Miniature Kachina Doll
Koyemsi - Mud Head: male; standing upright, left foot up-dancing, arms in motion-right hand forward clenching rattle, left hand slightly back. Reddish brown sack mask; body painted-reddish brown; head has 4 gourds- one on top, one over each ear, one on back; nose & eyes-protruding knobs w/ ends cut off at an angle-ends painted black; forehead-white crow's foot or snipe mark; cheeks-white moon symbols; arms-very skinny; abdomen-very fat, hanging over carved ceremonial kilt-black w/ green & red bands at hem which meet in a "sipapu" over right knee; concho belt-painted, brown w/ grey & turquoise conchos; black knee high socks; moccasins-carved, painted high tops-brown w/ white soles; tan leather knap sac over right shoulder-resting under left arm; red wool scarf tied around neck.
- Object: Miniature Kachina Doll
- Artist: Unknown
- Circa: 1950-1970
- Dimensions: 4-3/4" x 2-3/8" On stand
- Culture Area: Southwest
- Cultural Group: Hopi
- Cultural Context: Made for sale. Koyemsi, the Mud Head is probably the best known of all the kachinas. They appear as clowns, announcers or drummers. Their un-Hopi like behavior is to teach people how not to act. He appears in Mixed Kachina Dances and sometimes a group of Koyemsi appear in a dance of their own. At 1st Mesa they are said to sing Zuni songs. 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 #: 98.037