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<p>[QUOTE="Taupou, post: 126867, member: 45"]I can help identify a few of the dolls pictured, but first, feel I need to address the links provided above. Figtree, you were right in perhaps questioning how authoritative they are. It's hard to find good web sites about kachina dolls. Most are compilations of bits and pieces of misinformation found on other sites. These, unfortunately, are no exception.</p><p><br /></p><p>Whenever a site makes statements such as <b>"the Navajo, Zuni and <i>Hopi,</i> made <i>Kachina dolls</i> for use in religious ceremonies,"</b> or that kachina dolls are <b>"prayed to by Native Americans,"</b> or <b>calls an Apache rain dancer a "kachina doll,"</b> it immediately sends up signals that the site has no credibility. All those statements are completely false, and found on those links.</p><p><br /></p><p>The Hopi and Zuni are the only tribes that carve kachina dolls for sale. Kachinas are a part of the culture/religion of the Hopi, Zuni, Acoma, and Laguna Pueblos. No other tribe has kachinas in their culture. Not the Navajo, or Apache, or Cherokee. None. The Navajo carve figures that sellers on eBay (and elsewhere) sell as "Navajo kachina dolls," but there really is no such thing. (Most Navajos, in fact, sell their carvings simply as "dolls" or "carvings," if you buy directly from the maker.)</p><p><br /></p><p>The only authentic kachina dolls are carved by Hopi or Zuni carvers. They originally were made not to "worship," but to teach. There are 300-500 different kachinas, each with their own distinctive look and characteristics. The carvings were made as gifts for Hopi children, to teach them to recognize the different kachinas when they saw them in dances and ceremonies. By the early 1900s, collectors discovered them, and some carvers started making them for sale (a practice still frowned upon by conservative members of the community, however.)</p><p><br /></p><p>The Navajo, since they have no kachinas in their religion, "borrowed" the idea, and became "creative" in their carvings, resulting in many figures that have no relation whatsoever to what the actual kachinas look like. They can be considered a type of folk art, perhaps (and the Navajo do have a rich tradition of carved folk art figures from their own culture), and some carvers do copy designs from published photos of Hopi kachina dolls, but, to quote a different web site: "When you see Navajo kachinas or Mexican kachinas, those are imitations of the real Hopi kachinas, just as much so as kachinas made by white people or imported from Korea are."</p><p><br /></p><p>Rather than wasting time on line, hoping to find a reliable reference, I'd recommend the book <u>Hopi Kachina Dolls, With a Key to Their Identification</u>, by Harold S. Colton, as a start.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="Taupou, post: 126867, member: 45"]I can help identify a few of the dolls pictured, but first, feel I need to address the links provided above. Figtree, you were right in perhaps questioning how authoritative they are. It's hard to find good web sites about kachina dolls. Most are compilations of bits and pieces of misinformation found on other sites. These, unfortunately, are no exception. Whenever a site makes statements such as [B]"the Navajo, Zuni and [I]Hopi,[/I] made [I]Kachina dolls[/I] for use in religious ceremonies,"[/B] or that kachina dolls are [B]"prayed to by Native Americans,"[/B] or [B]calls an Apache rain dancer a "kachina doll,"[/B] it immediately sends up signals that the site has no credibility. All those statements are completely false, and found on those links. The Hopi and Zuni are the only tribes that carve kachina dolls for sale. Kachinas are a part of the culture/religion of the Hopi, Zuni, Acoma, and Laguna Pueblos. No other tribe has kachinas in their culture. Not the Navajo, or Apache, or Cherokee. None. The Navajo carve figures that sellers on eBay (and elsewhere) sell as "Navajo kachina dolls," but there really is no such thing. (Most Navajos, in fact, sell their carvings simply as "dolls" or "carvings," if you buy directly from the maker.) The only authentic kachina dolls are carved by Hopi or Zuni carvers. They originally were made not to "worship," but to teach. There are 300-500 different kachinas, each with their own distinctive look and characteristics. The carvings were made as gifts for Hopi children, to teach them to recognize the different kachinas when they saw them in dances and ceremonies. By the early 1900s, collectors discovered them, and some carvers started making them for sale (a practice still frowned upon by conservative members of the community, however.) The Navajo, since they have no kachinas in their religion, "borrowed" the idea, and became "creative" in their carvings, resulting in many figures that have no relation whatsoever to what the actual kachinas look like. They can be considered a type of folk art, perhaps (and the Navajo do have a rich tradition of carved folk art figures from their own culture), and some carvers do copy designs from published photos of Hopi kachina dolls, but, to quote a different web site: "When you see Navajo kachinas or Mexican kachinas, those are imitations of the real Hopi kachinas, just as much so as kachinas made by white people or imported from Korea are." Rather than wasting time on line, hoping to find a reliable reference, I'd recommend the book [U]Hopi Kachina Dolls, With a Key to Their Identification[/U], by Harold S. Colton, as a start.[/QUOTE]
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