The Story of the Hopi Kachina Eototo

One of the kachinas that appears each year is Eototo. On each of the three mesas he is the spiritual counterpart of the Village Chief and as such is called the “father”of the kachinas. He is the chief of all kachinas and knows all ceremonies. At Third Mesa during the Powamu Ceremony, Eototo and Aholi come out of the Chief Kiva. Eototo always leads, and he draws cornmeal symbols of clouds on the ground. Aholi places his staff on the symbol and waves it in an all-encompassing fashion while giving a long call. This performance is the blessing of the village and marking it so that the clouds will come into the pueblo. A ceremonially prepared hole in the plaza is marked with cornmeal lines leading to it for the clouds to follow, and then water is poured into the hole which represents the town cisterns. The water is from Eototo’s gourd of sacred water. Arriving at the Powamu Kiva where the Crow Mother awaits, Eototo again draws lines leading to the hatchway from the different directions and then pours water from his gourd into the hatchway where it is caught in a basin by the Powamu Kiva Chief below. At each blessing Eototo is given prayer  feathers and the kiva chief takes some of the corn sprouts that he carries under his arm. Aholi faithfully repeats each action. Again these actions are to bring water to the village  and it’s growing crops., symbolized by the bean sprouts in the kiva. The role that Eototo plays in each ceremony is complex and is only briefly summarized here.

The Red Tail Hawk Kachina Meaning

Although rarely seen, the Red Tail Hawk Kachina (also known as a Chief Kachina has many different purposes. This Kachina can be mainly seen in the Pachavu ceremonies. He serves as both hunter and warrior.  The Pachavu ceremony serves as a dramatization of historical events.

Symbolic Meaning of the Sakwap Hopi Kachina Doll

Sakwap Mana is so called because she carries a tray of blue corn; otherwise she is a standard Kachina Mana. The corn that she carries is stacked in a ring on a flat tray with the ears set on end, and these are surrounded by spruce boughs.

Ahulani Kachina Folklore and Meaning

Ahulani makes his quiet appearance rather late in the afternoon of the sixth day of the Soyal Ceremony when he rises rather than creakily from one of the kivas with his two maidens. He and his two maids function almost exactly as does the Soyal Kachina of third mesa in that no other kachina may appear before them. In essence he is the announcer of the coming Kachina season just as is Soyal. However, Ahulani, Kachina Mana and Sakwap Mana appear during the Soyal rather than sixteen days before. Together the trio arrange themselves near the Kiva hatchway and face east. Ahulani plants his staff firmly on the ground and they begin to sing. As each chorus is finished they pace slowly forward a step for each part of the song until it is completed. Making his dignified way to the plaza, followed by the two manas with their burdens of corn, he repeats the same ritual there and in other parts of the village, before they return to the kiva and disappear. This ceremonial circuit of the village, bearing token corn, is the last act before the seed corn that has been concentrated in the kiva is returned to the owners . Ahulani appears in two very distinct forms; one variety is seen only on the years when the Snake Dance is held on first mesa and the other when the Flute Dance  is held on that mesa. As he accompanied by maidens bearing seed corn in trays, Ahulani does not carry a tray in this performance. Rather he holds a staff in his right hand and chieftain gear in his left hand.

The Mastop Hopi Kachina Folklore and History

The Mastop Kachina is the second kachina to appear on Third Mesa. He is not present on Second or First Mesa. These Kachinas always arrive in pairs and come bounding out of the northwest on the next to the last day of the Soyal. As they rush into the village they beat all the dogs that they encounter using the short black and white staff which they carry for that purpose. Leaping about with many antic gestures, they make their way to the Chief Kiva where they talk in disguised voices with the Chief Kiva where they talk in disguised voices with the individuals inside and with each other. Then, as though suddenly becoming aware of the females in the audience, they dash madly into a cluster of women and grab their shoulders from behind and they give a series of small hops indicating copulation. Then they return to kiva and converse for a while before again dashing over to another group of women, repeating the action until nearly every woman present from child to the very oldest has been approached. All women, even the shy ones, do not avoid this embrace as it is a serious fertility rite despite the antic touches, which are never directed towards the women.

