Kachinas

The Hopi are perhaps the most famous for their carved Kachina figures, also known as Katsinas.



These figures are carved from the root of the cottonwood tree - a tenacious tree that survives in dry areas of the southwest by sending down roots adapted to tap the rare water.

Much like the Hopi themselves, this tree predates the arrival of European culture, and has adapted to a harsh environment others might not choose as a home.

The Kachina figures that are carved and painted, decorated with feathers and made available for sale, are based on a prehistoric tradition of making figures that represent the different holy people - and frightful ogres,



heroic warriors, or playful clowns - that are an important part of the Hopi rituals every year, and that are a visual retelling of their history.

The original Kachinas, and those made for pueblo use (and that are not for sale) have served a very important purpose for the Hopi for many generations. Each figure represents a story that carries on the knowledge of an aspect of the Hopi world. Some kachinas tell the story of an important triumph in battle …

Like the long hair Kachina-type figure who tells the story of a time when a Hopi Pueblo came under attack when the men were away in the fields or hunting. Only women, children, and the elders remained in the pueblo. When taken by this surprise attack by a dreaded enemy, one brave woman - who was in the middle of tying up her hair in the traditional maiden's whorls - dropped her combs with her hair only half finished and rushed into battle with half her hair still hanging straight. This brave maiden helped to drive away their assailants, protected her pueblo, and became a heroine now depicted in Kachina carvings that show her with half of her hair up in a whorl, and half down over her shoulder or back.

Other Kachinas are a reminder of the evil forces that lurk around us - the ogres who may come and steal naughty children in the night ….

Still others depict the antics of the Koshare clowns



who are part of the ceremonies in the pueblo each year …. They mock the people in their village who have been greedy or selfish by imitating their disvavorable actions in public during the ceremonial dances before the entire pueblo …

and through this playful humiliation of those who have gone against favored behavior, they reprimand the wrong doers and encourage them to behave with the gentleness, thoughtfulness, and generosity that are the respected traits of the Hopi people.

But the most mysterious Kachinas of all, and those rightfully called Kachinas, are the figures that represent the Holy People that the Hopi pray to keep among them for assistance and protection. These Holy People also arrive on the pueblo plazas once a year, or several years apart, as costumed dancers and maintain the pulse of the community by performing the dances and physical recreations of the Hopi religious cycles. They may come to bring the much-needed rain …. To bless their crops … To protect their young people … To unite the Hopi with their animal kindred … Or to remind them of the ways of their ancestors.

Hemis Kachina - a bringer of clouds and rain



The origins of these mysterious and fascinating carved images in recent times has been the flat cradle dolls … like this contemporary Kocha Mana (White Girl)



and rough dimensional dolls like this doll from the 1800s



given to the Hopi children as part of their tribal education over the lat few hundred years. The youth learn about the events, people, threats, and deities that shape the Hopi world and are given these dolls to help them learn and remember the important stories of their people.