For many people, the katsina doll symbolizes the Hopi of northeastern Arizona, one of the most widely known American Indian peoples. That symbol has different meanings, some controversial, both within the Hopi culture and in the outside world.

Some may recognize katsina dolls, yet may not fully appreciate the different meanings of Katsinas. First and foremost, Katsinas are spirit beings who guide and protect the Hopi, and at times chastise them. The Hopi say that some Katsinas are ancestors returned to provide life-sustaining rain, prosperity, fertility and health.

Katsinas are also dancers. During a six month ceremonial cycle, Hopi males who have been initiated into the Katsina society wear the elaborate costumes of the Katsinas and dance in underground kivas and in outdoor plazas. Dances are held to sustain the Hopi’s relationship with the Spirit Beings. They are generous acts, meant to benefit not only the Hopi but all people.

Katsinas can be animal and plant figures like lizards and cacti,human characters like chiefs, ogres and clowns, or concepts like the Nayaiya Taka Katsina, symbolizing the swaying of a corn plant in the wind before a rainstorm.

Katsinas are also carved cottonwood dolls. Originally made exclusively for Hopi use, Katsina dancers give the dolls to children at dances. They are intended as both prayers for long life and well being, and as a way to help children remember the various types of Katsinas.

Since the 1950s, katsina dolls have come to have a much larger audience. Dolls have become popular with non-Hopi collectors, and some dolls have become extremely valuable in the Native American art market.

While this increased audience may have helped sustain or even enrich the art of katsina doll carving, some Hopi worry that it may contribute to the commodification of Hopi religion and culture.

Who should be allowed to use Katsinas and katsina dolls? How should Hopi leaders, katsina doll carvers, anthropologists, Indian art dealers and museums represent the meaning of important cultural symbols? As we designed this exhibition, these questions were on our minds, and we pose them to you as you think about your own role as a museum visitor.

 

 

  

Hopi Katsina Dolls: Ancestor Spirit Carvings was curated by Barry Walsh, a long-time researcher of Hopi culture, assisted by Peter Lape and Nanobah Becker (Navajo), graduate and undergraduate students, respectively, in Anthropology at Brown University.

Ancestor Katsinas

Evolution of Katsina Carving

Chief Katsinas

Wilson Tawaquaptewa

Creativity and Adaptation

Clowns and Comic Figures

Claims

Knowledge and Survival

 

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