Pumpkin Seed Point: Being Within The Hopi

by Frank Waters

Book Overview

Frank Waters lived for three years among the Hopi people of Arizona and was quickly drawn into their culture. Pumpkin Seed Point is a beautifully written personal account of Waters's inner and outer experiences among the Hopi.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0804006350
• ISBN13: 9780804006354
• Release Date: January 1973
• Publisher: Ohio University Press
• Length: 175 Pages
• Weight: 0.64 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

A Labor of Love with the Hopi

Frank Waters wrote some of the best books we have about the culture and life of the American Southwest. His "Book of the Hopi" is the classic study of Hopi mythology and history, a labor of love described more personally in "Pumpkin Seed Point," about the three years he spent collecting stories for "Book of the Hopi." "Pumpkin Seed Point" is both personal and universal. Referring to his research he writes: "It wa a difficult winter for the two Bears and me. The kachina night dances were being held in the kivas of every village, and indomitably we went to everyone. Gorgeous as they were, each was an ordeal." Referring to dreams, he writes: "These 'voices of prophecy' were ancient gods, archetypal symbols and images speaking from the lowest level of unconsciousness." For Waters, the poetic and mythical shared spacetime with nature and the pragmatic concerns of everyday life. Who would want to deny that the Hopi had insights into something more profound than we usually imagine within our modern materialistic obsessions? Who could deny that the Hopi suffered from modern obsessions? Although writing in the 1960s, Waters' insights into the disappearance of the Anasazi remain as profound as any research that's followed him. His descriptions of Hopi life mirror what many of us imagine Anasazi life might have been like when we visit the great Anasazi ruins of Chaco, Aztec, Hovenweep, and Mesa Verde. I reread this classic recently at Chaco while working on my own novel, Ophelia's Ghost, about the disappearance of the Anasazi.

A Book of the Hopi companion

Frank Waters' book on the Hopi is perhaps the best account of their rich traditions and history. You would be well served to read that but as equally interesting is this account of his living with the Hopi while working on that book. This is written in a straight forward style so it is an easy read. Water wisely leaves the complication of the Hopi for his more scholarly work. This book explains the characters that he met and the conditions of their lives. This book will break your heart. The Book of Hopi will liberate your soul.