DECO202 Kachina Snow Maiden Harpo

One of a Kind piece - Hopi statuette

Kachina carved and painted by hand by Wilmer Kaye (Hopi artist who has been working since a young age).

This Kachina is called Snow Maiden. Present at many ceremonies, such as the Niman, she embodies a prayer for the winter season. She carries the tribe's hope that snow will fall abundantly and nourish the earth deeply.

The fact that she is placed on a ladder symbolizes the transition between the spirit world and the human world.

The artist carefully carved this work from poplar wood. Every detail has been meticulously crafted: the delicate feathers surrounding her face, the top of her head painted white, and the geometric shapes (black triangles and squares) adorning her face, which serve to identify her.

The staging is particularly remarkable: a ladder emerges from the wall, adding a strong symbolic dimension to the whole. It suggests an elevation, a spiritual passage.

The figure is enveloped by a finely carved wall, which reinforces the sacred and mysterious nature of the scene. This wall conceals what lies beyond, creating a tension between the visible and the invisible, the here and the elsewhere.

The Kachinas (Katsinas) are incarnations of the spiritual form, they are supernatural beings who make the link with the divine. During certain ceremonies, dancers incarnate them and they appear to the Natives while dancing and singing, under physical forms mixing animal features and abstract figures.

Diameter of the base : 7,3cm (3 inches)
Dimensions of the Kachina (H x W): 36 cm x 5,5cm 

(14 inches x 2 inches 1/4) 

Proudly Hopi handmade in the USA.