Ceremonies

Ceremonies

In May 1986 the Lodge voted to officially changed its’ Indian affiliation from Hopi to Hohokam. Up until this time, Ceremonial costumes were either Hopi or plains style. This change in the Lodges' Indian affiliation was made for several reasons among which were that the Hopi tribe was not local to southern Arizona, the Hopi masks were difficult to speak and be heard from and the Hopi tribe was perceived to discourage the costuming and ceremonies although they had given tacit permission for the use of their non-religious traditions in some ceremonies. The Hohokam were long known to be the ancient tribe of southern Arizona and some believed that they were a separate civilization. Very little was known about their ceremonies and costuming until the 1980's when it was proven that the Hohokam were a northern extremity of the Toltec tribe. Research indicated that the Hohokam and the Toltec had nearly identical culture and language. This proof made the change of the official tribal affiliation from Hopi to Hohokam very easy due to the spectacular nature of the well documented Toltec’s pre-Aztec costumes. Similarly, much of the music and dance of the Hohokam has been preserved by the Mohave tribe of California, where many of the Hohokam went when the climate turned drier between 1250 and 1400 A.D.

Ceremony Team with Drummer	Ceremony Team with Drummer & Elangomats
Over the nineteen years since the change to a Hohokam affiliation, many ceremony teams have designed their costumes in the Hohokam style. Most notable was the Oriabi chapter team which competed at the 1994 N.O.A.C. Their peacock and ostritch headdresses were the hit of the ceremony competition. Download Papago Lodge Ceremony Handbook (The password is the Admonition in all lower case in the language of the Delaware)