USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -The dolls still serve as teaching tools during religious seasons when Hopi men, elaborately costumed and hidden by masks, perform kachina ceremonies. Girls study their dolls, which resemble the disguised dancers, and so become familiar with the significance of the kachinas as part of their religious training.

Detailed explanation-2: -The Kachina doll of the Hopi, which so many of us admire and collect, is the representation of a Hopi spirit or deity. Kachina dolls originally were, and still are, made to be given away as gifts to Hopi children so that they may learn the different Kachinas and the stories and religious significance attached to them.

Detailed explanation-3: -Kachina cults probably made their first appearance among the pueblos of the Southwest around the 13th and 14th centuries, according to the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology’s On-line Exhibition Internet site, although their prototypes may have arrived considerably earlier, some archaeologists have argued.

Detailed explanation-4: -The Hopi were the first to create kachina dolls to teach children about these spiritual beings and their wisdom to share with the people. The dolls are traditionally carved from a single cottonwood root, then painted and adorned to represent objects from the tribe’s spiritual beliefs.

Detailed explanation-5: -kachina, Hopi katsina, in traditional religions of the Pueblo Indians of North America, any of more than 500 divine and ancestral spirit beings who interact with humans. Each Pueblo culture has distinct forms and variations of kachinas.