Hummingbird Shaman – Symbols of Divine Presence

The Hummingbird in Zuni Legend

Not too far from the Rainbow Cave on the Sacred Mountain that is now in the place we call New Mexico, the Hummingbird Hoya lived with his beloved grandmother a very long time ago.

“I think I will go to Kiakima today and see what the clansmen are doing,” Hoya said to his grandmother one day.

Hoya was small, and because he was so small he wanted to be sure that people could see him. Hoya dressed himself in his most colorful hummingbird coat and he flew far away.

Not too far into his journey he could see below him a lovely spring and so he decided to stop, taking off his beautifully feathered coat.

Just about that same time Kia, the daughter of Chief Kya-ki-massi, arrived to fill her jar with the cool spring water. It was no secret that many young men of the Zuni Indian tribe wanted to marry Kia, but they were afraid to ask her father, the Chief, for fear of rejection.

There at the spring Kia began to fill her water jar without speaking to the attractive young man she found standing nearby. “May I have some of your water to drink?” Hoya asked.

Kia handed him a cupful of water, still not speaking. When he returned the cup to her, a small amount of water remained in the cup. Seeing this, Kia lawfully tossed the droplets of water to Hoya and giggled.

Some of the young Zunis watching from the brush, wondering why she laughed. They also wondered about the stranger standing far to close to their precious Kia. Then they heard the princess say something that surprised them all. She turned to Hoya and said, “Come with me to my home.”

Hoya followed Kia to her house, and they talked for some time near the bottom of the ladder leading to the lodge roof. After a while Hoya said to her, “I think it is time for me to start home.”

“I hope to see you at the spring again tomorrow,” Kia said to Hoya. She then climbed to the roof of her lodge. Hoya put on his magic feathered coat, and flew away invisibly. Unfortunately the young men of the village did not see Hoya vanish, which aroused their curiosity.

When Hoya arrived back at his beloved grandmother’s house, she met him at the door with a bowl of honey with a dusting of sunflower pollen.

The next day, Hoya carried with him some of the delicacy of the night before. This he brought to the spring as a gift for the princess. Again he walked Kia home and they conversed at the bottom of her ladder for what seemed to be the longest time. He gave her the honey and pollen to share with her family, and went on his way back home.

“Delicious, we like this kind of food,” her parents said. “You should marry this young man.”