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Performing Archive

Pima

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The baskets made by the Pima, Papago, and Qahatika, as well as by their Maricopa neighbors, are practically identical in form and design, but the Maricopa basketry is of somewhat superior workmanship. The four-armed cross, a form of the swastika, appears as the central feature in the decoration of a majority of the Piman and Maricopa baskets of to-day, and while the true signification here is not known with certainty, it is not impossible that it was designed originally to represent the winds of the four cardinal directions. Less than a generation ago the swastika was employed by the Pima to decorate their shields, and as a brand for their horses.
The old-time round dwelling of the Pima tribes. In construction it was much the same as the earth lodge of the tribes of the northern plains, the chief difference lying in the fact that its top is practically flat and it is not provided with an opening for the escape of the smoke, as well as in the lack of an extended or built-out entrance way. The ki was usually about 15 feet in diameter. As the winter climate of southern Arizona is very mild, only a small fire was needed to keep the ki warm in even the coldest weather, the smoke from which became absorbed in part by the earthen roof, or escaped through the doorway.
A particularly fine-looking Papago girl of as nearly pure blood as can be found in the region. The northern Piman tribes have been in direct contact with Spanish people for more than two centuries. Much of the early foreign blood, however, has become so blended that its physical influence is no longer apparent. Indeed there are many instances in which the Indians insist that their blood is entirely aboriginal, whereas in fact an infusion of alien blood is traceable several generations back.
Hanamh is the Piman name for the cholla cactus and its fruit. The natives gather the fruit of this spiny plant in large quantities, and it forms a food of material importance to the several tribes living within its habitat. In gathering it they use rude tongs made from a split stick. After a basket is filled, the fruit is spread on the ground and bushed about with a small, stiff besom until the spines are worn off, or the spines are burned of in an open fire.