Native American Hopi Carved Butterfly Maiden Katsina Doll

Description

Native American Hopi Carved Butterfly Maiden Katsina Doll by Dan Nasingoetewa

Palhik Mana is a Butterfly Maid; not a Katsina, but a woman dancer. At the dances the Butterfly Maid is not masked or hooded though she generally appears this way when carved as a doll. She generally appears in August, when the butterflies appear. The Butterfly Dance, a traditional social dance of the Hopi, is held in August after the gathering of the harvest and presentation of the Snake Dance. It is a thanksgiving dance for the harvest, chiefly for the corn crop, and features dancing by young Hopi maidens. This is an unusual piece with the Maiden standing in the center of the bloom of a flower.