Miniature Kachina Doll
Kona, Chipmunk, Runner Kachina: male; standing upright, feet apart, arms down at sides, elbows bent, hands forward, fists clenched. Yellow case mask; ears-long, standing straight up, inside of ears are brown outlined w/ white; eyes-large ovoids outlined in black w/ white fields; nose-snout; wide vertical stripe-red, torquoise & white, extends from tip of snout nose, between eyes, over top of head, down to neck; forehead has several black dots on each side of stripe; white wool ruff; upper torso-wide vertical black & white stripe down back center and chest center; upper arms-torquoise bands; forearms-black w/ white dots; black breech clout w/ green and red bands; both wrists-black yarn wrist bands; leather straps criss/cross over front of chest and back down to belt on each side; painted knee high socks-black w/ white dots; lavendar crochet thread sash tied around each knee; brown painted moccasins w/ black soles; brown leather fringe around ankles; glue on top of head indicates feathers missing.
- Object: Miniature Kachina Doll
- Artist: Unknown
- Circa: 1950-1970
- Dimensions: 4" x 1-1/2" No stand
- Culture Area: Southwest
- Cultural Group: Hopi
- Cultural Context: Made for sale. He carries a yucca leaf whip and whips his victims. 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 #: 98.033