Very Small Laqan – Squirrel Katsina Doll [SOLD]

For two thousand years, the Hopi people have lived a desert lifestyle.  They depend on water for their daily needs and for their plants, but water is in short supply.  Over the years they have developed a system whereby they can pretty accurately forecast the weather, but that is not always sufficient for their needs.  In order to ensure delivery of water when needed, they developed a pattern by which they ask for help from the supernatural forces that they believe control nature.

The supernatural forces are the Katsinas, which are ancestral beings.  To obtain from the Katsina spiritual beings those things the Hopi need or desire, they perform elaborate ceremonies.  They do not ask, however, for something without giving something in return.  The Katsina spiritual beings desire prayer feathers, corn pollen and various ritual performances, so the Hopi give these in return for rain.

Basically, every Katsina is a source of rain as a primary function; however, each Katsina also has other functions as well.  Hunt animal katsinas are used to ask for assistance in a good hunt, as an example.  The Eagle Katsina is used to deliver prayers to the supernatural beings because it is believed the eagle can cross the barrier between this world and the next.

According to Barton Wright, the Squirrel Katsina appears on all three mesas. “During the Kiva Dances in winter he is supposed to challenge any woman to take from him anything that she thinks worth having.”  He also appears in the Powamu (Bean Dance) or in the plaza dances in large numbers.

This small carving of the Squirrel Katsina is typical of a tourist carving that could have been picked up at any number of souvenir shops along Route 66 in the 1950s and 1960s for less than a dollar.

Condition: good condition with some paint loss

Provenance: from the collection of a native of Stockholm, Sweden, who was gifted it along with three dolls by Jimmy Koots.  They were originally purchased in 1965 from Rare Things by Dutton, a Santa Fe business located at 138 Sena Plaza with the telephone number of Yucca 2-5904.  The original invoice stated “Dolls from Hotevilla, 3^rd Mesa, Hopi, Arizona,”

Reference: Kachinas—a Hopi Artist’s Documentary by Barton Wright with original paintings by Cliff Bahnimptewa