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PORTFOLIO 140 Dancing Spirits: Selected Illustrations from “Hopi Katcinas Drawn by Native Artists” By Winfield Coleman The Hopi Road of Life, a journey that is simultaneously physical, temporal, and spiritual, unfolds in an annual cycle of nine great ceremonies that dramatize the universal laws of life. Held on the three arid mesas of northern Arizona that is the Hopi homeland, these elaborate ceremonies involve personifications of the powers that form the tribal pantheon. Both beneficent and maleficent agencies connected to the growth of corn are represented. While primarily intended to invoke the favors of these powers, the ceremonies are likewise meant to be educational and diverting. A kachina (from the Hopi katsina, pl. katsinim) is a generally invisible spirit being in western Pueblo religious practices (cf. Waters 1950: 277). The name derives from ka, respect, and china, spirit (Waters 1963: 167). The term is also applied to masked members of the tribe who impersonate and are invested by those beings, as well as to wooden dolls representing those spirits (cf. Colton 1959: 4). Such dolls, traditionally carved by uncles, are given to girls at summer ceremonies to acquaint them with some of the kachinas, the number of which is unknown and fluctuating and varies with each community. Kachina religion is based on the premise that life force exists in all objects in the universe. To survive, humans must interact with these essences. Kachinas may represent historical events; ancestors; other peoples; natural phenomena (the sun, stars, clouds, and stones); forces such as thunderstorms or wind; locations; minerals, plants, animals, or combinations of these—all the visible and invisible forces of life. None is worshipped, but each is a powerful being capable of helping humans by bringing rain or offering protection. The kachinas are said to live in the San Francisco Mountains (near present-day Flagstaff, Arizona) from which they travel to the Hopi mesas for the annual ceremonial cycles. The Hopi also have deities, around thirty-six in all, some of which are also represented in their dances (Colton 1959: 77). The distinction between spirits and deities is not altogether clear, and, in any case, is of little interest to the Hopi themselves. Jesse Walter Fewkes (1850–1930) was educated at Harvard and studied zoology at Leipzig, Germany. His early work centered on the study of lower invertebrates (Hough 1932: 262). His second period of activity, in anthropology, began with an excursion to the Pacific coast by rail. Upon his return, he was appointed ethnologist of Hemenway Southwestern Archaeological Expedition (1886–1894), in lieu of the ailing Frank Hamilton Cushing. Fewkes studied the Hopi, for whom he developed a profound affection. After the expedition’s return, Fewkes became an ethnologist with the Bureau of American Ethnology in 1895 and continued field research until 1918, when he was appointed chief of the Bureau (ibid.: 264). During his time in the Southwest, Fewkes observed and recorded the rites of the Hopi ceremonial year and used the culture’s ceremonial complex as a key to the antiquities of the area, with fortunate results. He later induced the U.S. government to set aside certain areas containing ruins as national monuments (ibid.: 267). Fewkes could at times be patronizing to his subjects, but although some revision of his contribution is inevitable, given the deconstructive imperatives of post-imperialism, his work continues to be of foundational importance. Inspired by an examination of Mexican codices drawn by indigenous artists, Fewkes decided to hire Hopi artists to produce images to serve as a means of studying the FIG. 1: Jesse Walter Fewkes, before 1919. From Frances S. Nicoles, Biography and Bibliography of Jesse Walter Fewkes, 1919. FIG. 2 (bottom): Photographer unknown, South to Picturesque Village of Walpi, First Mesa, Hopi Indian Reservation, Arizona. Stereo card by Underwood & Underwood, Works and Studio, 1903. FIG. 3 (right): Tawa (Sun Kachina). The tripartite facial division is typical of the Sun God, who represents the zenith and the Life Force. He carries a phallic flute in one hand while the other grasps a pine tree (Fewkes 1899: 100–101), associated with lightning as it is frequently struck in storms. Some say humans rose to the present Fourth World by a pine tree. Note the rain cloud symbol and corn stalk. Tawa is impersonated at the Oraibi Soyal by a Sun Clan member (Colton 1959: 80). Copy photo by Scott McCue.


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