The meaning of the Qoqole Hopi Kachina Doll

Third Mesa is the only place where the Qoqole appears during the Soyal. He comes in a large group of many Qoqole and their manas, on the last say of the ceremony. Combining ritual with pleasure they burlesque other ceremonies while at the same time managing to “open” the kivas. Thus it is possible that at one moment the kachina may be very seriously marking the four sides of the kivas to allow the other kachinas to come visit the village, and at the next moment be kneeling on the ground to shoot marbles. Frequently they imitate the woman’s dances of the preceding fall. Third Mesa Qoqole has one other aspect that sets him apart from almost all other kachinas. He wears old Anglo clothing. Formally he may appeared in the buckskins that are seen on Second Mesa, but at present he does not appear this way on Third Mesa. More often than not the kachina appears with a black face and blue markings, although he can theoretically appear in any color because he is a directional kachina. As each direction has a color he could appear in a color combination representing any of the six directions.

Meaning of the Hopi Kachina Kaletaka

The first mesa Kaletaka makes a single appearance in this form during the Soyal. He accompanies Ahulani from a shrine east of the village to the kiva where Ahulani later makes his appearance. Kaletaka carries a bow in his left hand and arrows in his right hand. His body is all black with white smears, and the same should be true of the legs rather than the long knit stockings. The bandoliers that are worn are stained red and twisted. The ears have eagle feathers inserted through them.

The meaning behind the Hopi Kachina Ahola

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ahola is an important chief kachina for both First and Second Mesa as he opens the Powamu ceremony with a kive performance on the first night. This performance seems to involve mimetic magic to slow the passage of the sun. At a shrine in the “Gap” of First Mesa the next day an additional rite is performed as the sun rises. With daybreak Ahul and the Powamu Chief deposit pahos (prayer feathers) at Kachina spring, for he is the ancient one he led the people from the San Francisco Peaks eastward as far as the great river and then westward to where they were stopped by the turbulent waters and where their houses still stand. After going to the Kachina Spring, Ahola and the Powamu Chief then visit all the kivas and houses with ceremonial associations, disturbing the Powamu Chief’s bean and corn plants and marking the entrances with four stripes of meal, thereby appealing to the Cloud Chiefs to sit over these places. At the end of this ceremony Ahola descends to a shrine where he bows for times to the Sun and asks for long life, health, hapiness and good crops for his children.

Soyal Ceremony

Corn Maiden Hopi Kachina Doll

The Soyal is the winter solstice ceremony and with its beginning other kachinas make their appearance. For some Mesas and villages this will be the first appearance of any kachina. The primary ritual is conceived as helping to turn the sun back toward its summer path. Woven around this concept are many others that involve the entire community in one respect or another. On second and third mesas there is a war ritual in which medicine is prepared that all members of the village may either drink or smear on themselves for health and strength.  On first mesa this occurs after the Soyal, but there is an appearance of the masked War Chief that does not occur on the second and third mesas. Corn of all colors that is ritually tied with yucca fiber is brought into the kivas for consecration. On third mesa the consecrated corn is returned to the women by four unmasked individuals while on first mesa it is symbolically paraded by Ahulani and the two Corn Maidens before being returned. Pahos (prayer feathers) are prepared by groups and individuals for every conceivable purpose. Prayer feathers are prepared for relatives, family and friends; for personnel well being; for the increase of animals and crops; and prayer objects are made by the kiva group of the village. On third mesa the Mastop Kachinas appear and symbolically fertilize all the females of the village. A different kachina but one with a similar purpose appears on second mesa during initiation years. There is no known kachina that is comparable on first mesa. The final day of the Soyal on  third mesa is characterized by the appearance of the Qoqoqolom and their kachina manas who appear and “open the kivas” by marking the hatchways with cornmeal. On first mesa it is Ahulani and the Corn Maidens who open the kivas with their appearance in the village, while on second mesa, it is Ahul and a single Mana that perform this function.

Soyal Kachina

Hopi Soyal Kachina Doll

 

The Third Mesa Soyal Kachina holds in his left hand the standard or symbol of the Soyal Ceremony: four long switches with feathers at intervals along their length. Normally the feathers that appear on the sticks are flicker feathers, but they are represented as eagle breast feathers. The artist has made an attempt to catch the old and worn appearance of the hunting shirt that the Kachina wears.