Wuyak Kuita, the Broad Faced Kachina. This very important guard is one of the Angry Kachinas, who inevitably lose patience with the Clowns, and chastise them severely with their yucca whips.
Broad Faced Kachina
Badger Kachina
Badger Dancer Kachina Doll: The Badger can cure the sick, some Native Peoples offer him prayers and healing herbs.
Badgers have often been confused with wolverines in Native American folklore -- not by the Native Americans telling the stories, but during their translation into English. While wolverines often are villains or negative characters in Native American folklore, the same is not true of badgers, who are usually portrayed as hard-working, cautious animals or as protective parents. Among the Pueblo tribes, badgers are considered one of the six directional guardians, associated with the south and the color red. The Zunis ascribe healing and protective powers to badgers and carve stone badger fetishes to protect them and bring them luck.
Morning Singer Kachina
Hopi Morning Singers, (Talavai Kachinas) used to appear in pairs on the rooftops and sing songs, waking the Hopi people in the village. During the day, they would dance with the other kachinas, whom they led and prompted in the singing. They still appear with the other kachinas in the *Powamu Ceremony and are most often standing in a set to one side of the main movement of the procession. Occasionally, they sing as they stand holding their spruce trees and ringing their bells.
* The Powamu Ceremony is also called the Bean Planting Festival. It is observed in late January or early February and lasts 8 days.
Sun Kachina
Also known as Tawa. The Sun Kachina is a representation of the spirit of the Sun, though he may on occasion be called the Sun Shield Kachina. He appears in a role very similar to that of Nakiachop or Talavai, standing to the side with a spruce tree in his left hand and a bell in his right. Also, he may appear in a Mixed Dance with the flute in his left hand that is associated with him in many myths.
Eagle Kachina
Kwahu Kachina: Occasionally, in one of the night ceremonies in March or during the Powamu, one may have the satisfaction of seeing a performance of the Eagle Kachina. Usually the performer imitates the step or motion and cry of the eagle to absolute perfection.
Eagle Kachinas will sometimes appear with Mudheads at night ceremonies in March.
Hon Kachina
The Bear Kachina is of such great strength that it is felt he can cure the sick. He appears in the kachina return or Soyal of First Mesa as the watchman or side dancer for the Chakwaina. In this role he appears a little different that he does in this illustration. He may come singly or in a group during the Palolokong Dance, and he may appear in a number of colors such as Sakwa Honau (Blue Bear) or Kocha Honau (White Bear). Probably he is most familiar in the Mixed Kachina Dance, dancing outside the lines. His most distinctive features is the presence of a bear footprint on either cheek.
The Butterfly Maiden
The Butterfly Maiden, is a Hopi Kachina that governs the Spring. Kachinas’ are supernatural beings who control nature and have the spirits of living things such as animals and plants within them. Some Kachinas also hold the spirits of the non-living as well–wind, rain, thunder, lightning, clouds, etc. The kachina you see here is known as the Butterfly Maiden or Palhik Mana. Her role is to underscore the importance of regeneration and yearly renewal. She can be identified by the symbols she wears: the irregular edges of her tableta (headdress) represent rain clouds, the small wooden objects protruding from the top of her head symbolize flowers, and the rectangular design on her forehead represents an ear of corn. The black geometric designs on the torso and lower body are like those found on Hopi textiles.
Crow Mother
Angwusnasomtaka is a figure of great dignity. She appears on all three mesas, usually in connection with the initiation of the children, although she also appears on other occasions. At the initiation rites she descends into the kiva bearing a large number of yucca blades bound together at the base.
She takes a position at one corner of the large sand painting on the floor of the kiva, with one of her "sons" on either side of her. As the candidate is brought to the sand painting she hands a whip to one of the Hu Kachinas who gives the child four healthy strokes with the yucca blade. When the yucca becomes worn it is handed back to the Crow Mother who then supplies a new one. When the initiatory whipping is over, she raises her skirts and receives the same treatment accorded the children. They are then given prayer feathers and meal and leave the kiva. On some mesas she is referred to as Angwushahai - i because she talks, thus confusing her with the Crow Bride.
Aholi and Eototo Kachina
Aholi is the companion (Kachina Chief's Lieutenant) of Eototo during *Powamu and aids him in the task of bringing rain. While Eototo is present on all three mesas, Aholi visits only on Third Mesa.
Aholi is a beautiful kachina in his multicolored cloak and tall blue helmet but is of less importance than the very plain Eototo. On the back of his cloak is a likeness of Muyingwa, one of the Germ Gods responsible for the germination of the seeds. Aholi wears a white kilt, a sash, and a fox skin. He wears red moccasins and carries a staff or wand.
Aholi carries a wand marked with a star on the end, and as the plumed water serpent, two jars dedicated to him are painted with pointed star emblems
Aholi is the patron saint (wuya) of the Pikyas or Young Corn Clan who care for the seed corn. The colors on his cloak are said to represent the flowers and brightness of summer.
