Kivas are the ceremonial centers of Hopi villages and also serve as "social clubs" for the men of the village. Women are allowed entrance to kivas only under special circumstances. Among other activities carried on in the kiva in addition to the secret religious ceremonies and night kachina dances are weaving, making of religious artifacts such as prayer feathers and pahos, refurbishing of kachina masks, and composing and rehearsing songs for kachina dances. Kivas are derived from the partially underground pithouse dwellings of the early Anasazi  people of the so-called Basketmaker III stage (450-700 A.D.), whose descendents evenually shifted to aboveground dwellings, which culminated in multistoried apartment complexes termed "pueblos" by early  Spanish explorers. Whether belowground or at ground level as in some present-day villages, the kiva is entered by means of a ladder through an opening in the roof.  Other characteristic features of the kiva include a ventilater shaft to provide outside air, fireplace, a bench around three sides and a raised platform at one end, and a small hole in the floor called the sipaapuni. The sipaapuni represents the opening in the earth through which the Hopis emerged into this, the Fourth World. The actual emergence site is said to be in the canyon of the Little Colorado River near its junction with the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon. Nearby are salt caves which are traditionally visited by the Hopi for a salt supply. The trip is arduous and involves a number of ritual observances. As present-day kivas are strictly offlimits to uninitiated villagers and others, the photos below are of restored Anasazi kivas at archaeological sites. The kiva showing the entrance and ladder in the photo on the left is at the Pecos National Monument near Santa Fe, New Mexico; and the restored kiva in the photo on the right is at the Homol'ovi Ruins State Park near Winslow, Arizona. The latter is one of the ancestral sites occupied by the Hopis in the course of their clan migrations which eventually brought them to the Hopi Mesas. (Photos by author)

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