[Detail] Painted lodges - Piegan. Edward S. Curtis
Arts and Crafts: The Kachina
In Hopi culture, Kachinas are sacred spirits. The carved figures representing the Kachinas, called Kachina dolls or Tihus, were originally used to teach children about deities and rituals. (They are not dolls in the sense of playthings.) The dolls were traditionally given to girls because women had less contact with the spirit world. Men had greater contact with the spirit world because they dressed in costumes to represent the Kachinas during important ceremonies. Some, dressed as ogre Kachinas, threatened disobedient children, whose mothers protected them by "bribing" the ogre Kachinas with food. The food collected during these ceremonies was distributed to priests and villagers.
Study Edward Curtis's photograph of nine Kachina dolls and answer the following questions:
- The roots of cottonwood trees were the preferred material for carving tihus. What other materials do the dolls appear to be made from? Why do you think these materials were used by the Hopi?
- Which of the dolls in Curtis's photograph would you consider ogre Kachinas? Why?
- What do you think the two tihus on the bottom left are doing? How do they reflect the cultural heritage of the Hopi?
- Today, Kachina dolls are prized by modern collectors. What do you think accounts for the current popularity of these carved objects?
