DISCUSSION QUESTIONS/TOPICS

  • Research kachinas. The Hopi kachina cult may have been evolving as early as this story but may not have been fully developed until the 1300s. Kachinas were deities who people invoked for help. Kachina dolls, carved from cottonwood root, were made to teach children about the roles of the many kachinas.
  • The Kokopelli kachina is thought to have represented fertility. His hunched back may represent a full pack of seeds. He often carried a cane or a flute. Rock art depicts him throughout the Southwest, but the name Kokopelli traditionally refers only to the Hopi representation. The motif and the name Kokopelli have been commercialized throughout the West.
  • Mudhead kachinas brought humor to the many long and serious Pueblo ceremonies. Their heads looked like great globs of mud, and they performed entertaining, clownish antics.

FURTHER READING

  • Arizona Traveler Guidebooks
    1988, Arizona Parks and Monuments, Renaissance House Publishers, Frederick, CO.
  • Benedict, Ruth
    1982, Tales of the Cochiti Indians, University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, NM.
  • Courlander, Harold
    1987, The Fourth World of the Hopis, University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, NM.
  • Dozier, Edward
    1982,  Pueblo Indians of the Southwest, Holt, Rinehart, Winston, New York, NY.
  • Dutton, Bertha and Caroline Olin
    1986, Myths and Legends of the Indians of the Southwest: Hopi, Acoma, Tewa, Zuni, Bellerophon Books, Santa Barbara, CA.
  • Marriott, Alice
    1996, The Magic Hummingbird, A Hopi Folktale, Kiva Publishing, Santa Fe, NM.
  • Mullet, G. M.
    1984, Spiderwoman Stories: Legends of the Hopi Indians, University of Arizona Press, Tucson, AZ.
  • Seaman, P. David (Ed.)
    1995, Born a Chief: The Nineteenth Century Hopi Boyhood of Edmund Nequatewa, University of Arizona Press, Tucson, AZ.
  • Sevillano, Mando
    1986, The Hopi Way: Tales From a Vanishing Culture, Northland Press, Flagstaff, AZ.
  • Sekaquaptewa, Eugene
    1994, Coyote and the Winnowing Birds, Tsaayantotaqam Tsiroot, A Traditional Hopi Tale, Clear Light Publishing, Santa Fe, NM.
  • Slifer, Dennis and James Duffield
    1994, Kokopelli: Fluteplayer Images in Rock Art, Ancient City Press, Santa Fe, NM.
  • Underhill, Ruth
    1991, Life in the Pueblos,     Ancient City Press, Santa Fe, NM.