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| omnipoetics:ortiz [2025/04/15 19:54] – [Works Cited] sydneyb | omnipoetics:ortiz [2025/04/24 00:43] (current) – [The Sacred Clown] sydneyb |
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| ====== The Sacred Clown ====== | ====== The Sacred Clown ====== |
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| ====== Alfonso Ortiz ====== | ====== Alfonso Ortiz ====== |
| {{ :omnipoetics:ortiz_alfonso.jpg?200|}} | {{ :omnipoetics:ortiz_alfonso.jpg?200|}} |
| Alfonso Alex Ortiz (April 30, 1939 – January 26, 1997(?)) was a Native American cultural anthropologist. Ortiz was born in Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo, New Mexico (it was previously known as San Juan Pueblo until 2005) and Ohkay Owingeh is also the federally recognized tribe of Pueblo people inhabiting the town. A noted academic, Ortiz taught at the University of California at Los Angeles, Colorado College, Pitzer College, Princeton University, and University of New Mexico. At one point, Ortiz also served as the president of the Association on American Indian Affairs or the AAIA. Notably, Ortiz helped negotiate the 1970 return of the sacred Blue Lake to the Taos Pueblo and was an important mediator in the 1973 Wounded Knee standoff (Martinez). | Alfonso Alex Ortiz (April 30, 1939 – January 26, 1997(?)) was a Native American cultural anthropologist. Ortiz was born in Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo, New Mexico (it was previously known as San Juan Pueblo until 2005) and Ohkay Owingeh is also the federally recognized tribe of Pueblo people inhabiting the town. A noted academic, Ortiz taught at the University of California at Los Angeles, Colorado College, Pitzer College, Princeton University, and University of New Mexico. At one point, Ortiz also served as the president of the Association on American Indian Affairs or the AAIA. Notably, Ortiz helped negotiate the 1970 return of the sacred Blue Lake to the Taos Pueblo and was an important mediator in the 1973 Wounded Knee standoff. ((Martinez, Ashley. “Alfonso Ortiz.” // Notable Folklorists of Color//, https://notablefolkloristsofcolor.org/portfolio/alfonso-ortiz/.)) |
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| Currently, much of Ortiz's work (besides the writings that we have access to) is held by Princeton University. Two notable series that Princeton has is the Alfonso Ortiz Papers, which are the personal, professional, and academic papers of Ortiz including his correspondence, working files, and materials related to the AAIA and the Alfonso Ortiz Collection of Native American Oral Literature which are a series of phonotapes of approximately fifty-five hours duration made primarily at San Juan Pueblo, New Mexico (before its name conversion), to help preserve the language and the culture, and to perpetuate the oral tradition, of the Tewa-speaking Pueblo (Princeton). | Currently, much of Ortiz's work (besides the writings that we have access to) is held by Princeton University. Two notable series that Princeton has is the Alfonso Ortiz Papers, which are the personal, professional, and academic papers of Ortiz including his correspondence, working files, and materials related to the AAIA and the Alfonso Ortiz Collection of Native American Oral Literature which are a series of phonotapes of approximately fifty-five hours duration made primarily at San Juan Pueblo, New Mexico (before its name conversion), to help preserve the language and the culture, and to perpetuate the oral tradition, of the Tewa-speaking Pueblo. ((Alfonso, Ortiz. “Alfonso Ortiz Collection of Native American Oral Literature.” //Princeton University Library//, https://findingaids.princeton.edu/catalog/WC017.)) |
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| After his death in 1997, the National Endowment for the Humanities presented a grant to build the foundation for the Alfonso Ortiz Center for Intercultural Studies. By most accounts, Ortiz was one of the bridges between the native population and the non-native population. According to an obituary memorial in the //Albuquerque Tribune//, Ortiz was "one of the few American Indians to provide anthropology with a view from the "inside out"" (Guthrie and Reed). While Ortiz did have his fair share of critics (including from the native population that believed he let out scared information), no one ever doubted that everything he did, he did for the betterment of the native population to remember the past while also hoping for a better future. | After his death in 1997, the National Endowment for the Humanities presented a grant to build the foundation for the Alfonso Ortiz Center for Intercultural Studies. By most accounts, Ortiz was one of the bridges between the native population and the non-native population. According to an obituary memorial in the //Albuquerque Tribune//, Ortiz was "one of the few American Indians to provide anthropology with a view from the "inside out."" ((Guthrie, Patricia and Ollie Reed Jr. “Alfonso Ortiz Offered Inside Look at American Indians.” //Indigenouspeople.net//, https://www.indigenouspeople.net/ortiz.htm.)) While Ortiz did have his fair share of critics (including from the native population that believed he let out scared information), no one ever doubted that everything he did, he did for the betterment of the native population to remember the past while also hoping for a better future. |
