Gilcrease Museum is temporarily closed for construction.

Get the Full Story

Wooden standing kachina / Native American; Hopi

Essay/Description

Wooden Kachina. Painted black hair and face with a white headband, red mouth, yellow yoke, black shirt, off-white skirt, foxtail, and painted sash.

Kachinas are spirits that represent vital components of Hopi and Zuni life, history, and values, including rain, animals, plants, people, and germination. Hopi men make kachina dolls with intricate details that match the physical manifestation of the spirits. The dolls are carved from pieces of cottonwood root and then painted, originally with paint made from minerals and vegetables, and now, often from acrylic paint. Kachina dolls are given to infants, children, and women on special occasions, including birth, initiation, and marriage, and are used “to familiarize them with the kachinas’ characteristics” and “to assure to the recipient the benefits of intimate associate with the Hopi and Zuni supernaturals” (Furst and Furst 1982, 30). The dolls teach children the power of ceremony and of legends and Hopi history.

You may be interested in...

Title(s): 
Wooden standing kachina; Kachina; Chakwaina kachina
Culture: 
Native American; Hopi
Date: 
early 20th century
Period: 
Historic
Place: 
Arizona, United States of America
Materials/Techniques: 
wood, pigment, cottonwood
Classification: 
Object Type: 
Accession No: 
73.735
Department: 
Not On View

Our Online Collections site is a work in progress. If you have information about this item that may be of assistance, please contact us.