Q 01/05

What do the Zuni call themselves in their own language?

A) Diné

B) A:shiwi

C) Hopituh

D) Tiwa

Answer · why

B) A:shiwi

A:shiwi is the people's own name; 'Zuni' is an outsiders' word that reached English through Spanish, which is thought to have borrowed it from the lan...

Q 02/05

The Zuni call their homeland Halona Idiwan'a, which translates as what?

A) Red Earth

B) Salt Waters

C) Painted Cliffs

D) Middle Place

Answer · why

D) Middle Place

Middle Place marks the end of a journey: in Zuni origin stories the people wandered for years in search of the centre of the world, and built their ho...

Q 03/05

Zuni Pueblo lies in western New Mexico, south of which nearby city?

A) Albuquerque

B) Farmington

C) Gallup

D) Santa Fe

Answer · why

C) Gallup

Gallup was already a trading town for the Zuni when, in 1922, its businessmen launched the Inter-Tribal Indian Ceremonial to show off Native dances an...

Q 04/05

How do most linguists classify the Zuni language?

A) Uto-Aztecan

B) A Keresan dialect

C) Athabaskan

D) An isolate

Answer · why

D) An isolate

An isolate has no known relatives: Zuni shares a few religious loanwords with its Pueblo neighbours, yet no attempt to tie it to another language fami...

Q 05/05

Zuni religion centres on masked spirit beings, also honoured by the Hopi, known by which name?

A) Manitous

B) Thunderbirds

C) Kachinas

D) Wendigos

Answer · why

C) Kachinas

Kachinas are spirits rather than costumes: when a dancer puts on the mask, the being it shows is thought to be present within him, temporarily transfo...