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8 - Finding Posi: the protohistoric Puebloan world

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2015

John Kantner
Affiliation:
Georgia State University
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Summary

According to the Tewa people of San Juan Pueblo, their ancestors originally lived below Ohange pokwinge, Sand Lake, together with all creatures. One of the men was asked by Blue Corn (Summer) Mother and White Corn (Winter) Mother to search for a way to leave the lake, and on one of his journeys, he met the tsiwi – predatory animals and carrion-eating birds – who accepted him as the first of the Made People. He became the Hunt Chief and assigned two more Made People: Summer Chief and Winter Chief. The chiefs tried to lead people out of the lake, but four times they had to return and create more Made People, including the Ke medicine man, the Kossa and Kwirana clowns, the Scalp Chief, and the Kwiyoh Women's Society.

Finally, the ancestors left the lake and traveled south, with the Summer Chief and his people following mountains on the west side of the Rio Grande and the Winter Chief and his followers following mountains to the east. The Summer People farmed and ate wild plant foods, while the Winter People hunted, with each stopping and building villages eleven times. At the twelfth stop, the two groups rejoined at Posi, until an epidemic struck and they abandoned the village, splitting into six new groups. Each included both Winter and Summer People and representatives of all Made People, and each set out to found new villages.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2004

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