Hopi Ho’ote Katsina Doll [SOLD]

Hopi Katsina dances start in early spring and continue into summer.  These dances are religious, their purpose being for rain.  The Katsina dances combine music, dance, and ornamentation in one art form providing for the greatest satisfaction of natives and visitors.  During these dances, the Katsina dancers show their affection for the Hopi children by presenting them with gifts. Having these dances open to the general public is the Hopi way of sharing their beliefs with non-Hopi and demonstrating that these prayers are not just for the Hopi but for everyone in the world.  Following a Katsina dance, Hopi families invite visitors to share in a meal, a display by the Hopi of their hospitality.

Ho’ote is an extremely popular Katsina because of his well-liked songs.  He appears as a group in the ordinary Katsina dances and sometimes in the Niman ceremony.  The symbols between his eyes and on his forehead are said to be those of flowers, and therefore his dance forecasts the flowers of spring.  Wright 1973 

Ho’ote wears a black mask with stars on its cheeks and a pair of horns.  On the head is a bunch of parrot feathers and a fan-shaped spray of eagle feathers which project backward.  Because of federal regulations, these feathers are no longer on this carving.  The Katsina has black body paint with yellow below the neck.  He wears a kilt with a traditional Hopi sash and a woven belt around his waist that hangs down the right side.  He carries a bow and arrows in the left hand and in his right hand is a gourd rattle. Earle & Kennard 1971

This carving of Ho’ote is not signed with the name of the carver.  It appears to be from the decade of the 1960s.  The majority of the doll is wood.  The kilt is painted leather, as are the loin cloth and concha belt.  The neck ruff was made from green yarn.  There is a fan of feathers on top of the head that drape over the back.

Condition: very good condition.  The right foot and left horn have been broken and glued back in place

Provenance: from a private collection

References:

-        Wright, Barton.  Kachinas—a Hopi Artist’s Documentary by Barton Wright with original paintings by Cliff Bahnimptewa. 1973

-        Earle, Edwin and Edward A. Kennard.  Hopi Kachinas. 1971