tohono O’odham forever. New crops and domesticated animals were introduced, as was a new political system and religion, Catholicism. Today, church structures remain as evidence of this legacy. The Tohono O’odham provided the prime labor and artists who built all these beautiful buildings. The joint knowledge of the Tohono O’odham and Europeans regarding construction and design is admirable and will for all time be deserving of notable recognition.