With the recent burgeoning popularity of ethnically unique collectors items for use around the home and as keepsakes, finding true Hopi Kachina dolls for sale has become much harder than it used to be. Sure, there are an infinite number of items for sale online and in antique shops, but only a few of the Kachina Dolls you’ll find there are authentic. Here’s a quick primer to help the uninitiated dive into the wide world of real Hopi Kachina doll culture.
The Hopi Kachina dolls for sale you find in shops that respect authentic artisans and customs are not children’s toys, nor are they mere representational art. In Hopi mythology and tradition, Kachina dolls represent the important spirits of the tribe, including deities, ancestors and animals. The practice of depicting these important figures, or Kachina, using dolls fashioned from cottonwood root, dates back at least 200 years.
Real Hopi Kachina dolls are all made by hand. Since cottonwood is an increasingly rare and diverse plant, artisans will trek for days across long distances, searching until they find an appropriately sized piece of root. This root is then carved to match the body shape of the desired doll. While imitations are known for their use of multiple root sections cobbled together, the best examples stand apart for their use of a single uniform cottonwood base.
Another hallmark of imitations is their use of inept techniques or synthetic materials. Real Kachina dolls are not made the way they are because of some desirable physical characteristics of the substances used in their construction, but rather because of the intrinsic symbolic meaning associated with each. The animal hair, feathers, flowers, vegetable dyes, tempera colors and other natural items used to make a Kachina are all loaded with many decades’ worth of intentional representative meaning. Imitators often try to replicate the end result, paying attention only to the look while entirely neglecting the thought process that should go into it.
Because Hopi Kachina are representational pieces of art, you can expect to see certain customs adhered to strictly. Little details, like hands carved with separated fingers instead of tight fists, accurate placement of individual pieces of hair and clothing made specifically to fit the figure are all good signs of authenticity.
Now that you understand the basic principles behind the craft, you can make sure you avoid all the fake Hopi Kachina dolls for sale online. Select your dolls carefully and you’ll find yourself a collectible that has intrinsic spiritual value as well as universal aesthetic appeal.