Miniature Kachina Doll
Kokopelli Mana: Female; standing upright, leaning forward, feet apart, Black case mask; nose-white bill slanting upward; white vertical line from bill to back of neck; eyes-open, white pot hooks; hair-maiden's whorls; eyebrows-white dots; white maiden's shawl w/ red w/ black xxx pattern; white knee high boots w/ 4 black buttons on outside-black soles; hands are outside shawl-elbows bent, fingers clenched w/ white corn meal paint; both wrists-black yarn wrist bands. Glue on top of head indicates feathers missing.
- Object: Miniature Kachina Doll
- Artist: Unknown
- Circa: 1950-1970
- Dimensions: 3"x1-1/2" No stand
- Culture Area: Southwest
- Cultural Group: Hopi
- Cultural Context: Made for sale. She carries a bundle of food an appears in Mixed Kachina Dance. The Kachina Doll / The Hopi tihu Kachinas are the spirit essence of everything in the real world. They are representations of the Hopi supernatural beings which live on the San Francisco Peaks, near Flagstaff, Arizona, and on other high mountains. A Kachina has three aspects: the supernatural being, as he exists in the minds of the Hopi; the masked impersonator (always a man) of the supernatural being who appears in the Kivas and plazas; and the dolls (tihu) carved in the same likeness. Through a priest, usually an old man, prayers of the people are given to the Kachinas to carry to the gods. Therefore Kachinas play a role similar to the Christian saints. Some are good spirits, some demons or ogres, some are deities and some are even thought to be the spirit of "special people" who have past into the spirit world. Traditionally Kachina dolls were given to the children not as toys, but as objects to be treasured and studied so that young Hopis would become familiar with the appearance of the kachinas as part of their religious training. Prior to a Kachina ceremony, the fathers and uncles of the village children make dolls in the likeness of the Kachinas that will take part in the coming ceremony. The dolls are taken home, where their parents hang them on the walls or from the rafters so they can be constantly seen. In this way Hopi children learn to identify the different Kachinas, they are neither idols to be worshipped or icons to be prayed to, but only objects for use in the education of the child. Post W.W. II when the Hopi took up wage work and moved off the reservation, they began carving "dolls for sale" to supplement their income and as a hobby to occupy their evenings. The Kachina doll soon became and "art object" and the collection of dolls by persons other than the Hopis began. Hopi Kachinas by Barton Wright Hopi Kachina Dolls by Harold S. Colton
- Donor: Dolores Thomasson
- Catalog #: 98.031