High on the Mesas in the arid lands of northeastern Arizona live the Hopi, westernmost of the Pueblo people. A small, peaceful and friendly group, they have occupied their barren mesa tops, and farmed their arid but fertile valleys for many centuries. Clinging tenaciously to their marginal land, they have withstood drought, famine, and the onslaught of nomadic raiders. The pressure of Spanish domination, pestilence, and more recently, cultural inundation, have diminished but not destroyed their traditional pattern of life. The Hopi are bound together by their religion, a multi-stranded cord uniting them to withstand the hazards of a harsh environment and in rebuffins foreign incursions. Their religion is both their bulwark and the lure that attracts forces that would destroy them. Prior to the arrival of the Spanish, over 400 years ago, the Hopi villages were one of the urban centers in the Southwest. To the non-Pueblo Indians this meant not only a trading center and a storehouse of food to be raided when one were short, but a place of power where men could control the vagaries of the real and supernatural worlds. To the intruding Spanish, the Hopi religion was a challenge to be overcome and a belief to be destroyed as quickly as possible. Circumstances such as distance and the logistics of supply for Spanish punitive expeditions, as well as the political guile on the part of the Hopi, allowed them to maintain their religious freedom. Their less fortunate Pueblo neighbors to the east, closer to the new Spanish center, were overrun and their religion diluted or driven underground. With the arrival of the Americans came a new threat! While Hopi religion became less and less a challenge to proselytizing Christians it became more of a curiousity to attract and edify visitors. Countless tourists in carnival mood made the trek to the remote villages to watch the most famous of all Hopi ceremonies, the Snake Dance, as well as other dances. Despite the adversities, the Hopi continued to practice their time honored religion with unabated zeal. The driving force of Hopi religion is the urgent need for water in any form, as rain for farming, for drinking water in the springs, or snow to replenish the land. Water is forever the primary motivation. to survive in this waterless land the Hopi developed a complex religion to secure supernatural assistance in fulfilling their needs. Through the ages, rain ritual was elaborated and joined to planting ritual... the growth of corn and Hopi melded...the successful rites of neighbors were added to further compound the ceremonies until the present complexity of Hopi belief was achieved. One element of the multi-facet religion is the Kachina Cult, with every Hopi past the age of ten being an initiated member. The basic concept of the Kachina is that all things in the world have two forms, the visible object and a spirit counterpart...a dualism that balances mass and energy. Kachinas are the spirit essence of everything in the real world. Their existence is inferred from the steam which rises from food and whose loss does not change the from of the food, to the mist rising from a spring on a cold morning, or the cloud which forms above a mountain top. As the breath of a dying Hopi departs, it must also join the other mist beings in the spirit world, the exact counterpart of the real Hopi world, but with different powers. Thus, when the clouds form over the mountain tops and drift over the Hopi villages, it is the rain-bringing Kachinas who are there. The clouds hide not only the faces of the Hopi's departed ancestors, who taking pity on their grandchildren, are bringing them rain, but an almost infinite variety of Kachinas who have other functions beside rain-bringing. This multitude of spirits range from Star Kachinas to Ash Kachinas. They represent game, domestic plants, andimals, wild foods, birds, insects, even death itself. The creative force of the sun and the abstract power inherent in neighboring tribes are visualized as Kachinas. Many others were not conceived by the Hopi but arose among their pueblo neighbors...and were adopted because of their efficacy. The Kachinas visit the cluster of Hopi villages on their separate mesas from the end of December till the end of July, when they disappear for several months. The Hopi do not worship the Kachinas but rather treat them as friends or partners who are interested in Hopi welfare. Because it is not easy to interact with the Kachinas in their spirit form... it remains a simple matter to give them shape...and personality by impersonating them. Through paint, symbols, actions and costume they give substance to the immaterial, becomming in the process intermediaries between the two halves of the Hopi world. Hence the Hopi men who don Kachina masks in dance and ritual are believed to be invested by a certain Kachina spirit. In this condition of being part human and part Kachina, the needs of the people for rain, corn or game can be more clearly communicated. The dancers carve small wooden figures of the Kachina appearance....and present them to children and family. This carved and decorated figure is called a "tihu" by the Hopi and a "doll" by others. It is not a plaything for children, but an effigy of the Kachina it represents. Once the doll is presented it is treated as a valued possession...and is kept out of harms way.... Now....Direct to you from the reservations of Northern Arizona...Wholesale Prices: ...Hopi Kachina Dolls (carved from cottonwood) starting at $100.00...Navajo Kachina Dolls (all natural materials, leather, feathers) from $25.00... Bows and Arrows(Raccoon Quiver) starting at $259.00 per set...Navajo/Hopi Lances and Spears (Metal and Stone Points) starting at $99.00...Navajo/Hopi War Clubs and Tomahawks(Metal and Stone) starting at $79.00...Breast Plates: Bone starting at $195.00...Pottery: Various Pueblo Designs starting at $50.00...Baskets: Tight Woven starting at $25.00.....Rattles: Navajo/Hopi..starting at $49.00...Old Fetish Dolls..(Hopi) from $250.00 ....................................................... ALL COME WITH MONEYBACK GUARANTEE... PHOTOS AVAILABLE OF ALL ITEMS!..... E-Mail: kachinaman@unidial.com ......0r fax to 602-926-3881
