Po'pay - Pueblo Indian Hero

this is what i do late at night, on weekends while shaun is out of town... i wander the internet and sometimes youtube... occasionally i even find interesting information! i was checking out some hopi dances and videos when i stumbled onto this one about the unveiling of a statue honoring Po'pay in the national statuary hall in washington, dc. the short story about Po'pay is this - in 1680 Po'pay coordinated the successful revolt of the pueblo indians against the spanish...

according to legend they coordinated the uprising by sending runners to each pueblo with knotted deerskin strips... by untying one knot each day they would all begin the revolt on the same day, the day the last knot was untied. two of the runners were arrested so it was decided to speed the revolt by two days... the pueblo indians were successful, completely surprising the spaniards. the spaniards took refuge in santa fe and the indians cut off their water supply... eventually they let them go.

this led to the king of spain recognizing the sovereignty of the pueblo people - thus allowing them to keep their ancestral lands, languages and customs to this day.