Old Style Hopi Carved Crow Mother Traditional Katsina Doll Ornament

Description

Old Style Hopi Carved Crow Mother Traditional Katsina Doll Ornament by Raynard Lalo

Crow Mother (Angwusnasomtaka) is Mother of the Whipper Katsinam and considered by many Hopi to be the Mother of all Katsinam. She is Crow Bride (Angwushahai-i) on Third Mesa, probably because she comes dressed entirely in white. On the other Mesas she is Crow Mother. She appears during the Bean Dance (Powamuya) on all three Mesas. During the Powamuya, she supervises the initiation of the children into the Katsina society and carries the yucca whips with which they are struck by the Hu Katsinam. Later in the same ceremony, she leads other Katsinam into the village bearing in her arms a basket of corn kernels and bean sprouts to symbolically start the new growing season.