Legend has it that the Aholi and Eototo kachinas were partners ages ago in a different land. Aholi stayed behind to fight a rear guard action, then had his throat cut to allow Eototo time to escape as leader. After many lengthy migrations throughout the Southwest, they were reunited at Old Oraibi.
Aholi's name appears to derive from the Hopi word ahulti, or "return" which was the promise that the departing Quetzalcoatl made his people when he fled the Toltec capital of Tula for the mythical land of Tlillan
* The Powamu Ceremony is also called the Bean Planting Festival. It is observed in late January or early February and lasts 8 days.
Aholi Kachina
Eototo is the chief of all kachinas and knows all of the ceremonies. He is the spiritual counterpart of the village chief and as such is called "father" of all the kachinas. He controls the seasons and is sometimes called the husband of Hahai-i Wuhti.
During the Powamu or Bean Dance on Third Mesa, he conducts an elaborate ceremony with his lieutenant, Aholi. He draws cloud symbols in corn flower on the ground pointing into the village.
Aholi places his ceremonial staff on these and roars out his call. Then they both proceed onward toward the village. This is designed to draw the clouds and moisture into the pueblo.
Eototo "goes to the north end of the kiva, rubs a handful of sacred meal to the north side of the hatchway and then pours a little water into the kiva, which is caught up in a bowl by a man standing on a ladder." This offering to the north is then repeated to the other three cardinal directions. Water and the fruitfulness of the earth are thus what his appearance at Powamu promises to the Hopi.
Aholi and Eototo kachinas went to the Red Land of the south and brought back squash, "after long wanderings" an echo of the legend on which Powamu itself is based. Eototo does, in fact, appear to derive from the red land of the south, from the primordial Aztec god of creation, Ometeotl, a version of whose name he appears to have adopted.
Ometeotl was personified in the legendary figure of Quetzalcoatl, one of Mesoamerica's most popular gods. Ometeotl controlled the rain as Tlaloc, the sun as Tonatiuh, the corn as the Mother Goddesses. To the Hopi, as Eototo, he brings the "gifts of nature" back to the villages at Powamu.
A Final Piece Palhik Mana
Palhik Mana is a Butterfly Maiden, not really so much a Katchina, but more of a woman dancer. Though at the dances the Butterfly Maid is not masked or hooded, she generally appears this way when carved as a doll.
Her tablita (headdress) carries symbols for corn and butterflies, which pollinate the corn helping to bring a good harvest. She generally appears in August, as that is when the butterflies appear.
The Butterfly Dance, a traditional social dance of the Hopi, is held in August after the gathering of the harvest and presentation of the Snake Dance. It is a thanksgiving dance for the harvest, chiefly for the corn crop and features dancing by young Hopi maidens wearing elaborate headdresses.
Final Piece Close up
Dimensions:
Without Frame: 13cm x18cm (5'11"x7"
SOLD
A Final Piece Mudhead Kachina
By way of background, Tuhavi or the Paralyzed Kachina is tale of a man who is Paralyzed and a man who is blind.
Together they completed each others needs. The Tuhavi is the paralyzed man, while normally the blind man is the Mud Head (Koyemsi). The Mud Head becomes the Paralyzed Kachinas legs, and the Paralyzed Kachina becomes the Mud Heads eyes. Together, they are able to hunt and live
Final Piece Close up
Dimensions:
Without Frame: 13cm x18cm (5'11"x7"
SOLD
A Final Piece Eaglehead Kachina
By way of background, The Eagle or Kwahu appears in the Kiva Dances in March, or during the Powamu Ceremony.
His dance resembles the eagle's motion of flight. The dance is also a prayer for more eagles. Each dancer is pressured to imitate every step and cry of the eagle to absolute perfection.
Eagles are honored guests among the Hopis and they are given gifts just as the Hopi children are. At midsummer, they are ceremonially smothered and plucked of all their plumage. Although Third Mesa portrays their Eagle Kachina with an all black body, Second Mesa's Eagle Kachina has a yellow and red body.
Final Piece Close up
Dimensions:
Without Frame: 13cm x18cm (5'11"x7"
SOLD
A Final Piece Sun Kachina
The spirit of the Sun lies in the Sun or Tawa (Dawa) Kachina. The Sun Kachina usually carries a spruce tree in his left hand and a bell in his right. When he appears in the Mixed Dance he caries a flute in his left hand, and is rarely impersonated.
Final Piece Close up
Dimensions:
Without Frame: 13cm x18cm (5'11"x7"
SOLD
A Final Piece
Click on any photo to enlarge.
Final Piece Close up
Dimensions:
Framed...30 cm x 25 cm (12" x 10") Without frame 20 cm x 25 cm (8" x 10")
Close Up
Close Up
"The central theme of the kachina [religion] is the presence of life in all objects that fill the universe. Everything has an essence or a life force, and humans must interact with these or fail to survive."
A Final Piece Ho' Ote
Ho’ Ote, a Kachina who is extremely popular because of his beautiful songs. This beautiful Kachina, who’s dances bring a promise of the coming of spring flowers, is also a Warrior Kachina, who can prevent any enemy from raiding or damaging the priceless farmland.