The Hopi Tribe: Monogamous Marriage

The Hopi tribe believes in monogamous marriage, being married to one spouse or mate at a time. Most of the Hopi people chose their own spouses, but higher ranked families chose their children’s spouses to a certain extent. They believe their marriage carries into their afterlife. The Hopi marriage ceremony consists of a short period of groom service by the bride and an exchange of goods, money, and gifts between the two families. The bride goes and stays with her intended in laws where she grinds corn all day and prepares meals for the families. The groom’s parents wash the couples hair on the wedding day with a shampoo of yucca and once the bride’s are married they wear their hair loose or in braids. Brides were married in traditional white

robes woven by the uncles. After the wedding, a big feast is held at the bride’s mother's house. Today, selecting mates is more determined on social class rather than what clan you come from. Some Hopi people now marry White or Indians of other tribes that they meet at college or work. Now the Hopi couples are married in a church or town and then return back to the reserves. The Hopi’s rule use to be matrilocal residence, but by the mid 1920’s several people lived in neolocal houses which became the dominate rule today. The Hopi expected sexual loyalty, but infidelity did exist. This did not end in punishment but in separations between families (Courtship and Weddings).
During the nineteenth century, the small extended family was the most standard.

As long as the husband lived with his wife, the wife and children were fed and clothed off the husband's labor. Men and women had specific roles in the Hopi tribe. While men were in charge of politics, war, and agriculture, the women did the nurturing, storytelling, music, and some of the artwork. The house, fields, and orchards belonged to the wife since the husband moves in with the wife after marriage, but the husband owns his tools and animals. At about age four the children were threatened if they did not begin to do small tasks. Boys were treated more harshly than girls. Several years ago, sending children to school was a big conflict between families, while today education is valuable to the Hopi. Livestock was usually passed onto the children of both sexes from the parents, but most commonly given to the sons, while the daughters inherited the houses. Each family belongs to one of the 34 clans in the Hopi tribe. Hopi clans are matrilineal, meaning they trace their family through the mother. Each clan has special duties they perform and ceremonies they hold. You are not allowed to marry someone within your clan since you are considered a “family.” When a mother has her child, it is the father’s clan that takes care of the mother and child and names the child (Hopi- Marriage and

Family).