Kachina Dolls

Hopi artists, usually men, carve likenesses of the Kachinas from cottonwood root (which is associated with water). In Hopi life they are given to girls at the Bean Dance and the Home Dance to teach them Hopi ways and of course today they have become an art form popular with collectors.

The old style dolls are not put on stands, are flat in the back, and are simpler in form and painted with natural pigments and usually hung on the wall. The modern style have more realistic details and are placed on stands for display and look more like the kachinas that appear in the villages. The contemporary sculpture form is the artist's own creative interpretation of traditional forms and is an art form all of its own.

There are male and female forms of many of the kachinas. Some of the Kachinas are:

the tall feather dressed Salako, Hemis Kachina with its striking tableta headdress is probably the most famous, Guards, Ogres, Whippers, Clowns and Mudheads, Crow Mother, Kokopelli, Racers, Fox, Antelope, Deer, Eagle, Wolf, Bear, Sun, Star, Warrior Maiden, Owl, Red-tail Hawk.

 

 

Kachina Role in Hopi Life

The most traditional of all of the North American tribes, the Hopis carry on a ceremonial life that evolved from thousands of years of relationship to the striking lands of the Southwest and Mexico. They are farmers who miraculously grow corn, beans and squash in the sand in a land that averages only 10" of moisture.

A reverent people, their life revolves around the ceremonial cycle of the year. Hopi is known as a place of power where humans could call forth the assistance of nature to support their existence in this arid land. The power of their faith is immense.

To derive water in this desert land, they developed a complex religion to secure supernatural assistance in fulfilling their needs. One element of this religion are the Kachinas. Kachinas are the spirit essence of everything in the real world. The Kachinas represent game, domestic plants and animals, birds, insects, even death itself. The creative force of the sun and the abstract power inherent in neighboring tribes are visualized as kachinas.

Kachinas are supernaturals, embodying the spirits of living things and also the spirits of ancestors who have died and become a part of nature. Kachinas are believed to possess powers over nature, especially the weather, but higher gods limit the extent of their powers.

When Kachinas appear during ceremonies, they assume visual form and appear in the streets and plazas of the villages. As a supernatural they may cure disease, grow corn, bring clouds and rain, watch over ceremonies and reinforce discipine and order in the Hopi world.

The Hopi do not worship these kachinas but rather treat them as friends or partners who are interested in Hopi welfare. They give substance to the immaterial, becoming in the process intermediaries between the physical and the spirit world.

The Kachina season in the villages begins around the time of Winter Solstice as they prepare the ground for the planting season and closes in late July with the bringing in of the first harvest.

There have been over 800 different kachina beings documented. In any one season, 200 different ones may appear.