Kachinas represent the spirits of living things encountered in the real world as well as natural phenomena and sometimes more advanced abstract concepts. They inhabit a realm of varied ancestral ‘ghosts’ who hold essential ancient wisdom and bring blessings to their descendants.
Central to some native American belief systems, particularly those of Hopi, Zuni, & other Pueblo peoples, Kachinas are benign elemental spirits that join with the souls of dancers during specific rituals connected with seasonal changes. They bring rain from the sky and all forms of fertility from the land.
The cultures who practice Kachina traditions believe that they reside in the afterlife where they are joined by the souls of the departed. To the Hopi, Kachinas are emissaries from that Other Realm, a non-corporeal world overlaid upon physical geography, linking the land with the spirit world and the afterlife. That meeting place between worlds is said to be around the San Francisco Peaks of Arizona.
The Kachinas commune with their communities via narrative dances performed by initiated men wearing costumes and masks…