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| Weirdly enough, no one seems to be able to agree on his year of death? While researching, both 1997 and 1998 were proposed due to obituaries and other write-ups on the event of Ortiz's death. Much like the clowns and fools he details in his writings, it is hard not to decide if that was one last chuckle at everyone else. | Weirdly enough, no one seems to be able to agree on his year of death? While researching, both 1997 and 1998 were proposed due to obituaries and other write-ups on the event of Ortiz's death. Much like the clowns and fools he details in his writings, it is hard not to decide if that was one last chuckle at everyone else. |
| Sacred clowns, also known as ritual clowns, are a feature of the ritual life of many traditional religions. In the West, much of the traditions surrounding clowns can be trace either to Greek clowns who were part of the entertainment and worship of Dionysus or even Italian commedia dell’arte. However, if one were to widen the scope, this concept was not new in native tribes in the Americas. Sacred clowns, in an ironic twist, held little sacred, and rather then simply demeaning, it offered perspective and insight. Through humor, vulgarity, and satire, and innuendo, these figures allow for thoughtful consideration for why people do what they do, what communities allow to be passed down, and what is consider taboo within the eyes of that society. In most cases, the sacred clowns represented a break from the normal order of the present, they also symbolized the chaos of the{{ :omnipoetics:1_ood2xvsjra-c_czzpsauog.jpg?400|}} world before the current iteration. Essentially, in some religions, the clowns were aligned with the primordial forces that ruled the world before and most are tasked with specific tasks performed during rituals, ceremonies, and festivals. | Sacred clowns, also known as ritual clowns, are a feature of the ritual life of many traditional religions. In the West, much of the traditions surrounding clowns can be trace either to Greek clowns who were part of the entertainment and worship of Dionysus or even Italian commedia dell’arte. However, if one were to widen the scope, this concept was not new in native tribes in the Americas. Sacred clowns, in an ironic twist, held little sacred, and rather then simply demeaning, it offered perspective and insight. Through humor, vulgarity, and satire, and innuendo, these figures allow for thoughtful consideration for why people do what they do, what communities allow to be passed down, and what is consider taboo within the eyes of that society. In most cases, the sacred clowns represented a break from the normal order of the present, they also symbolized the chaos of the{{ :omnipoetics:1_ood2xvsjra-c_czzpsauog.jpg?400|}} world before the current iteration. Essentially, in some religions, the clowns were aligned with the primordial forces that ruled the world before and most are tasked with specific tasks performed during rituals, ceremonies, and festivals. |
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| In terms of the native customs found in the Americas, sacred clowns are usually aligned with tricksters and there are many variations of the sacred clowns throughout many tribes. For example, one of the most famous examples is Heyoka, the Lakota equivalent, hailing form North and South Dakota. For our purposes, Ortiz focused on the Pueblo clowns, which might have been an issues as some native argued that Ortiz might have written about something he shouldn't have. Defining these clowns is a bit particular as there several of these figures that appear in rituals, but also in the Pueblo religion, these individuals can also belong to kivas (which are secret groups) and it is important to protect a clown's identity. How the Pueblo tribes accomplish this measure of protection depends, but usually it was with garish costumes and body paint, specially in horizontal line across the face and body. It is understandable that it was crucial to protect these individuals' identities. According to writer K. Thor Jensen, "The clowning on display here is transgressive, wild and often disgusting, involving absurd sexual gestures and bodily fluids. Although social mores have tempered their behavior in the century since that Bureau of American Ethnology report was written, modern Pueblo clowns still push the limits of