The O’othham Hoho’ok A’agitha are a collection of
legends and myths of the Papago and Pima Indians,
collectively known as the O’othham, who are
native to southern Arizona and northern Mexico.
The Hohokam (which means “finished ones” in
Pima) settled in the American southwest from
Mexico between 750 and 900; around 1400, they
disappeared either through migration or warfare.
The Pima and Papagos peoples, who lived in the
former Hohokam territory, retained their ORAL LITERATURE
and communicated the stories for centuries,
using them as educational tools that taught
traditional values and customs. For the Pima and
Papago, these tales were their history, not fiction.
Because of their remoteness from Spanish and
Mexican power, the Pima and Papago did not fall
under European rule and were not introduced to
Christianity until 1694. The native man-god described
in the Hohokam chronicles, who was murdered
and then departed from the world, bears some
parallels to but is not patterned after the Christian
Jesus. The tale of creation describes how God created
the world so he might live on it. Called the Earth-
Doctor, he makes the world out of shavings of his
own skin, and then creates the sun, moon, stars, and
the first humans.Together, the sun, moon, earth, and
sky then make Siuuhu the Drinker and the Coyote.
Other stories tell of the origin of wine and of irrigation.
In them, wind, clouds, rains, and seeds are
gathered from the corners of the universe and used
to plant and water the fields. The ritual involving
saguaros, or cactus wine, is used to invite rain. A later
story tells of the death and resurrection of Siuuhu.
Thanks to careful collaborations between scholars
and native speakers in the last century, the
O’othham tales have been preserved and are an
important source of information about the elements
of Native American mythologies prior to
their discovery by Europeans.
An English Version of the O’othham
Hoho’ok A’agitha
O’otham Hoho’ok A’agitha: Legends and Lore of the Papago
and Pima Indians. Translated by Dean and
Lucille Saxton. Tucson: University of Arizona
Press, 1973.
Works about the O’otham Hoho’ok A’agitha
Bahr,Donald, et. al, eds. The Short Swift Time of Gods
on Earth: The Hohokam Chronicles. Berkeley: University
of California Press, 1994.
Underhill, Ruth M. Papago Indian Religion. New York:
Columbia University Press, 1946.
Zepeda, Ofelia, ed. When it Rains: Papago and Pima
Poetry. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1982.