Long Hair Kachina

Kachina Long Hair

ANG-AK-CHINA

The Long Haired Kachina

This Kachina is a good example of how wide spread the Kachinas are among the Indians of the Southwest. While many Kachinas are found only among the villages of one tribe, or even in only one village, this Kachina is known from the Rio Grande to the Hopi villages on the mesas of Northern Arizona.

The Long Haired Kachina brings rain, and in the arid deserts, nothing could be more universally needed. He appears in many variations, but he is a universal favorite because of his sweet, melodious song. Ang-Ak-China comes always in a group and the chorus is as welcome as the rain the people believed will follow.

An interesting point concerning this Kachina is that he is always accompanied by Ang-Ak-China-Mana , his female counterpart. Usually they appear in a ration of one to every three or four male Kachinas. The females, who are portrayed by men, stay off to one side as they dance, and periodically they kneel and play instrument they carry, accompanying the song.

These Kachinas serve in more roles than one. As well as bringing rain, this group of males and female Kachinas remind the people of the close inter-relationship of the family unit in the natural cycle of things.

Kachina Macibol

Bee Kachina

MOMO The Bee Kachina

Momo appears in the Water Serpent Ceremony in several of the Mixed Kachina Dances that occur during the Powamu, first of the Kachina ceremonies in the Hopi calendar. He is rarely a central figure, usually dancing in the company of a number of other Kachinas. For example, in one part of the sixteen-to-twenty-day Powamu ceremony, a group of bird Kachinas might appear, including Kwahu , the eagle, Palakwayo, the red hawk, Totca, the humming bird, Yaupa , the mockingbird, and Patszro , the quail. As these Kachinas dance about, performing the movements most typical of the birds they represent, Momo darts around, humming and swaying his head to imitate the bee.

Momo, in particular, focuses his attention on the children. He “stings” them by shooting tiny, blunt arrows with his little bow. If fright should make the child cry, he is prepared to squirt a little water on the supposed “wound” and offer a tiny cup of honey from his headpiece.

As part of the Powamu, Momo and the other Kachinas are welcomed back and asked for their aid in bringing spring and the new growth to the land. In addition to his antennae, Momo's headpiece is crowned with a cluster of stalks, which may end in flowers or fruit, or as in this painting, with a stand of corn stalks. The Bee Kachina brings with him the gift of fertility for the plants, without which the Indians would starve.

Kachina Mana

KACHINA MANA

Though only the men participate in the Kachina dances, there are female Kachinas to be represented, and in this painting one of the singers is assuming the role of Kachin Mana, a Kachina maiden. The distinctive features of the costume, which indicate gender in this instance, are the maiden whirls (the coiled bundles of hair at the sides of the headpiece) and the shawl.

The dance being performed is the Niman Kachina , or the Home Dance, which is the final Kachina ceremony of the Hopi year. In late December or early January, the Kachinas descend from their homes on the San Francisco Peaks and visit the Pueblo people. In July, this final dance occurs to celebrate the Kachinas' return to the peaks until the next year. Because these spirits act as messengers to the deities, the elders of the tribe and the leaders of the various clans present them with prayer sticks and prayer feathers, sprinkle them with drops of water and puffs of meal, asking them not to forget the needs of the Hopi in the months to come. The ceremony takes nine days, but only on the last do the Kachinas emerge from the mysterious confines of the Kiva (sacred place) and come into public view for the final dance. At sundown they file out of the dancing area and away into the darkness. The Kachinas are going home!

An interesting feature in this painting of Kachin Mana is the instrument “she” is playing. The dance is accompanied by chants, which carry the burden of the messages being given the departing spirits, and by rhythmic instrumental music. Here the instrument consists of a notched stick, resting on a hollow, ornamented gourd. As the Kachina maiden strokes the notches on the stick with a wand, the vibrations which result run down to the gourd, which then acts as a resonating chamber, producing a deep, rich tone that carries above the chanting to help the dancers keep time.