what’s acceptable." Essentially, the clowns, along with their religious duties, were meant to function as a guide for how to not conduct oneself within a social and community setting. | In terms of the native customs found in the Americas, sacred clowns are usually aligned with tricksters and there are many variations of the sacred clowns throughout many tribes. For example, one of the most famous examples is Heyoka, the Lakota equivalent, hailing form North and South Dakota. For our purposes, Ortiz focused on the Pueblo clowns, which might have been an issues as some native argued that Ortiz might have written about something he shouldn't have. Defining these clowns is a bit particular as there several of these figures that appear in rituals, but also in the Pueblo religion, these individuals can also belong to kivas (which are secret groups) and it is important to protect a clown's identity. How the Pueblo tribes accomplish this measure of protection depends, but usually it was with garish costumes and body paint, specially in horizontal line across the face and body. It is understandable that it was crucial to protect these individuals' identities. According to writer K. Thor Jensen, "The clowning on display here is transgressive, wild and often disgusting, involving absurd sexual gestures and bodily fluids. Although social mores have tempered their behavior in the century since that Bureau of American Ethnology report was written, modern Pueblo clowns still push the limits of what’s acceptable." ((Jensen, Thor. “That Native Americans Clowns Who Bit the Heads Off Live Mice.” //Medium//, https://medium.com/dose/the-native-american-clowns-who-bit-the-heads-off-live-mice-ccc909123b97.)) Essentially, the clowns, along with their religious duties, were meant to function as a guide for how to not conduct oneself within a social and community setting. |
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| ====== "Sacred Clown" ====== | ====== "Sacred Clown Synopsis" ====== |
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| Ortiz's study of the sacred clowns opens many different doors. Ortiz begins his writing by noting that on June 22nd and 23rd of 1968, he had heard about a public ritual that was to held on the 23rd in a rather conservative Hopi village and he plans to see the proceedings for himself. While observing from a roof, Ortiz notes that there are two groups of dancers (one that is dancing in perfect sync) while the other group is just a little off in their movements. Both groups are labelled "kachinas," which is a spirit being in the religious understandings of the Pueblo people, but they provide a really fascinating juxtaposition even before the clowns' appearance as both group represent different tribes, natural forces, and attitudes. For example, the out-of-sync group is supposed to represent the Navajo tribe (at least from Ortiz's understanding), so the clowns are not the only members of the rituals that critique aspects of other tribes around them. | Ortiz's study of the sacred clowns opens many different doors. Ortiz begins his writing by noting that on June 22nd and 23rd of 1968, he had heard about a public ritual that was to held on the 23rd in a rather conservative Hopi village and he plans to see the proceedings for himself. While observing from a roof, Ortiz notes that there are two groups of dancers (one that is dancing in perfect sync) while the other group is just a little off in their movements. Both groups are labelled "kachinas," which is a spirit being in the religious understandings of the Pueblo people, but they provide a really fascinating juxtaposition even before the clowns' appearance as both group represent different tribes, natural forces, and attitudes. For example, the out-of-sync group is supposed to represent the Navajo tribe (at least from Ortiz's understanding), so the clowns are not the only members of the rituals that critique aspects of other tribes around them. |
| {{ :omnipoetics:tumblr_inline_or14aoihug1tx9lef_250sq.jpg?200|}} | {{ :omnipoetics:tumblr_inline_or14aoihug1tx9lef_250sq.jpg?200|}} |
| However, when both groups stop their dance to go eat and rest for the next half of the festivities, that is when they send in the clowns. The clowns are easily identifiable with their paint and their corn-husk hats that look like horns. Much like a stand-up comedy routine, the clowns hold no punches for everything and everyone around them as they have make fun of everything, and "They [the clowns] do this by burlesquing missionaries, traders, government officials, members of neighboring tribes, anthropologists, and other people who touch on their lives; the clowns always pick on individuals, agencies and institutions which give them proper theatrical fodder for making some moral-ethical point about themselves" (Ortiz 271). Along with their vicious mockeries of everything that exists, the clowns are also extremely