Katsinas

Katsinas

What is a Hopi Katsina?

Hopi Indians have lived for centuries in a relatively barren and dry part of the
Great Plateau country of Northern Arizona. Here they have established a rapport
with nature which has sustained them through many disasters such as droughts
and crop failures. Here they have developed a philosophy in response to all about
them, to sunshine and snow, to rain and blowing sands, to plants which have nourished
them or which held disaster in their dark green leaves, to animals large and small,
and to their own kind in a closely knit social order. This philosophy is expressed
in their religion which links all in a great oneness, in a great balance,
in a reciprocal system of high order.

"Katsinas are the spirit essence of everything in the real world."
Barton Wright
"We do not believe the Katsinas dolls to be simply carved figurines, they are
personifications of the Katsinas spirits." Alph Secakuku

As used by the Hopi it includes, among other things, the spirits of the ancestors,
clouds, deities, intermediaries between man and the gods. Too, in a sense,
Katsinas is the steam which rises from hot food, the vapor which emits water
on a cold morning. These things are the Katsinas spirits, they are the Katsinas
themselves. On specific occasions Hopi men dress and mask to personate these
spirits; virtually the spirits become part of them, and they are the Katsinas at
such times. Power and spirit are vested in the dancer, his mask, his costume,
body paint and the regalia which he carries.
Katsina doll making today involves both tradition and creativity.
The wood is the root of the cottonwood tree.

These Katsinas dolls are authentic. They are carved and signed by Hopi artists.