“Sunflower”

The Hopi live in the high, arid mesa country of northern Arizona where a sophisticated knowledge of the land, the plants and the climate are required for the success of an agricultural people. Corn, beans, and squash are the principle crops and grow in the washes and fields despite the elements surrounding them. There are secondary or lesser crops as well as wild plant foods and occasional hunting that help to sustain the people year around.

Prior to the turn of the century the sunflower is mentioned in our songs, and represented on our pottery and painted on our ceremonial headdresses as it is an important commodity of the villages.

The young girl gathers the sunflowers from the gardens on the side of the Mesa watered by the springs. It has become a favorite nutritious snack of hers but can also be used in stews or roasted in dishes. She loves to watch the village women grind the dried petals to a powder for ceremonial use and boil the seeds to make dye for cotton, wool, and baskets. She knows by boiling the seeds into an oil that it can also be used as a medicine for spider bites and snake bites. The sunflower’s beauty comes from all that it provides for our people.