Hopi legends of 'ant-men' residing at the center of the Earth
'Hopituh Shi-nu-mu' is the name by which one of the Native American tribes calls itself and which means the 'peaceful people'. The history of the Hopi dates back thousands of years, making them one of the oldest cultures on the planet. Unlike other mythologies that speak of gods descending from the sky, in their ancient legends the Hopi pass on the story of deities who reside at the center of the Earth. Who were they?
Similar to almost all pre-Columbian cultures, the Hopi firmly believe that one day, not too far away, the gods who started human culture will return to Earth.
They have always lived according to the teachings given to them by Masauwu, Master of the Fourth World, whose ethical concepts are deeply rooted in their culture.
However, contrary to many mythologies, the Hopi are convinced that their gods do not inhabit the infinite cosmic spaces, but live in the heart of the Earth, passing on the idea of a Hollow Earth ante litteram.
They speak of their deities as 'ant-men'. In fact, some petroglyphs found near Mishongnovi, Arizona, which represent the oldest Hopi rock carvings, depict enigmatic beings with 'antennas' that give the idea of ant-men.
According to Hopi mythology, at the beginning of time, Taoiwa, the Creator, created Sotuknang, his grandson, giving him the task of creating nine universes or worlds: one for Taiowa, one for himself, and seven others for overabundance of life.
In a cyclical conception of time, similar to Aztec mythology, these worlds would have followed one another cyclically.
The first three of these worlds, Tokpela, Tokpa and Kuskurza, have already been inhabited and subsequently destroyed due to the corruption and wickedness of men. The Hopi pass down that the end of each cycle is marked by the return of the gods, and the approach of the new world is announced by the appearance of the Blue Star Kachina, the sign of the 'Day of Purification', in which the old world is destroyed and a new one begins.
The ant-men
Whenever one of the worlds is destroyed, the faithful Hopi are taken and led by the deities into underground cities to escape the destruction. In every cyclical destruction, according to Hopi mythology the 'ant-men' take on a crucial role for their survival.
The so-called 'First World' (Tokpela) was apparently destroyed by a fire of global proportions, perhaps some kind of massive volcanism, or an asteroid impact or, again, a coronal mass ejection from the Sun of catastrophic dimensions.
The 'Second World' (Tokpa), however, was destroyed by the cold. Possibly, a pole shift triggered an Ice Age that destroyed life on planet Earth.
During these two global cataclysms, the virtuous members of the Hopi tribe were guided during the day by a strangely shaped cloud and by a moving star at night, leading them to the presence of an 'ant man' called Anu Sinom. The creature then escorted the Hopi into underground caves where they found refuge and sustenance.
In the legend, the ants are described as generous and hard-working creatures, willing to provide food to the Hopi and teach them methods of food preservation.
According to Ancient Astronaut theorists, it is interesting to note that the physical description of these beings matches what we attribute to modern 'grey aliens'.
Every February, the Hopi celebrate Powanu, a ritual to commemorate the time Anu Sinom taught them how to sprout beans inside caves to survive.
The Hopi also use the word 'anu' to indicate the ant, which combined with the word 'naki', which means 'friends', forms the word 'Anu-Naki', or 'friends of the ants'.
An, in the Sumerian language, (Anum or Anu in Akkadian) was the celestial god of Mesopotamian mythology and means "he who belongs to the heavens". Creator of creation, the number 60 was sacred to him, the highest figure in the Mesopotamian sexagesimal system.
The god An/Anum presides over the assembly of the Anunnaki, and also makes up the cosmic triad together with the gods Enlil and Enki. He is also part of the four creator Gods, which includes the previous triad together with the goddess Ninhursag. The main place of his cult was in Uruk, represented by the very ancient Temple of An.
Could the Hopi 'ant-men' be the same Anunnaki as the Sumerians? If so, could two mythologies so distant in time and space be the ancestral memory of our ancestors of a unique event that occurred on our planet?
The flying shields
According to Frank Waters, author of the book Mexico Mystique: The Coming Sixth World of Consciousness (1975), when the Third World is mentioned in mythology, the Hopi introduce the concept of patuwvotas, or 'flying shields'.
In the third cycle it is said that humanity has built a highly advanced civilization, so much so as to develop 'flying shields', means capable of rapidly traveling to different places in the world and razing entire cities to the ground. The Third World was destroyed by Sotuknang, the grandson of the Creator, by a great flood.
Also in this case there is an obvious parallel with the Sumerian tradition, which talks about the great flood that erased all previous civilization. This story is reported in the Epic of Gilgamesh, a text which was then taken up by biblical tradition in the story of the Universal Flood and Noah's Ark.
According to Hopi traditions, the survivors of the flood spread to different places on the planet under the guidance of Masauwu, the Spirit of Death and Master of the Fourth World.
A Hopi petroglyph depicts Masauwu as a being astride a dome-shaped 'wingless ship'. The similarity between 'flying shields' and what we now think of as airplanes or flying saucers is disconcerting.
Whether they are 'flying shields' or 'ships without wings', the message is clear: the Hopi ancestors used these descriptions to refer to something that was capable of flying and carrying people.
Modern Hopi believe that humanity is currently living in the Fourth World, called Túwaqachi. Like the previous worlds, Túwaqachi will also be destroyed due to the wickedness of men and will see the return of the deities to Earth. Ancient Astronaut theorists interpret the prophecy of the Blue Star Kachina as a reference to the return of extraterrestrials to our planet.
In addition to the apparent parallels between Hopi and Sumerian cultures, Waters also sees a connection between Hopi legends and Mayan mythology. In both cultures the references to the creation and destruction of the world are very similar. Furthermore, both affirm the future destruction of the current world.
This uniformity in the cultural mythology of the two cultures led Waters to assert that the Hopi and the Maya were ancestrally related.