physical, such as the ordeal with the cactus (Ortiz 271) and the audience loves them, because who wouldn't? At their heart, the clowns represent how one is not to act, because while it is funny, if taken to the extreme, it stops being humorous. | However, when both groups stop their dance to go eat and rest for the next half of the festivities, that is when they send in the clowns. The clowns are easily identifiable with their paint and their corn-husk hats that look like horns. Much like a stand-up comedy routine, the clowns hold no punches for everything and everyone around them as they have make fun of everything, and "They [the clowns] do this by burlesquing missionaries, traders, government officials, members of neighboring tribes, anthropologists, and other people who touch on their lives; the clowns always pick on individuals, agencies and institutions which give them proper theatrical fodder for making some moral-ethical point about themselves." ((Ortiz, Alfonso. “The Sacred Clown.” //Symposium of the Whole: A Range of Discourse Towards an Enthopoetics//, edited by Jerome and Diane Rothenberg, University of California Press, 1983.)) Along with their vicious mockeries of everything that exists, the clowns are also extremely physical, such as the ordeal with the cactus and the audience loves them, because who wouldn't? At their heart, the clowns represent how one is not to act, because while it is funny, if taken to the extreme, it stops being humorous. ((Ortiz, Alfonso. “The Sacred Clown.” //Symposium of the Whole: A Range of Discourse Towards an Enthopoetics//, edited by Jerome and Diane Rothenberg, University of California Press, 1983.)) |
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| Eventually, from Ortiz's perspective, these groups who preform the rituals are not different at all and instead must be viewed together. According to Ortiz, "Between the kachinas and the clowns, we obtain a well-balanced portrayal of what the Hopi know about living; the kachinas remind men that if they but join their hearts periodically in these rites of mass supplication to the ancestral deities, life will continue as before in abundance and harmony; the clowns, by injecting a bit of the mundane and the commonplace, the ludicrous and the whimsical, into these most solemn of occasions, remind the people that this other side of life, too, is their own and that it must not be forgotten in the commitment to an exacting calendar of religious observances" (272). The groups of kachina and clowns also act as affirmation of the Hopi tribe's identity which is notable after centuries of suppression and the fact that they are the minority in the region. The clowns, while they technically profane everything, be it holy rituals or spaces, they also serve as a reminder to be mindful about what is sacred in people's everyday lives. | |
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| ====== Works Cited ====== | |
| https://notablefolkloristsofcolor.org/portfolio/alfonso-ortiz/ | |
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| https://findingaids.princeton.edu/catalog/WC017 | |
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| https://findingaids.princeton.edu/catalog/WC126 | |
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| https://www.indigenouspeople.net/ortiz.htm | Eventually, from Ortiz's perspective, these groups who preform the rituals are not different at all and instead must be viewed together. According to Ortiz, "Between the kachinas and the clowns, we obtain a well-balanced portrayal of what the Hopi know about living; the kachinas remind men that if they but join their hearts periodically in these rites of mass supplication to the ancestral deities, life will continue as before in abundance and harmony; the clowns, by injecting a bit of the mundane and the commonplace, the ludicrous and the whimsical, into these most solemn of occasions, remind the people that this other side of life, too, is their own and that it must not be forgotten in the commitment to an exacting calendar of religious observances." ((Ortiz, Alfonso. “The Sacred Clown.” //Symposium of the Whole: A Range of Discourse Towards an Enthopoetics//, edited by Jerome and Diane Rothenberg, University of California Press, 1983.)) The groups of kachina and clowns also act as an affirmation of the Hopi tribe's identity, which is notable after centuries of suppression and the fact that they are the minority in the region. The clowns, while they technically profane everything, be it holy rituals or spaces, they also serve as a reminder to be mindful about what is sacred in people's everyday lives. |
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| https://medium.com/dose/the-native-american-clowns-who-bit-the-heads-off-live-mice-ccc909123b97 | {{tag>USA New Mexico Hopi Essay Ritual Theory Sacred Symposium_Of_The_Whole}} |
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