The Sipapu Emergence
In one version of the Hopi emergence story, the people of the Third World grew wicked and corrupt. With the help of Spider Grandmother or bird spirits, a hollow bamboo reed grew at the opening between the Third World and the Fourth World. This opening, called the sipapu, is traditionally located at the Grand Canyon. Only the people with good hearts — those who showed kindness — were able to make the journey through the sipapu to the Fourth World, the world of the present. In the Fourth World, they encountered Masauwu, the Spirit of Death and Earth God, who wore a hideous but also beautiful mas