Native American Hopi Handbuilt and Handcarved Seed Pot with Butterfly Maiden

Description

Native American Hopi Handbuilt and Handcarved Seed Pot with Butterfly Maiden by Delmar Polacca

This handbuilt seed pot with with deeply carved Butterfly Maiden was created by Hopi potter Delmar Polacca. This style of pot is a seed pot. In the Fall, the women would take the seeds for next Spring and place them in these pots and then stack them. These pots would be placed in the corner of their home, stacked so the bottom of one pot would seal the top of the other. This storage technique would save space and keep the rodents from ruining next years' seed crop.

At the dances the Butterfly Maid is not masked or hooded, though she generally appears this way when created in crafts. She 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 wearing elaborate headdresses. We acquired this beautifully done piece through a private collector.