Mythologies of the Yavapai Tribe

Yavapai–Apache Nation

Yavapai-Apache Nation
2400 West Datsi Ave.
Camp Verde, AZ 86322

The Yavapai are a Native American tribe in Arizona. Historically, the Yavapai – literally “people of the sun” (from Enyaava “sun” + Paay “people”) – were divided into four geographical bands who identified as separate, independent peoples: the Ɖulv G’paaya, or Western Yavapai; the Yaavpe', or Northwestern Yavapai; the Gwev G’paaya, or Southeastern Yavapai; and the Wiipukpaa, or Northeastern Yavapai – Verde Valley Yavapai. Another Yavapai band, which no longer exists, was the Mađqwarrpaa or "Desert People." Its people are believed to have mixed with the Mojave and Quechan peoples. The Yavapai have much in common with their linguistic relatives to the north, the Havasupai and the Hualapai.[2] Often the Yavapai were mistaken as Apache by American settlers, who referred to them as "Mohave-Apache," "Yuma-Apache," or "Tonto-Apache".

Yavapai – Fierce Warriors of the Colorado River

The Yavapai-Apache Nation is centered on a reservation of more than 1,600 acres in the Verde Valley, 55 miles south of Flagstaff. The nation is actually a combination of two distinct tribes, the Yavapais and Tonto Apaches, each of which has their own dialect, history, and culture. Both tribes lived in the Verde Valley for centuries, with the Yavapais mostly to the west of the Verde River and the Tonto Apaches to the east. The two tribes often overlapped on this land, sharing resources and intermarrying. For centuries Yavapai and Apache families and bands subsisted by hunting, gathering, and small-scale horticulture. They were deeply rooted to particular places based on their clan affiliations, even though they moved seasonally over a wide area to harvest wild plant and animals. They planted crops such as corn and melons in familiar places they would return to year after year, while ranging widely to hunt deer and collect agave, pinyon pine nuts, and other wild plant foods. The Yavapais and Apaches often traveled to the Grand Canyon in summer and fall when edible plants like pinyon nuts were abundant.

Yavapai-Apache Nation
2400 West Datsi Ave
Camp Verde, AZ 86322
Phone: 928-567-3649

The Yavapai are an Apache tribe of the Yuman Family, they were popularly known as Apache Mohave and Mohave Apache, meaning “hostile or warlike Mohave.” Before their removal to the Rio Verde Agency in May 1873, the Yavapai claimed as its range, the Rio Verde Valley and the Black Mesa from the Salt River, as far as Bill Williams Mountains in western Arizona. They then numbered about 1,000. Earlier they ranged much farther west, as far west as the Colorado River, but, they were chiefly an interior tribe, living south of Bill Williams Fork as far as Castle Dome mountains above the Gila River. In the spring of 1875, they were placed under the San Carlos Apache Agency, where, in the following year, they numbered 618. Writings of the time described the Yavapai men as tall and erect, muscular, and well proportioned; and the women as being stouter and handsomer than the Yuma. In 1900, most of the tribe drifted from the San Carlos Reservation and settled at their old home on the Rio Verde, including the abandoned Camp McDowell Military Reservation, which was assigned to their use on November 27, 1901. By 1903, they were said to number between 500 and 600 (but this number probably included some Yuma and Apache), scattered in small bands from Camp McDowell to the head of the Rio Verde.

The Yavapai are a Yuman-speaking American Indian group who in the late seventeenth century numbered about 1,200 and ranged over an extensive territory in present-day central and west-central Arizona. Though in contact with the Spanish as early as the late sixteenth century, Yavapai relations with Whites were limited until gold was discovered in Yavapai territory in the 1860s. By the early 1900s, after some resistance and bloodshed, the U.S. government succeeded in settling the Yavapai onto reservations. In 1978 Yavapai located on the reservations in central Arizona numbered 883. Except for some western bands along the lower Colorado River who practiced limited horticulture, the Yavapai were nomadic hunters and gatherers. Their staple food source was the agave plant, used to make mescal, and their most Important animal resources, deer and rabbits, were taken in communal hunts involving men and women. Yavapai society was divided into three subtribes, each of which was further subDivided into local bands. Tribal and subtribal chiefs were lacking, and bands were headed by influential leaders who had distinguished themselves in warfare.

Yavapai-Prescott Indian Tribe

530 E. Merritt
Prescott, AZ 86301

928-515-7318

928-778-9445 (fax)

acaballero@ypit.com

The color blue represents that the Yavapai are “from the sky.” Blue also represents water and Komwidamapokwia, the mother of this generation of Yavapai, who was the only survivor of the world flood. The Tribal Seal represents the four worlds of the Yavapai and is illustrated using the color yellow for petals of the sun and the story of Skatakaamcha, the cultural hero of the Yavapai, whose father was the sun. The crosses represent the most important symbol of the Yavapai. Komwidamapokwia and Skatakaamcha used the equilateral cross for healing. Spaniards gave the Yavapai the name Cruzados because they wore crosses in their hair. The cross also represents Venus, which appears both as the Morning Star and the Evening Star, where they are now residing. Many Yavapai women are given a name with “star” (hamsi) included. Komwidamapokwia gave the Yavapai four stones for medicine and directions. These stones were white, turquoise, red and black and are depicted near the edges of the basket in the four directions.